The Mother: That is, if you truly want to receive the divine Light and transform yourself, it is your whole way of being you must offer — offer by opening it, making it as receptive as possible so that the divine Consciousness which sees how you ought to be, may act directly and change all these movements into movements more true, more in keeping with your own truth. This is inﬁnitely more important than surrendering what one does. It is not what one does (what one does is very important, that’s evident) that is the most important thing but what one Whatever the activity, it is not quite the way of doing it but the state of consciousness in which it is done that is important. You may work, do disinterested work without any idea of personal proﬁt, work for the joy of working, but if you are not at the same time ready to leave this work, to change the work or change the way of working, if you cling to your own way of working, your surrender is not complete.


The Mother: You must come to a point when everything is done because you feel within, very clearly, in a more and more imperious way, that it is this which must be done and in this particular way, and that you do it only because of that. You do not do it because of any habit, attachment or preference, nor even any conception, even a preference for the idea that it is the best thing to do — else your surrender is not total. As long as you cling to something, as long as there is something in you which says, “This may change, that may change, but, that will not change”, as long as you say  about anything at all, “That will not change” (not that it refuses to change, but because you can’t think of its changing), your surrender is not complete.  It goes without saying that if in your action, your work, you have in the least this feeling, “I am doing it because I have been told to do it”, and there is not a total adherence of the being, and you do not do the work because you feel it must be done and you love doing it; if something holds back, stands apart, separate, “I was told it had to be done like that so I did it like that”, it means there is a great gulf between you and surrender.


The Mother: True surrender is to feel that one wants, one has, this complete inner adherence: you cannot do, that which you have been given to do, and what you have not been given to do you cannot do. But at another moment the work may change; at any moment it may be something else, if it is decided that it be something else. It is there that plasticity comes in. That makes a very great difference. It is well understood that those who work are told, “Yes, work, that is your way of surrendering”, but it is a beginning.


The Mother: This way has to be progressive. It is only a beginning, do you understand?   One must ﬁrst know what the divine Will is. But there is a surer way — to surrender money for the divine work, if one is not sure oneself. “Divinely” means at the service of the Divine — it means not to use money for one’s own satisfaction but to place it at the Divine’s service.


The Mother: When you are rich and have a lot of money to spend, generally you spend it on things you ﬁnd pleasant, and you become habituated to these things, attached to these things, and if one day the money is gone, you miss it, you are unhappy, you are miserable and feel all lost because you no longer have what you were in the habit of having. It is a bondage, a weak attachment. He who is quite detached, when he lives in the midst of these things, it is well with him; when these things are gone, it is well also; he is totally indifferent to both. That is the right attitude: when it is there he uses it, when it is not he does without it. And for his inner consciousness this makes no difference.


The Mother: That surprises you, but it is like that.  This depends upon how one acquires it. If you get it by foul ways, that does not mean that you have a control. But if someone, scrupulously doing his duty, sees that money comes to him, it is evidently because he exercises a control over these forces. There are people who have the power of attracting money and they haven’t the least need to practise dishonesty to get it.


The Mother: Others, even to get a few pennies, must make all sorts of contrivances, more or less clean. So one cannot say.... We see a rich man and think he must be exercising a control over the forces of money — no, not necessarily. But if a man remains perfectly honest and does what he thinks is his duty without caring to acquire money, and yet money comes to him, evidently he has a certain afﬁnity with those forces.   This is not correct.


The Mother: If one produces something, instead of an impoverishment it is an enrichment; simply one puts into circulation in the world something else having a value equivalent to that of money. But to say that one cannot make a heap without making a hole is all right for those who speculate, who do business on the Stock Exchange or in ﬁnance — there it is true.  It is impossible to have a ﬁnancial success in affairs of pure speculation without its being detrimental to another. But it is limited to this. Otherwise a producer does not make a hole if he heaps up money in exchange for what he produces.


The Mother: Surely there is the question of the value of the production, but if the production is truly an acquisition for the general human wealth, it does not make a hole, it increases this wealth. And in another way, not only in the material ﬁeld, the same thing holds for art, for literature or science, for any production at all.  This is living at the expense of others, because one multiplies the middlemen. Naturally, it is perhaps convenient, practical, but from the general point of view, and above all in the way it is practised, it is living at the expense of the producer and the consumers. One becomes an agent, not at all with the idea of rendering service (because there is not one in a million who has this idea), but because it is an easy way of earning money without making any effort.


The Mother: But of course, among the ways of making money without any effort, there are others much worse than that! They are countless.   This depends upon the attitude your friend has taken in life.  If he wants to be a sadhak, it is indispensable that rules of ordinary morality do not have any value for him. Now, if he is an ordinary man living the ordinary life, it is a purely practical question, isn’t it?


The Mother: He must conform to the laws of the country in which he lives to avoid all trouble! But all these things which in ordinary life have a very relative value and can be looked upon with a certain indulgence, change totally the minute one decides to do yoga and enter the divine life. Then, all values change completely; what is honest in ordinary life, is no longer at all honest for you. Besides, there is such a reversal of values that one can no longer use the same ordinary language. If one wants to consecrate oneself to the divine life, one must do it truly, that is, give oneself entirely, no longer do anything for one’s own interest, depend exclusively upon the divine Power to which one abandons oneself.


The Mother: Everything changes completely, doesn’t it? — everything, everything, it is a reversal. What I have just read from this book applies solely to those who want to do yoga; for others it has no meaning, it is a language which makes no sense, but for those who want to do yoga it is imperative. It is always the same thing in all that we have recently read: one must be careful not to have one foot on one side and the other foot on the other, not to stand in two different boats each following its own course. This is what Sri Aurobindo said: one must not lead a “double life”.


The Mother: One must give up one thing or the other — one can’t follow both.  This does not mean, however, that one is obliged to get out of the conditions of one’s life: it is the inner attitude which must be totally changed. One may do what one is in the habit of doing, but do it with quite a different attitude. I don’t say it is necessary to give up everything in life and go away into solitude, to an ashram necessarily, to do yoga. Now, it is true that if one does yoga in the world and in worldly circumstances, it is more difﬁcult, but it is also more complete.


The Mother: Because, every minute one must face problems which do not present themselves  to someone who has left everything and gone into solitude; for such a one these problems are reduced to a minimum — while in life one meets all sorts of difﬁculties, beginning with the incomprehension of those around you with whom you have to deal; one must be ready for that, be armed with patience, and a great indifference. But in yoga one should no longer care for what people think or say; it is an absolutely indispensable starting-point.  You must be absolutely immune to what the world may say or think of you and to the way it treats you. People’s understanding must be something quite immaterial to you and should not even slightly touch you. That is why it is generally much more difﬁcult to remain in one’s usual surroundings and do yoga than to leave everything and go into solitude; it is much more difﬁcult, but we are not here to do easy things — easy things we leave to those who do not think of transformation.


The Mother: Sri Aurobindo has answered this question. He says that money in itself is an impersonal force: the way in which you acquire money concerns you alone personally. It may do you great harm, it may harm others also, but it does not in any way change the nature of the money which is an altogether impersonal force: money has no colour, no taste, no psychological consciousness. It is a force. It is like saying that the air breathed out by a scoundrel is more tainted than that breathed out by an honest man — I don’t think so.


The Mother: I think the result is the same. One may for reasons of a practical nature refuse money which has been stolen, but that is for altogether practical reasons, it is not because of divine reasons. This is a purely human idea. One may from a practical point of view say, “Ah! No, the way in which you have acquired this money is disgusting and so I don’t want to offer it to the Divine”, because one has a human consciousness. But if you take someone (let us suppose the worst) who has killed and acquired  money by the murder; if all of a sudden he is seized by terrible scruples and remorse and tells himself, “I have only one thing to do with this money, give it where it can be utilised for the best, in the most impersonal way”, it seems to me that this movement is preferable to utilising it for one’s own satisfaction.


The Mother: I said that the reasons which could prevent one from receiving ill-gotten money may be reasons of a purely practical kind, but there may also be more profound reasons, of a (I do not want to say moral but) spiritual nature, from the point of view of tapasya; one may tell somebody, “No, you cannot truly acquire merit with this fortune which you have obtained in such a terrible way; what you can do is to restore it”, one may feel that a restitution, for instance, will help one to make more progress than simply passing the money on to any work whatever. One may see things in this way — one can’t make rules. This is what I never stop telling you: it is impossible to make a rule. In every case it is different.  But you must not think that the money is affected; money as a terrestrial force is not affected by the way in which it is obtained, that can in no way affect it.


The Mother: Money remains the same, your note remains the same, your piece of gold remains the same, and as it carries its force, its force remains there. It harms only the person who has done wrong, that is evident. Then the question remains: in what state of mind and for what reasons does your dishonest man want to pass on his money to a work he considers divine? Is it as a measure of safety, through prudence or to lay his heart at rest? Evidently this is not a very good motive and it cannot be encouraged, but if he feels a kind of repentance and regret for what he has done and the feeling that there is but one thing to do and that is precisely to deprive himself of what he has wrongly acquired and utilise it for the general good as much as possible, then there is nothing to say against that.


The Mother: One cannot decide in a general way — it depends upon the instance.  Only, if I understand well what you mean, if one knows that a man has acquired money by the most unspeakable means, obviously, it would not be good to go and him for money  for some divine work, because that would be like “redeeming” his way of gaining money. One cannot ask, that is not possible.  If, spontaneously, for some reason, he gives it, there is no reason to refuse it. But it is quite impossible to go and ask him for it, because it is as though one legitimised his manner of acquiring money.


