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MOTHER'S HELP IN DIFFICULTIES
ASSURANCE
OF VICTORY
Be sure that the Mother will always be
with you to carry you upon the path. Difficulties come and difficulties
go, but, she being with you, the victory is sure.
18-7-1936
The path you have now taken — to cleave
to the Mother through all circumstances and let nothing shake you from that will
bring the true solution of difficulties for you. For it seems the psychic
being has started its work in you.
24-12-1935
Remain firm and turned in the one
direction — towards the Mother.
THE DESCENT
AND THE DIFFICULTIES
Q: Is it
true that the nearer the descent of the Supermind the greater will be the
difficulties of those in whom it is to come down first ?
A: It is true, unless they
are so surrendered to the Mother, so psychic, so plastic, free from ego that the
difficulties are spared to them.
FAITH IN THE MOTHER'S WORKING
One has to cleave firmly to the faith in
the Mother's working
Page - 325
behind all appearances and you will find
that that will carry you through.
31-8-1935
It is the true attitude to leave all to
the Mother and trust entirely in her and let her lead you on the path to the
goal.
2-3-1936
It 'is not by his own strength or good
qualities that anyone can attain the divine change; there are only two
things that matter, the Mothers force at work and the Sadhak's will to open to
it and trust in her working. Keep your will and your trust and care
nothing for the rest — they are only difficulties that all meet in their
Sadhana.
13-5-1936
Nothing is impossible if the nature of
the psychic being is awake and leading you with the Mother's consciousness and
force behind it and working in you.
19-10-1935
If one remains in full confidence in the
Mother and psychically open, then the Mother's force will do all and one has
only to give consent and keep oneself open and aspire.
12-11-1935
All faults and errors are redeemed by
repentance. Confidence in the Mother, self-giving to the
Mother, these if you increase them will bring the change in the nature.
Page - 326
Whether the progress is rapid or slow,
the attitude should always be an entire faith and reliance on the Mother;
just as you do not think that the progress was the result of your own effort or
merit but of your taking the right attitude of reliance and the Mother's Force
working, so you should not think that any slowness or difficulty was due to your
own demerit but only seek to keep this attitude of reliance and let the Mother's
Force work — slowly or rapidly does not matter.
14-11-1935
No. It is perhaps how some part of
the vital or physical consciousness figured it. But the path is not a
desert nor are you alone, since the Mother is with you.
2-11-1933
THE
MOTHER'S POSITIVE ATTITUDE
Mother never thinks of future
difficulties, falls or dangers. Her concentration is always on love and
light, not on difficulties and downfalls.
It is the higher reality that Mother
brings into the world — without it all else is ignorant and false.
3-8-1934
THE
ONE THING TO DO ALWAYS
Once one has entered the path of Yoga,
there is only one thing to do, to fix oneself in the resolution to go to the end
whatever happens, whatever difficulties arise. None really gets the
fulfilment in Yoga by his own capacity — it is by the greater Force that stands
over you that it will come — and it is the call, persistent
Page - 327
through all vicissitudes, to that Force,
by which the fulfilment will come. Even when you cannot aspire actively,
keep yourself turned to the Mother for the help to come — that is the one thing
to do always.
3-1-1934
TRUST
IN THE MOTHER'S FORCE IN DIFFICULTY
What is needed is perseverance — to go on
without discouragement, recognising that the process of the nature and the
action of the Mother's force is working through the difficulty even and will do
all that is needed. Our incapacity does not matter — there is no human
being who is not in his parts of nature incapable — but the Divine Force is also
there. If one puts one's trust in that, incapacity will be changed into
capacity. Difficulty and struggle themselves then become a means towards
the achievement.
27-5-1936
Do not brood over your
difficulties. Leave them to the Mother and let her Force work them out of
you.
22-3-1935
Never allow this idea "I am not
able", "I am not doing enough" to come and vex you; it is a tamasic
suggestion and brings depression and depression opens the way to the attacks of
the wrong forces. Your position should be, "Let me do what I can;
the Mother's force is there, the Divine is there to see that in due time, all
will be done".
4-11-1935
Not to be disturbed, to remain quiet and
confident is the right attitude, but it is necessary also to receive the help of
the Mother
Page - 328
and not to stand back for any reason from
her solicitude. One ought not to indulge ideas of incapacity, inability to
respond, dwelling too much on defects and failures and allowing the mind to be
in pain and shame on their account; for these ideas and feelings become in
the end weakening things. If there are difficulties, stumblings or
failures, one has to look at them quietly and call in tranquilly and
persistently the Divine help for their removal, but not to allow oneself to be
upset or pained or discouraged. Yoga is not an easy path and the total
change of the nature cannot be done in a day.
