The Mother with Letters on the Mother  

 

Contents

 

Pre-Content

 

 

PART ONE

THE MOTHER

 

PART TWO

LETTERS ON THE MOTHER

 

Section One

The Mother: Individual, Universal, Transcendent

 

The Mother and the Purpose of Her Embodiment

Who Is the Mother?

The Mother and the Supramental Descent

Sri Aurobindo's Recognition of the Mother

 

The Mother: Some Events in Her Life

The Mother's Year of Birth

Early Visions and Experiences

Studying Occultism with Max Théon

Early Occult Experiences

Meeting Jnan Chakrabarti

Arrival in Pondicherry

Some Occult and Spiritual Experiences

The Mother's Illness in 1931 and Her Temporary Retirement

 

Three Aspects of the Mother

Individual, Universal, Transcendent

The Universal Mother and the Individual Mother

The Mother's Universal Action and Her Embodied Physical Action

Concentration on the Embodied Mother

The Transcendental Mother and the Embodied Mother

The Transcendent Mother and the Higher Hemisphere

The Eternal Mother

 

The Mother, the Divine and the Lower Nature

The Consciousness and Force of the Divine

The Mother in the Tantra

The Mother in the Gita

The One and the Supreme Mother

The Cosmic Divine and the Mother

The Self, the Divine and the Mother

The Mother and Self —Realisation

The Mother, the Jivatman and the Soul

The Mother's Interest in the World

The Mother and the Lower Prakriti

 

Forms, Powers, Personalities and Appearances of the Mother

Nirguna and Saguna (Formless and with Form)

Many Powers and Forms

Adyashakti

Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati

Maheshwari

Mahakali

Krishna —Mahakali

Mahakali and Kali

Kali

Durga

Mahalakshmi

Mahasaraswati

The Radha —Power

The Mother's Vibhutis

Different Appearances of the Mother

False Appearances of the Mother

 

Section Two

The Mother, Sri Aurobindo and the Integral Yoga

 

Two in One

One Consciousness

One Force

One Path

No Less nor Greater

One in Two Bodies

Appendix: Two Texts

 

Incarnation and Evolution The Mystery of Incarnation

The Reason for Their Embodiment

Connections in Past Lives

Carrying on the Evolution

The Guru, the Divine and the Truth

The Mother, Sri Aurobindo and the Overmind

The Mother, Sri Aurobindo and the Supramental Descent

The Triple Transformation and Control over Death

 

Difficulties of the Pathfinders

The Burden of Humanity

Difficulties and the Sunlit Path

Vital Sensitiveness

Self —imposed Bareness

Joyous Sacrifice

No Grand Trunk Road

 

Helpers on the Way

Sadhana through the Mother and Sri Aurobindo

The Only Way to Advance

Taking Refuge in Their Protection

Their Attitude towards the Sadhaks

Faithfulness to the Light and the Call

Openness to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo

Their Presence

Calling the Mother and Sri Aurobindo

Receiving Their Influence

Following a Hostile Influence

Misinterpreting Their Words

Criticisms, Humility and Faith

Taking on the Sadhaks' Difficulties

Dealing with the Sadhaks

Awareness of the Sadhaks' Movements

Their Knowledge of Human Nature

Their Patience

Their Help

Speaking One's Thoughts Freely

Sri Aurobindo's Coming out of Retirement

 

The Mother and Sri Aurobindo in Dreams, Visions and Experiences

Visions, Dreams and Experiences of Their Unity

Other Dreams and Experiences

 

Section Three

The Mother and the Practice of the Integral Yoga

 

Yoga Aspiration and Surrender to the Mother

Yoga, Sadhana, Dhyana

Aspiration

Aspiration and the Psychic

The Psychic Fire and Offering

Aspiration, Rejection, Surrender

Surrender to the Mother

 

Opening, Sincerity and the Mother's Grace

The Meaning of Opening

Opening to the Mother and the Integral Yoga

Loyalty and Fidelity

The Psychic and Opening

Sincerity

The Mother's Grace

Opening and Presence

 

The Mother's Presence

She Is Always Present

Feeling the Mother's Presence

Spiritual Possibility due to the Mother's Presence

The Mother's Presence and the Adverse Forces

The Mother's Presence and Human Imperfection

The Mother's Emanations

The Mother's Knowledge and Her Emanations

The Mother's Awareness of Thoughts and Actions

Feeling the Mother's Presence and Seeing Visions

Feeling the Mother's Presence through a Photograph

Remembering the Mother and Feeling Her Presence

The Psychic and the Mother's Presence

Feeling the Mother's Presence in Sleep

Feeling the Mother's Presence at Work

Union with the Mother

 

The Mother's Force

What Is the Mother's Force?