The Mother: That makes a great difference.  And generally, in these cases, those who go and ask money from rascals use means of intimidation: they frighten them, not physically but about their future life, about what may happen to them, they give them a fright. It is not very nice. These are procedures one ought not to use.


The Mother: All. All the divine powers are manifested here and deformed here — light, life, love, force — all — harmony, ananda — all, all, there is nothing which is not divine in its origin and which does not exist here under a completely distorted, travestied form. The other day we had spoken at length about the way in which divine Love is deformed in its manifestation here, it is the same thing.   Ah!...


The Mother: There is a hint here. Three things are interdependent (Sri Aurobindo says here): power, money and sex. I believe the three are interdependent and that all three have to be conquered to be sure of having any one — when you want to conquer one you must have the other two. Unless one has mastered these three things, desire for power, desire for money and desire for sex, one cannot truly possess any of them ﬁrmly and surely. What gives so great an importance to money in the world as it is today is not so much money itself, for apart from a few fools who heap up money and are happy because they can heap it up and count  it, generally money is desired and acquired for the satisfactions it brings.


The Mother: And this is almost reciprocal: each of these three things not only has its own value in the world of desires, but leans upon the other two. I have related to you that vision, that big black serpent which kept watch over the riches of the world, terrestrial wealth — he demanded the mastery of the sex-impulse. Because, according to certain theories, the very need of power has its end in this satisfaction, and if one mastered that, if one abolished that from human consciousness, much of the need for power and desire for money would disappear automatically. Evidently, these are the three great obstacles in the terrestrial human life and, unless they are conquered, there is scarcely a chance for humanity to change.


The Mother: Ah! There we are.... Is it possible to attain a total personal transformation without there being at least a correspondence in the collectivity?... This does not seem possible to me. There is such an interdependence between the individual and the collectivity that, unless one does what the ascetics have preached, that is, escapes from the world, goes out of it completely, leaves it where it is and runs away selﬁshly leaving all the work to others, unless one does that....


The Mother: And even so I have my doubts. Is it possible to accomplish a total transformation of one’s being so long as the collectivity has not reached at least a certain degree of transformation? I don’t think so. Human nature remains what it is — one can attain a great change of consciousness, that yes, one can purify one’s consciousness, but the total conquest, the material transformation depends deﬁnitely to a large extent, on a certain degree of progress in the collectivity. Buddha said with reason that as long as you have in you a vibration of desire, this vibration will spread in the world and all those who are ready to receive it will receive it.


The Mother: In the same way, if you have in you the  least receptivity to a vibration of desire, you will be open to all the vibrations of desire which circulate constantly in the world.  And that is why he concluded: Get out of this illusion, withdraw entirely and you will be free. I ﬁnd this relatively very selﬁsh, but after all, that was the only way he had foreseen. There is another: to identify oneself so well with the divine Power as to be able to act constantly and consciously upon all vibrations circulating through the world. Then the undesirable vibrations no longer have any effect upon you, but you have an effect upon them, that is, instead of an undesirable vibration entering into you without being perceived and doing its work there, it is perceived and immediately on its arrival you act upon it to transform it, and it goes back into the world transformed, to do its beneﬁcent work and prepare others for the same realisation.


The Mother: This is exactly what Sri Aurobindo proposes to do and, more clearly, what he asks you to do, what he intends us to do: Instead of running away, to bring into oneself the power which can conquer.   Note that things are arranged in such a way that if the tiniest atom of ambition remained and one wanted this Power for one’s personal satisfaction, one could never have it, that Power would never come. Its deformed limitations, of the kind seen in the vital and physical world, those yes, one may have them, and there are many people who have them, but the true Power, the Power Sri Aurobindo calls “supramental”, unless one is absolutely free from all egoism under all its forms, one will never be able to manifest. So there is no danger of its being misused.


The Mother: It will not manifest except through a being who has attained the perfection of a complete inner detachment. I have told you, this is what Sri Aurobindo expects us to do — you may tell me it is difﬁcult, but I repeat that we are not here to do easy things, we are here to do difﬁcult ones.   One cannot make general rules. This depends on the spirit in which you make your purchases. It is said that you should have no desires — if this is not a desire, it is all right.


The Mother: You understand, there is no movement, no action which in itself is good or bad; it depends absolutely on the spirit in which it is done. If, for instance, you are in a state of total indifference about what you have and what you do not have (it is a condition a little difﬁcult to realise, but after all, one can attain it — a state of detachment: “If I have it, I have it; if I don’t, I don’t”), there comes a moment when, if your state is quite sincere and you really need something (it must not be a fancy or a desire or a caprice but a true need), automatically the thing comes to you. Since I have been here — it is a long time, isn’t it? — I have known people who have never asked me for anything; I don’t even think (naturally there are always weaknesses in human nature), but I don’t even think they have had a violent desire for anything at all, but when it was a need, automatically it came to them. Suddenly the idea would come to me, “Ah! This must be given to so-and-so”, and


The Mother: if it was not directly through me, in some way, quite unexpectedly, the thing came to them. On the other hand, if one is preoccupied with one’s needs (I don’t want even to speak of desires, for that is quite another thing), but if one is preoccupied with one’s needs, if one thinks of them, tells oneself, “Truly I must have this”,  it is not often that it comes to you; so you are obliged to do something to satisfy yourself and, if you have the means, to go and buy the thing. Now there are people who always take their desires for their needs, that... we do not speak of these, they  form the great majority. They are convinced that without this or that one cannot live: “It is impossible, one can’t live without that....


The Mother: I shall fall ill or something very unpleasant will happen to me or I shall not be able to do my work. It is impossible, if I don’t have this I can’t do my work.” So, the ﬁrst step for these people is to try a small experiment (if they are sincere): “Well, I won’t have this thing and we are going to see what happens.”  This is a very interesting experiment. And I can guarantee that 999 times out of a thousand, after a few days one asks oneself, “But why the devil did I think I had such a great need of this thing, I can do without it very well!”


The Mother: There you are. And like this, little by little, one makes progress.  It is a question of training — educating oneself. The sooner one begins, the easier it is. When one begins very young, it becomes very easy, for one gets accustomed to one’s inner reactions and so can act with wisdom and discernment — whereas for those who are accustomed from their childhood to take all their desires for needs or necessities, and have rushed into them with passionate zeal, the road is much more difﬁcult, because ﬁrst they must acquire discernment and distinguish a desire from what it is not; and sometimes this is very difﬁcult, it is so mixed up that it can hardly be perceived.


The Mother: But after all, I believe one doesn’t need much. Once, I remember, four of us had gone on a walking tour across the mountains of France. We had started from one town and had to reach another. It was about an eight or ten days’ journey across the mountain. Naturally, each of us carried a bag slung across our back, for one needs a few things.


The Mother: But then, before starting we had a little discussion to ﬁnd out what things we really needed, what was quite indispensable. And always we came to this: “Let us see, that thing we can manage in this way” and everything  was reduced to so little.... I knew a Danish painter who used to say, “Do you know, when travel, I need only one thing, a tooth-brush.” But somebody replied, “But no, if you don’t have a brush, you can rub with your ﬁnger!”  One does not have the discernment because one does not care to have it!


The Mother: Listen, I don’t think there is a single instance in which one does not ﬁnd within oneself something very clear, but you must sincerely want to know — we always come back to the same thing — you must sincerely want it. The ﬁrst condition is not to begin thinking about the subject and building all sorts of ideas: opposing ideas, possibilities, and entering into a formidable mental activity. First of all, you must put the problem as though you were putting it to someone else, then keep silent, remain like that, immobile. And then, after a little while you will see that at least three different thi


The Mother: ngs may happen, sometimes more. Take the case of an intellectual, one who acts in accordance with the indications of his head. He has put the problem and he waits. Well, if he is indeed attentive, he will notice that there is (the chronological order is not absolute, it may come in a different order) at ﬁrst (what is most prominent in an intellectual) a certain idea: “If I do that in this way, it will be all right; it must be like that”, that is to say, a mental construction. A second thing which is a kind of impulse: “That will have to be done.


The Mother: That is good, it must be done.” Then a third which does not make any noise at all, does not try to impose itself on the others, but has the tranquillity of a certitude — not very active, not giving a shock, not pushing to action, but something that knows and is very quiet, very still. This will  not contradict the others, will not come and say, “No, that’s wrong”; it says simply, “See, it is like this”, that’s all, and then it does not insist. The majority of men are not silent enough or attentive enough to be aware of it, for it makes no noise. But I assure you it is there in everybody and if one is truly sincere and succeeds in being truly quiet, one will become aware of it.


The Mother: The thinking part begins to argue, “But after all, this thing will have this consequence and that thing will have that consequence, and if one does this...” and this, and that... and its noise begins again.  The other (the vital) will say, “Yes, it be done like that, it  be done, you don’t understand, it, it is indispensable.”   There!


The Mother: Then you will know. And according to your nature you will choose either the vital impulse or the mental leading, but very seldom do you say quite calmly, “Good, it is this I am going to do, whatever happens”, and even if you don’t like it very much. But it is always there. I am sure that it is there even in the murderer before he kills, you understand, but his outer being makes such a lot of noise that it never even occurs to him to listen. But it is always there, always there.