All this is of no utility —
complainings,
questionings, etc. of this kind should be put aside. You have to go on
quietly, without depression or trouble, receiving the Mother's forces, allowing
them to work, rejecting all that stands in their way but not troubled by
difficulty or defects in yourself or by any delay or slowness in the
working.
25-10-1933
Do not admit these suggestions of despair
or impatience. Give time for the Mother's force to act.
12-6-1937
This kind of grief and despondency are
the worst obstacles one can raise up in the Sadhana — they ought not to be
indulged in. What one cannot do oneself one can get done by calling the
Mother's force. To receive that and let it work in you is the true means
of success in the Sadhana.
Whatever difficulties still remain, be
sure that they will be surmounted. There is no need for the outer being to
be nervous —
Page - 329
the Mother's Force and the devotion
within you will be sufficient to overcome all that stands in the
way.
There is no reason to be
discouraged. Three years is not too much for the preparation of the nature
and it is usually through fluctuations that it gradually grows nearer to the
point where a continuous progress becomes possible. One has to cleave
firmly to the faith in the Mother's working behind all appearances and you will
find that that will carry you through.
31-8-1935
You should not yield to sorrow or despair
— there is no reason why you should. The Mother's grace has not been
withdrawn from you for a moment. Do not allow the attacks of others to shake you
like this — you know well the motives from which they act — and for the rest
they are not going to pursue any farther the course which a fit of passion
dictated to them. The protection will be with you and you need not fear or
sorrow any longer. Put your trust in the Divine and shake off all this
like a nightmare that has passed. Believe that our love and grace are with
you.
There has always been too much reliance
on the action of your own mind and will — that is why you cannot progress.
If you could once get the habit of silent reliance on the power of the Mother —
not merely calling it in to support your own effort — the obstacle would
diminish and eventually disappear.
The more one is open to the Mother's
action, the more easily difficulties get solved and the right thing is
done.
21-9-1934
Page - 330
It was by your personal efforts without
guidance that you got into difficulties and into a heated condition in which you
could not meditate etc. I asked you to drop the effort and remain quiet
and you did so. My intention was that by your remaining quiet, it would be
possible for the Mother's Force to work in you and establish a better
starting-point and a course of initial experiences. It was what was
beginning to come; but if your mind again becomes active and tries to
arrange the Sadhana for itself, then disturbances are likely to come. The
Divine Guidance works best when the psychic is open and in front (yours
was beginning to open), but it can also work even when the Sadhak is
either not conscious of it, or else knows it only by its results.
DIFFICULTIES AND THE MOTHER'S GRACE
Q: Can it be
believed that the Mother's Grace is acting even when the difficulties do not
disappear ?
A: In that case everybody
might say, "All my difficulties must disappear at once, I must attain to
perfection immediately and without difficulties, otherwise it proves that the
Mother's Grace is not with me".
20-7-1933
You must throw all that away. Such
depressions can make you shut to what Mother is giving you. There is
absolutely no good reason for such an attitude. The existence of
difficulties is a known thing in the Yoga. That is no reason for
questioning the final victory or the effectuality of the Divine Grace.
4-2-1933
PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT AND THE MOTHER'S
GRACE Q: What is the Law
of the working of the Mother's Grace ?
Page - 331
A: The more one develops the
psychic, the more is it possible for the Grace to act.
13-8-1933
What has to be gained is the constant
prominence of that part which is always aware of the Mother — it is of course
the psychic — for that though it can be covered over for the time being cannot
be misled by the contrary suggestions. Once it is awake, it always
re-emerges from obscuration — that is the guarantee of the final arrival at the
goal, but if it can be maintained in front or even consciously felt behind in
all conditions, then the stages of the way also become comparatively safe and
can be passed with greater ease and security.
6-2-1937
It is when there is no attachment to
outward things for their own sake and all is only for the Mother and the life
through the inner psychic being is centred in her that the best condition is
created for the spiritual realisation.
11-11-1935
Never mind about the purity of the
body. The love of the Mother purifies both heart and body — if the soul's
aspiration is there, the body also is pure. What happened in the past does not
in the least matter.
THE
MOTHER'S CONSTANT HELP
The Mother's help is always there but you
are not conscious of it except when the psychic is active and the consciousness
not clouded. The coming of suggestions is not a proof that the help is not
there. Suggestions come to all, even to the greatest Sadhaks or to the
Avatars — as they came to Buddha or Christ. Obstacles are there — they are
part of Nature and they have to be overcome.
Page - 332
What has to be attained is
not to accept the suggestions, not to admit them as the truth or as one's own
thoughts, to see them for what they are and keep oneself separate.