Progress in Sadhana and the Mother's Force

Reliance on the Mother's Force

Becoming Conscious of the Mother's Force

Descent of the Mother's Force

Pressure of the Descending Force

Faith and the Working of the Mother's Force

Surrender to the Mother and the Working of Her Force

Assimilation of the Mother's Force

Calling the Mother's Force

Receptivity and Openness to the Mother's Force

Pulling the Mother's Force

The Mother's Force and the Forces of the Lower Nature

The Mother's Force and the Three Gunas

Conditions for the Working of the Mother's Force

Discrimination and the Working of the Mother's Force

Mental Knowledge and the Working of the Mother's Force

The Mother's Force and the Body

The Mother's Therapeutic Force

Receiving the Mother's Force at a Distance

 

Sadhana through Work for the Mother

Finding the Mother's Force in Work and Action

Work for the Mother in the Integral Yoga

Work for the Mother as Karmayoga

Following the Mother's Will

The Mother's Consciousness and the Divine Law

Opening to the Mother in Work

Remembering the Mother in Work

Offering Actions to the Mother

Work for the Mother and the Worker's Ego

 

The Mother's Lights

Lights and the Mother

The Mother's White Light

The Mother's Diamond Light

The Golden Light of Mahakali

Seeing Light around the Mother

 

The Mother in Visions, Dreams and Experiences

Seeing the Mother in Visions and Dreams

Developing the Ability to See the Mother

Experiences of the Mother and Her Powers

Hearing the Mother's Voice

Visions, Voices and Progress in Sadhana

 

The Mother's Help in Difficulties

Difficulties and the Mother's Help

Difficulties and the Mother's Force

Difficulties and the Mother's Grace

Turning to the Mother for Help

Personal Effort and the Mother's Help

Opening to the Mother in Difficulty

The Mother's Protection

Calling the Mother in Difficulty

Praying to the Mother

The Mother's Help and the Hostile Forces

Natural Disasters, Adverse Forces and the Mother's Help

Helping Others and the Mother's Help

The Mother's Help in Worldly Matters

 

Section Four

The Mother in the Life of the Ashram

 

The Mother and the Sadhana in the Ashram

The Mother Does the Sadhana

The Mother's Victory

Being Taken Up by the Mother

Broad Lines of the Sadhana

The Mother and Other Paths of Yoga

Turning Entirely to the Mother

Acceptance of the Mother

Confidence in the Mother

Recognising the Mother's Divinity

Discontent with the Mother

 

The Mother as Guru and Guide

The Mother's Way of Dealing with Sadhaks

The Mahakali Method

Understanding the Mother's Actions

Misunderstanding the Mother's Words

Asking Questions to the Mother

Writing to the Mother

Leaving the Mother and the Ashram

 

The Mother and the Discipline in the Ashram

The Mother in Sole Charge of the Ashram

Demands on the Mother's Time

The Mother and Material Things

The Mother and the Vital Difficulties of the Sadhaks

The Mother's Attitude towards Quarrels between the Sadhaks

The Mother and the Satisfaction of Desires

The Mother and the Control of Sexual Desire

Uneasiness in Mixing with Others

The Mother's Advice on Some Practical Matters

Imitation of "Great Sadhaks"

 

Work for the Mother in the Ashram

All Ashram Work Is the Mother's Work

Doing Work for the Mother

Work for the Mother and Kartavyam Karma

Work, Sadhana and the Mother

Vital Energy and the Mother's Work

The Mother and the Organisation of Work

The Mother's Use of Department Heads

The Mother and Clashes between Workers

The Mother and Mistakes in Work

 

Relation between the Mother and Her Children

True Relation with the Mother

Inner Contact with the Mother

The Right Way of Loving the Mother

Receiving What the Mother Gives

Telling the Whole Truth

Psychic Relation with the Mother

The Vital Element of Love

Devotion or Bhakti for the Mother

Consecration to the Mother

The Mother's Love

Inner Union and Outer Relation with the Mother

Relation with the Mother and with Others

False Suggestions of the Mother's Displeasure

Nearness to the Mother and Progress in Sadhana

Closeness to the Mother and Speaking French

Special Relation with the Mother

 