The Mother: In every circumstance, there is in the depth of every being, just this little (one can’t call it “voice”, for it makes no sound) this little indication of the divine Grace, and sometimes to obey it requires a tremendous effort, for all the rest of the being opposes it violently, one part with the conviction that what it thinks is true, another with all the power, the strength of its desire. But don’t tell me that one can’t know, for that is not true. One can know. But one does not always know what is necessary, and sometimes, if one knows what is to be done, well, one ﬁnds some excuse or other for not doing it. One tells oneself, “Oh!


The Mother: I am not so sure, after all, of this inner indication; it does not assert itself with sufﬁcient force for me to trust it.” But if you were quite indifferent, that is, if you had no desire, either mental or vital or physical desire, you would know with certainty that it is that which must be done and nothing else. What comes and gets in the way is preference — preferences and desires. Every day one may have hundreds and  hundreds of examples. When people begin to say, “Truly I don’t know what to do”, it always means that they have a preference.


The Mother: But as here in the Ashram they know there is something else and as at times they have been a little attentive, they have a vague sensation that it is not quite that: “It is not quite that, I don’t feel quite at ease.” Besides, you were saying a while ago that it is the result which gives you the indication; it has even been said (it has been written in books) that one judges the divine Will by the results! All that succeeds has been willed by the Divine; all that doesn’t, well, He has not willed it! This is yet again one of those stupidities big as a mountain. It is a mental simpliﬁcation of the problem, which is quite comic.


The Mother: That’s not it. If one can have an indication (in proportion to one’s sincerity), it is uneasiness, a little uneasiness — not a great uneasiness, just a little uneasiness.  Here, you know, you have another means, quite simple (I don’t know why you do not use it, because it is quite elementary); you imagine I am in front of you and then ask yourself, “Would I do this before Mother, without difﬁculty, without any effort, without something holding me back?” That will never deceive you. If you are sincere you will know immediately.


The Mother: That would stop many people on the verge of folly.  Because everything is upset. That’s the problem! So you think that when you are playing and do not remember, you play well!  No, it is not quite that.


The Mother: It is that you do something with a certain concentration — work or play — and you are concentrated, but you have not developed the habit of mixing the remembrance of the Divine with the concentration (which is not difﬁcult, but anyway, you do not have the habit) and then, suddenly the remembrance comes; then two things may happen: either the  concentration is broken because you make an abrupt movement to seize the new attitude entering the consciousness, or else you feel a little remorse, a regret, a disquiet: “Oh! I did not remember”; that sufﬁces, it upsets all you have done. For you change conditions completely. It is not the fact of remembering which makes you no longer play well, it is the fact of having disturbed your concentration. If you could remember without disturbing the concentration (which is not difﬁcult), you would not only play well but would play better.  And then, you may also take another attitude.


The Mother: When you are playing and suddenly become aware that something is going wrong — you are making mistakes, are inattentive, sometimes opposing currents come across what you are doing — if you develop the habit, automatically at this moment, of calling as by a mantra, of repeating a word, that has an extraordinary effect.  You choose your mantra; or rather, one day it comes to you spontaneously in a moment of difﬁculty. At a time when things are very difﬁcult, when you have a sort of anguish, anxiety, when you don’t know what is going to happen, suddenly this springs up in you, the word springs up in you. For each one it may be different. But if you mark this and each time you face a difﬁculty you repeat it, it becomes irresistible.


The Mother: For instance, if you feel you are about to fall ill, if you feel you are doing badly what you are doing, if you feel something evil is going to attack you, then.... But it must be a spontaneity in the being, it must spring up from you without your needing to think about it: you choose your mantra because it is a spontaneous expression of your aspiration; it may be one word, two or three words, a sentence, that depends on each one, but it must be a sound which awakens in you a certain condition. Then, when you have that, I assure you that you can pass through everything without difﬁculty. Even in the face of a real, veritable danger, an attack, for instance, by someone who wants to kill you, if, without getting excited, without being perturbed, you quietly repeat your mantra, one can do nothing to you. Naturally, you must  truly be master of yourself; one part of the being must not be trembling there like a leaf; no, you must do it entirely, sincerely, then it is all-powerful.


The Mother: The best is when the word comes to you spontaneously: you call in a moment of great difﬁculty (mental, vital, physical, emotional, whatever it may be) and suddenly that springs up in you, two or three words, like magical words. You must remember these and form the habit of repeating them in moments when difﬁculties come. If you form the habit, one day it will come to you spontaneously: when the difﬁculty comes, at the same time the mantra will come. Then you will see that the results are wonderful. But it must not be an artiﬁcial thing or something you arbitrarily decide: “I shall use those words”; nor should somebody else tell you, “Oh!


The Mother: You know, this is very good” — it is perhaps very good for him but not for everyone.  When you act your only object is to serve, that is, instead of acting for your personal good, you act with the feeling of serving, of receiving the Divine Force, not from outside (you must not at all believe in that) but from within you, of opening yourself to the Divine Force which will use you for its action, and of fulﬁlling what that Force wants you to fulﬁl. There is no place there for egoism. It is not a matter of giving one thing and receiving another in exchange, it is not that; it is not a question of receiving from outside.  There are disciplines which make it a rule (we don’t like rules, for they are always arbitrary and artiﬁcial) that one should receive absolutely nothing from anybody except the Divine or the Guru who represents the Divine.


The Mother: Some people would not receive even a fruit from anybody because it does not come from the Guru. That is an exaggeration — this depends on  circumstances, on conditions, and it also depends very much on the attitude one takes oneself, it depends on many things, it would take very long to explain — but there is one thing you must learn, never to rely on anyone or anything whatever except the Divine. For if you lean upon anyone for support, that support will break, you may be sure of that. From the minute you start doing yoga (I always speak of those who do yoga, I do not speak about ordinary life), for those who do yoga, to depend upon someone else is like wanting to transform that person into a representative of the Divine Force; now you may be sure there is not one in a hundred millions who can carry the weight: he will break immediately. So never take the attitude of hoping for support, help, comfort from anyone except the Divine.


The Mother: That is absolute; I have never, not once, met anyone who tried to cling to something to ﬁnd a support there (someone doing yoga or who has been put into touch with yoga) and who was not deceived — it breaks, it stops, one loses one’s support. Then one says, “Life is difﬁcult” — it is not difﬁcult but one must know what one is doing. Never seek a support elsewhere than in the Divine. Never seek satisfaction elsewhere than in the Divine.  Never seek the satisfaction of your needs in anyone else except the Divine — never, for anything at all.


The Mother: All your needs can be satisﬁed only by the Divine. All your weaknesses can be borne and healed only by the Divine. He alone is capable of giving you what you need in everything, always, and if you try to ﬁnd any satisfaction or support or help or joy or... heaven knows what, in anyone else, you will always fall on your nose one day, and that always hurts, sometimes even hurts very much.   It is a grouping organised in order of merit.


The Mother: For instance, you have a chief at the centre and you may have four persons around him, and around these four, 8, then 12, 24, 36, 48,124, and so on, each with his special mission, his special work, his particular authority, and all referring in an ascending order to the centre.  That is a hierarchy. In governments they try to form hierarchies, but these are untrue, they are arbitrary and not worth anything. But in all ancient initiations there were hierarchies which were expressions of individual merit — individual powers and merits — having always at their centre the representative of the Supreme and the Shakti; sometimes having only the Supreme, depending on the religions. But the groups were always organised in that way, that is, with a growing number of individuals, each one having to refer to the ofﬁcer immediately above him.


The Mother: For instance, the 124 had to refer to the 48, the 48 had to refer to the 24, the 24 refer to the 12, the 12 to the 8, and so on.  That is a hierarchy. The word is used in a very imprecise and vague way. They speak of a hierarchy and think it is the men who govern and have subordinates. But the true hierarchy is an occult hierarchy, and this occult hierarchy had as its purpose the manifesting, the expressing of a more profound hierarchy which is a hierarchy of the invisible worlds.


The Mother: Don’t you know that there are three principles: the transcendent, the universal and the individual or personal? No? — the  transcendent which is above creation, at the origin of creation; the universal which is the creation, and the individual which is self-explanatory. There is a transcendent Divine, a universal Divine and an individual Divine. That is, one may put oneself in contact with the divine Consciousness within oneself, in the universe and, beyond all forms, in the transcendent.


The Mother: So these three aspects are also the three aspects of the divine Mother: transcendent, universal and individual.... Do you know the ﬂower I have called “Transformation”? Yes. You know it has four petals. Well, these four petals are arranged like a cross: one at the top which represents the transcendent; two on each side, the universal; and one at the bottom, the individual.


The Mother: Exactly, the transcendent is one and two (or dual) at the same time. This ﬂower is almost perfect in its form. This was the original meaning of the cross also, but that was not as perfect as the ﬂower, for it was one, two, and three. It was not so good — the ﬂower is perfect.  But perhaps the divine Mother was there before the creation!


The Mother: She must certainly have existed before the creation, for she cannot be her own product. If it is she who has created, she must have existed before the creation, otherwise she could never have created.  “In” the Supreme.... It is a little difﬁcult to speak of “within”  and “without” when one is outside all forms! If you like, say that she is a movement of the Supreme (if that makes you understand better) or an action of the Supreme or a state of the Supreme, a mode...


The Mother: You may say what you like, what most gives you an understanding of the thing. You see, the human mind likes to cut things into little bits.... I am going to tell you a little story meant for children. The Supreme, having decided to create a universe, took a certain inner attitude which corresponded with the inner manifestation (unexpressed) of the divine Mother, the supreme Shakti. At the same time, he did this with the intention that it may be the mode of creation of the universe he wanted to create, the creative power of the universe.