Obstacles have to be looked at as something wrong in the machinery of human
nature which has to be changed — they should not be regarded as sins or wrong
doings which make one despair of oneself and of the Sadhana.
Q: Today
while engaged in work I felt a peaceful energy and something like ice touching
my head. Then the knowledge came to me with a strong feeling and vision
that though the Mother is not physically near us, she is always present near and
around us and is constantly removing all kinds of difficulties with the touch of
her affectionate hand. Was this a vision or realisation ? Through what
consciousness did it come to me ?
A: It is a realisation
attended with vision and feeling. It is psychic and the mental together that produced it.
11-6-1933
STRAIGHTFORWARDNESS AND THE MOTHER'S
HELP
Those who are not straightforward cannot
profit by the Mother's help, for they themselves turn it away. Unless they
change, they cannot hope for the descent of the supramental Light and Truth into
the lower vital and physical nature; they remain stuck in their own
self-created mud and cannot progress.
November, 1928
CHANGE OF THE VITAL WITH THE
MOTHER'S HELP
The Mother's help is always there for
those who are willing to receive it. But you must be conscious of your
vital nature, and
Page - 333
the vital nature must consent to change.
It is no use merely observing that it is unwilling and that, when thwarted, it
creates depression in you. Always the vital nature is not at first willing and
always when it is thwarted or asked to change, it creates this depression by its
revolt or refusal of consent. You have to insist till it recognises the truth
and is willing to be transformed and to accept the Mother's help and
grace. If the mind is sincere and the psychic aspiration complete and
true, the vital can always be made to change.
15-7-1932
It is this idea that you are helpless
because the vital consents to the wrong movement that comes in the way.
You have to put your inner will and the Mother's light on the vital so that it
shall change, not leave it to do what it likes. If one is to be
"helpless" and moved by any part of the instrumental being, how is change
possible ? The Mother's force or the psychic can act, but on condition
that the assent of the being is there. If the vital is left to do what
it likes, it will always go after its old habits; it has to be made to
feel that it must change.
What is still restless in the vital has
to quiet down for the peace of mind to be even and constant. It has to be
controlled, but only control will not be enough. The Mother's Power has to
be called always.
10-4-1934
Put the Mother's notice henceforth at the
door of your vital being, "No falsehood hereafter shall ever enter
here", and station a sentry there to see that it is put into
execution.
18-5-1933
Page - 334
The Mother cannot tell you to go because
there is no true cause why you should go and it would be very bad for you to do
so as well as bad for the work and everything else. The reasons for your
not giving up the work are just the same as before and not in the least changed
by anything that has happened. Jealousy is no doubt a great defect of the
nature, but many here have it; almost everyone has some serious defect in his nature which stands in his
way and gives trouble. But it is not a remedy for this to give up work and
Sadhana and abandon the Mother. You have to go on working and doing the
Sadhana with the Mother's aid behind you until this and all other obstacles are
got rid of. We have told you already that these things cannot be got
rid of in a day, but if you persevere and rely on the Mother they will yet
disappear. Do not allow an adverse Force to mislead you;
reject all depression and go straight
forward till you reach the goal.
17-7-1935
We are very glad to hear that you are
better and that X has helped you out of the crisis. Surely this jealousy
must go and no trace of it remain. Do not doubt that the Mother's love is
and will be always with you. Trust in her grace and all this will go out
of you and leave you the true child of the Mother which in your mind and heart
you always are.
18-7-1935
Mother has no wish to abandon you and it
has never been her will that you should go away from her. You must put
yourself in harmony with her will and then all will go right. Her love
will guide you and her protection will be effective.
Rest until you are well. Do not be
in a hurry to go to work before you have recovered your strength.
19-7-1935
Page - 335
CALLING THE MOTHER IN DIFFICULTY
When difficulties arise, remain quiet
within and call down the Mother's force to remove them.
26-8-1933
To call to the Mother always is the main
thing and with that to aspire and assent to the Light when it comes, to reject
and detach oneself from desire and any dark movement. But if one cannot do
these other things successfully, then call and still call.
The Mother's force is there with you even
when you do not feel it; remain quiet and persevere.
15-9-1934
You should not allow yourself to get
upset by these small things. If when the movements you complain of come,
you remain quiet and open to the Mother and call her, after a time you will find
a change beginning to come in you. Meditation is not enough;
think of the Mother and offer your work and
action to her, that will help you better.
7-4-1932
There is only one way if you can not
exert your will — it is to call the Force; even the call only with the
mind or the mental word is better than being extremely passive and submitted to
the attack, — for although it may not succeed instantaneously, the mental call
even ends by bringing the Force and opening up the consciousness again.