Meeting the Mother

Right Attitude during Interviews with the Mother

Impossibility of Giving Interviews to Everyone

Interviews with Outsiders

Significance of Birthday Interviews

Right Use of Birthday Interviews

Group Meditation with the Mother

The Morning Pranam

Experiences during Pranam

Right Way to Make Pranam

The Mother's Expression at Pranam

The Mother's Smile at Pranam

Smiles and Seriousness

Wrong Ideas about the Mother's Showing Displeasure

Wrong Ideas about the Mother's Smile and Touch

The Mother's Hand at Pranam

Feeling the Mother's Touch at Pranam

Flowers at Pranam

Avoiding Pranam

Pranam and Non —Pranam Days

Fixed Places at Pranam

The Change from Pranam to Meditation

Outsiders at Pranam

Making Pranam at a Distance

Making Pranam to Others

Pranam in the Reception Hall

The Soup Ceremony

The Value of Darshan

Public Darshan Days

The First Blessing

 

Aspects of the Mother's Life in the Ashram

The Mother's Music

The Mother's Attitude towards Music and Other Arts

Golconde

The French Book L'Ether Vivant

Meeting the Dead

Speaking to People about Past Lives

Sending Ethereal Beings to the Sadhaks

An Occult or Yogic Faculty

The Mother Takes upon Herself Difficulties and Illnesses

The Mother and Medicines

The Mother and Eye Treatment

Giving Money to the Mother

The Mother's Accounts

The Mother's Attire

The Mother's Photograph

The Mother's Naming of Cats

The Mother's Symbol

The Mother's Flag

 

Section Five

On Three Works of the Mother

 

On Prières et Méditations de la Mère

General Comments on the Mother's Prières

Comments on Specific Prières

Hearing the Mother Read Her Prières

Reading the Mother's Prières

 

On Conversations with the Mother

Comments Mother's Conversations and Prières

 

On Entretiens avec la Mère

Comments on Specific Entretiens

 

PART THREE

TRANSLATIONS OF PRAYERS OF THE MOTHER

 

Prayers and Meditations

November 28, 1913

February 15, 1914

August 27, 1914

August 31, 1914

September 1, 1914

September 25, 1914

September 28, 1914

September 30, 1914

October 5, 1914

October 7, 1914

October 14, 1914

October 25, 1914

November 8, 1914

February 15, 1915

March 3, 1915

March 7, 1915

March 8, 1915

December 26, 1916

December 27, 1916

December 29, 1916

March 31, 1917

April 28, 1917

July 12, 1918

December 28, 1928

 

Radha's Prayer

Radha's Prayer

 

NOTE ON THE TEXTS

Section Two

 

The Mother, Sri Aurobindo

and the Integral Yoga

 


Two in One

 

One Consciousness

 

The opposition between the Mother's consciousness and my consciousness was an invention of the old days (due mainly to X, Y and others of that time) and emerged in a time when the Mother was not fully recognised or accepted by some of those who were here at the beginning. Even after they had recognised her they persisted in this meaningless opposition and did great harm to them and others. The Mother's consciousness and mine are the same, the one Divine Consciousness in two, because that is necessary for the play. Nothing can be done without her knowledge and force, without her consciousness  —if anybody really feels her consciousness, he should know that I am there behind it and if he feels me it is the same with hers. If a separation is made like that (I leave aside the turns which their minds so strongly put upon these things), how can the Truth establish itself  —from the Truth there is no such separation.

13 November 1934

One Force

 

Is there any difference in your working and the Mother's working  —I mean any difference in the force or effectivity?

No, it is a single Power.

23 May 1933

 

*

 

 

Of course you are right in saying we are one and whatever is given is from both. If I give, the Mother's Force goes with it, or else the sadhak would get nothing, and if the Mother gives, my support goes with it and gives it my light as well as the Mother's. It is two sides of one indivisible action, one carrying with it the

 

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other. It is the Mother's Force that gives the push, but also the peace.

16 July 1936

 

*

 

 

Whatever one gets from the Mother, comes from myself also  —there is no difference. So, too, if I give anything, it is by the Mother's Force that it goes to the sadhak.

20 August 1936

One Path

 

There is something undivine in the world, a part that seems obscure; I said to the Mother that its truth here is expressed by the Mother's Light. The other truth is expressed by Sri Aurobindo's Light. They are two different paths and seem to be poles apart, yet they meet some place above.

If you allow such strange and wrong ideas to get hold of you, it is not surprising that you get confusion and find it difficult to make any steady progress.

The Mother's consciousness is the divine Consciousness and the Light that comes from it is the light of the divine Truth; the Force that she brings down is the force of the divine Truth. One who receives and accepts and lives in the Mother's light, will begin to see the truth on all the planes, the mental, the vital, the physical. He will reject all that is undivine; the undivine is the falsehood, the ignorance, the error of the dark forces; the undivine is all that is obscure and unwilling to accept the divine Truth and its light and force. The undivine, therefore, is all that is unwilling to accept the light and force of the Mother. That is why I am always telling you to keep yourself in contact with the Mother and with her Light and Force, because it is only so that you can come out of the confusion and obscurity and receive the Truth that comes from above.