The Mother: Hence, ﬁrst of all, he had to conceive the possibility of the divine Mother in order that this divine Mother could conceive the possibility of the universe.  You are following? I tell you once again that it is not quite like that, but after all, it is meant for childish minds. So, we may very well say that there is a transcendent Divine Mother, that is, independent of her creation. She may have been conceived, formed (whatever you like) for the creation, with the purpose of creation, but she had to exist before the creation to be able to create, else how could she have created?


The Mother: That is the transcendent aspect, and note that this transcendent aspect is permanent. We speak as though things had unfolded in time at a date which could be ﬁxed: the ﬁrst of January 0000, for the beginning of the world, but it is not quite like that! There is constantly a transcendent, constantly a universal, constantly an individual, and the transcendent, universal and individual are co-existent.  That is, if you enter into a certain state of consciousness, you can at any moment be in contact with the transcendent Shakti, and you can also, with another movement, be in contact with the universal Shakti, and be in contact with the individual Shakti,  and all this simultaneously — that does not unfold itself in time, it is we who move in time as we speak, otherwise we cannot express ourselves.


The Mother: We may experience it but we can express it only by saying one word after another. (Unfortunately, one  cannot say all the words at the same time; if one could say them all at the same time, that would be a little more like the truth.)  Finally, all that is said, all that has been said, all that will be said, is always only an extremely clumsy and limited way of expressing something which may be lived but which cannot be described. And there is a moment, when one lives the thing, in which one sees that the same thing can be expressed almost with the same exactness or the same truth in religious language, mystical language, philosophic language and materialistic language and that from the point of view of the lived truth, it makes very little difference. It is only when one is in the mental consciousness that one thing seems true to you and another does not seem true; but all these are only ways of expression.


The Mother: The experience carries in itself its absolute, but words cannot describe it — one may choose one language or another to express oneself, and with just a very little precaution, one can always say something approaching the Truth in all instances.  I am telling you this not to throw you into confusion but simply to let you understand that there is a considerable difference between the truth of experience and the way of expressing it, whatever it may be, even the best.    What stories? Hundreds of stories are told, my child.


The Mother: Which stories are you speaking of? Which Mahakali? The images made of her, the statues? This is the human way of seeing things. She is not like that.


The Mother: I believe I have already told you once that there are the original beings in their higher reality and these are of a particular kind; then, as they manifest in more and more material regions, nearer and nearer the earth, they assume different forms and also multiply in a strange way. If you like, the beings Sri Aurobindo speaks of here belong to regions quite close to the Supermind, they are still in quite a clear and conscious contact with the supramental origin. These beings manifest also in what Sri Aurobindo calls the Overmind and there the form becomes as it were more marked, a little more precise and at the same time reduced in power and capacity. Then, from the Overmind they come down into the human mind, the terrestrial mind and there... Take for instance this poor Mahakali; you have a multitude of Kalis, one more horrible than another; some are absolutely terrifying and horrifying, and they sometimes become quite repulsive beings who are exclusively human formations, that is, the outer form is given by human imagination, by the human mind’s capacity of formation.


The Mother: There may be within that a vague reﬂection of the force of Mahakali, but it is so diminished, deformed, dwarfed, brought within the range of human consciousness, that truly she can very well deny that it is she!  I have seen all possible horrors by way of images representing  Mahakali. Of the images we won’t speak. If great artists have made them perhaps some beauty is still left, but as they are generally daubers, nothing remains. As for the images (statues or pictures) which have to be installed in a temple, a religious ceremony is performed, and if the priest or the assistant is a man with occult powers, even limited ones, he can, with his aspiration and through the ritual, bring a supraterrestrial consciousness into these forms.


The Mother: That is the principle; you are told, “This is not a piece of wood, this is not a stone, this is not a picture; there is within it a force which the religious ritual has brought down and to this you may speak.” This is right, but the nature of the priest must be known, his occult knowledge and also the forces with which he has an afﬁnity. So, there may be many things in there.... There is “something” (unless it is a stupid ignoramus who has performed the ceremony, one who has no power at all, has brought down nothing, made only a show — but this is rather rare; I can’t say it happens frequently, it is quite rare), generally there is something, but then the nature, the quality of this something, you know... this varies inﬁnitely and it is sometimes a little disturbing.


The Mother: I gave the example of Mahakali, because the conception of Mahakali in the human consciousness is especially horrible. When one goes to other divinities like Mahasaraswati, for instance, to whom all kinds of artistic, literary and other capacities are ascribed, it is no longer so terrible. But Mahakali particularly... Their conception of power, force, warlike energy is so terrible that what they bring down is indeed a little dangerous for those who worship it. I have heard innumerable stories since my coming to India.


The Mother: I have been put in touch with innumerable images and have known many people who had in their homes a Kali they worshipped and to whom, sometimes, quite dreadful things had happened. I always put them on their guard, I told them,“Don’t think at all that Mahakali is responsible for your misfortunes, for she is not responsible for them. But it is likely that the Kali you have in your home must be harbouring some vindictive being, probably one very jealous, extremely wilful and  with a very strong spirit of vengeance, and as you have faith and as it is generally a vital power, there may be truly dangerous consequences.” I have known people who, after having had all kinds of unfortunate experiences, have taken the statue of Mahakali and thrown it into the Ganges. If at the same time they could acquire a certain freedom of spirit, all the damage would disappear, but some of them are so frightened of what they have done that the bad effects continue.


The Mother: These things should never be touched unless one has at least the ﬁrst elements of occult knowledge. Unfortunately, in religions — all religions, not only here but everywhere — knowledge is never given to the faithful. Sometimes the priests have it (I don’t say always), but when they have it they take good care not to give it to the faithful, for that would deprive them of their authority and power, and that really is the evil behind all religious institutions.  Anyway, this is a digression. Let us come back to our subject.


The Mother: In the earth atmosphere there is indeed a Kali who deals with earthly things and is somewhat, one cannot say independent, yet not quite the expression of Mahakali; but she is altogether obedient to her and has her major qualities. They are diminished in power and efﬁcacy, but they exist, and the beauty of her nature is there. Perhaps some of you have had relations with that Mahakali. She does not avenge herself, she never does harm to those who love her, she does not strike with epidemics the countries which do not show her sufﬁcient respect and consideration. But she likes violence, she likes war and her justice is crushing.


The Mother: Now, another question.  We said the other day that “Vibhutis” are aspects, qualities (what are called in occultism emanations) of a being. They are like certain forces, powers, qualities, attributes which are put in contact with an outer form — a physical form, for instance  — and which manifest themselves through this form. This may be a human form. The Avatar (at least when understood in the true sense) is the incarnation upon earth of the supreme Truth.


The Mother: Now, many meanings are given to this word. There is even a word in French which has a very special meaning! It is said that an adventurer has many, that is, he changes his appearance, personality, occupation.... But originally (as it is said in the Gita, for example) when the Supreme decides to manifest himself upon earth for a particular reason and takes an earthly body, it is said that he is an Avatar. He may take many successive bodies according to the needs and circumstances, but it is always what could be called the “central being” which takes an earthly body.


The Mother: That is what is called an Avatar.  I thought you knew that. Sri Aurobindo has explained this in many places.  I have explained that to you in connection with Sachchidananda.  Sachchidananda exists at the very origin of the worlds, but there is a Sachchidananda behind all the other states of being.


The Mother: You could make a diagram (though that does not explain much, it is quite an erroneous idea, but it makes things more easily understandable), you arrange the states of being according to a scale. Then, you have the earth below and the Supreme above (it is not at all like that, I hasten to tell you! But anyway, it is easy to understand), you put the earth at the bottom and the Supreme at the top, and you divide that into lots of little parts each of which represents a state of being ; that makes a kind of ladder. And then, you have as though behind it, behind your ladder, something which supports it, against which it leans.


The Mother: It  is not a wall but it is something which supports your ladder.  And that is precisely the ﬁrst principle of the universal form.  In Hindu terminology it is called “Sachchidananda”. It is there, everything leans upon that; without that nothing could exist. It is that which upholds and allows existence.


The Mother: Then, if you enter a certain state of consciousness and ﬁnd yourself, for instance, in the higher mind (for generally it is more easily there that this happens; you have started from the physical and climbed slowly, rung by rung, as far as the higher mind), but instead of continuing your ascent on the ladder you enter into a kind of interiorisation and try to go out of the form, you pass into a kind of silence outside the form. You pass in between the bars of your ladder and enter straight into Sachchidananda which supports everything from behind. And then you can have mentally the experience of Sachchidananda. I have known people who had it and thought they had reached the heights of the Supreme. For there is a similarity in the experience, a very great likeness, only it is limited to the mind, the mind alone participates in it.


The Mother: Well, for the will it is the same thing. Instead of being the support of the ladder it is a kind of force, a very powerful current which passes through all these states, starting from above — it is the supreme Will — and coming down into the physical manifestation. Hence, if you get into afﬁnity with this vibration or this force, you can enter “the state of will”; that is, whatever state of being you may ﬁnd yourself in — physical, vital, mental, etc. — if you enter a certain state of consciousness and force, you come into contact with this power of will: it penetrates into you and you can use it for any purpose. If your reception is free from all egoism, if you are pure, completely surrendered and accept only what comes from the Divine, and if you don’t mix anything with it, egoism or desires or limitations... well, it is a state a bit difﬁcult to attain, but if you attain it, you receive this force of will in its original state, pure (for it comes down pure, it is only in its reception that it gets deformed), then, instead of being your will  it becomes an expression of the divine Will. And this happens  — you can receive the force of the divine Will without leaving the physical.