For everything depends upon that. In the externalised consciousness
obscurity and suffering can always be there; the more the internalised
consciousness reigns, the more these things are pushed back and out, and with
the full internalised consciousness they cannot remain — if they come, it is as
outside touches unable to lodge themselves in the being.
21-8-1933
Page - 336
Even when one cannot call in actively the
Mother's Force one must keep the reliance that it will come.
26-8-1936
It is the physical mind that feels too
inert — but if some part of the being turns to the Mother, that is enough to
bring the help.
25-1-1934
It is an obsession from the subconscient
physical bringing back the habitual thoughts, "I can't call rightly — I
have no real aspiration, etc."; the depression, the memory, etc. are from
the same source. It is no use indulging in these ideas. If you
cannot call the Mother in what you think the right way, call her in any way — if
you can't call her, think of her with the will to be rid of these things.
Don't worry yourself with the idea whether you have true aspiration or not —
the psychic being wants and that is sufficient. The rest is for the Divine
Grace on which one must steadfastly rely — one's own merit, virtue or capacity
is not the thing that brings the realisation.
I shall send the force to rid you of this
obsession in any case, but if you can abandon these habitual ideas, it will make
the disappearance of the attack easier.
4-1-1937
It is always best in these difficulties
to tell the Mother and call for her help. It is probably something in his
vital that needs somebody to protect and care for — but you must accustom
yourself to the idea that it is not needed and the best thing is to give the
person to the care of the Mother — offer the object of your affection to
her.
15-11-1937
Page - 337
PRAYER TO THE MOTHER FOR INNER
AND OUTER THINGS
Q:
You say, "when one is a Sadhak the prayer should be for the inner things
belonging to the Sadhana and for outer things only so far as they are necessary
for that and for the Divine work". This latter portion about prayer for
outer things is not clear to me. Can you kindly explain ?
A: All depends on whether
the outer things are sought for one's own convenience, pleasure, profit etc., or
as part of the spiritual life, necessary for the success of the work, the
development and fitness of the instruments etc. It is a question mainly of
inner attitude. If for instance you pray for money for buying nice
food to please the palate; that is not a proper thing for a Sadhak;
if you pray for money to give to the Mother and help her work, then it is
legitimate.
Q: I
quote several types of prayers which I offer and shall be grateful to know which
of them are outer or inner, right or wrong, helpful or hindrance, or what
amendment to them can make them pure:
—
1. In the
night-time when I sit to read and an untimely attack of sleep comes, I pray to
the Mother to be freed from the attack.
A: If your reading is part
of the Sadhana, that is all right.
Q: 2.
When I go to sleep I pray to the Mother for her force to take over my Sadhana
during the sleep, to make my sleep conscious, luminous, to protect me during the
sleep, to keep me conscious of the Mother.
3. When I
wake up any time in the sleep I pray to the Mother to be with me and protect
me.
A: These two are part of the
Sadhana.
Page - 338
Q:
4. While going out for and during walk I pray to give me force to
take more exercise and to gain more strength and health and thank the Mother for
the help.
A: If strength and health
are requested as being necessary for the Sadhana and the development of the
perfection of the instrument it is all right.
Q: 5.
When I see any dog on the way while walking I at once pray to the Mother to
protect from its attack and remove my fear.
A: A call for protection is
always permissible. The removal of fear is part of the Sadhana.
Q:
6. When I go for food I pray for the Mother's force to help me
to offer every morsel to the Mother, to get everything easily digested, to make
a growth of complete equality and detachment in my consciousness enabling me to
take any food with equal Rasa of universal Ananda without any insistence or
seeking or greed or desire.
A: This is again part of the
Sadhana.
Q: 7.
When I go for work I pray for the Mother's force to take over my work, help me
and make me do it well and carefully with love, devotion and pleasure, with the
remembrance of the Mother and feeling of being supported and helped by her
without ego or desire.
A: This also.
Q: 8.
During the work also when there is a pause I pray for force, help and constant
remembrance.
Page - 339
A: This
also.
Q:
9. When any bad or impure thought, seeing and sensation come in me I
pray for its removal and purity.
A: This also.
Q:
10. When I am reading I try to pray when possible to understand all
quickly, to grasp and absorb completely.
A: If it is as Sadhana or
for the development of the instrument, it is all right.
Q:
11. When I commit any mistake in the work I pray to be more conscious,
alert and unerring.
A: This also is part
of the Sadhana.
Q:
12. When I go to the post office to register a parcel of Prasad to my
friend I pray to have the parcel accepted immediately and avoid any
delay.
A: That can be done, if
avoidance of waste of time is considered as part of the right regulation of the
life of Sadhana.
