The Mother: When I say, “this is the best” I mean that it is and consequently that it is the thing to be done. And what I call surrender is not to make a counter-proposal in answer to my arrangement but to accept it full-heartedly.  You ask for peace as if I was withdrawing it — but when I wrote to you with the best feelings of kindness, trust and consideration, “this is the best thing to do”, if you had answered at once “Yes, Mother, let it be done”, you would have certainly felt a greater peace in you and even a sweet joy.    My “it is silly” covered many sides of the question, including the most exterior one. What you suggest as the foolishness of believing that circumstances are compelling when they are not, is part of it.


The Mother: It is purposely that I have omitted the words “love and blessings”, because I did not wish you to think that I am blessing your enterprise — I do not — just because I ﬁnd it silly. So, do not be mistaken if I end by love and blessings. These words are for your soul of which you are not just now very conscious, and not for your exterior being.


The Mother: Because you think I want to impose my will upon you; but this is wrong. On the contrary I want to leave you quite free to decide for yourself. Only I can know and foresee what you cannot know and do not foresee and I tell you what I see, that is all. It is up to you to make use of my knowledge or not. Your decision to wait for one year is wise and I am happy you have taken it.


The Mother:    Nobody ever thought of forcing you to do yoga. If you want to do it in order to acquire the power over the circumstances, it is not a very noble or high motive, and you cannot count upon me to help you there. I can help you only if your motive is to the Truth (not to postulate that what you think is the truth) and to surrender entirely to the Truth. So the decision is in your hands.


The Mother:   Now I am obliged to tell you that I neither approve nor disapprove — no like and no dislike, no desire and no personal will.  Each case is seen individually, and the answer given for the best of each one from the spiritual point of view.


The Mother: Go to your parents and at the same time you will be able to see and decide if sincerely you want the Divine Life more than anything else.    I am not in the habit of imposing my will on others.  If they, themselves, ask for help, the help will be given.


The Mother:  “I AM NOT DISPLEASED”  You were having these bad suggestions (that I do not love you and that you want to go away), because you were disobeying me. But now that you have taken the resolution to act according to my will, the bad suggestions will disappear.  Nobody has told anything against you to me.


The Mother: You ought to drop altogether and once and for all this idea that I get displeased — it sounds to me so strange! If I would get thus displeased in the presence of the human weaknesses, I would certainly not be ﬁt to do the work I am doing, and my coming upon earth would have no meaning.     I have never noticed anything bad in you when you come for pranam.


The Mother: Your aspiration is very clear and I always answer it. Do not worry about what other people may say — I am entirely satisﬁed with you and my blessings are always with you.     Nothing of the kind.


The Mother: Each one has his difﬁculties and I am here to help him out of them.  My love and blessings.     Nothing of a rebuke.


The Mother: I had sent what I considered as the most important answer through X and I expected you to acknowledge it — hence my look.  I may add that in all human relations there is always such a coating of vital attractions and impulses over what can be  hidden there of a psychic movement that one is never too much on one’s guard.  Blessings.


The Mother: I am not aware of any change in my attitude towards you and also there is no reason for a change. The only thing I see is that I was thinking of Y when you came and I was wondering how far you are informed of the state of affairs. As for being displeased with you, there is no sign of it anywhere and I can safely say that.   With my love and blessings.


The Mother:   My dear child, Don’t feel bad and don’t worry —.  Others may have been a little upset by what seems to be a somewhat light talk, but I do not hold you responsible for it. It has become a habit in the Ashram to speak lightly and inconsiderately of many things that are beyond the usual understanding of people. It would need a great strength and endurance  to resist successfully this inﬂuence.


The Mother: However I have hope that this strength and endurance will grow in all those of goodwill.  Meanwhile my love and blessings are with all.  Be sure that I am quite aware of the growing love and devotion in you and they meet with the full response they can duly expect.   With my love and blessings.


The Mother:   Once more this is a perfectly gratuitous shock.... I never knew that it was sitar you were asking back from X; from what he told me, it seemed clear that it was own sitar that was in question. I see that it is a mistake and he must give it back to you if you need it.


The Mother: But for your own sake I must tell you that you are bound to receive shocks and hard blows too so long as you indulge in such false ideas as “my taking sides” with one or another, etc.  This is completely wrong and baseless and you must get rid of this way of thinking altogether if you wish to feel close to the Divine.   With my love and blessing.


The Mother:  You must learn once and for all that whatever mistakes people commit, it cannot vex me nor displease me. If there is bad will or revolt, Kali may come and chastise but she always does it with love.    WAY OF WORKING  What a strange idea! There are plenty of things and actions that I ﬁnd bad and that I do not admire at all.


The Mother:   All the reasonings in your letter come from the external physical mind. You cannot expect me to come down to that level and discuss with you from there. I see things from another plane and in a different way.


The Mother:   It is quite inexact that in my consciousness there is a will to be late. The truth is that the will to be ready in time does not take precedence in me over the other wills: it is in its place among the others, not exclusive and unique but forming part of the whole in which degrees of greatness and importance may not conform to what you think or feel. In fact, your sense of relative importance is not the same as mine. Moreover, you consider the problem in a linear and exclusive way, as if it were separate from other accompanying problems.


The Mother: It is nothing of the kind; each problem exists not in itself but in relation to all the others; and in order to be true, the solution must not neglect any of them.   If you can understand that, your difﬁculty is sure to disappear easily.     Evidently, according to human laws I was wrong in telling you that I would see you every month, since I was not sure of being able to do so, even while not forgetting what I had said.


The Mother: In truth, I live from moment to moment, according to the supreme Guidance and, consequently, am incapable of making plans. I know that this is not comfortable for the human mentality which believes it can decide everything in advance. But from the spiritual point of view it is inevitable.


The Mother: Each sadhak must remember that he is not alone. As far as possible I am trying to give satisfaction to everybody and to give answers to reasonable questions whenever it is necessary.   It is a way of saying, a crude description of something that actually happens but is much more subtle than that.  If I were busy with one single person I could keep perhaps in my memory such precisions, but as I am consciously dealing with more than a thousand people such precise details are not usually noted — and it is not necessary either — because the Consciousness always does the work in the way it has to be done.


The Mother: There is always a great difference between what people are and do and what they ought to be and do. The consciousness is quite aware of this and is constantly working to rectify and to change but it does not work on separate points in a spasmodic way.  It works on the whole in a total and all-comprehensive way.   The advance seems slow but it is more complete and nothing is forgotten.


The Mother:   Truly speaking,. According to a vision of truth, everything is still terribly mixed, a more or less favourable combination of light and darkness, truth and falsehood, knowledge and ignorance, and so long as decisions are made and action is undertaken according to opinions, it will always be like that.  We want to give the example of an action that is undertaken in accordance with a vision of truth, but unfortunately we are still very far from realising this ideal, and even if the vision of truth expresses itself, it is immediately distorted in its implementation.  So, in the present state of affairs, it is impossible to say, “This is true and that is false, this leads us away from the goal and that brings us nearer the goal.”   can be used for the progress to be made;  can be useful if we know how to use it.


The Mother: The important thing is never to lose sight of the ideal we want to realise and to make use of all circumstances in view of this goal.  And ﬁnally, it is always better not to make an arbitrary decision for or against things, and to watch the unfolding of events with the impartiality of a witness, relying on the Divine Wisdom which will decide for the best and do what is necessary.    My way of seeing is somewhat different. For my consciousness the whole life upon earth, including the human life and all its mentality, is a mass of vibrations, mostly vibrations of falsehood, ignorance and disorder, in which are more and more at work vibrations of Truth and Harmony coming from the higher regions and pushing their way through the resistance.


The Mother: In this vision the ego-sense and the individual assertion and separateness become quite unreal and illusory.  When some confusion is created in the already existing confusion I direct upon it some special vibrations to restore as  much as possible a better harmony. It is not the individuals as such that feel the “blow”, it is their clinging to or siding with the disharmony.... In such cases there is never one side right and one side wrong, but all are to blame in the measure of their adhesion to falsehood and confusion.


The Mother: You don’t understand the way of my working. You can as well say, “You have the supramental force, why don’t you use it and ﬁnish all this muddle?” But it is not like this that the work can be done. The world is not ready for the supramental force and if it is used without preparing the base, things will shatter completely.  I have to prepare the base and then bring down the force.


The Mother: Your human vision sees things in a straight line. For you it is either this way or that way. For me it is not like this. I see the whole thing as a mass of consciousness moving towards its end or goal. For every small movement I have to see what its reactions will be on the whole mass, what repercussions may follow.


The Mother: When I say something should be done in this way or that way, your human mind takes it as a principle and tries to apply it rigidly in all cases. For me it is not like that. For me there are no rules, no regulations and no principles. For me each one is an exceptional case, to be dealt with in a special way.


The Mother: No two cases are similar.   In the movement of this mass of consciousness I know that a certain point should move in a certain direction for reaching the goal more easily. With this point in view I declare that this should be done or not done, but I ﬁnd that sometimes there is a big obstruction in the way. Now, it can be dealt with in two ways: either I should allow the point to change its direction and leave the barrier alone for the time being till more and more light falls upon it and it gets changed, or I should break the barrier.


The Mother: As I have said, every small movement has its reactions and repercussions on the mass, so this breaking also will cause  a chain of reactions which may affect a much larger ﬁeld. I am no respecter of persons, but I have to see at every moment the changing circumstances due to the change of the person or persons concerned and the change of time and the channel through which the thing passes. I have to see with all these changes how best the thing can be done so that it may help the progress of the mass. I have to see whether it is worthwhile to break the barrier and have all the resulting consequences or whether it would not be better to leave it for the moment and tolerate the human stupidity. What appears to you to be contradiction is not contradiction when the whole thing is seen as one.