The Mother: Only, you see, you must not change it and deform it, spoil it in the receiving. When you feel within you a kind of indomitable energy to realise something, when you tell yourself, “I shall do this whatever the cost, I shall go to the end and shall use all will” (for you always say will), well, you cannot be in that state unless you have come into contact with this current of willforce. Only, with your little personal reaction, naturally you deform it and use it all wrongly, and then you come into conﬂict with other elements. But if you are truly a yogi, you receive the current and nothing can stop the of your action, even physically.  There are other things like that, other states, other forces, there are many of these.


The Mother: Fundamentally, if one studies very attentively, one perceives that there is nothing in the individual being which is not the expression or the deformation or diminution, reduction and lessening of something which has its origin in the Supreme and is of a universal nature. So, you see, all these ideas of “pulling”, “calling”, are not quite right. Essentially, the only thing one should do is to prepare oneself, make oneself worthy of this contact and, when one has had it, not deform it. And this excludes nobody. Even a very small child can, at certain moments in his life, come into touch with one of these great universal forces of divine origin, and use it for its childish needs.


The Mother: Unfortunately, there are added to it so many limitations, so much egoism, ignorance, stupidity, that it is often completely disﬁgured. It cannot be recognised, it is unrecognisable. But the origin of the force is the same, and that is why when one attains a certain state of consciousness, one perceives that if these forces were not there, one would be nothing, would not exist. And instead of saying with the usual self-complacency, “I do this, I do not do that, I have decided that, I want that thing, I shall succeed...” , all this goes away from you in such a way that you  can never again think like that; it seems to you so ridiculous — so ridiculous.


The Mother: As soon as the little “I” comes in, that means a deformation, a limitation, a degradation. In fact, all that you do not value comes with your “I” — you remove the “I” and all that disappears at the same time.   When the surroundings, circumstances, atmosphere, the way of living and above all the inner attitude are altogether of a low kind, vulgar, gross, egoistic, sordid, love is reluctant to come, that is, it always hesitates to manifest itself and generally does not stay long. A home of beauty must be given for Beauty to stay.  I am not speaking of external things — a real house, real furniture and all that — I am speaking of an inner attitude, of something within which is beautiful, noble, harmonious, unselﬁsh.


The Mother: There Love has a chance to come and stay. But when, as soon as it tries to manifest, it is immediately mixed with such low and ugly things, it does not remain, it goes away. This is what Sri Aurobindo says: it is “reluctant to be born” — it could be said that it immediately regrets being born. Men always complain that love does not stay with them but it is entirely their fault. They give this love such a sordid life, mixed with a heap of horrors and such vulgarity, things so base, so selﬁsh, so dirty, that the poor thing cannot stay.


The Mother: If they don’t succeed in killing it altogether, they make it utterly sick. So the only thing it can do is to take ﬂight.  People always complain that love is impermanent and passing.  To tell the truth, they should be very grateful that it manifested in them in spite of the sordidness of the house they gave it.   In the order of manifestation, she was the last.


The Mother: And in her special nature, in the quality of her vibration, she is very close to... even a little child. She likes young people, children, things in the making, which have a long way before them to be transformed and perfected. She likes the activities of the young. She is the youngest in nature and the last to manifest.


The Mother: What! I have told you this I don’t know how many times, I have explained it hundreds of times and you still ask this question? I have told you that no matter what you want to do, the ﬁrst thing is to put consciousness in the cells of your hand. If you want to play, if you want to work, if you want to do anything at all with your hand, unless you push consciousness into the cells of your hand you will never do anything good — how many times have I told you that? And this is felt.


The Mother: You feel it. You can acquire it.  All sorts of exercises may be done to make the hand conscious and there comes a moment when it becomes so conscious that you can leave it to do things; it does them by itself without your little mind having to intervene.   Yes, poor, without generosity, without ardour, without amplitude, without inner richness; all that is dry, cold, coiled up, prevents the coming of Mahalakshmi. It is not a question of big money, you know!


The Mother: An extremely rich man may be terribly poor from Mahalakshmi’s point of view. And a very poor man may be very rich if his heart is generous.  A poor man is a man having no qualities, no force, no strength, no generosity. He is also a miserable, unhappy man. Moreover, one is unhappy only when one is not generous — if one has a generous nature which gives of itself without reckoning, one is never unhappy.


The Mother: It is those who are coiled up on themselves and who always want to draw things towards themselves, who see things and the world only through themselves — it is these who are unhappy. But when one gives oneself generously, without reckoning, one is never unhappy, never. It is he who wants to take who is unhappy; he who gives himself is never so.   Happy for whom? For generally in this world as we see it, what is happy for one is unhappy for another; what is happy in one case is unhappy in another, and that too is an expression of disorder.


The Mother: I don’t say that necessarily it is a chance occurrence which makes you unhappy, I say that it does not correspond to the order of truths, which is very different. One may be very happy in the midst of disorder! There are many who are perfectly satisﬁed with their disorder and would not like to change it.  We do not see it harming anyone or anything simply because we do not have sufﬁcient data. We cannot judge circumstances, for


The Mother: we do not know the world. What do we know about it? Our vision is so short and so limited. Just think, a man can never know what lies beyond his hundred and twenty years, at the maximum, and I am putting a very big limit, and I count the ﬁrst years of his existence, though generally he does not remember what has happened then. What does one know about the world in so short a time and about the consequences of things?


The Mother: Nothing at all. And even if we assume that one can remember sufﬁciently well to know the result or antecedent of a so-called “chance”, it is altogether a local knowledge. What does one know about what is happening at the antipodes or in a million other places on the earth at the same moment? We know nothing about it.  And as we know that all that happens is linked, that all things are closely linked, consciously, that there cannot be a vibration in one place without there being its consequences in another, how can we tell whether our chance is not harmful to someone, though it be favourable for us?


The Mother: I think it is impossible to form a judgment (how shall I put it?) a correct judgment about things, for one does not know what is going on in the world. We do not know the whole, we know nothing of the play of forces. And we say that chance is the result of a play of forces; only, instead of being the expression of divine harmony, it is the expression of conﬂicting wills. These wills are not all necessarily bad or hostile but they are always ignorant. Each one tries to realise his own will and the victory is to the strongest — the strongest is not necessarily the best in this ﬁeld.


The Mother: When one thing is realised, how many others could have been realised, which were not, because this one was realised? And all these things, we do not know.  We cannot compare what is with what could have been.... No, I have not said anywhere that chance was necessarily the work of hostile forces, but it is certainly the work of ignorant forces.   But that is exactly what I am saying!


The Mother: I never said that chance did not have a cause. You say that a thing is due to “chance” because you cannot discern all the causes which have brought about that thing. But one who is in contact with the divine truth can know very well if it came from there or not — quite easily.  Excuse me, we have given a deﬁnition, we have said that unless an event is the result of the intervention of the divine Will expressed without mixture, it is a question of what we call “chance”.  But of course, I have not said anything else!


The Mother: In the ordinary world all is the reign of chance, except, from time to time, something of which the cause is indiscernible to the crowd but discernible to one who is in touch with the divine Will. That alone escapes chance — this does not happen very, very often, so it is not too risky to say that all things in this world happen through chance.   One cannot generalise. Nor can one ask personal questions.


The Mother: So we shall say vaguely that for some it is a chance event, but for others it is a divine Will.   You have found that all by yourself!  Yes, how many times has peace been given to you and how many times have you lost it? Innumerable times, I have said. Divine peace, not only ordinary peace (because, for ordinary peace, I believe you may go around the world several times without ﬁnding it) but divine peace has been given to you and every time you have lost it.


The Mother: Why? Because something in you refuses to give up its petty selﬁsh routine.  You must not forget that when I said that, we were a small group of twelve to sixteen, gathering regularly, and it was to these I was speaking. I never thought I would be reading this to more than ﬁfty people, never. But I said this positively to those who were there, in that little group, those to whom I had given this peace innumerable times, and every time they had lost it.


The Mother: That is what I mean, it was something altogether particular.  Now, generally speaking, for those who are here, one may say as you do that peace is constantly given (as also consciousness, force, knowledge) to a certain extent, as much as the mind is able to receive it. So it can no longer be said that it is “lost”; but one becomes aware of it, then unaware, and again aware,  then again unaware; quite simply for a reason similar to the one I have given (for it is always true, whether there are sixteen or eighteen or a hundred and ﬁfty or seven hundred, the reason is almost the same) — that even when you are well-intentioned there is something in the being which clings desperately to its habits. People imagine that if something has changed in their little outer habits, they have made a great progress; they tell you, “But don’t you see? I travel, I change my environment, change circumstances and I adapt myself very well.”


The Mother: All that means nothing at all. It is the inner habits, the inner reactions, the inner way of seeing, the way of thinking, of directing one’s action, it is this which refuses to change, which ﬁnds it so difﬁcult to change.  It is special, it is something put upon you, with insistence, and then, for some seconds or some minutes, or even some hours, you feel it. You feel suddenly ﬁlled with peace, force, light — sometimes even with yet more precious things: knowledge, consciousness, love. And then, it disappears.


The Mother: Then you say, “Oh!  Truly, these divine forces are not generous. They make you taste the thing to see how good it is, then take it away from you so that you may desire it all the more!” This is the usual conclusion.  And so you enter into a terrible battle and lose the peace still more!...


