February 15, 1964
(After various remarks or observations which, unfortunately, Satprem did not keep:)
Ah, to work now! (Mother laughs) One plays all the time … one has the feeling that life is nothing but play! …
***
(Then the question comes up of Mother’s photograph with a veil and the date when it was taken. That photograph is to be included in Satprem’s book on Sri Aurobindo, and Mother had said to date it 1914.)
The photo was taken in 19 … (Mother tries to remember).
1903, according to J.
No. That was the first time I went to Tlemcen … it must have been in 1905 – at least 1905, if not 1906.[[Mother went to Tlemcen twice, in 1906 and 1907. ]]
I never remember dates, I only remember circumstances.
I know it was the first time I went to Tlemcen. And I remember having said that I began my “conscious yoga” when I was twenty-five (twenty-five, that’s in 1908[[ Actually, Mother was twenty-five in 1903. ]]), what I call my “conscious yoga,” that is, certain practices. It was in 1908. And Théon was three years earlier. Only, I had known Théon one year before going to Tlemcen, so it was perhaps 1904, and the photo was perhaps taken in 1905. But you know, I am not much good with dates! Anyway, it was between 1903 and 1908.
But I hadn’t changed: my appearance was exactly the same when I came here. So for your book, we’ll say 1914, according to the appearance; in other words, that’s how I looked when I met Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1914. Voilà.
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