The Mother: There are various ways to reach the same end. So if I ﬁnd that breaking will cost much more than what it is worth, then I allow you to go the way you like. But that does not prevent me from condemning the obstruction and saying that it ought to go.  After all, sooner or later each and everything in this mass of consciousness has to move towards the same goal. But to lead the consciousness towards that goal I have to allow human beings to move with me and I have to appear in their own form and speak in their own language.


The Mother: I have to adopt a crude expression.  I can see the stupidity of the way in which I have to speak and lay down rules and regulations, but this is a concession that I must make to humanity; otherwise it would not be able to understand anything. Even when I speak in their own language, people misunderstand me and make a mess. If I were to speak in the language of the light, then the whole thing would pass over their heads and they would be left gaping without understanding anything.  X has a very well-developed mind.


The Mother: I can say that his mind is very open towards the light. Twice I tried to speak to him in the language of what Sri Aurobindo calls the mind of light, but even he could not understand it. He could catch a little, but the fullness of the sense escaped him.  With the others it is still worse; they fail to understand  anything and look dazed. For the sake of these people I have to make a compromise.


The Mother: I say that a certain thing is stupid, but I see that you cannot remain without doing it, so I have to tolerate it. I see the relative value of things and adopt the way that may be helpful in making the progress. In your interest and in the interest of the progress of the whole mass of consciousness, I may have to allow a good many things, but it does not mean that I am blind to them and cannot see their stupidity. Sometimes it is necessary that you should have an experience and so the thing is allowed. But when I say No definitely, it is dangerous to oppose it.


The Mother: There can be many reasons for the same action; but it is not possible to explain them to your mind.  In this particular case I had said No. Then Y intervened.  Now Y is a very nice person and he is very sincere in some parts. I know that he is weak and has the habit of grabbing and possessing.


The Mother: I could have refused. But that would have given a big shaking to him. It would have been difﬁcult for him to adjust himself. As I told you, I see the relative values and I saw that the thing was not worth the shaking and so I have given my permission. But that does not prevent me from saying that it is not the right thing.§


The Mother:  RUMOURS  Don’t bother about what people believe or say; it is almost always ignorant stupidities.   I always wonder at people’s thinking they can know the reasons of my actions! I act differently for each one, according to the necessities of his particular case.


The Mother:   I would advise you never to listen to what sadhaks say — especially sadhaks.    It is certainly not at all true that I don’t care for the sadhaks and their sadhana.


The Mother: Why should the world conditions being bad make me cease to care! It would be rather a reason for insisting more on a quick spiritual realisation as the only way out of the impasse. You should not believe in what you hear from people; so constantly nasty and disturbing things are being which are quite untrue.   My dear child, All your letters are answered, but in the silence of your heart; you must learn to hear the answers there and not through the mouth of others. All help is given to you always, but you must learn to receive it in the silence of your heart and not through exterior means.


The Mother: It is in the silence of your heart that the Divine will speak to you and will guide you and will lead you to your goal.  But for that you must have full faith in the Divine Grace and Love.     Little child of mine, When your ﬁrst letter came, I simply wrote a word in French upon it and left it on my table — as I was expecting the second one; being quite sure that you would receive my silent answer.  To comfort you, I can say immediately and, that I never pay any attention to what people say of one another, whoever it is who speaks — and on your side I ask you never to take seriously what somebody ( it is) says in my name, because even with the best of wills.


The Mother: Now I ask you also not to worry about this school affair.  I will not write about it, but one day I intend to call you and to explain the whole thing. Afterwards you shall see  about it.  Meanwhile let the mind be at rest so that the Light may pass through.


The Mother: With all my love and blessings.    When will you learn not to listen to all the rumours going about this place?


The Mother: Yes, all these false and idiotic rumours have come to me after turning round the Ashram. I attached no importance to them because most of the people here seem to live only for gossip and falsehood, and once and for all I have closed my consciousness to all that, in order to avoid a Kali or a Durga manifestation.  I hope that those who are faithful and have common sense will not lose their time listening to all that.  All that you say about the food business was known to me — but you will admit that there is always a way of improving one’s action and making it more luminous and comprehensive.    You must not get worried about the mistakes and weaknesses of others, the only thing necessary is what people say to you, especially if they speak in my name.


The Mother:  When we get bitter we lose our Divine contact and become very “bitterly” human.  Beware of what is repeated to you in my name — the spirit in which it has been said is lost!


The Mother: Be very careful to let no inﬂuence diminish your conﬁdence in me and allow nothing or nobody to separate you from me.     A great misunderstanding has taken place.


The Mother: You seem to believe that I say one thing when I mean another. This is absurd.  When I speak, I speak plainly and.   When I say: the ﬁrst condition for yoga is to keep quiet and calm — I mean it.


The Mother: When I say that talk is useless and leads only to confusion, waste of energy and loss of the little light one may have — I mean that and nothing else.   When I say that I have given nobody the right to speak in my name and to interpret my words according to his own fancy, I mean that and nothing else.  I hope that this is clear and decisive and this singular misunderstanding will now come to an end.


The Mother:  I have already warned those who go on spreading rumours, more or less false, on what I am believed to have said or not said, that this is an act of treachery.   As this pernicious habit does not seem to stop I must add that those who persist in so doing will be treated occultly as traitors.    REMONSTRANCES It is to send to anybody one of my unpublished writings without my express permission.


The Mother: I am told that you have the intention of doing it so I hasten to inform you that it must not be done and ask you to return to me at once all the typed copies you may have.    To do something scrupulously is to do it with the utmost care, as honestly, as thoroughly as one can do it.  Another time if there are words in what I have written that you do not understand, it is better to send me back your book asking for an explanation. I will always give it to you and thus you will avoid speaking to others of what I have written to you — because it is not good to do so.


The Mother:   It is a pity you have shown my answers to your questions. They were meant for you alone and nobody else. This has partly damaged the experience, as it was the vital and the mental wanting to take advantage of the situation to satisfy their own desires.


The Mother:  ( ) I was told that our boys (young or old) like to play with me (the exact words were “to give me a game”) for some reason or  another, but and to learn to play they must play among themselves.    You have this extraordinary opportunity of being able to play a game and to take exercise in an atmosphere ﬁlled with Divine Consciousness, Light and Power in such a way that each of your movements is, so to say, permeated by the consciousness and the light and the power which is in itself an intensive yoga; and your ignorant unconsciousness, your blindness and lack of sensitiveness is such that you believe you are giving a game or even helping to play a good old lady for whom you feel a little gratefulness and some kind of affection!


The Mother:  I did not answer because their minds are terribly restless, they do not know how to make use of the force and they spoil my formations. But you need not tell them that — send them only blessings.    You must understand one thing. Before giving an answer to a question, I look at all the sides of the problem present and future, so when the answer is given.


The Mother: It is no use coming back to the question any more.      As


The Mother: I am expecting nothing I cannot answer the question.    No, it does not all depend upon me. If it did, everything would go smoothly. But there is always a person’s character in between.


The Mother:   How can I give wise advice to foolish people?


The Mother: Here are two questions that do not call for a reply: What have you done the Divine to make so many demands?  What have you done the Divine to receive so many blows?     What have you given to the Lord or done for Him, that you ask me to do something for you?


The Mother: I do only the Lord’s work.    Where you are mistaken is to believe that I am cheated — this is impossible because their “intention” is for me much clearer than their words.  But if I were to be strict with all those who try to deceive me, very few would escape this strictness.


The Mother:    Have you never been mistaken in any of your decisions? Yes, you have been mistaken, haven’t you? and many a time.


The Mother: Then, by what right do you think that when my decision is not the same as yours, it is I who am mistaken?    I know that to be with me is, for you, neither a need nor a joy but a duty, and that you are happier elsewhere, with some others.  So I call you only when it is necessary — not when it pleases me, for it is long since I have put my pleasure in my pocket and left it there.   This is why I did not see you, because I knew that it was quite useless, as our respective outlooks upon life and action are actually much too different.


The Mother: What can you do against me? You live in your body-consciousness and your body is perishable. I live in my spirit-consciousness and my spirit is immortal.    There we are, Lord, it is those very people to whom you have shown most love who make you responsible for their difﬁculties.


The Mother: Sri Aurobindo was living in Pondicherry with four or ﬁve disciples from 1910 to 1920.  In 1914 the Mother came from France (with Paul Richard) and Sri Aurobindo began to edit the, which continued up to January 1920.   In April 1920 the Mother came back from Japan and gradually, as the number of people increased, the Ashram was founded in 1926.


The Mother:   The Ashram was born a few years after my return from Japan, in 1926.    The 21st February is the Mother’s birthday.


The Mother: The 29th March is the anniversary of her ﬁrst meeting with Sri Aurobindo.   The 4th April is the Ashram New Year, date of Sri Aurobindo’s arrival in Pondicherry.


The Mother: The 24th April is the date of the Mother’s ﬁnal return to Pondicherry in 1920.   The 15th August is Sri Aurobindo’s birthday.   The 24th November is called the day of Victory in remembrance of a very important spiritual event which took place in 1926.


The Mother:    [ facsimile on remainder of this page and part of next page]


The Mother: [facsimile continues]   The usual sadhanas have for aim the union with the Supreme Consciousness (Sat-chit-ananda). And those who reach there are satisfied with their own liberation and leave the world to its unhappy plight. On the contrary Sri Aurobindo’s sadhana starts where the others end.