The Mother: You mean that when one loses the contact and makes an effort, one manages to get rid of the obstacle? That happens only when you are truly a ﬁrst class sadhak! There are not many who do that. Those who do it I must congratulate, for they will go very fast. But there are not many who know the cause — I have  told you that — ninety-nine times out of a hundred it is the poor Divine who is guilty: it is He who has given and then withdrawn what He gave; He is quite whimsical.


The Mother: He makes you taste of the wonderful fruit like that, then He takes it away from you, and then when He feels like it, He gives it back to you.... Indeed, He is quite a fanciful personage!   Ah! That, that is the work for each one.


The Mother: That is what I told you the other day, I read to you what Sri Aurobindo has written: “Do not harbour the indolent illusion that you will be given the aspiration and the work will be done for you.” The aspiration must come from you and the abolition of the ego also. You are helped, you are supported; every time you take a step forward you will feel there is something which gives you all that is necessary to enable you to take the step, but it is you who must walk, no one will take you on his back and carry you.... Abolish the ego ﬁrst, that’s a wonderful programme! Once the ego is abolished, there will be nothing more to do, all the work will be over, for it is precisely the ego which impedes you from being in touch with the Divine.


The Mother: Once the ego is gone, quite simply you will be like that, in a beatiﬁc union with the Divine, and all the work will be over. But generally, one does not begin by the end.  In any case, what I have just told you holds good: to abolish the ego is your work. You will be helped, but you must walk on your own feet. Do not at all hope that someone is going to carry you on his back and that you will have nothing to do except let yourself be carried.


The Mother: Almost all of them.  There are very few things which are not insigniﬁcant; all your ordinary reactions, ordinary thoughts, sensations, actions, movements, — all this is very insigniﬁcant. It is only at times, when there is a ﬂash of the higher consciousness through the psychic, an opening into something else, a contact with the psychic being (which may last for a second), at that moment, it is not insigniﬁcant. Otherwise, all the rest is repeated in millions and millions of copies. Your way of seeing, acting, all your reactions, thoughts, feelings, all that is ordinary.


The Mother: And you believe you are extraordinary, particularly when you are seized by extraordinary sensations and feelings, those that you consider extraordinary — you believe you are lifted higher, nearing something superhuman; but you are quite mistaken. It is nothing but an ordinary state, deplorably ordinary. You must enter deeper, try to see within yourself if you want to ﬁnd something which is not insigniﬁcant.  Not necessarily.  I remember the circumstances in which I said that; it was to a lady who had come here and asked me how it was that she  had come here....


The Mother: This is true in a general way; when those born scattered over the world at great distances from one another are driven by circumstances or by an impulsion to come and gather here, it is almost always because they have met in one life or another (not all in the same life) and because their psychic being has felt that they belonged to the same family; so they have taken an inner vow to continue to act together and collaborate.  That is why even though they are born far from one another, there is something which compels them to come together; it is the psychic being, the psychic consciousness that is behind. And only to the extent the psychic consciousness is strong enough to order and organise the circumstances or the life, that is, strong enough not to allow itself to be opposed by outside forces, outside life movements, can people meet.  It is profoundly true in reality; there are large “families of beings” who work for the same cause, who have gathered in more or less large numbers and who come in groups as it were. It is as though at certain times there were awakenings in the psychic world, as though lots of little sleeping children were being called to wake up: “It is time, quick, quick, go down!”


The Mother: And they hurry down. And sometimes they do not drop at the same place, they are dispersed, yet there is something within which troubles them, pushes them; for one reason or another they are drawn close and that brings them together. But it is something deep in the being, something that is not at all on the surface; otherwise, even if people met they would not perhaps become aware of the bond. People meet and recognise each other only to the extent they become conscious of their psychic being, obey their psychic being, are guided by it; otherwise there is all that comes in to oppose it, all that veils, all that stupeﬁes, all those obstacles to prevent you from ﬁnding yourself in your depths and being able to collaborate truly in the work. You are tossed about by the forces of Nature.


The Mother: There is only one solution, to ﬁnd your psychic being and  once it is found to cling to it desperately, to let it guide you step by step whatever be the obstacle. That is the only solution.  All this I did not write but I explained it to that lady. She had put to me the question: “How did I happen to come here?” I told her that it was certainly not for reasons of the external consciousness, it was something in her inner being that had pushed her.


The Mother: Only the awakening was not strong enough to overcome all the rest and she returned to the ordinary life for very ordinary reasons of living.  Outwardly, it was a funny thing that had made her come here. She was a young woman like others, she had been betrothed but not married; the man had broken off. She was very unhappy, had wept much and that had spoiled her pretty face, dug wrinkles there. And when the heavy grief had gone, she was no longer so pretty.


The Mother: So she was extremely vexed; she consulted people whose profession it is to make you look pretty. They advised her parafﬁn injections in the face: “After that, you don’t have wrinkles any longer!” She was injected with grease; and instead of the desired effect, she had greasy lumps here and there. She was in despair, for she was uglier than ever. Then she met a charlatan who told her that in England there was no means of restoring her pretty face: “Go to India, there are great Yogis there who will do it for you!”


The Mother: That is why she had come here. The very ﬁrst thing she told me was: “You see how my face is ruined, can you restore my pretty looks?” I said no! Then she started putting me questions on Yoga and she was moved. That day she told me: “I came to India to get rid of my wrinkles; now what you tell me interests me.


The Mother: But then why did I come? This is not the true motive that made me come here.” I explained to her that there was something other than her external being and that it was her psychic being which had led her here. External motives are simply pretexts used by the psychic to realise itself.  But she was quite a wonderful person!


The Mother: In the beginning she had taken an attitude of benevolence and goodwill towards everything and everybody, even the worst scamp; she saw only the  good side. Then as she stayed on, her consciousness developed; after a time, she began to see people as they were. So, one day she told me: “Formerly, when I was unconscious, I thought that everybody was good, people seemed to be so nice! Why did you make me conscious?” I answered her: “Do not stop on the way.


The Mother: Go a little further.”  Once one has begun Yoga, it is better to go to the end.   Many people accept certain theories, some of which are very convenient, and they say, “Everything is the result of the divine Will”; others say, “The Divine is everywhere and in everything and does everything”; yet others say, “My will is one with the divine Will, it is He who inspires me.” Indeed, there are many theories and they say that.


The Mother: Naturally, their ego is as alive. They do all that they want to do, saying, “It is the Divine who is doing it in me.” Whatever is supplied by their brain is the “divine Will”. It is not a personal inspiration: “Everything is the result of the divine Will.” “It is not I who am acting, it is the Divine who is acting through me.”


The Mother: They do all that they wish to do.  There are many people like that. Therefore I said, “Do not use the Divine as a pretty cloak to hide your desires.”  Sincerity is perhaps the most difﬁcult of all things and perhaps it is also the most effective.  If you have perfect sincerity, you are sure of victory.


The Mother: It is inﬁnitely difﬁcult. Sincerity consists in making all the elements of the being, all the movements (whether outer or inner), all the parts of the being, all of them, have one single will to belong to the Divine, to live only for the Divine, to will only what the Divine wills, to express only the divine Will, to have no other source of energy than that of the Divine.   And you ﬁnd that there is not a day, not an hour, not a minute when you do not need to intensify, rectify your sincerity — a total refusal to deceive the Divine. The ﬁrst thing is not to deceive oneself. One knows one cannot deceive the Divine; even the cleverest of the Asuras cannot deceive the Divine.


The Mother: But even when one has understood that, one sees that quite often in one’s life, in the course of the day, one tries to deceive oneself without even knowing it, spontaneously and almost automatically. One always gives favourable explanations for all that one does, for one’s words, for one’s acts. That is what happens ﬁrst. I am not speaking of obvious things like quarrelling and saying, “It is the other one’s fault”, I am speaking of the very tiny things of daily life.  I know a child who knocked against a door and he gave a good kick to the door!


The Mother: It is the same thing. It is always the other one who is in the wrong, who has committed the mistake. Even when you have passed the stage of the child, when you have a little reason, you still give the stupidest of all excuses: “If he had not done that, I wouldn’t have done this.” But it should be just the other way round!  This is what I call being sincere.


The Mother: When you are with someone, if you are sincere, instantaneously your way of reacting should be to do the right thing, even when you are with someone who does not do it. Take the most common example of someone who gets angry: instead of saying things that hurt, you say nothing, you keep calm and quiet, you do not catch the contagion of the anger. You have only to look at yourself to see if this is easy.  It is quite an elementary thing, a very small beginning to know whether you are sincere. And I am not speaking of those who catch every contagion, even that of coarse joking nor of those who commit the same stupidity as the others.


The Mother: I tell you: if you look at yourself with sharp eyes, you will catch in yourself insincerities by the hundred, even though you are trying to be sincere in your general attitude. You will see how difﬁcult it is.   I tell you: If you are sincere in all the elements of your being, to the very cells of your body and if your whole being integrally wants the Divine, you are sure of victory but for nothing less than that. That is what I call being sincere.  I am not speaking of glaring things like obeying your impulses, your caprices and then saying: “I do not belong to myself any more, I belong to the Divine; it is the Divine who is doing everything in me, who is acting in me”, that indeed is crude enough.


The Mother: I am speaking of more reﬁned people, a little more noble, who put on a pretty cloak to cover their desires.  How many things in the course of the day, how many thoughts, sensations, gestures are turned exclusively towards the Divine in an aspiration? How many? I believe if you have a single one in the whole day, you may mark that in red letters.  When I say, “If you are sincere, you are sure of victory”, I mean true sincerity: to be constantly the true ﬂame that burns like an offering.