Q:
13. When I sit down for meditation I pray for Mother's force to take
over my meditation and make it deep, steady, concentrated and free from all
attacks of troubling thoughts, vital restlessness, etc.
A: This is part of the
Sadhana.
Q:
14. In depression, difficulty, wrong suggestions,
Page - 340
doubt, inertia, on any
occasion or happening I pray to the Mother to hold courage, keep faith, face
them and overcome them.
A: This also.
Q: 15. At all
other times as far as I can I pray to the
Mother to fill me with her peace,
power, light etc., or offer any other kind of required prayer, and thank her for
supporting, strengthening and sustaining me.
A: This also.
REMOVAL OF RECURRING DIFFICULTIES
Q: What is
the right way of meeting one's recurring difficulties ?
A: Equality, rejection, calling on the Mother's
force.
1-8-1933
What stands in the way is the recurring
circle of the old mixture. To break out of that is very necessary to
arrive at an inner Yogic calm and peace not disturbed by these things. If
that is established, it will be possible to feel in it the Mother's Presence, to
open to her guidance, to get, not by occasional glimpses but in a steady opening
and flowering, the psychic perception and the descent of the spiritual Light and
Ananda. For that help will be with you.
7-3-1937
Plenty of people have this
condition (it is human nature) and
Page - 341
there is naturally a way of coming out of
it — having full faith in the Mother to quiet the inner mind (even if the
outer continues to be troublesome) and call in it the Mother's Peace and
Force, which is always there above you, into the ādhāra. Once that is there, consciously, to keep yourself
open to it and let it go on working with a full adhesion, with a constant
support of your consent, with a conscious rejection of all that is not that,
till all the inner being is tranquillised and filled with the Mother's Force,
Peace, Joy, Presence — then the outer nature will be obliged to follow suit in
its turn.
8-5-1933
RECOVERY FROM BAD CONDITIONS
These bad conditions are a lapse
(often due to a very slight cause) from the inner poise to the outer
consciousness. When they happen do not get affected, but remain quiet,
call the Mother and get back inward.
24-1-1936
An occasional sinking of the
consciousness happens to everybody. The causes are various, some touch
from outside, something not yet changed or not sufficiently changed in the
vital, especially the lower vital, some inertia or obscurity rising up from the
physical parts of nature. When it comes, remain quiet, open yourself to
the Mother and call back the true conditions and aspire for a clear and
undisturbed discrimination showing you from within yourself the cause of the
thing that needs to be set right.
4-3-1932
THE
MOTHER'S HELP IN ATTACKS
It is the forces of the Ignorance that
begin to lay siege and then
Page - 342
make a mass attack. Every time such
an attack can be defeated and cast out, there is a clearance in the
ādhāra, a new field gained for the Mother in the mind, vital or
physical or the adjacent parts of the being. That the place in the vital
occupied by the Mother is increasing is shown by the fact that you are now
offering a strong resistance to these sieges that used formerly to overpower you
altogether.
To be able to call the Mother's presence
or force at such times is the best way to meet the difficulty.
It is with the Mother who is always with
you and in you that you converse. The only thing is to hear aright, so
that no other voice can come in between.
7-12-1933
However strong the attack may
be, and even if it overcomes you for the time being, still it will rapidly pass
away if you have formed the habit of opening to the Mother. The peace will
come back if you remain quiet and keep yourself open to it and to the
Force. Once something of the Truth has shown itself within you, it
will always, even if for a time heavily clouded over with wrong movements, shine
out again like the sun in heaven. Therefore persevere with confidence
and never lose courage.
14-3-1932
Q:
What is the best means for the Sadhaks to avoid suffering due to the action of
the hostile forces ?
A: Faith in the Mother and
complete surrender.
17-6-1933
Q:
When the Sadhaks overlook some weakness of their nature in the process of
transformation, is it not possible that it will be shown to them by the Divine
Mother rather than through a painful wound at the weak point dealt by the
hostile forces ?
Page - 343
A: If they are sufficiently open to the Divine
it can be done — but most Sadhaks
have too much egoism and lack of faith and obscurity and self-will and vital
desires, — it is that that shuts them to the Mother and calls in the action of
the hostile forces.
17-6-1933
The play of the mental and vital defects
in the human nature which belongs to
the Ignorance is allowed — as also the attacks and suggestions of the Asuric
forces — so long as there is anything in the nature which responds to these
things. If they rise in you in the presence of the Mother, it is because
then a strong pressure is put on them so that they have either to go out or to
put up a fight for existence. The remedy is to open to the Mother only and
to reject entirely and at all times all other forces, and to reject them most
when they become most active. Faith, sincerity, perseverance will do the
rest.