The Mother: Once the union with the Supreme is realised one must bring down that realisation to the exterior world and change the conditions of life upon the earth until a total transformation is accomplished. In accordance with this  aim, the sadhaks of the integral yoga do not retire from the world to lead a life of contemplation and meditation. Each one must devote at least one-third of his time to a useful work. All activities are represented in the Ashram and each one chooses the work most congenial to his nature, but must do it in a spirit of service and unselﬁshness, keeping always in view the aim of integral transformation.  To make this purpose possible the Ashram is organised so that all its inmates ﬁnd their reasonable needs satisﬁed and have not to worry about their subsistence.


The Mother: The rules are very few so that each one can enjoy the freedom needed for his development but a few things are strictly forbidden: they are — (1) politics, (2) smoking, (3) alcoholic drink and (4) sex enjoyment.  Great care is taken for the maintenance of good health and the welfare and normal growth of the body of all, small and big, young and old.    Appearances and rules change, but our faith and our aim remain the same.


The Mother:   Ours is neither a political nor a social but a spiritual goal. What we want is a transformation of the individual consciousness, not a change of regime or government. For reaching that goal we put no conﬁdence in any human means, however powerful; our trust is in the Divine Grace alone.


The Mother:   For us here there is only one thing that counts. We aspire for the Divine, live for the Divine, act for the Divine.    It is ages of ardent aspiration that have brought us here to do the Divine’s Work.


The Mother:   Before the children came, only those who wanted to do sadhana were admitted to the Ashram and the only habits and activities tolerated were those that were useful for the practice of sadhana.  But as it would be unreasonable to demand that children should do sadhana, this rigidity had to disappear the moment the children were introduced into the Ashram.


The Mother: None of the present achievements of humanity, however great they are, can be for us an ideal to follow. The wide world is there as a ﬁeld of experiment for human ideals.  Our purpose is quite different and if our chances of success are small just now, we are sure that we are working to prepare the future.  I know that from the external point of view we are below many of the present achievements in this world, but our aim is not a perfection in accordance with the human standards. We are endeavouring for something else which belongs to the future.


The Mother: The Ashram has been founded and is meant to be the cradle of the new world.  The inspiration is from above, the guiding force is from above, the creative power is from above, at work for the descent of the new realisation.  It is only by its shortcomings, its deﬁciencies and its failures that the Ashram belongs to the present world.   None of the present achievements of humanity have the power to pull the Ashram out of its difﬁculties.  It is only a total conversion of all its members and an integral opening to the descending Light of Truth that can help it to realise itself.


The Mother: The task, no doubt, is a formidable one, but we received the command to accomplish it and we are upon earth for that purpose alone.  We shall continue up to the end with an unfailing trust in the Will and the Help of the Supreme.  The door is open and will always remain open to all those who decide to give their life for that purpose.


The Mother: This is true discernment and I congratulate you. Those who see only the appearances are unable to discern in them the differences, subtle but of capital importance, which arise from the presence of a true and luminous consciousness.     Here we do not have religion.


The Mother: We replace religion by the spiritual life, which is truer, deeper and higher at the same time, that is to say, closer to the Divine. For the Divine is in everything, but we are not conscious of it. This is the immense progress that man must make.   Do not judge on appearances and do not listen to what people say, because these two things are misleading. But if you ﬁnd it necessary to go, of course you can go and from an external point of view it may be indeed wiser.


The Mother: Moreover it is not easy to remain here. There is in the Ashram no exterior discipline and no visible test. But the inner test is severe and constant, one must be very sincere in the aspiration to surmount all egoism and to conquer all vanity in order to be able to stay.  A complete surrender is not outwardly exacted but it is indispensable for those who wish to stick on, and many things come to test the sincerity of the surrender. However the Grace and the help are always there for those who aspire for them and their power is limitless when received with faith and conﬁdence.


The Mother:   It is not from disgust for life and people that one must come to yoga.  It is not to run away from difﬁculties that one must come here.  It is not even to ﬁnd the sweetness of love and protection, for the Divine’s love and protection can be enjoyed everywhere if one takes the right attitude.  When one wants to give oneself totally in service to the Divine, to consecrate oneself totally to the Divine’s work, simply for the joy of giving oneself and of serving, without asking for anything in exchange, except the possibility of consecration and service, then one is ready to come here and will ﬁnd the doors wide open.


The Mother: I give you the blessings given to all my children wherever they are in the world and tell you, “Prepare yourself, my help will always be with you.”    You say that you wish to lead the spiritual life, but for that you should understand that the ﬁrst point is to overcome all the lower movements, all the attractions, all the attachments, for all these are to the spiritual life.  The spiritual life that one is exclusively turned towards the Divine and the Divine. All that one does should be done; all occupations, all aspirations, all, without exception, should be directed towards the Divine with a complete surrender of the whole being.


The Mother: I know that this cannot be done in a day. But the that it may be so should be taken in an manner. It is only on this condition that I can accept you for the spiritual life.    Much more than any physical condition it is faithfulness to the ideal and consecration to the work that make the true disciple.


The Mother:  First indispensable condition to be admitted in the Ashram  The candidate must have taken the resolution to dedicate his life unconditionally to the service of the Divine.    By deﬁnition the Ashramite has resolved to consecrate his life to the realisation and service of the Divine.  For this four virtues are indispensable, without which progress is uncertain and subject to interruptions and troublesome falls at the ﬁrst opportunity: Sincerity, faithfulness, modesty and gratitude.


The Mother:   Sincerity, courage, discipline, endurance, absolute faith in the Divine work and unassailable trust in the Divine Grace. All this must be accompanied by a sustained, ardent and persevering aspiration, and by a limitless patience.    The Ashram is meant for those who want to consecrate their lives to the Divine.


The Mother:  The two indispensable conditions to live as a disciple in the Ashram  1. To be resolved to make the needs of the soul come before all others, and to satisfy the other needs, those of the body, vital and mind, only so far as they do not interfere with the fulﬁlment of the needs of the soul.   2. To be convinced that I am in a position to know the needs of the soul of each and every one and that therefore I have the right and the competence to judge in this respect.


The Mother: One loses most of the advantage of being here if one is not convinced that I can foresee better the consequences and the results of things and actions.   I know that people are fussy and unreasonable. But unless their consciousness changes, what else can we expect from them?


The Mother:   People are here to change their consciousness. Unless they become, to their, nothing can be done.


The Mother: It is evident that those who want to live here must change not so much their way of living as their way of being.  We are striving towards a consciousness more deep, more total and more true; because our is to manifest this consciousness.     What is the use of being a sadhak if, as soon as we act, we act like the ignorant ordinary man?


The Mother:   We are expected to give to the world an example of better life but surely of misbehaviour.     The moment one enters the life of the Ashram and takes up the yoga, he ceases to belong to any creed or caste or race; he is one of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and nothing else.


The Mother: To cut jokes about what he was in the past is altogether incongruous and in bad taste, and only helps to keep up in both him and the speaker an old and wrong mental attitude.    He is quite right. Too many people in the Ashram forget that they are here.    The Ashram is meant for Yoga, not for musical entertainment or other social activities.


The Mother: Those that live in the Ashram are requested to live quietly and noiselessly and if they are not capable themselves of meditation they must, at least, leave the others to meditate.    I do not know who is spreading the rumour that I do not like music. That is not true at all — I like music very much, but it should be heard in a small circle, that is, played for ﬁve or six people at the most. When there is a crowd it becomes a social gathering, more often than not, and the atmosphere that is created is not good.


The Mother:   Apart from the fact that the Ashram is not meant for those who seek the satisfaction of their vital or sentimental desires, but for those who aspire to perfect their consecration to the Divine, I have to warn you that here you must do only what can be done publicly because nothing can remain hidden.    In the Ashram one must do only what one may do publicly, for nothing remains hidden. As for my protection it is equally over all and not over some as against others.


The Mother:   It is impossible to give a single answer for all cases. With each person and on each occasion, it will differ. But, at any rate, it can be said that whoever lives in a community must follow, as much as possible, the rules of that community. Moreover people have a right to go against collective rules only when all their actions are prompted exclusively by the Divine in them.


The Mother: If all they do, all they say is done and said as they would do and say in the presence of the Divine, then, but then only, they have the right to say, “I follow my own rule and no other.”     With “personal feelings” nothing can be done in the Ashram.  Rise above personal feelings and the doors of realisation will open.


The Mother:    It is high time that peace and harmony should reign in the Ashram.


The Mother: ()  All that seems very much like going back to the time of primitive man in the caves.  We do not wish to live the artiﬁcial life of civilised society, but it would be better to climb up the ladder towards a greater civilisation rather than to fall backwards to the rule of the blows.    I have sent for the “delinquent” to tell him that this kind of activity is out of place in the Ashram, though unfortunately it is only too often practised here; but I am sending you this letter before seeing him so that you may know that he has nothing to do with what I am writing to you.  But the second part of your letter made me see that, without justifying the aggression, for an aggression cannot be justiﬁed, at least your state of mind warrants it.


The Mother: I have rarely seen such a display of hatred and envy, bitter criticism and commonplace morality arising from unsatisﬁed and repressed desires.  All this is not very nice and immediately takes away the sympathy one could have felt because of the blows you received.  I thank you for reminding me that my position gives me duties and responsibilities, but it is better to call the Grace rather than justice, for if it were to come into action very few would be those who could stand before it.