The Mother: That intense joy of existing only by the Divine and for the Divine and feeling that without Him nothing exists, that life has no longer any meaning, nothing has any purpose, nothing has any value, nothing has any interest, unless it is this call, this aspiration, this opening to the supreme Truth, to all that we call the Divine (because you must use some word or other), the only reason for the existence of the universe. Remove that and everything disappears.   It is an image, as of a ﬁne mango, very beautiful to look at, and when one opens it, there is a worm inside. That is because the ﬂy laid an egg before the fruit was formed; outside there is no trace. Everything seems candid, disinterested.


The Mother: But within, right at the bottom, there is a great ambition, the desire to have an exceptional position, to be respected by everybody... that is, the ego. This is the canker, it remains very quiet, but it is there.   When the power comes, instead of realising that one is nothing, does not deserve anything and that all that one has to do is to remain as passive as possible, one deceives oneself, feels the need of others taking note of it also. It is this I call the canker.


The Mother: It eats up all that is inside and leaves the appearance intact.  Don’t you know what a homogeneous thing is, made up of all similar parts? That means the whole being must be under the same inﬂuence, same consciousness, same tendency, same will.  We are formed of all kinds of different pieces. They become active one after another.


The Mother: According to the part that is active, one  is quite another person, becomes almost another personality.  For instance, one had an aspiration at ﬁrst, felt that everything existed only for the Divine, then something happens, somebody comes along, one has to do something, and everything disappears. One tries to recall the experience, not even the memory of the experience remains. One is completely under another inﬂuence, one wonders how this could have happened. There are examples of double, triple, quadruple personalities, altogether unconscious of themselves....


The Mother: But it is not about this I am speaking; I am speaking about something which has happened to all of you: you have had an experience, and for some time you have felt, understood that this experience was the only thing that was important, that had an absolute value — half an hour later you try to recall it, it is like a smoke that vanishes. The experience has disappeared. And yet half an hour ago it was there and so powerful.... It is because one is made of all kinds of different things. The body is like a bag with pebbles and pearls all mixed up, and it is only the bag which keeps all that together.


The Mother: This is not a homogeneous, uniform consciousness but a heterogeneous one.  You can be a different person at different moments in your life. I know people who took decisions, had a strong will, knew what they wanted and prepared to do it. Then there was a little reversal in the being; another part came up and spoilt all the work in ten minutes. What had been accomplished in two months was all undone.


The Mother: When the ﬁrst part comes back it is in dismay, it says: “What!...” Then the whole work has to be started again, slowly. Hence it is evident that it is very important to become aware of the psychic being; one must have a kind of signpost or a mirror in which all things are reﬂected and show themselves as they truly are. And then, according to what they are , one puts them in one place or another; one begins to explain, to organise.


The Mother: That takes time. The same part comes back three or four times and every part that comes up says: “Put me in the ﬁrst place; what the others do is not important, not at all  important, it is I who will decide, for I am the most important.”  I am sure that if you look at yourself, you will see that there’s not one among you who has not had the experience. You want to become conscious, to have goodwill, you have understood, your aspiration is shining — all is brilliant, illuminated; but all of a sudden something happens, a useless conversation, some unfortunate reading, and that upsets everything. Then one thinks that it was an illusion one lived in, that all things were seen from a certain angle.


The Mother: This is life. One stumbles and falls at the ﬁrst occasion. One tells oneself: “Oh! One can’t always be so serious”, and when the other part returns, once again, one repents bitterly: “I was a fool, I have wasted my time, now I must begin again....” At times there is one part that’s ill-humoured, in revolt, full of worries, and another which is progressive, full of surrender. All that, one after the other.


The Mother: There is but one remedy: that signpost must always be there, a mirror well placed in one’s feelings, impulses, all one’s sensations. One sees them in this mirror. There are some which are not very beautiful or pleasant to look at; there are others which are beautiful, pleasant, and must be kept. This one does a hundred times a day if necessary. And it is very interesting.


The Mother: One draws a kind of big circle around the psychic mirror and arranges all the elements around it. If there is something that is not all right, it casts a sort of grey shadow upon the mirror: this element must be shifted, organised. It must be spoken to, made to understand, one must come out of that darkness. If you do that, you never get bored. When people are not kind, when one has a cold in the head, when one doesn’t know one’s lessons, and so on, one begins to look into this mirror.


The Mother: It is very interesting, one sees the canker. “I thought I was sincere!” — not at all.  Not a thing happens in life which is not interesting. This mirror is very, very well made. Do that for two years, three, four years, at times one must do it for twenty years.


The Mother: Then at the end of a few years, look back, turn your gaze upon what you were  three years ago: “How I have changed!... Was I like that?...” It is very entertaining. “I could speak like that? I could talk like that, think like that?...


The Mother: But I was indeed stupid! How I have changed!” It’s very interesting, isn’t it?   Why do you want to serve humanity, what is your idea? It is ambition, it is in order to become a great man among men.


The Mother: It is difﬁcult to understand?... I can see that!  That’s marvellous! The clearest thing in this matter is to say: “The Divine is in me. If I serve myself, I am also serving the Divine!”


The Mother: ( ) In fact, the Divine is everywhere. The Divine will do His own work very well without you.


The Mother: I see quite well that you do not understand. But truly, if you do understand that the Divine is there, in all things, with what are you meddling in serving humanity? To serve humanity you must know better than the Divine what must be done for it. Do you know better than the Divine how to serve it?  The Divine is everywhere.


The Mother: Yes. Things don’t seem to be divine.... As for me, I see only one solution: if you want to help humanity, there is only one thing to do, it is to take yourself as completely as possible and offer yourself to the Divine. That is the solution. Because in this way, at least the material reality which you represent will be able to grow a little more like the Divine.


The Mother: We are told that the Divine is in all things. Why don’t things change? Because the Divine does not get a response, everything  does not respond to the Divine. One must search the depths of the consciousness to see this. What do you want to do to serve humanity?


The Mother: Give food to the poor? — You can feed millions of them. That will not be a solution, this problem will remain the same. Give new and better living conditions to men? — The Divine is in them, how is it that things don’t change?


The Mother: The Divine must know better than you the condition of humanity. What are you? You represent only a little bit of consciousness and a little bit of matter, it is that you call “myself”. If you want to help humanity, the world or the universe, the only thing to do is to give that little bit entirely to the Divine. Why is the world not divine?...


The Mother: It is evident that the world is not in order. So the only solution to the problem is to give what belongs to you.   Give it totally, entirely to the Divine; not only for yourself but for humanity, for the universe. There is no better solution.


The Mother: How do you want to help humanity? You don’t even know what it needs. Perhaps you know still less what power you are serving.  How can you change anything without indeed having changed yourself?  In any case, you are not powerful enough to do it.


The Mother: How do you expect to help another if you do not have a higher consciousness than he? It is such a childish idea! It is children who say: “I am opening a boarding-house, I am going to build a cr`eche, give soup to the poor, preach this knowledge, spread this religion....” It is only because you consider yourself better than others, think you know better than they what they should be or do. That’s what it is, serving humanity.


The Mother: You want to continue all that? It has not changed things much. It is not to help humanity that one opens a hospital or a school.  I don’t think that humanity is happier than it was before nor that there has been a great improvement. All this mostly gives  you the feeling “I am something.”


The Mother: That’s what I call ambition.  If these very people who are ready to give money for schools were told that there was a divine Work to be done, that the Divine has decided to do it in this particular way, even if they are convinced that it is indeed the Divine’s Work, they refuse to give anything, for this is not a recognised form of beneﬁcence — one doesn’t have the satisfaction of having done something good! This is what I call ambition. I had instances of people who could give lakhs of rupees to open a hospital, for that gives them the satisfaction of doing something great, noble, generous.  They glorify themselves, that’s what I call ambition.


The Mother: I knew a humorist who used to say: “It won’t be so soon that the kingdom of God will come, for those poor philanthropists — what would remain for them? If humanity suffered no longer, the philanthropists would be without work.” It is difﬁcult to come out of that. However, it is a fact that never will the world come out of the state in which it is unless it gives itself up to the Divine. All the virtues — you may glorify them — increase your self-satisfaction, that is, your ego; they do not help you truly to become aware of the Divine.


The Mother: It is the generous and wise people of this world who are the most difﬁcult to convert. They are very satisﬁed with their life. A poor fellow who has done all sorts of stupid things all his life feels immediately sorry and says: “I am nothing, can do nothing. Make of me what You want.” Such a one is more right and much closer to the Divine than one who is wise and full of his wisdom and vanity.


The Mother: He sees himself as he is.  The generous and wise man who has done much for humanity is too self-satisﬁed to have the least idea of changing.  It is usually these people who say: “If indeed I had created the world, I wouldn’t have made it like this, I would have created it much better than that”, and they try to set right what the Divine has done badly! According to their picture, all this is stupid and useless.... It is not with that attitude that you can belong to the Divine.


The Mother: There will always be between you and Him the conscious ego of one’s own intellectual superiority which judges  the Divine and is sure of never being mistaken. For they are convinced that if they had made the world, they would not have committed all the stupidities that God has perpetrated. And all this comes from pride, vanity, self-conceit; and there is exactly the seed of that in people who want to serve humanity.  What are they going to give to humanity? Nothing at all!