16-11-1932
TESTING BY THE MOTHER
The idea of tests also is not a healthy
idea and ought not to be pushed too far. Tests are applied not by the
Divine but by the forces of the lower planes — mental, vital, physical — and
allowed by the Divine because that is part of the soul's training and helps it
to know itself, its powers and the limitations it has to outgrow. The
Mother is not testing you at every moment, but rather helping you at every
moment to rise beyond the necessity of tests and difficulties which belong to
the inferior consciousness. To be always conscious of that help will be
your best safeguard against all attacks whether of adverse powers or of your own
lower nature.
THE
MOTHER'S OCCULT ACTION FOR ANSWERING CALLS FOR HELP
As to the experience, certainly X's call
for help did reach the
Page - 344
Mother, even though all the details she
relates in her letter might not have
been present to the Mother's physical mind. Always calls of this kind are
coming to the Mother, sometimes a hundred close upon each other and always the
answer is given. The occasions are of all kinds, but whatever the need
that occasions the call, the Force is there to answer it. That is the
principle of this action on the occult plane. It is not of the same kind
as an ordinary human action and does not need a written or oral communication on
the one who calls; an interchange of psychic communication is quite
sufficient to set the Force at work. At the same time it is not an
impersonal Force and the suggestion of a divine energy that is there ready to
answer and satisfy anybody who calls it is not at all relevant here. It is
something personal to the Mother and if she had not this power and this kind of
action she would not be able to do her work; but this is quite different
from the outside practical working on the material plane where the methods must,
necessarily, be different, although the occult working and the material working
can and do join and the occult power give to the material working its utmost
efficacy. As for the one who is helped not feeling the force at work, his
knowing might help very substantially the effective working, but it need not be
indispensable; the effect can be there even if he does not know how the
thing is done. For instance, in your work in Calcutta and elsewhere my
help has always been with you and I don't think it can be said that it was
ineffective; but it was of the same occult nature and could have had the
same effect even if you had not been conscious in some way that my help was with
you.
24-3-1949
Q:
It was 1 a.m. at night when my brother in excruciating pain called me and asked
if Sri Aurobindo could heal him. I took out some Prasad flowers that were
with me and touched the affected part with them. And lo ! the
pain vanished and he began to recover. I want to know if you were aware of
this and heard my prayer.
Page - 345
A: What happens in such cases is that when
someone is accepted, the Mother sends out something of herself to him and this
is with him wherever he goes and is always in connection with her bring
here. So when he does anything like what you did in this case with faith
and bhakti, it reaches, through that emanation of herself which is
with him, the Mother's consciousness inner or outer and the Force goes in return
for the result.
WRONG
IDEAS ABOUT THE MOTHER'S LISTENING TO
CALLS
Q: When X
complained to me about her difficulty I told her that it could be removed by
calling the Mother's help. But she argued that there was no hope for
the calls of a newcomer like herself to be heard by the Mother. There were
so many calls from the older and advanced Sadhaks that fresh calls from a
beginner like herself would be but calls in the wilderness and would go unheard
in that clamour. I replied that if the Mother does not come in answer to
our calls she must have her reasons; and there can be no doubt that when
she comes she will come to stay. In the meantime we should have faith and
equanimity and prepare the necessary conditions. Possibly she has more
important work to do than to act to our bidding, and why should we insist that
she should leave that work and attend to us ? The Mother has never been
known to fail in answering when a real call is sent to her straight from the
heart, for the very force in the call presupposes her presence. When I
told this to X, I felt a strong pressure and vibrations from the centre of my
forehead downwards between the eyebrows. What is the reason of this ?
A: X's reasonings are not very sound;
yours are better if not altogether flawless. The Mother is not limited by
the physical mind, so even if she has "more important" work to do, that
would not in the least stand in the way of her listening to a call
Page - 346
from the wilderness or anywhere
else. Also spiritual things do not go by seniority; so why should
the clamour of "older cases" keep her ? She can be and is with
all who need her. So your "Mother does not come ? will not
come ?" is not quite to the point, but the rest of your answer is.
Mother is there even now and working in you, it is only your inner vision and
feeling that are not opened so that you cannot see or feel her.
What came down to the centre of the
forehead was the answer, let us say the touch of the Mother's presence — her
consciousness, her force working on you to open the centre of the inner mind,
inner will, the inner vision and when that opens one begins to see and know what
is to the physical eye invisible and to the surface mind unknowable.
11-10-1935
UNFAILING HELP AND PROTECTION
The experience you had of the power of
the Name and the protection is that of everyone who has used it with the same
faith and reliance. To those who call from the heart for the protection,
it cannot fail. Do not allow any outward circumstance to shake the faith
in you; for nothing gives greater strength than this faith to go through
and arrive at the goal. Knowledge and Tapasya, whatever their force, have
a less sustaining power — faith is the strongest staff for the journey.