The Mother: Sexual relations are forbidden in the Ashram.  So, honesty demands a choice between the Ashram and sexual relations. It is a matter of conscience.    The Ashram is not a place for being in love with anyone.


The Mother: If you want to lapse into such a stupidity, you may do so elsewhere, not here.   We are not here to do politics but to serve the Divine.    Sri Aurobindo thinks that it is not possible for us to intervene by a wire in a political matter of this kind. At most you might write to X your private opinion about the best course for him to take in these painful and difﬁcult circumstances.


The Mother: With love and blessings.    I have received X’s letter. You can write to him: “It is absolutely out of the question for anyone connected with the Ashram to intervene in politics of any kind.”


The Mother: He must not go to Y (it would be useless in any case). If he went and Y spoke to us of it, we would be obliged to disavow his action as not sanctioned by us.    Sri Aurobindo and myself object to anybody here corresponding with X and especially receiving money from him, because although he was here for some months we know nothing about him except the little he himself told us.  From certain observations he let fall it seems that he is violently pro-Nazi and does not hide it, and any connection with him might in these times bring serious trouble on the Ashram.


The Mother:    Early this morning, your mind came to me and put me some questions to which I have answered.  I have noted the questions and the answers so that your exterior consciousness can beneﬁt by it.  “Why are you not angry at the British Government when it acts in a way so detrimental to the Ashram?”  Why be angry?


The Mother: It is quite natural that they should do so as it is in their interest and they have the power.  “But it is not right and charitable!”  When did you see that a government is righteous and compassionate? In their outward dealings they are all the same.  “Then why do you support one against another?”


The Mother: This is quite another matter and depends on the play of forces acting behind the surface. Some forces are working for the Divine, some are quite anti-divine in their aim and purpose.  If the nations or the governments who are blindly the instruments of the divine forces were perfectly pure and divine in their processes and forms of action as well as in the inspiration they receive so ignorantly, they would be invincible because the divine forces themselves are invincible. It is the mixture in the outward expression that gives to the Asura the right to defeat them.  To be a successful instrument for the Asuric forces is easy, because they take all the movements of your lower nature and make use of them, so that you have no spiritual effort to make.


The Mother: On the contrary, if you are to be a ﬁt instrument of the divine force you must make yourself perfectly pure since it is only in an integrally divinised instrument that the Divine Force will have its full power and effect.    The world situation is critical today. India’s fate too is hanging in the balance. There was a time when India was absolutely secure, there was no danger whatever of her being a victim to Asuric  aggression.


The Mother: But things have changed. People and forces in India have acted in such a way as to invite Asuric inﬂuences upon her: these have worked insidiously and undermined the security that was there.  If India is in danger, Pondicherry cannot be expected to remain outside the danger zone. It will share the fate of the rest of the country. The protection I can give is not unconditional.


The Mother: It is idle to hope that in spite of anything and everything, the protection will be there over all. My protection is there if conditions are fulﬁlled. It goes without saying that any sympathy or support for the Nazis (or for any ally of theirs) automatically cuts across the circle of protection. Apart from this obvious and external factor, there are more fundamental psychological conditions which demand fulﬁlment. The Divine can give protection only to those who are whole-heartedly faithful to the Divine, who live truly in the spirit of sadhana and keep their consciousness and preoccupation ﬁxed upon the Divine and the service of the Divine.


The Mother: Desire, for example, insistence on one’s likes and conveniences, all movements of hypocrisy and insincerity and falsehood, are great obstacles standing in the way of the Divine’s protection. If you seek to impose your will upon the Divine, it is as if you were calling for a bomb to fall upon you. I do not say that things are bound to happen in this way; but they are very likely to happen, if people do not become conscious and strictly vigilant and act in the true spirit of a spiritual seeker. If the psychological atmosphere remains the same as that of the outside world, there can be no sure wall of security against the dark Forces that are working out in it the ordeal of danger, suffering and destruction entering here.


The Mother: I have just read the very silly rumour you have spread yesterday and I must ask you not to do such a thing again. It is well understood that the whole story is ridiculously false without an  atom of truth in it. But people are so stupid that they can believe anything and at any rate repeat anything, and if ever it was told that such rumours are initiated from the Ashram it would bring to us the most unpleasant and even dangerous trouble.  I feel quite sure that you will understand my point, and send you my love and blessings.


The Mother:   I told you already — no such politics can originate from the Ashram; it could bring a mountain of trouble.  In the present case of this fray I ask you to be true to your faith in Sri Aurobindo and myself and to leave his fate to our responsibility. If it is the truth of his being that he should be liberated, he will surely be liberated.


The Mother: With my love and blessings.     It has been repeatedly stated that all provincial spirit is quite out of place in the Ashram and cannot be tolerated.  I am sorry to say that the meeting which took place yesterday has displayed the most narrow and silly provincial tendency which puts me in the unpleasant necessity of stopping these gatherings.


The Mother:  A D Sri Aurobindo withdrew from politics; and, in his Ashram, a most important rule is that one must abstain from all politics — not because Sri Aurobindo did not concern himself with the happenings of the world, but because politics, as it is practised, is a low and ugly thing, wholly dominated by falsehood, deceit,  injustice, misuse of power and violence; because to succeed in politics one has to cultivate in oneself hypocrisy, duplicity and unscrupulous ambition.  The indispensable basis of our Yoga is sincerity, honesty, unselﬁshness, disinterested consecration to the work to be done, nobility of character and straightforwardness. They who do not practise these elementary virtues are not Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and have no place in the Ashram. That is why I refuse to answer imbecile and groundless accusations against the Ashram emanating from perverse and evil-intentioned minds.


The Mother: Sri Aurobindo always loved deeply his Motherland. But he wished her to be great, noble, pure and worthy of her big mission in the world. He refused to let her sink to the sordid and vulgar level of blind self-interests and ignorant prejudices. This is why, in full conformity to his will, we lift high the standard of truth, progress and transformation of mankind, without caring for those who, through ignorance, stupidity, envy or bad will, seek to soil it and drag it down into the mud. We carry it very high so that all who have a soul may see it and gather round it.


The Mother:  It is important and urgent that the people of your Unity Party should rise to a higher level of consciousness and stop all attacks of a petty political character on persons. They must learn to ﬁght the Truth and the Divine Realisation and not any political party. From the Divine’s point of view there is truth behind all sincere convictions. It is in the mental and practical application to life and action that the falsehood appears and disﬁgures everything. The time has come when all those who are more or less connected with the Ashram and wish to base their action on Sri Aurobindo’s or my teaching must abstain from all these low movements of political polemic and remain on the higher levels of the spirit.


The Mother: I expect that you will take at once the necessary steps.   It is understood that the Ashram is not doing politics and is not interested in elections.


The Mother: Politics is based on falsehood, we have nothing to do with it.  Morality is the shield that men ﬂourish to protect themselves against Truth.  It is only the Divine’s will that is unquestionable. And it is that which man, in all his actions, deforms and falsiﬁes.


The Mother:   A Declaration  Some people looking at things superﬁcially, might ask how is it that the Ashram exists in this town for so many years and is not liked by the population?  The ﬁrst and immediate answer is that all those in this population who are of a higher standard in culture, intelligence, good will and education not only have welcomed the Ashram but have expressed their sympathy, admiration and good-feeling.  Sri Aurobindo Ashram has in Pondicherry many sincere and faithful followers and friends.


The Mother: This said, our position is clear.  We do not ﬁght against any creed, any religion.  We do not ﬁght against any form of government.  We do not ﬁght against any social class.  We do not ﬁght against any nation or civilisation.


The Mother: We are ﬁghting division, unconsciousness, ignorance, inertia and falsehood.   We are endeavouring to establish upon earth union, knowledge, consciousness, Truth, and we ﬁght whatever opposes the advent of this new creation of Light, Peace, Truth and Love.     Never doubt such an experience.


The Mother: It is exactly the condition in which everybody ought to have been, the condition I was bringing down on the Ashram, and if it had been shared by all, nothing could have happened, all the most violent attacks would have been in vain.    Mother is with all those who are sincere in their aspiration towards a divine life above party and politics.   Each one carries his capacity of happiness in himself but I am convinced that those who cannot be happy here can be happy nowhere.


The Mother:   People must be happy when they are here, otherwise they cannot have the full advantage of the exceptional opportunity.   I am always happy to receive and to help those who wish for harmony and conciliation, and are ready to correct their mistakes and to progress. But I can be of no help to those who throw all the blame on the others for they are inapt to see the truth and to act accordingly.  But it goes without saying that those who are here and are ready to face some difﬁculties in order to remain here, will always be welcome.


The Mother:  You have answered the trustful welcome given to you by an arrogant and uncomprehending attitude, judging everything from the viewpoint of an ignorant and presumptuous morality which could only alienate from you the sympathy so spontaneously extended to you as to all those who come here in quest of the spiritual life. But in order to proﬁt by one’s stay here, a minimum of mental humility and generosity of soul is indispensable.    People who feel miserable here and ﬁnd that they have not the comfort they require ought not to stay. We are not in a position to do more than we do, and after all our aim is not to give to people a comfortable life, but to prepare them for a Divine Life which is quite a different affair.   The reason for people to come and settle here is surely not to ﬁnd comfort and luxury — this can be found anywhere if one is lucky enough.


