Works of Sri Aurobindo

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58_August 20_1969.htm

August 20, 1969

(The Vatican disciple has arrived in Pondicherry)

I saw PL…. There are two things, first a personal one, then a more

 general one. He said the last time he saw you, after leaving you he

went to the Samadhi, and there he suddenly had an extremely sharp

 pain in the lower abdomen. But he said it was very strange because

 it didn’t feel like an ordinary pain: it didn’t stop him from walk

ing about, but it remained centered there – a sharp pain.

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As for me, I am afraid those people there may have cast a spell on him.

You think it’s that? … I don’t know; when he said that, I felt it

 was one of the lower "centers" that was touched by the Light.

(Mother shakes her head) And did that pain stay long?

I don’t know, for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes.

And then gone.

It was after seeing you, while he was at the Samadhi.

I think those people are quite capable. of casting a spell.

Yes, but you being here, it shouldn’t have the power to touch him.

Ah, no, it’s not like that! It’s done consciously against … not against him, but against what lie receives here. So it changes his personal sensation (they’re very skilled at those things); to his personal sensation, the sense of Ananda, of … (it’s not quite a "joy," it’s really the Ananda of the presence of the Force) is turned into pain. That they know how to do. For the very sensation.

Because it’s well known that in a general way, when the Light

 touches the lower centers, sometimes it provokes this violent

 sensation.

Yes … But it didn’t hurt him; I mean he felt in pain, but it didn’t hurt him.

It didn’t, it had no physical effect.

Yes, that’s right.

You see, if there were nothing in his mental or vital or physical makeup to respond to those people’s force, he wouldn’t have felt any pain – but there’s necessarily something. And that’s what made him feel it as a pain, whereas it’s not a true pain.

Certainly there is still something in him that can get afraid (that I saw), and its enough. It acts as a link.

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Is he going back, or staying some more time?

He is staying for a few weeks.

Then I’ll see him once more, because I’d like to try and do something.

The day before that incident, lie had a vision (I don’t know if

 there’s any connection). He was with me, we were walking together

on a mountain road; I was holding his hand. Then, after some

 time, he felt tired; he said to me, "Oh, I am tired." But I was

 holding his hand, and I told him, "Come." We walked on in that

 mountain, then once again he said, "You are going too fast for

me, I can’t follow you." Again I told him, "Come," and pulled

 him along. Then we reached the top of that mountain, it was al

l in light, and there was a sort of precipice. And it seems I hurled

 him into the precipice- without any violence, any movement of

 passion: I simply flung him into the precipice. And he went

 down-he told me, "It wasn’t a fall, it was rather a descent; I

 wasn’t at all going to crash down at the bottom: I was just going

 down." And he saw my eyes at the top. He felt no passion, no

violence, nothing of that sort in me, but simply, quietly, I hurled

him into the void.

It means his mind is affected.

Affected?

Yes, by them.

(long silence)

I’ll see him one more time.

Shall I go on?

Yes, yes.

He told me he felt he was going to be excluded from the Vatican

 this year.

Oh!

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He’s had that sensation. He said, "They will do it as they usu

ally do; they generally give you a promotion somewhere: they

 might, for instance, nominate me bishop of [such and such a

 country]." Then he would be driven out of the Vatican. But when

something of that kind happens, you are put "under the Holy

 Office," which means you cannot talk to anyone and are obliged

 to answer with yes or no. "If this situation comes," asks PL.,

"what shall I do? Should I fight it out to assert my place at the

Vatican, because they must give me the reasons for my exclu

sion" (he can openly challenge their intentions), "or should I

 accept, get caught tip in the meshes of a post such as that of

bishop [of such and such a country], with, at the same time, a

 rather widespread sphere of action-should I accept that? Or

what should I do in that case?" His sensation is that he is going

 to be excluded from the Vatican this year.

Officially, is it the Pope who does it, or the cardinals?

It’s always on the cardinals’ suggestion. It’s not the Pope who

 does it, it’s merely put to his signature.

No, but I mean …

No, no! I don’t think the Pope has anything against P.L., but

 there’s a small clique around him which manipulates things-

 and imprisons him.

Yes, that’s it, he is imprisoned.

Yes, PL. told me, "He is imprisoned.

What’s his post at the Vatican?

He is on the tribunal that rules on all divorce cases and so on.

 It’s called the "Rota," and it’s the highest ecclesiastical tribunal.

And what is he there?

I think there are six judges, and he is one of them.

It’s better he doesn’t stay there.

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It’s better? … Should he accept a "Promotion" elsewhere?

Yes. It doesn’t matter.

Are those people paid?

Yes. They’re playing all kinds of nasty tricks on him, by paying

 him less, in fact; they play all kinds of dirty tricks to try and drive

 him away.

It’s better he goes.

Should he go on his own authority, or wait for the time to come?

No, let him wait.

(silence)

That’s the first lesson one must learn in order to do the true work: not to have any self-regard. Things must roll off you without affecting you. That’s VERY IMPORTANT.

(silence)

Are bishops free to do what they like? I mean, can they travel?

Yes, yes.

They can?

Yes, they have great independence. Of course, they must refer all

 religious decisions, but otherwise they are very free.

In their private lives.

Yes.

If they do that, it will be good.

He just has to stay still.

Is there something else?

Yes, he has had a vision of a much more general order. All of a

 sudden he had the sensation that the Pope was dead. It was the

 same atmosphere as at the time of Pius XII’s death and John XXIII’s

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 death: "The Pope is dead." Then all the cardinals met in a conclave

closeted to elect a new Pope as usual. And they couldn’t manage

 to elect a new Pope; time was passing, but they couldn’t manage

to elect a new Pope-the Pope was dead, but they couldn’t elect one.

 Then, suddenly, on the Vatican fell a bomb – all the cardinals

 were crushed, the whole Vatican was crushed by that bomb. And

 all at once, he saw that bomb turn into a sort of golden sun, or

 golden ball, and out of all the Vatican’s museums (which had

 been crushed-those places where there were Michelangelos and

all those treasures), there came an army of rats!

(Mother laughs)

… Rats and "malformed" beasts, he told me. Out of all those

 treasures of the Vatican, there only came rats all over the place ….

And at the same time, there was the sensation of those few hun

dred millions of faithful who were there, wondering, "What are

 we to do? What are we going to do? …

It’s interesting.

(silence)

Are the Popes always elected from among the cardinals?

Always, yes, from among the College of Cardinals. [[There were exceptions, as we shall see later (on 13 September). ]]

(long silence)

There have already been two more Popes than what had been predicted.

Really?

The last two: this one and the preceding one. We’ll see.

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