The protection is there over you and the
watchful love of the Mother. Rely upon it and let your being open more and
more to it — then it will repel attacks and always uphold you.
8-10-1936
CONDITIONS FOR THE WORKING OF THE
MOTHER'S PROTECTION
The Mother has made an arrangement with a
view to all the occult forces and the best possible conditions for the
protection of the Sadhaks from certain forces of death, disease, etc. It
cannot
Page - 347
work perfectly because the Sadhaks
themselves have not the right attitude towards food and kindred vital physical
things. But still there is a protection. If, however, the Sadhaks go
outside her formation, it must be on their own responsibility .... But this
arrangement is for the Ashram and not for those who are outside.
14-7-1933
Q: Is it
not true that the Sadhaks observe the rules laid down by the Mother because they
feel that by not observing them and disobeying her one goes out of her
protection ?
A: It is precisely that — one immediately goes
out of the protection.
8-6-1933
Q: All would like to allow the Mother's protection
to remain with them; but perhaps certain conditions have to
be fulfilled ?
A: There are very few who allow it. There
is a general protection around all, but most go out of it by their attitude,
thoughts or actions or open the way to other forces.
24-8-1933
It is not because the Mother has
withdrawn her protection — she has not done that. It is more likely that
it [the difficulty] came because you have been going too much out of
your inner being and externalising yourself. It is better to draw back
within again and recover the inner calm and peace.
Page - 348
Q: If
people constantly have the Mothers protection
around them, I don't think they will ever have depression and doubt or anything hostile to the Divine.
A: Those things may try to come but they will not
be able to enter or stay.
Q: If a boy
comes here at an early age, will he be free from the difficulties that usually
go with sex ?
A: It is not automatically
true — it is only possible — but on condition he gets fully into the influence
of the Mother, is not too open to the atmosphere of other Sadhaks who have it,
does not get upset at the initial age and also does not upset himself by reading
erotic literature etc. There is no one who has been able to do all that
yet.
8-11-1933
ACCIDENTS AND THE MOTHER'S
PROTECTION
Q: X had a car accident this
morning. Could Mother not see the possibility of this accident beforehand
and prevent it ? Or was it because X had in some manner gone out of the
zone of her protection ?
A: It was not possible to
prevent the accident. When the danger comes a call to the Mother is the
first thing to be done, that makes the general protection at once
effective. X was in too externalised a state to do that and he did the
very opposite thing to what should have been done — trying to get away in front
of the car instead of behind it. But the true cause was something more
internal — one of those choices made by the inner being
(not necessarily known to the conscious mind) which bring these things
as a response.
27-1-1936
Page - 349
THE
MOTHER PROTECTION ON THE VITAL PLANE
It was s a dream of the
vital plane where all kinds of danger occur until you get courage to face
them. If there is no fire or if there is the protection of the Mother
(which become manifest by remembering or calling her) then these dangers
come to nothing. It is the fear of mad men that brought the thing in the
vital; such things as the fear have to be thrown out of the nature.
8-9-1933
What happened in your experience was
that the vital being got free from the body through its desire to unite with the
Mother (you met the Mother on the borders between the vital and physical)
and lived with its own life independent of the body. It entered into the
vital world and, not being sheltered any longer in the body, felt helpless at
first, till it called the Mother. The appearance of X there might possibly
have been some part of the vital of X himself, but was more probably a vital
being in his shape, perhaps the very vital being who has been troubling him.
When you go into the vital world, you meet many such things, — the one
sufficient protection is to call the Mother.
7-9-1933
REJECTION
OF DIFFICULTIES BY INWARD SURRENDER
To come physically to the Mother for
getting rid of a disturbance is unnecessary und useless; it is
inwardly that you must take refuge in her
and throw away the wrong movement, as you have seen on this occasion. To
come physically would only create a habit of getting wrong and coming to her to
get right and it would also lead to the wrong movement of throwing the
difficulty on her instead of inwardly giving it up, rendering its surrender.
But it is a general surrender that is needed which could prevent these useless
disturbances over trifling matters, egoisms, insistences on one's own point of
view, anger because one does not
Page - 350
have one's own way or a due
recognition of one's independence or importance.
It is the inner oneness that saves, not
the outer nearness.
17-11-1933
WRITING
TO THE MOTHER FOR HELP
You did well to speak to X and also to
write to the Mother. Of course. Mother had observed
X's difficulties; it is correct that the difficulty is the lack of a
certain free opening — otherwise all that could be removed quickly and the
necessary change of nature (mind, ego, etc.) carried on by smooth
gradation. To write as you do is helpful for opening oneself
and for receiving the precise touch. X's logic about the Mother's knowing
and therefore there being no need to write is applicable if there is a free or
at least a sufficient flow of giving and reception between the Mother and the
Sadhak, but when a serious difficulty comes, this logic is not so applicable.