The Mother: But what one can get here, that is got in any other place: it is the Divine Love, Grace and Care. It is when is forgotten or disregarded that people begin to feel miserable here. Indeed whenever somebody feels unhappy and discontented, it can be taken as a sure sign that he is turning his back on what the Divine is always giving and that he has gone astray in pursuit of worldly satisfaction.    In spite of what the ignorant men believe, it is the inner vibrations that are responsible for the exterior events.


The Mother: Most of the people who live in the Ashram forget too easily that they are not here to live a quiet and pleasant life, but to do sadhana. And for doing sadhana a certain control upon one’s inner movements is indispensable.   It is only those who have come for sadhana and really do sadhana who can be happy and satisﬁed here. The others have constant trouble because their desires are not satisﬁed.    If you want to be happy here, you must come with the will to do the yoga of self-perfection; for if you do not come for that, you will be shocked at every moment by things that are contrary to your habits and to the principles of ordinary life, and it will not be possible for you to stay here, because these things are necessary for the work and organisation here and cannot be changed.


The Mother:  We are not here to make our life easy and comfortable; we are here to ﬁnd the Divine, to become the Divine, to manifest the Divine.  What happens to us is the Divine’s business, it is not our concern.  The Divine knows better than we do what is good for the progress of the world and of ourselves.


The Mother: Here sensibleness is indispensable and the integral yoga is based on balance, calm and peace and not on an unhealthy need to suffer.   Sri Aurobindo said that the physical was to be taken into the yoga and not rejected or neglected. And almost all here thought they were doing yoga in the physical and fell a prey to physical “needs” and desires.  To speak frankly, I like better that mistake than [that of] the so-called ascetics who are full of contempt, bad will and scornful feeling for others.


The Mother: No time to say all that could be said on the subject.   You say that you feel you have returned to your old life and that you have fallen from that state of spiritual consciousness in which you remained for some time. And you ask whether it comes from the fact that Sri Aurobindo and myself have withdrawn our protection and our help because you had been unable to fulﬁl your promise.  It is a mistake to think that anything at all has been withdrawn by us. Our help and our protection are with you as always, but it would be more correct to say that both your inability to feel our help and your inability to keep your promise are the simultaneous effects of the same cause.


The Mother: Remember what I wrote to you when you went to Calcutta to fetch your family: do not let any inﬂuence come in between you and the Divine. You did not pay sufﬁcient attention to this warning: you have allowed an inﬂuence to interfere strongly between you and your spiritual life; your devotion and your faith have been seriously shaken by this. As a consequence, you became afraid and you did not ﬁnd the same joy in your offering to the Divine Cause; and also, quite naturally, you fell back into your ordinary consciousness and your old life.  You are quite right, nevertheless, not to let yourself be discouraged. Whatever the fall, it is always possible not only to get up again but also to rise higher and to reach the goal.


The Mother: Only a strong aspiration and a constant will are needed.  You have to take a ﬁrm resolution to let nothing interfere with your ascent towards the Divine Realisation. And then the success is certain.  Be assured of our unfailing help and protection.    I really believe that if you were not here, she would never dream of coming here.


The Mother: It is mainly you that she wants to see, and as you very rightly say, this is not good for you or for her. So it will be better if she does not come.  My blessings are always with you.


The Mother: She can try to do yoga, but her motive must be pure, for if she decides to do yoga in order to join you here, nothing good can come out of it.    My dear child, blessings of the day.... Just received your letter of 21st; it came to me directly (without the written words) three days ago, probably when you were writing it, and my silent answer was categorical: remain there until the necessity of being here will become so imperative that all else will completely lose all value for you.


The Mother: My answer now is exactly the  same. I want only to assure you that we are not abandoning you and that you will always have our help and protection.     I am quite ready to shower my grace upon X, but I do not consider it advisable for him that he should come here.


The Mother: I don’t believe a half-a-minute “darshan” can change these habits. We have had bitter experience about them already, that they resist even a psychic opening. He must ﬁrst have the sincere will to change.  Our love and blessings.


The Mother: Just received and read your letter. Here is my answer.   Your nature is such that you will always wish to be where you are not. Your attraction for the Ashram life comes from the fact that you are far away from it.


The Mother: As soon as you would be back here you would feel restless again and the urge to run away. As Ramakrishna said, it is better to be far away from the Guru and constantly think of him rather than to remain near the Guru and think only of the world’s enjoyments.  When you will have risen above this condition and found in yourself your psychic being and its sincere and constant urge for the Divine, then it will be time to come back and to settle here for good.   We do not think the time has come for you for a permanent stay in the Ashram. It is best for you to come from time to time for darshan and prepare yourself.


The Mother: When the preparation is sufﬁcient then you can come for a permanent stay.   You can be sure of our help and our love and blessings will be with you.    Sri Aurobindo asks me to tell you that it is better for you not to come to the Ashram immediately. The Yoga is difﬁcult and to take an unprepared plunge into it might make it still more difﬁcult.


The Mother: You should read ﬁrst and understand the “Life Divine” and make sure that your resolution is on a ﬁrm basis and your mind and vital being ready to enter into a new inner life.  Our help will be with you and our blessings.     It is true that I have pardoned X, for the Divine Grace pardons everything, but it is true also that the coming of X’s wife and child here is, for many reasons of which one is sufﬁcient — it is that nothing is more contagious than a bad example and I cannot allow the recurrence of such unhappy events.


The Mother: One mistake you have made and it is the cause of all the trouble.  Before going you ought to have spoken to me and told me that you would be compelled to marry this young girl in order to bring her here. I might have advised you to try to avoid such an unpleasant necessity, but in any case the news of your marriage would not have come as a shock and created such a scandal.  Now, the best is to wait until X is cured of his illness and bring him with you; it will be for the Ashramites at least some proof of your sincerity.  We have prepared a lodging for Y with the little boy, and you will live separately.


The Mother: You must learn by this experience that a courageous and straightforward frankness is always the best way of facing difﬁculties.    Where is your faith in the Divine? Having faith in the Divine you ought to rejoice that X has received the inner call and decided to lead the divine life; you ought to be made happy by this sign of the Divine’s Grace and feel grateful for it.  Quietly face the social difﬁculties with equality and cheerfulness; then you will know that my love and blessings are with you.


The Mother:   My dear children, I have received your letter and appreciate your resolution.  But in view of the difﬁculties you were experiencing here when you were living at the Ashram, I ﬁnd it more advisable for you to wait some time and see whether you can rely upon the resolution you have made to join the Ashram. It would be better for you now to leave India if you cannot remain.


The Mother: If after some time you ﬁnd that you still maintain the same resolution, write to me again and manage to come not with a tourist visa but a student or teacher visa.  If the truth is there it will never die out however adverse the circumstances.  Let the blessings of the Grace be always with you.    I am sorry, but for the moment we are not in a position to increase the number of inmates.


The Mother: It is already difﬁcult to manage  with those who are here — exception made of the very few cases of those who might come with a genuine call for sadhana.    ( ) This is very nice — I would like to “shelter” the whole world, or at least all those who aspire for a better life. But we lack place and means.


The Mother: Let the town grow and the means increase and our hospitality will be enlarged.     Surely my blessings are with all three. As for coming here, it is not quite sure that the two elder ones will want to come — their  is necessary.


The Mother: The third one is a bit too young to say anything for certain — but she is promising.     You ask if you can retain the same relation with me if you stay away for some time more. Well, it will surely depend on the length of the time.


The Mother: Because little by little you forget that you have (or had) a  and you will get so accustomed to being a “thoughtful”, “tactful” and “reasonable” creature that you will no more dream of being otherwise.  In any case you have to make the decision yourself; neither your parents nor I can take the decision for you. They have no  more than I have the right to interfere in your destiny. I can say only one thing, if ever and as soon as you feel disgusted with being a thoughtful, tactful and reasonable creature, run away from there, quick and without hesitation, and come back here.  I shall give you back your true self.


The Mother:  It is indeed indispensable that something should change radically in your nature before you are ﬁt for staying here. You are far too ego-centric to lead a spiritual life; and it is also the cause of this catastrophe and of the suffering it has brought to you, which is the natural consequence of the whole affair. Indeed it is good if you go to face the ordinary life now and learn to live with the others and for the others instead of making of the Ashram life an excuse for living selﬁshly for yourself.


The Mother: Each one has the right to follow the path he has chosen, but it must be at the right place, and obviously this Ashram is not the place to follow the path you have chosen.   I do not advise you to go. As for X, under the circumstances you describe, it might be better for her, instead of her going, that someone comes here to help her. Can you arrange for that?  Blessings.


The Mother:   I did not approve much of X’s departure, but as for yours I disapprove of it completely, and cannot understand why you should abandon your work and interrupt and imperil your sadhana because she chooses to go back to her village.  I do not ﬁnd this decision either good or fair to yourself and your spiritual aspiration , so I hope you will look at it in this light and reconsider your decision.


The Mother:   Certainly I do not want to make you miserable and if the pull of your conscience is too strong for you to bear I cannot prevent you from going.


The Mother: If you are convinced that a stay in your native place will bring relief to your body I cannot refuse my sanction. You can start on the 1st of June as you propose.    X’s reasons for going are not very strong. But if the wish to go is so persistent she can go — you are quite right in feeling that you should not go.  My blessings.


The Mother:   It is better not to go; this kind of trip is not very wholesome for spiritual life.   With my love and blessings.


The Mother:   You can go see your father — but I would like you to go only when the school closes, that is to say after the second of December, and come back before the ﬁrst of January when the school reopens — as the lessons must not be neglected.   With my love and blessings.