The Mother: Even if they gave every drop of their blood, all the ideas in their head, all the money in their pocket, that could not change one individual, who is but a second of time in eternity. They believe they can serve eternity? There are even beings higher than man who have come, have brought the light, given their life, and that has not changed things much. So how can a little man, a microscopic being, truly help? It is pride.


The Mother: The argument given is: “If everyone did his best, all would go well.” I don’t think so and, even, it is impossible. In a certain way, each thing in the universe does its best. But that best doesn’t come to anything at all. Unless everything changes, nothing will change.


The Mother: It is this best that must change. In the place of ignorance must be born knowledge and power and consciousness, otherwise we shall always turn in a circle around the same stupidity.  You may open millions of hospitals, that will not prevent people getting ill. On the contrary, they will have every facility and encouragement to fall ill. We are steeped in ideas of this kind.


The Mother: This puts your conscience at rest: “I have come to the world, I must help others.” One tells oneself: “How disinterested I am! I am going to help humanity.” All this is nothing but egoism.  In fact, the ﬁrst human being that concerns you is yourself.


The Mother: You want to diminish suffering, but unless you can change the capacity of suffering into a certitude of being happy, the world will not change. It will always be the same, we turn in a circle — one civilisation follows another, one catastrophe another; but the thing does not change, for there is something missing, something not there, that is the consciousness. That’s all.  At least, that’s my opinion. I am giving it to you for what it is worth.


The Mother: If you want to build hospitals, schools, you may do  so; if that makes you happy, so much the better for you. It has not much importance. When I saw the ﬁlm, I was very interested. He found out that when he fed ten poor men, a thousand came along. That was what Colbert told him: “It seems you create them, your poor ones, by feeding them!”


The Mother: And it is not altogether false. However! If it is your destiny to found schools and give instruction, to care for the sick, to open hospitals, it is good, do it. But you must not take that very seriously. It is something grandiose you are doing for your own pleasure.


The Mother: Say: “I am doing it because it gives me pleasure.”  But do not speak of yoga. It is not yoga you are doing. You believe you are doing something great, that’s all, and it is for your personal satisfaction.  What did he do?


The Mother: Tell me. He was not happy with this world and created another, did he? Where is this world?   Naturally, the ﬁrst idea is to be greater than the one who has created the world.


The Mother: For one thinks that it is badly done. It is possible, you may say it is done badly. If you believe that you can do better than the Divine, I am not saying that you will be wrong.  I am saying that you cannot say that you are not ambitious. I do not say they were wrong; I say they are ambitious.


The Mother: It is nothing else but that. The proof is that these are people who do good, these are the generous, good, disinterested ones who are the most difﬁcult to convert; their ego is formidable. Their idea of justice, generosity, etc. is so big that there is no place for anything else, for the Divine.  Before being capable of doing good, one must go deep within oneself and make a very important discovery. It is that one does not exist.


The Mother: There is thing which exists, that is the Divine, and so long as you have not made that discovery, you cannot advance on the path. But it is so hard a carapace!... If you have  the philosophic mind, you will ask yourself: “What do I call ‘myself’? Is it my body? — it changes all the time, it is never the same thing.


The Mother: Is it my feelings? — they change so often. Is it my thoughts? — they are built and destroyed continuously. That is not myself.


The Mother: Where is the self? What is it that gives me this sense of continuity?” If you continue sincerely, you go back a few years. The problem becomes more and more perplexing. You continue to observe, you tell yourself: “It is my memory.”


The Mother: But even if one loses one’s memory, one would be oneself. If one sincerely continues this profound search, there comes a moment when everything disappears and one single thing exists, that is the Divine, the divine Presence. Everything disappears, dissolves, everything melts away like butter in the sunlight.... When one has made this discovery, one becomes aware that one was nothing but a bundle of habits. It is always that which does not know the Divine and is not conscious of the Divine which speaks.


The Mother: In everyone there are these hundreds and hundreds of “selves” who speak and in hundreds of completely different ways — “selves” unconscious, changing, ﬂuid. The self which speaks today is not the same as yesterday’s; and if you look further, the self has disappeared. There is only one who remains. That is the Divine.  It is the only one that may be seen always the same.


The Mother: And unless you have gone so far...  You must not believe that everything that happens to you in life comes to you naturally from the Divine, that is, that it is the Truth-Consciousness which is directing your life. For if everything came from Him, it would be impossible for you to make a mistake.  How does it happen that there’s error everywhere? Why do things go in opposition to the Divine and to what they ought to be?...


The Mother: Because there are numerous elements which cross each  other and intervene. Wills cross each other, the strongest gets the best of it. It is this complexity of norms that has created a determinism. The divine Will is completely veiled by this host of things. So I have said here (): “You must accept all things — and only those things — that come from the Divine.


The Mother: Because things can come from concealed desires. The desires work in the subconscious and attract things to you of which possibly you may not recognise the origin, but which do not come from the Divine but from disguised desires.”  If you have a strong desire for something you cannot get, you project your desire outside yourself. It goes off like a tiny personality separated from you and roams about in the world.  It will take a little round, more or less large, and return to you, perhaps when you have forgotten it.


The Mother: People who have a kind of passion, who want something, — that goes out from them like a little being, like a little ﬂame into the surroundings. This little being has its destiny. It roams about in the world, tossed around by other things perhaps. You have forgotten it, but it will never forget that it must bring about that particular result.... For days you tell yourself: “How much I would like to go to that place, to Japan, for instance, and see so many things”, and your desire goes out from you; but because desires are very fugitive things, you have forgotten completely this desire you had thrown out with such a force.


The Mother: There are many reasons for your thinking about something else. And after ten years or more, or less, it comes back to you like a dish served up piping hot. Yes, like a piping-hot dish, well arranged. You say: “This does not interest me any longer.” It does not interest you ten or twenty years.


The Mother: It was a small formation and it has gone and done its work as it could.... It is impossible to have desires without their being realised, even if it be quite a tiny desire. The formation has done what it could; it took a lot of trouble, it has worked hard, and after years it returns. It is like a servant you have sent out and who has done his best. When he returns you tell him: “What have you done?” — “Why?


The Mother: But, sir, it was because you wanted it!”   You cannot put forth a strong thought without its going out from you like a little balloon, as it were. We have certain stories which are not unbelievable, like the one about that miser who thought of nothing but his money; he had hidden his hoard somewhere and always used to go to see it. After his death he continued to come as a ghost (that is to say, his vital being), to watch over his money. Nobody could go near the place without meeting with a catastrophe.


The Mother: It is like that, if you have worked to bring out something, it is always realised. It may be realised even after your death! Yes, for when your body ceases to exist, none of the vibrations stops existing. They are realised somewhere.  That was what the Buddha said: the vibrations continue to exist, to be perpetuated.


The Mother: They are contagious. They continue in others, pass into others, and everyone adds a little to them.  With good wishes one can change many things, only it must be an extremely pure and unmixed goodwill. It is quite obvious that a thought, a perfectly pure and true prayer, if it is sent forth into the world, does its work. But where is this perfectly pure and true thought when it passes into the human brain?


The Mother: There are degradations. If through an effort of inner consciousness and knowledge, you can truly overcome in yourself a desire, that is to say, dissolve and abolish it, and if through inner goodwill, through consciousness, light, knowledge, you are able to dissolve the desire, you will be, ﬁrst of all in yourself personally, a hundred times happier than if you had satisﬁed this desire, and then it will have a marvellous effect. It will have a repercussion in the world of which you have no idea. It will spread forth. For the vibrations you have created will continue to spread.


The Mother: These things grow larger like the snowball. The victory you win in your character, however small it be, is one which can be gained in the whole world. And it is this I meant just now: all things which are done outwardly without changing the inner nature —  hospitals, schools, etc. — are done through vanity, for the feeling of being great, whilst these small unnoticed things overcome in oneself gain an inﬁnitely greater victory, though the effects are hidden. Every movement in you which is false and opposed to the truth is a negation of the divine life. Your small efforts have considerable results which you don’t even have the satisfaction of knowing, but which are true and have precisely an impersonal and general effect.


The Mother: If you really want to do something good, the best thing you can do is to win your small victories in all sincerity, one after another, and thus you will do for the world the maximum you are able to.   It will not change the whole world. For your victory is too small for the whole world. Millions of such victories are needed.


The Mother: It is a very small victory if compared with the whole. But it gets mingled with other things.... It could be said that it is like bringing into the world the of doing a thing. But for this to act effectively, at times centuries are necessary; it is a question of proportion. You can try it out (and it is much more difﬁcult) even with those around you.


The Mother: You must be absolutely sincere, not do it with the idea of getting a result, but because you want to gain a victory. If you gain it, it will necessarily have an effect on those around you. But if a bargaining element is mixed up in it, if you do this thing because you want to get that other: “I want to overcome my defects, but that person must also overcome his”, then that doesn’t work. It is a merchant’s attitude: “I give this, but I shall take that.” That spoils everything.


The Mother: There is neither sincerity nor purity. It is bargaining.  Nothing must be mixed with your sincerity, your aspiration, your motive. You do things for love of the Divine, for truth, for perfection, without any other motive, any other idea. And that brings results.


The Mother: Yes, if you call very strongly, if you aspire very strongly, you may pull down a large number of forces into you, but you will not be able to digest them, assimilate them. It is the same thing as with food; when you swallow all that you have at hand in one gulp, that causes indigestion, it chokes you. You cannot bear it.   So if you want to go fast, if you hurry, you send a kind of call and pull towards you too great a number of forces, forces which otherwise would have come less quickly.