Naturally, we shall do our best to help him in his struggle.
14-5-1936
LAYING
ALL MOVEMENTS BARE BEFORE THE MOTHER
One rule for you I can lay
down, "Do not do, say or think anything which you would want to
conceal from the Mother". And that answers the objections that rose
within you — from your vital, is it not ? — against bringing
"these petty things" to the Mother's notice. Why should
you think that the Mother would be bothered by these things or regard them as
petty ? If all the life is to be Yoga, what is there that can be
called petty or of no importance ? Even if the Mother does not answer, to
have brought any matter of your action and self-development before her in the
right spirit means to have put it under her protection,
Page - 351
in the light of the Truth, under
the rays of the Power that is working for the transformation — for immediately
those rays begin to play and to act on the thing brought to her notice.
Anything within that advises not to do it when the spirit in you moves you
to do it, may very well be a device of the vital to
avoid the ray of the Light and the working of the Force. It may also be
observed that if you open yourself to the Mother by putting the movements of any
part of you under her observation, that of itself create a relation, a personal
closeness with her other then that which her general silent or not directly
invited action maintains with all
the Sadhaks.
All this, of course, if you feel ready
for this openness, if the spirit moves you to lay what is in you bare before
her. For it is then it is fruitful — when it comes from within and is
spontaneous and true.
18-5-1932
Q:
Today a thought
has come to me: "Why are you forcing yourself so much with regard to
the control of the vital being ? Better not bother about opening your
thoughts and desires to the Mother; rather leave Her to work on you".
A:
If you want the Mother to work through you, you must lay before her your
thoughts and desires and reject them.
3-9-1933
Q: On
reading my yesterday's letter to the Mother I feel today as if She was not much
pleased with my laying before Her the wrong thoughts I had about X and Y.
A:
Your writing these things does not give any displeasure to Mother. It is
better to write if you have them, than to be silent about it.
9-6-1933
Page - 352
WORKING
OF THE MOHER'S FORCE FOR PHYSICAL CURE
The inherent strength of the body does
not do things like that. It is the Mother's force that does it, when one
calls and opens oneself. Even people who never did Yoga and are conscious
of nothing, get cured like that without knowing the reason or feeling the way in
which it was done. The force comes from above or in descending it
envelopes and comes from without inside or it comes out from inside after
descending there. When you are conscious of the play of the forces, then
you feel the working.
It (awakening) means the
conscious action of the psychic from behind. When it comes to the front it
invades the mind and vital and body and psychicises their movements. It
comes best by aspiration and an unquestioning and entire turning and surrender
to the Mother. But also it sometimes comes of itself when the ādhāra
is ready.
5-5-1933
Q:
When I got up from sleep I found that a cold had already entered. My
consciousness brought down the Mother's Force and the cold disappeared.
The same process was tried for other troubles too. I want to know if the
method adopted for the Force was quite the right one.
A: It is quite the right
way. It is very good that you are learning to use the Force.
27-8-1934
It is a fact of my experience that when
the resistance in the body is too strong and persistent, it can help to take
some aid of physical means as an instrumentation for the Force to work more
directly on the body itself; for the body then feels itself supported
against the resistance from both sides, by means both physical as well as
Page - 353
supraphysical. The Mother's force can work truth both
together.
1-9-1936
Q:
Since more than a fortnight every time I receive the Mother's touch at
Pranam time I feel a sense of strong nourishment accompanied by joy and
strength, as if a new substance is being poured down even in my physical body.
A:
As you suffer from ill-health, Mother presses the nourishment of the divine
strength and health into your physical being, renewing its substance with that.
4-11-1934
THE
MOTHER'S ACTION IN CURING ILLNESS
Q: On
what basis did the Mother's action proceed in the case recently submitted to her
?
A:
Mother acted on her inner perception about the whole affair; she does not
act only on the outer facts but on what she feels or sees lying behind them.
29-8-1935
Q:
X's letter to me about her hip-joint pain was sent to the Mother by me not on
the same day but on the next. Yet it seems from X's latest that her pain
disappeared soon after that letter had reached me. Was there an automatic
effect of the letter, even before the Mother was told of the letter's contents ?
A: Y
spoke to the Mother about X's pain on the same day —
Page - 354
so it is not necessary to suppose an
automatic effect of the letter itself. But such un automatic effect does
often take place either immediately after writing or when the letter enters the
Mother's atmosphere.
Page - 355
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