The Mother:    The mistake in your psychology is its excessive simpliﬁcation.  You look at one side and with exaggerated emphasis and ignore the rest. A person may have certain qualities but not to perfection, and there is in the subconscient the very contradiction of these qualities. If one does not take care to eliminate this contradiction, then at any moment under the pressure of circumstances what is in the subconscient may rise up with force and bring about a collapse, what is called a fall from the Yoga.


The Mother:  I may point out to you that nothing irreparable has happened.  Of course the further one wanders away from the path, the more radical will be the conversion needed to return to it; but the return is always possible.    Because, to each one is given his full chance, and there can always be an unexpected opening and a conversion.


The Mother:   I have received and read your letter.  It might be better to clear up a few points.   First, it is always unwise to expect gratitude from people, especially from servants.


The Mother: Second, when it is only the one who jokes that takes pleasure in the joke, it is called a bad joke.  Finally, it is not necessary to attach any importance to the opinions of people because they are only the passing results of passing impressions; other circumstances and new impressions will easily change them.  But to smooth the situation I ﬁnd it wiser to change your quarters and let time ease the tension.


The Mother: However, I must add that if you feel unhappy here and the atmosphere is difﬁcult to bear, I can in no way ask you to stay in spite of the ordeal.   I see no point in your going to Tiruvannamalai unless you like tourism.


The Mother: It would be far better for the work and for if you remain here.    My dear child, You are my son and I am your mother for eternity.  Do not worry, I take the entire responsibility of your spiritual growth and you can live in the Ashram so long as you feel it your home and you sincerely consecrate yourself to the Divine’s Work.   With love and blessings.


The Mother:   The path is not an easy one.  To remain here is possible only for those who feel deep in themselves that here is the in the world where they must live.  This may — (must) — come to you — but meanwhile it is better to go back to the world and see what it has to give you.  I will be with you always in your aspiration towards a more true future.


The Mother: Blessings.    Here there is the greatest possible ﬁeld of experience, since it extends from the most material activities to the most spiritual regions while covering all the intermediary planes.  Therefore if you feel the need to go away from here to have your “experience of man”, as you say, it is because you want to have the freedom to do all the foolish things you feel like doing, without being under the direct control of a truth-consciousness which would show you that they are stupidities.  The true experiences that are needed for individual progress do not depend on circumstances or on the environment in which one lives, but on the inner attitude and the will for progress.


The Mother:   If you want to ﬁnd your soul, to know it and obey it, remain here at any cost.  If this is not the aim of your life and you are ready to live the life of the immense majority of men, you may certainly go back to your family.   The fact of her being here proves that there is an aspiration somewhere in her being and with help the aspiration can spread in the whole being.


The Mother:   As for your question, “Where do you ﬁt?”, the world is full of people like you, so you would ﬁt quite well with the world, if — for there is an if — if you were not divided inside yourself. The cause of all your trouble is that you do not ﬁt with yourself, or rather that your exterior being and its actions do not ﬁt at all with your soul, and as your soul is sufﬁciently awake, it is this clash in you that puts you in difﬁculties.  Once one has an awakened soul it is not easy to get rid of it. So it is better to obey its orders.


The Mother: This advice is the best help I can give you.     Could it be that you are a little impatient about what you consider as a slow advance?


The Mother: Is it that you are restless and eager to taste soon the fruit of your efforts?  Moreover I cannot see how to be plunged again, even for a few weeks only, in the very atmosphere which is responsible for the thickness of the surface-crust through which your soul has  to pierce to make itself felt exteriorly, can in the least help you to get rid of the “clinging impediments”.  You are quite conscious of the aspiration and the aim of your soul; you are quite conscious of what your soul wants you and expects you to become. It is only some consequences of this present physical formation that stand in the way, and now, it is only a steady and patient working out of these impediments that can solve the difﬁculty.  So, from the yoga point of view, any “taking leave” would be a kind of “giving way” to the obstinacy of the resistance.


The Mother: This, for me, is quite clear.  But are you quite sure that there is not the remembrance of an attachment lurking in some corner of the mind which makes you answer unknowingly to the insistence of a pressure coming from outside? In that case the problem would have to be considered from another angle.   It is obvious that your inner being is not very strong and does not have the power to counteract the pernicious inﬂuence of an environment full of sterile doubts, defeatist pessimism, egoism and unfaithfulness.  Our path is not easy, it demands great courage and untiring endurance.


The Mother: One must work hard and make a great effort with quiet stability to obtain results which at times are scarcely perceptible outwardly.  There are many human beings who need to roll in the mire in order to feel the necessity to cleanse themselves.  If the desire is too persistent for you to have the strength to overcome it, ask the people you know to ﬁnd you a post (this is usually not too difﬁcult for the young people going out from the Ashram) and go and face the ordinary life until you learn the true value of the life you would have left.  One must have heroism to be a precursor; for, generally, men have faith only in what is already accomplished, evident,  visible, and recognised even by the most sceptical.


The Mother:   I shall be sorry to see you go and hoped it would not be necessary.  But if you are feeling so miserable and so little sure of yourself, it might be better to go for awhile and recover your poise. I will leave the door open for you and as soon as you become strong enough, you will come back.  My blessings are and will always be with you.


The Mother: And if next time you can come for the yoga and to lead the divine life, then everything will become easy.   I am happy if your stay here has widened your vision and understanding and deepened your consciousness.   I appreciate your feelings about what a sadhak ought to be and from that point of view, what you say is quite true. But it is well understood that the Ashram is not exclusively composed of sadhaks. The Ashram is a reduced image of life where those who practice yoga are a minority, and if I were to keep here only those who are quite sincere in their sadhana, very few indeed would remain.


The Mother: Sri Aurobindo always reminds us of the fact that the Divine is everywhere and in everything, and asks us to practise a true compassion, as is so beautifully expressed in this aphorism which I am just commenting upon, “Examine thyself without pity, then thou wilt be more charitable and pitiful to others.”  And in this light, I must ask you to let X come and see his mother who loves him dearly and would be very miserable if she were deprived of his visits.  As for his work it is a matter between myself and him, and I know we shall come to some satisfying arrangement.  So I must ask you once more to be in peace, and to trust in the Divine’s Grace and Wisdom.


The Mother:   The proximity of the heart and feelings is much stronger and truer than the proximity of the bodies.   Love truly your mother and without sorrow or suffering you will let her go to America, knowing that the earth is small and the love is vast.


The Mother:   My dear child, Certainly we are your true parents, and your true duty is towards the Divine.  Let the ignorant say according to their ignorance and keep in you the light, knowledge and peace of the Divine Consciousness .  With our love and blessings.


The Mother:   I am glad you are taking all this “drama” as it deserves to be taken, that is to say with a good laugh.  They call you “refugees” but it is indeed a glorious thing to be God’s refugees and to enjoy his shelter and His love...  Let them write if it pleases them to display their lack of faith in the Divine Life, we cannot be affected by that.


The Mother:   Sri Aurobindo says: Better to put behind you your past altogether and not reestablish broken ties.  It would be better not to write nor to send a wire.    A good advice to all the Ashramites in their dealings with visitors and foreigners (and even among themselves): “When you have nothing pleasant to say about something or somebody in the Ashram,. “You must know that this silence is faithfulness to the Divine’s work.”


The Mother:    Not to ask anything from people we do not know and we are not sure of their mind.  What I have written holds for of them.   ()  ()  What Sri Aurobindo has written is absolutely true and must be followed.


The Mother: There is only one new fact — from the beginning of this year a new consciousness has manifested and is working energetically to prepare the earth for the new creation.     On the occasion of Sri Aurobindo’s centenary, many people will come to the Ashram. What can we do to show them the reality of the Ashram?


The Mother: Live it. Live this reality. All the rest — talking, etc. — is of no use.   By communion with the psychic being, the incarnate Divine, deep within us, an intense aspiration, a perfect concentration, a constant dedication.


The Mother: First of all, from the ﬁnancial point of view, the principle on which our action is based is the following: money is not meant to make money. This idea that money must make money is a falsehood and a perversion.  Money is meant to increase the wealth, the prosperity and the productiveness of a group, a country or, better, of the whole earth. Money is a means, a force, a power, and not an end in itself. And like all forces and all powers, it is by movement and circulation that it grows and increases its power, not by accumulation and stagnation.


The Mother: What we are attempting here is to prove to the world, by giving it a concrete example, that by inner psychological realisation and outer organisation a world can be created where most of the causes of human misery will be abolished.     I am not in the habit of writing for money from anybody. If people do not feel that it is for them a great opportunity and Grace to be able to give their money for the Divine cause,  Money is needed for the work — money is bound to come; as for will have the privilege of giving it, that remains to be seen.


The Mother:   The money is not mine, the money belongs to the Ashram and the Ashram does not lend money. Also it cannot favour so particularly someone, especially when this person has not been too faithful to the Ashram.     I have received your letters and answered inwardly, conﬁdent that you are capable of receiving these intimate communications.


The Mother: But I feel something must be added to what I wrote to you already.  There is no question of going to people and collecting funds.  The thing to be done is to ﬁnd one man, or one ﬁnancial group, or one foundation that is in a position to dispose of the total amount needed and is ready to go into this adventure and to run the risk for the sake of doing something new and worthwhile.  Such a man or such people exist. There is only to make the two poles meet.


The Mother:   You should not ask their help for collecting such a small amount as ﬁfty thousand or a lakh of rupees. You must approach them with dignity and the sense of the importance of your mission.  Never forget that this work is not an ordinary superﬁcial one, but a work of the spirit and that it is sure to be done. It is not a charity that we are asking from these people, it is an opportunity that is given to them to come closer to their soul.


