Chapter 9

Salvation is physical

Never, never had this body felt like that. And besides, it put the body in a condition quite… quite critical for some hours. And afterwards it was as though everything – each and every thing – came with a Smile and a shining Light, as though (translated in a child’s image) as though the Lord was saying, “You see, I am everywhere. You see, I am in everything.” And it was incredible – incredible… But there is no communication between the two.

Well, it was at the time when the body was saying: “How is it? Is it going to be necessary to con-ti-nue that? Must one, must one con-ti-nue that? The world, people, the whole creation – to continue that?”… That appeared… I understood all at once: Ah! It is this which they have translated as “eternal hell”. It is this. It is someone who has had this perception.

And all the means – which could be called artificial, including Nirvana – all the means of coming out of that are worth nothing. Beginning with the idiot who kills himself to “put an end” to his life (this of course is, of all the idiocies, the most idiotic; it makes one’s case still worse), starting from there right up to Nirvana (where one imagines one is able to escape), all that, all that is worth nothing. They are all at different levels, but all are worth nothing. And then, after that, at the time when you really have the feeling of an everlasting hell, all of a sudden… (nothing but a state of consciousness, it is nothing else but that), all of a sudden a state of consciousness… in which all is light, splendour, beauty, happiness, goodness… and everything inexpressible. And it is like that: “There, there you are”, and then, pfft! it appears and then, hop! off it goes. And then the Consciousness which sees, which asserts itself and says, “Now, next step, the next step.” So, it is that, it is in the presence of all that that the body had… never, never in all its life had it felt such pain, and even now…

Is that, is that the lever?… I do not know. But the salvation is physical – not at all mental, but physical. I mean to say that it is not escape, it is here. This I felt very strongly.

The body being trained to live only through the Divine

As for the body, it is being trained to live only through the Divine, on the Divine, for everything – everything, everything, everything without exception. It is only when the consciousness is linked as much as it can be with the Divine Consciousness that there comes the sense of existence. It has now an extraordinary intensity. When the physical will get converted, it will be a solid thing, you know, which does not move – and complete. And so concrete… The difference between being in the Divine, existing only through Him and in Him, and then being in the consciousness (not the ordinary, naturally, but the human consciousness) is so great that the one seems to be death beside the other, so much is it… That is to say, the physical realisation is truly a concrete realisation.

There has begun to take place a concentration of energy – oh! it is not yet that, very far from it, but… there is a beginning of the perception of what it will be. That, yes… it is truly wonderful. It is so full of power! So full of power and of reality in the consciousness that nothing, nothing else can have it – what is vital, mental, all that appears vague and uncertain. That, it is concrete (Mother holds her hands tight). And so strong.

There are still problems to be solved, but not with words nor with thoughts. And things are coming just to demonstrate – not only personal things but things all around: people, circumstances – all that, it is to teach the body to have the true consciousness. That, it is… wonderful.

(Mother goes within herself)

The problem seems to have been to create a physical capable of bearing the Power that wants to manifest itself. All ordinary body consciousnesses are too thin and too fragile to bear the tremendous Power which must manifest itself. And so the body is in the process of training itself. And it is… you know, it is as though it perceived, all of a sudden, so wonderful, so wonderful a horizon, but wonderful tremendously; and then it is left to proceed as far as it can bear. A process of adaptation is needed. The transition… in full transition.

Will it be sufficiently plastic? I do not know. It is a question of plasticity. To be able to bear and transmit (Mother makes a gesture of a flow from above passing through her), presenting no obstruction to the Power that wants to manifest itself.

The melting of the shell

The appearances are only the future consequences. That is why… the appearance will be the last thing to change…

Yes, I too do not… I am like this (gesture towards the forehead): nothing, nothing, nothing, empty, empty, empty… There (gesture upward and wide), there, it is… yes, it is a golden vastness.

(Silence)

I have a queer feeling that it is a kind of… as though the shell, or the bark of trees, the shell of a tortoise were melting, and the body itself is not like this (Mother makes a gesture of opening out, as though the body were bursting out towards the sun). That which to man seems like Matter is… as though something hardened that must fall away because it does not receive. And in this body, here (Mother touches the skin of her hand), it tries… it tries to (same gesture of opening out). Oh! It is strange, it is a strange sensation. If one could hold on long enough for the thing to melt, then that would be the true beginning.

What Thou Willest, what Thou Willest

I might say: the cells of the body must learn to seek their support only in the Divine, until the moment when they are able to feel that they are the expression of the Divine.

This is indeed the experience at present. The experience of changing the effect of things, that I have; but it is not mentalised, so I cannot tell it in words. But truly, the cells have begun to feel, first of all that they are wholly ruled by the Divine (this is translated by: “What Thou willest, what Thou willest”), this state, and then a kind of receptivity which is (how to say it?) passive – not immobile, it is… probably one might say a passive receptivity (Mother opens her hands with a smile), but I do not know how to explain.

All words are false, but one might say: “Thou alone art” – yes, the cells feel: “Thou alone art.” Yes, it is like that. But all this, it is as though the thing got hardened – words harden the experience. There is a kind of plasticity or suppleness (a trustful, very trustful suppleness): “What Thou willest, what Thou willest.”