When we speak of the Mother's Light or my Light in a special sense, we are speaking of a special occult action  —we are speaking of certain lights which come from the Supermind. In this action the Mother's is the white Light which purifies, illumines, brings down the whole essence and power of the Truth

 

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and makes the transformation possible. But in fact all light that comes from above, from the highest divine Truth is the Mother's.

There is no difference between the Mother's path and mine; we have and have always had the same path, the path that leads to the supramental change and the divine realisation; not only at the end, but from the beginning they have been the same.

The attempt to set up a division and opposition of this kind, putting the Mother on one side and myself on another and opposite or quite different side, has always been a trick of the forces of the Falsehood when they want to prevent a sadhaka from reaching the Truth. Dismiss all such falsehoods from your mind.

Know that the Mother's light and force are the light and force of the Truth; remain always in contact with the Mother's light and force, then only can you grow into the divine Truth.

10 September 1931

 

*

 

 

I want to ask whether the idea of the Mother is the same as that of God. I thought that what we call Sri Aurobindo's Light or the Supramental Light leads to the realisation of God, while the realisation of the Mother is the realisation of Consciousness going parallel and also beyond in its separateness. If the One is the Mother, then does Sri Aurobindo's Light lead to something different, such as the ideals of the Upanishads  —the realisation of the Purusha etc.? These differences never seem to meet in oneness.

I wrote once before that these ideas about the separation between the Mother and myself and our paths being different or our goal different are quite erroneous. Our path is the same; our goal too is the same  —the Supramental Divine.

24 February 1932

 

*

 

 

Mother was doing Yoga before she knew or met Sri Aurobindo; but their lines of sadhana independently followed the same course. When they met, they helped each other in perfecting the

 

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sadhana. What is known as Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is the joint creation of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother; they are now completely identified  —the sadhana in the Asram and all arrangement is done directly by the Mother, Sri Aurobindo supports her from behind. All who come here for practising Yoga have to surrender themselves to the Mother who helps them always and builds up their spiritual life.

 

No Less nor Greater

 

I feel the Divine as spirit everywhere, pulling me towards Him. He is the Self of all and the Master of all. I feel He is greater than the Mother. I feel He is the Divine who is embodied in my Father Sri Aurobindo.

It is one aspect of the Divine  —but the Divine as the Self and Lord and the Divine as the Mother are the same  —there is no less nor greater.

31 March 1934

 

*

 

 

Why do some people here consider you greater than the Mother? Are not both of you from the same plane? Is it not a veil over the human vision that makes such a distinction?

It is the minds that see surface things only and cannot see what is behind them.

28 March 1935

One in Two Bodies

 

Mother and I are one but in two bodies; there is no necessity for both the bodies to do the same thing always. On the contrary, as we are one it is quite sufficient for one to sign, just as it is quite sufficient for one to go down to receive Pranam or give meditation.

 

*

 

 

The Mother and I are one and equal. Also she is supreme here and has the right to arrange the work as she thinks best for the

 

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work, no one has any right or claim or proprietorship over any work that may be given him. The Asram is the Mother's creation and would not have existed but for her, the work she does is her creation and has not been given to her and cannot be taken from her. Try to understand this elementary truth, if you want to have any right relation or attitude towards the Mother.

June 1935

 

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APPENDIX

 

Two Texts

 

Sri Aurobindo wrote these two pieces around 1927, soon after the Mother took up the charge of the Ashram. In the first, he speaks from the point of view of the Mother; in the second, he speaks from the point of view of "the God of Wealth". The second piece may have been written for a disciple who had undertaken to collect money for the Ashram.

1

 

I am the Shakti of Sri Aurobindo alone, and the Mother of all my children.

My children are all equally part of my consciousness and of my being. When transformed and realised, all will have an equal right to manifest each one an aspect of myself and Sri Aurobindo.

It is the unity of all in the solidarity of a common manifestation that will allow the creation of the new and divine world upon the Earth. Each will bring his part, but no part will be complete except as a power in the solidarity of the whole.

 

2

 

I am the God of Wealth, the Strong and Splendid, I am the Master of the thousands and the Regent of the millions, I am the puissant Creator, the full —handed gatherer, the opulent disposer of treasures. All the riches of every kind that are in the earth and on the earth and below it and all the riches that are in the waters are mine by right; I have power over all their plenitudes. My power is for the Mother; I call all these riches for her, that I may dedicate them to her, that I may lay them at the feet of the Mother of Radiances, ॐ तथास्तु.

 

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