The Mother: Before starting the work, call me and I shall be there. My strength is always with you.    You must know that what you will have to coordinate in its most material and exterior form, is not merely an industry or a group of industries, nor a department in an administration,  nor a service in a state, but a small world in miniature containing potentially all the possibilities of a human collectivity, plus new and yet unknown potentialities (possibilities) still latent and waiting for manifestation.  You will ﬁnd already an embryo of organisation which has for its centre of coordination the symbol of the Divine Presence representing the One Supreme Master of the Universe.


The Mother: For here all works are dedicated to the Lord, the One who is all and contains all. And all works are done not for a personal proﬁt but as an offering of love, for here the only power we can dispose of is the power of love; and I am there simply as a symbol and a messenger to guide and unite the efforts.  Practically, if we were a little less short of funds, many difﬁculties would be wiped off.  We have to be careful about every expenditure and because of that many useful things are not done.  So, if you could ﬁnd one person or more who might be interested in the enterprise, rather the adventure — for it is nothing short of the creation of a new world — and if they were ready to help ﬁnancially, by gift or loan it would enable us to move more promptly and completely in our endeavour.


The Mother: This is the situation in brief. If you want more details, they can be given.    It is a great mistake to believe that I would agree to the unselﬁsh movement of some people only to satisfy the demands of those who remain selﬁsh and full of desires. The time of egoistic greed is over; each one will have to share in the effort towards economy.


The Mother:   In view of the present circumstances in India where the difﬁculties of supplies and transport (especially of food supplies) have  not diminished with the end of the war, I am obliged to request the inmates to be extremely careful to avoid all waste of any kind especially of food-stuff. So many people are lacking the most indispensable requirements of life.    Unhappily (?) the present difﬁculty is neither a ﬂood nor a famine, nor a war, nor an earthquake nor a conﬂagration or any of those things which move the human sentiments and make them dominate for a while the material desires named “needs”.


The Mother: Money difﬁculties generally make people dry and even bitter, if not rebellious. And I know of some people who are on the verge of losing their because I do not have all the money I need!     When money is missing it must be replaced by an immense effort of goodwill and organisation.


The Mother: It is that effort that I am asking for, a triumph over Tamas and lazy indifference.  I do not want anybody to give up but I want everyone to surpass himself.    It is just that that is leading the Ashram to ﬁnancial ruin.


The Mother: People in the Ashram receive all they truly need. I do not approve of any distribution of fruits and ﬂowers to the visitors. It is only an encouragement to greed and desire and indiscipline.  And if each one goes on doing what he thinks best, the whole organisation will end in a chaos.


The Mother: If business cannot be done with the true attitude of consecration to the Divine, then business will be stopped and banned from the Ashram as politics are banned for the same reason.   So unless the consciousness of the sadhaks recovers from this sad condition of confusion and pettiness, I shall ﬁnd myself under the necessity of forbidding all commercial activities as it will be proved that they cannot be done in the true spirit.   That is to say, the movement of consciousness has never ceased at any moment. It is not that a “movement of creation” was started and then stopped and then again started — constantly the consciousness is recreating, so to say, continues its creation; it is not a thing which has been done and which grows out of what has been done.


The Mother: It to be like this. The consciousness is at work constantly, and not as a continuation of what was before, but as a result of what it sees at each instant. In mental movement, there is the consequence of what has been done before — it is not that, it is the consciousness seeing what is to be done. It is extremely important to understand, because it is like this that it continues to work, for everything.  It is not at all a “formation” whose growth must be looked after: the consciousness at each second follows — it follows its own movement....


The Mother: That permits everything; it is just that which permits miracles, reversals, etc.; it permits everything. It is just the opposite of human creations. And it has been like that, it continues to be like that and it will always be like that as long as I am there.    Statistics and calculations are purely mental and here all mental rules are eventually contradicted by the working of the higher force.


The Mother: I am very fond of proper organisation — if those who organise want sincerely to do it — I require only clear and precise information. When this is given and there is sufﬁcient trust in the Organising Power it is sufﬁcient. The rest will be done.    ()


The Mother: The bad service comes always when the proper is lacking at the head.  A clear and precise vision of what is to be done and a steady, calm and ﬁrm will to have it done are the essential conditions for an organisation to be run properly. And as a general rule, never ask from others the virtues you do not possess yourself.   I have a strong feeling that in X department the supervision is not what it ought to be.


The Mother:   ( :) You replied very well, but obviously it is difﬁcult to give conscientiousness to someone who has none and to put heart into someone who is lazy.    The way out? It is to take it coolly, not to mind and to go on with the work quietly... expecting that better days will come...


The Mother:   Yes, the disorder is general. The only help is.


The Mother:   It is not that there is a dearth of people without work in the Ashram; but those who are without work are certainly so because they do not like to work; and for that disease it is very difﬁcult to ﬁnd a remedy — it is called laziness...    When human passions guide the work, I can only stand apart as a witness. I am politely informed of what is decided — never asked for what is to be done.


The Mother: I cannot give orders because if orders were disobeyed, it would automatically lead to a catastrophe.  So there is nothing else to do than to wait patiently for the passions to cool down and... hope for the best.  Perhaps some people may wake up to the necessity of working hard.


The Mother: There are too many conﬂicting opinions and feelings for me to give an order.    Now times are difﬁcult for everybody. There is war and everybody suffers.  Those who have the immense privilege of being here quiet and in safety must at least show their gratitude by discarding all petty quarrels and silly grievances.  Everyone must do his or her work conscientiously and earnestly, and overcome all obscure selﬁsh movements.


The Mother:    Do not take it as a personal affair. Disharmony and confusion are spread all over the world because of the resistance of the falsehood to the action of the Truth.


The Mother: Here as the action of the Truth is more conscious and concentrated, the resistance is exasperated. And in this great turmoil most of the individuals are moved like puppets by the forces in the conﬂict.    As for the conditions in the Ashram, it is as you say and probably worse. I shall say like Sri Aurobindo: unless the changes nothing can really be done.


The Mother: You will interfere — and it is good as an example and a demonstration — but the next day it will become worse.  We cannot even call down the Truth to manifest. The falsehood is so widely and deeply spread that the result would be a wholesale destruction. Yet the Grace is inﬁnite, it may ﬁnd out a way.


The Mother:     Sri Aurobindo says that he wishes to make an endeavour to set things right by yogic means rather than by steps of an exterior kind; but for this it is necessary that things should go on for some time as they are at present. For that your cooperation will be necessary and he is sure that he can count on your goodwill to make the necessary effort towards that end.


The Mother:   It remains absolutely true that I am mostly busy with something I consider more important than exterior organisation — for the moment — and that is why I expect each one to do his duty to the best of his capacity and with his eyes ﬁxed upon the magnitude of the Divine’s work which will surely help him in his personal difﬁculties.  Times are hard for everybody and in everything — but it is surely to teach us to overcome our limitations.    ( )


The Mother: This is very interesting but not unexpected. Since I have “retired”, each one seems to do according to his own ideas without correlation with the others and — under the pretext of not disturbing me — without consulting or even informing me!   Although by my own means I know more or less what is going on, I simply smile and do not interfere. Each one must learn by experience.


The Mother: I am waiting for the day when order will conquer disorder and harmony be the master of confusion. I am behind all effort in this direction.     Needless to say that my force and help is intensely with all those who, along with me, are ﬁghting this state of affairs.


The Mother: And all I  ask of them is to be conﬁdent and to endure. The Truth shall triumph.    I am blaming nothing, nor anybody and know that each one does the best he can.


The Mother: It is evident that the job is very difﬁcult.  But are we not here to conquer difﬁculties?    To do properly the work of the Ashram one must be strong and plastic enough to know how to utilise the inexhaustible Energy which is backing you all.  I expect everybody here to rise to the height of the needs.


The Mother: If we are not able to do even that much, how can we hope to be ready for the descent of the Light of Truth when it will come to manifest upon earth?...    When I give work to someone it is not only for the sake of the work but also as the best means to advance on the path of Yoga. When I gave you this work, I was quite aware of your difﬁculties and shortcomings, but at the same time I knew that if you opened yourself to my help and force you would be able to surmount these obstacles and at the same time to increase your consciousness and open yourself to the Divine’s Grace.  Now it is time for you to make a real progress and to check your outbursts of temper whenever your will is contradicted.


The Mother: If you want to please me — and I have no doubt of that — you will sincerely try to collaborate with X and to carry on with him the work.  I do not want anyone of you two to be the boss of the other — I want you both to feel as brothers, children of the same Mother, working sincerely and courageously for the sake of her love.   I hope you will agree to this and I assure you that my love and blessings will always be with you in this endeavour.    Here is exactly what I said to X: “I give you the responsibility of the enterprise, the organisation and the carrying on of it.


The Mother: The plans and projects will have to be shown to me for my sanction.  For the execution, I shall ask Y, whose enthusiasm I appreciate, to work with you according to the instructions you will give him and to fully collaborate, having in view that it is Sri Aurobindo’s and my work, and to do his utmost to make it a success.”  To yourself I say: Let the work start and be fully organised.  I have no intention of giving posts and positions before something is done and each one proves by acts what he is capable of doing.  It is by the efﬁciency and the quality of the work that I will judge the workers.


The Mother: And it is only afterwards that titles can be given.  Never forget that here it is for the that we are striving, not for the satisfaction of the ego.    I do not give positions to the sadhaks — I give them work; and to all I give an equal opportunity. It is those who prove to be most capable and most sincere, honest and faithful that have the biggest amount of work and the greatest responsibility.