(Silence)

In a certain attitude (but it is difficult to explain or define), in a certain attitude all becomes divine. And there, what is wonderful is that when one has the experience of everything becoming divine, all that is contrary disappears quite naturally, quickly or slowly, instantly or little by little, depending on things.

That is indeed wonderful. That is to say, to become conscious that all is divine is the best way of making all divine – annulling all oppositions.

The Body wholly under the influence of the Divine

…no half-measure, no compromise, no approximation, no… not that. It is this (Mother brings down her fist).

And it is so for the body, at every minute there is an imperative: it is life or it is death. It is not the approximation which has lasted indefinitely. For centuries it was neither altogether bad, nor altogether good – it is no longer so.

The body knows that this is the way for the supramental body to be formed: it must be wholly under the influence of the Divine – no compromise, no approximation, no “it will come”, not so: it is like this (Mother brings down her fist), a formidable Will.

But… it is the only way for things to go fast…

It is as though all the while you had the feeling that you were hovering between life and death, and the moment you take the right attitude – when the part concerned takes the right attitude – it goes all right. Quite naturally and easily it goes all right. It is wonderful. But it is a tremendous thing, because there is a perpetual danger. Well, perhaps, I do not know, a hundred times during the day there is a feeling: life or (for the cells, I mean), life or disintegration; and then if they do not contract, as they usually have the habit to do, everything goes all right. But they are learning to… (Mother opens her hands in a gesture of self-giving), then it is all right.

It is as though by a kind of compulsion the body was being taught eternity. It is truly interesting. And then I see that the external circumstances are becoming frightful (from the ordinary point of view).

It is we who prevent the thing from being done… as though our own control prevented the Force from acting; it is something like that. One must… (Mother opens her hands).

(Silence)

I believe, I believe that it is the subconscient which has been convinced that if it does not maintain its control all will go wrong. That is my impression. It is that thing, it is that which says, “Ah, be on your guard, take care.”… (Mother opens her hands.)

The New Body

For the first time, early in the morning, I saw myself, my body – I do not know whether it is the supramental body or… (how to say it?) a body in transition, but I had a body altogether new, in the sense that it was sexless – it was not a woman nor was it a man.

It was very white. But it is because my skin is white, I believe, I do not know.

It was very slim (gesture indicating slenderness) – it was pretty. Truly a harmonious form.

So it was the first time. I did not know at all, I had no idea of what it would be like, none at all, and I saw – I was like that, I had become like that.

The other day you spoke of the vision of your body, this body in transition…

Yes, but I was like that. It was myself. I did not see myself in a mirror: I saw myself like that (Mother bends her head to look at her body). I was… I was like that.

It was for the first time. It was at four o’clock in the morning, I believe. It was quite natural – I did not look in a mirror, I was quite natural. I remember only what I saw (gesture from the chest to the waist). I had only a veil on me, so I saw only… it was the trunk that was quite different from the chest down to the waist: neither man nor woman.

And it was pretty. I had a form very very slim, very slender – very slender but not thin. And the skin was very white; the skin was like my skin. A very pretty form. But no sex, you could not say – neither man nor woman; sex had disappeared.

Also there (Mother points to the chest), all that: nothing. I do not know how to say it. It was like a semblance, but had no form at all (Mother touches her chest), not even as much as men have. A very white skin, all very even. No belly, so to say. The stomach – no stomach. All that was slim.

Well, I did not pay any special attention because I was like that and I found it quite natural…

I did not look to see how it was, because it was quite natural, so I cannot give a detailed description. Simply, it was neither the body of a woman nor the body of a man – that is clear. And the “outline”, the silhouette, was almost the same as that of a very very young person. There was a sort of semblance to human forms (Mother sketches it in the air), there was a shoulder and a figure. As though the semblance of a form.

I see it, but… I saw it as one sees oneself. And there was a kind of veil that I had put on just to cover myself. It was a mode of being, not surprising to me, it was a natural mode of being.

A baby carried in the arms of the Divine

It is now two or three days, I do not remember exactly, there was a great difficulty and then immediately I felt myself enveloped (gesture) like a baby being carried in the arms of the Divine. You understand, it was like that. It was as though I was a baby being carried in the arms of the Divine. And then… after a time (but it was rather long) when it had been solely in the Divine Presence like that, the pain disappeared. It did not even ask for the pain to go, it left. It took a little time, it left.

I had completely, completely the feeling of being a baby enveloped (gesture) in the arms of the Divine. Extraordinary.

(Silence)

Well, for a time it is like that: “What Thou willest, what Thou willest” and then that too falls silent… (Mother opens her hands upward in a gesture of offering)…

Indeed, it is the feeling of a baby’s powerlessness, you understand? But it is not a thing “thought out”, “willed”, it is absolutely spontaneous, and then from there you pass into a state… (Mother opens her hands in a smile of beatitude).

So long as there is this feeling of someone who wills, who does a thing and all that, it is useless… (same gesture, hands open in a smile).