When and how did I become conscious
of a mission which I was to fulfill on earth? And when and how I met Sri
Aurobindo?
These two questions you have asked
me and I promised a short reply.
For the knowledge of the mission,
it is difficult to say when it came to me. It is as though I were born with it,
and following the growth of the mind and brain, the precision and completeness
of this consciousness grew also.
Between 11 and 13 a series of
psychic and spiritual experiences revealed to me not only the existence of God
but man's possibility of uniting with Him, of realising Him integrally in
consciousness and action, of manifesting Him upon earth in a life divine. This,
along with a practical discipline for its fulfilment, was given to me during my
body's sleep by several teachers, some of whom I met afterwards on the physical
plane.
Later on, as the interior and
exterior development proceeded, the spiritual and psychic relation with one of
these beings became more and more clear and frequent; and although I knew
little of the Indian philosophies and religions at that time I was led to call
him Krishna, and henceforth I was aware that it was with him (whom I knew I
should meet on earth one day) that the divine work was to be done.
In the year 1910 my husband came
alone to
As soon as I saw Sri Aurobindo I
recognised in him the well-known being whom I used to call
[Words of the Mother, Vol.
13, p.38,
Myself
I belong to no nation, no
civilisation, no society, no race, but to the Divine.
I obey no master, no ruler, no law,
no social convention, but the Divine.
To Him I have surrendered all,
will, life and self; for Him I am ready to give all my blood, drop by drop, if
such is His Will, with complete joy; and nothing in His service can be
sacrifice, for all is perfect delight.
[Words of Long Ago, Vol. 2, p.166
(February, 1920, Japan)]
...The most important thing for an
individual is to unify himself around his divine centre; in that way he becomes
a true individual, master of himself and his destiny. Otherwise, he is a
plaything of forces that toss him about like a piece of cork on a river… It is
a rather unpleasant sensation to feel yourself pulled by the strings and made
to do things whether you want to or not—that is quite irrelevant—but to be
compelled to act because something pulls you by the strings, something which
you do not even see—that is exasperating. However, I do not know, but I found
it very exasperating, even when I was quite a child. At five, it began to seem
to me quite intolerable and I sought for a way so that it might be otherwise—without
people getting a chance to scold me. For I knew nobody who could help me and I
did not have the chance that you have, someone who can tell you "This is
what you have to do!" There was nobody to tell me that. I had to find it
out all by myself. And I found it. I started at five.
[Questions and Answers 1953, Vol.
5, p.139 (1 July 1953)]
For example, once when I was
walking in the mountains, I was on a path where there was only room for one—on
one side the precipice, on the other sheer rock. There were three children
behind me and a fourth person bringing up the rear. I was leading. The path ran
along the edge of the rock; we could not see where we were going—and besides,
it was very dangerous; if anyone had slipped, he would have been over the edge.
I was walking in front when suddenly I saw, with other eyes than these—although
I was watching my steps carefully—I saw a snake, there, on the rock, waiting on
the other side. Then I took one step, gently, and indeed on the other side
there was a snake. That spared me the shock of surprise, because I had seen and
I was advancing cautiously; and as there was no shock of surprise, I was able
to tell the children without giving them a shock, "Stop, keep quiet, don't
stir."
[On Thoughts and Aphorisms, Vol. 10, p. 131]
At the beginning of my present
earthly existence I came into contact with many people who said that they had a
great inner aspiration, an urge towards something deeper and truer, but that
they were tied down, subjected, slaves to that brutal necessity of earning
their living, and that this weighed them down so much, took up so much of their
time and energy that they could not engage in any other activity, inner or
outer. I heard this very often, I saw many poor people—I don't mean poor from
the monetary point of view, but poor because they felt imprisoned in a material
necessity, narrow and deadening.
I was very young at that time, and
I always used to tell myself that if ever I could do it, I would try to create
a little world—oh! quite a small one, but still... a small world where people
would be able to live without having to be preoccupied with food and lodging
and clothing and the imperative necessities of life, so as to see whether all
the energies freed by this certainty of a secure material living would turn
spontaneously towards the divine life and the inner realisation.
[Questions and Answers 1956, Vol. 8, p. 161(30 May 1956)]
Is it useful to note down one's
dreams?
Yes, for more than a year I applied
myself to this kind of self-discipline. I noted down everything—a few words,
just a little thing, an impression—and I tried to pass from one memory to
another. At first it was not very fruitful, but at the end of about fourteen
months I could follow, beginning from the end, all the movements, all the
dreams right up to the beginning of the night.
[Questions and Answers 1950-51, Vol. 4, p. 62(27 January 1951)]
Is there anyone here who has
fainted suddenly, as if by accident? You see your body, don't you? and you ask
yourself, "But what is it doing there in that ridiculous position?"
And you rush back into it! That happened to me once in
[Questions and Answers 1950-51, Vol. 4, p. 125(19 February 1951)]
Once, I remember, four of us had
gone on a walking tour across the mountains of
[Questions and Answers 1950-51, Vol. 4, p. 385 (5 May 1951)]
[Mother
is about to begin reading the first pages of Quelques Paroles, Quelques
Prieres]
The first texts were written in
1912. Many of you were not yet born. It was a small group of about twelve
people who met once a week. A subject was given; an answer was to be prepared
for the following week. Each one brought along his little work. Generally, I
too used to prepare a short paper and, at the end, I read it out.