The Mother: Whatever the external circumstances, they are, without exception, the objective projection of what is inside yourself. When in your work you ﬁnd something giving trouble outside, look within and you will ﬁnd in yourself the corresponding difﬁculty.   Change yourself and the circumstances will change.


The Mother:    I am glad that through experience you have become conscious of the fact that I am with you.  This is the true relation between us, much more than a superﬁcial contact.  1) Here, at the Ashram, our aim is to express a higher Truth, not to follow the ordinary human conventionalities.  I do not give to these ofﬁcial documents any undue importance.


The Mother: They are mere necessities in the present condition of the world, but do not correspond to any deep reality.  2) In the actualities of life the power of a man does not depend on an ofﬁcial title, but on the force and the light of his inner consciousness.   I have read your letters and am well satisﬁed with the conﬁdence you have in your capacity to do the work. It is true that you have the capacity, but you will agree that there is a difference between having the capacity and having the knowledge; and to have the knowledge of a work it must be learned.  So you must ﬁrst learn from those who know and the best way of learning is to see them do.


The Mother: When you will know and have proved your thoroughness, steadiness and faithfulness in doing the work, then I will entrust you with the full responsibility and give you the entire management of the work.     There are honest people but they do not have the capacity to work. There are capable people but they are not honest in their work.


The Mother: When I ﬁnd someone both honest and capable he becomes very precious.     Here every work represents something of the universe. When a new work is started here, new problems of the world come in.


The Mother: That is why I do not invite new problems, but if they come I do not avoid them. I have to bring down the highest consciousness; for that I must organise below and tackle all the problems.     Formerly I used to keep control over everything.


The Mother: Nothing would be done without my ﬁrst knowing and approving of it. Afterwards I adopted a different mode of acting. I withdrew from all the details and kept myself at a distance, watching things from above, as it were, and sending the right inspiration to each worker in his own ﬁeld.  This change was necessary for the worker’s spiritual development. He has to become aware of my inﬂuence inwardly.


The Mother: But he can receive it only if all the workers collaborate. Without collaboration the right inspiration will not be effective. The action from above has a wide sweep: it covers all the departments and is one harmonious whole. If walls are set up in the ﬁeld of work, dividing and breaking it up, the work can never be according to the spiritual Will.  So bear this in mind: no collaboration, no right working.


The Mother:   There is no question at all of “position” — nor of prestige. X has a lot of knowledge and experience of the stage that we do not have. She is willing to share it with us. So the only sensible thing for us to do is to learn as much as we can and to be grateful for it.


The Mother: Moreover never forget that we are working here for the Divine and that no egoistic feeling can be allowed to intervene and spoil the work.  Always present with you.     My dear child, X will come and see you, at my request, to make arrangements for his work in your department.  I ask you to receive him very affectionately, for he is my child just as you are, and to give him the opportunity to do some interesting work in which his capacities will be made good use of.


The Mother: I would like him to feel at ease and also to feel that he is there to do work.   My blessings.


The Mother: Without discipline no proper work is possible.  Without discipline no proper life is possible.   And above all, without discipline no Sadhana is possible.  Each department has necessarily a discipline and you must follow the discipline of your department.


The Mother: Personal feelings, grudges and misunderstandings must never interfere with the work which is done as a service to the Divine and not for human interests.  Your service to the Divine must be scrupulously honest, disinterested and unselﬁsh, otherwise it has no value.   Here nobody can be an exclusive head — everyone must learn to collaborate. It is a very good discipline for vanity, self-conceit and the excessive sense of personal importance.   In the Ashram, negligence in work is treachery.


The Mother:    In human life the cause of all difﬁculties, all discords, all moral sufferings, is the presence in everyone of the ego with its desires, its likes and dislikes. Even in a disinterested work which consists in helping others, until one has learned to overcome the ego and its demands, until one can force it to keep calm and quiet in one corner, the ego reacts to everything that displeases it, starts an inner storm that rises to the surface and spoils all the work.  This work of overcoming the ego is long, slow and difﬁcult; it demands constant alertness and sustained effort. This effort is easier for some and more difﬁcult for others.


The Mother: We are here in the Ashram to do this work together with the help of Sri Aurobindo’s knowledge and force, in an attempt to realise a community that is more harmonious, more united, and consequently much more effective in life.  As long as I was physically present among you all, my presence was helping you to achieve this mastery over the ego and so it was not necessary for me to speak to you about it individually very often.  But now this effort must become the basis of each individual’s existence, more especially for those of you who have a responsible position and have to take care of others. The leaders must always set the example, the leaders must always practise the virtues they demand from those who are in their care; they must be understanding, patient, enduring, full of sympathy and warm and friendly goodwill, not out of egoism to win friends for themselves, but out of generosity to be able to understand and help others.  To forget oneself, one’s own likings and preferences, is indispensable in order to be a true leader.


The Mother: That is what I am asking of you now, so that you can face your responsibilities as you should. And then you will ﬁnd that where you used to feel disorder and disunity, they have vanished, and harmony, peace and joy have taken their place.  You know that I love you and that I am always with you to  sustain you, help you and show you the way.  Blessings.


The Mother:   You seem to forget that by the fact that you are living in the Ashram, it is neither for yourself nor for a boss that you are working, but for the Divine. Your life must be entirely consecrated to the Divine Work and cannot be governed by petty human considerations.   Whatever is done here, must be done in a spirit of complete collaboration with one single aim in view — the service of the Divine.


The Mother:   A community life must necessarily have a discipline in order that the weaker may not be maltreated by the stronger; and this discipline ought to be respected by all those who wish to live in that community.  But for the community to be happy it is necessary that this discipline should be determined by someone or by those who have the greatest broadness of mind and, if possible, by him or by those who are conscious of the Divine Presence and are surrendered to that.  For the earth to be happy, power should be in the hands of those alone who are conscious of the Divine Will. But this is impossible at the moment because the number of those who are  conscious of the Divine Will is negligible and these have necessarily no ambition.


The Mother: To tell the truth, when the hour comes for this realisation, this will come about quite naturally.   The duty of each one is to prepare oneself for that as completely as one can.    I agree that the gate condition is rather distressing. But to write down instructions is very difﬁcult because of all the details that would have to be mentioned.


The Mother:   To the gate-keepers and inmates of the Library House I have repeatedly said that the “soup verandah” must be kept neat and tidy, free from all personal objects (cups, tumblers, ﬂasks, shoes and sandals, etc.) straying all over the place. It is the most unbecoming sight to give to the visitors entering through the Ashram gate.  I expect not to have to repeat it another time, and that this order will be carried out scrupulously.


The Mother:   Gate Duty  The Mother considers the duty of the gate-keeper very important and of great responsibility. This duty should be performed with care and vigilance.


The Mother: Visitors and those coming for inquiry or business should be received with due courtesy, if required offered a seat, and given the necessary information or possible assistance. No distinction should be made between persons.   For any out-of-the-ordinary inquiry, the secretary should be approached.  It will be within the right of the gate-keeper to request people waiting in the gate area without purpose or gathering  in groups, to leave the place.


The Mother: He also should not enter into long conversations with other members of the Ashram, nor should he indulge himself in writing, reading or doing anything else than to concentrate on his duty.  No unauthorised person should be allowed to go into the Ashram compound without permission.  Servants are expected not to touch the ﬁlter. They should take water from the cycle-house. In case of need the inmates should accompany the servants.


The Mother: The gate area should be kept quiet and tidy.  The gate should not be left in charge of any other than those appointed for the work.§


The Mother: The Mother wants that the people responsible for receiving the visitors should always be very polite and gentle in their behaviour towards them. High and low, young and old, whether they are well-dressed or ill-clad, all should always be received properly with benevolence and good behaviour. It is not necessary that the better dressed people may be more ﬁt for being received well in this Ashram. It should not be that we give more care to the people with a motor car than to an ordinary man looking like a beggar. We must never forget that they are as much human as we are and we have no right to think that we are at the top of the scale.


The Mother: And our politeness should not be merely an outer form, stiff politeness, so to say. It must be something coming from within.  Whatever may be the difﬁculties and whatever may be the circumstances — Mother fully knows even to the minutest detail the circumstances, when we lose our temper and get irritated in our work, and knowing that fully well she says — whatever may be the circumstances, rudeness or curt behaviour is never permissible.   There are difﬁculties in our way, but Mother says that as a rule our difﬁculties and our troubles are always such that we do have the capacity of overcoming them. If we can remain at our best we shall always be able to tackle the situation without losing control.


The Mother: Remember, each time we lose control of ourselves, each time we get angry or we have to use the outer means of keeping discipline, it means that at that moment we have fallen low and we could not rise up to the situation. In everything, in every way, it boils down to one rule — always endeavour to make progress, try to be your true self. Even if you have not been able to do it today you must be able to do it tomorrow. But the full effect must be there. Never forget in your action that you are representing the Ashram.


The Mother: People will judge the Ashram from your behaviour. Even if you have to say No, even if you have to reject somebody’s request, you can do it with all politeness and courtesy. Try to help each one. Even if others are rude to you, it is not a reason for you to do likewise. If you behave in the same way as the outsiders do, then what is the fun of your being here.§


The Mother: You should be very polite with those who depend upon you for their living. If you ill-treat them, they feel very much but cannot reply to you as man to man for fear of losing their job.  There may be some dignity in being rough with your superiors, but with those who depend on you, the true dignity is to be very courteous.