[Questions and Answers 1953, Vol. 5, p. 352 (11 November 1953)]
I can tell you one thing, that is,
when I began with Sri Aurobindo to descend for the yoga, to descend from the
mind into the vital, when we brought down our yoga from the mind into the
vital, within one month—I was forty at that time, I didn't look old, I looked
younger than forty, but still I was forty—and after a month's yoga I looked
exactly eighteen. And someone who had seen me before, who had lived with me in
[Questions and Answers 1954, Vol. 6, p. 303(25 August 1954)]
On Sundays, when you play, do you
decide beforehand from what region the music has to come?
Before sitting down I don't even
know what notes I am going to play. The region? It is always the same region.
This is why I can speak with some experience about the origin of Berlioz's
music, because it is a region very well known to me, one I frequent assiduously.
But I do not know what will come. Nothing at all, nothing. I don't even decide
what feeling or idea or state of consciousness is going to be expressed,
nothing. I am like a blank page. I come and sit down, concentrate for a minute
and let it come.
[Questions and Answers 1954, Vol. 6, p. 384(20 October 1954)]
In the meditations we formerly used
to have there [at the Ashram], when we had a morning or evening meditation, my
work was to unify the consciousness of everyone and lift it as high as I could
towards the Divine. Those who were able to feel the movement followed it. This
was ordinary meditation with an aspiration and ascent towards the Divine. Here,
as the Playground, the work is to unify all who are here, make them open and bring
down the divine force into them.
[Questions and Answers 1950-51, Vol. 4, p. 106(12 February 1951)]
[In this period Mother used
to give Darshan every morning from her balcony. This was known as Balcony
Darshan. In the evening She was present in the Playground to receive the
salute at the March Past and conduct the Concentration at the end of the Marching.]
Sweet Mother, every day we go for
the Balcony Darshan, and here at the Playground we come for the March Past and
the Concentration. What should be our approach to each one of these things?
The most indispensable thing in
every case is receptivity.
At the Balcony, for example. When I
come on the Balcony I make a special concentration, you notice that I look at
everybody, don't you; I look, see, pass my eyes over every one, I know all who
are there, and where they are, and I give each one exactly what he needs; I see
his condition and give him what is necessary. It can go fast, because otherwise
I would keep you there for half an hour, but I do it, that's what I do. That's
the only reason why I come out, because otherwise I carry you in my
consciousness. I carry you in my consciousness always, without seeing you, I do
what is necessary. But here it is a moment when I can do it by touching the
physical directly, you see; otherwise it is through the mind that it acts, the
mind or the vital. But here I touch the physical directly through the sight, the
contact of sight; and that's what I do—each time.
[Questions and Answers 1955, Vol. 7, p. 257 (27 July 1955)]
A Declaration
I want to mark this day by the
expression of a long cherished wish; that of becoming an Indian citizen. From
the first time I came to
But, in accordance with Sri
Aurobindo's ideal, my purpose is to show that truth lies in union rather than
in division. To reject one nationality in order to obtain another is not an
ideal solution. So I hope I shall be allowed to adopt a double nationality,
that is to say, to remain French while I become an Indian.
I am French by birth and early
education, I am Indian by choice and predilection. In my consciousness there is
no antagonism between the two, on the contrary, they combine very well and
complete one another. I know also that I can be of service to both equally, for
my only aim in life is to give a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo's great
teaching and in his teaching he reveals that all the nations are essentially
one and meant to express the Divine Unity upon earth through an organised and
harmonious diversity.
[Words of the Mother, Vol.
13, p. 43 (15 August 1954)]
When I speak, I live what I
say and I communicate the experience together with the words—no machine
can record that. That is why the text seems completely different when it is
heard or read, the main thing has gone, for it is beyond all notation. Even
when what I have written myself is printed in a book or an article, the intensity
of the experience I had while writing it escapes, and the text seems flat,
although the words are identical.
[Words of the Mother, Vol.
13, p. 53]
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. In this vision the ego-sense and the
individual assertion and separateness become quite unreal and illusory.
[Words of the Mother, Vol.
13, p. 95]
You see how it is, now I am nearing
a hundred, it's only five years away now. I started making an effort to become
conscious at five years old, my child. This is to let you know… And I go on,
and it goes on. Only... Of course, I have come to the point where I am doing
the work for the cells of the body, but still, the work began a long time ago.
This is not to discourage you,
but... it is to let you know that it does not happen just like that!
[On Education, Vol. 12, p.
433 ]
Now remember one thing. Sri
Aurobindo and myself are one and the same consciousness, one and the same
person. Only, when this force or this presence, which is the same, passes
through your individual consciousness, it puts on a form, an appearance which
differs according to your temperament, your aspiration, your need, the
particular turn of your being. Your individual consciousness is like a filter,
a pointer, if I may say so; it makes a choice and fixes one possibility out of
the infinity of divine possibilities.
[Words of the Mother, Vol.
13, p. 77[1957]
The quotes given here are from Collected
Works of the Mother; volume and page number follow each quotation.