Chapter 18
The Work Is the Same
Words of the Mother
Mother, Did You have any communications with Sri Aurobindo before You came to know Him? For I have read some books where it is said that He and You have done almost the same work.
The work was and is the same, because the source of his inspiration and mine is the same: the Supreme.
Words of the Mother
The work consists in helping humanity as a whole to prepare itself for the new creation, that is to say, the supramental race.
Words of the Mother
Mother, the last sentence in this book is interesting and touching. Without Him, You do not exist, and without You, He cannot manifest.
You know, it is perfectly true. I do not know exactly how I have put it in the book, but without Him, I cannot exist and without me, He cannot manifest. One is complementary to the other. But in truth, we are both one and the same. It is the same thing, the same entity, which in the manifestation takes two separate forms to uphold the creation. Without that, it is the same – me and Him. There is no difference, no separation, no division, One, unique and the same. What He is, I am, entirely, in essence. It is like this (Mother locks the fingers of both hands) we are united, the same and identical, the One without division. But in the manifestation, it seems, the One divides itself, the One becomes two, like this (the Mother separates the fingers) to come into the manifestation. But it is only in appearance that the One divides itself in order to uphold the manifestation. In fact, it is the same, the One who takes two bodies – me and Him, only for the manifestation. In reality, these two entities are one and unique. It is in this way that the One appears in the manifestation. But what He is, I am. There is no difference. It is apparently a difference formed in the manifestation. We have two separate bodies but we are, one and the other, the same. No difference at all. We are like this (the Mother makes the same gesture). And beyond that, there is yet something, – what we are in reality, beyond, up there. But that is not to be spoken of. One cannot say in words what that is. And all that one says about That is nothing but stupidities. The words express nothing of that existence. Nothing, nothing, it is not meant to be spoken of … The Supreme who manifests Himself in two forms.
Chapter 19
Ma – Sri Aurobindo, Ma – Sri Aurobindo
Words of the Mother
Mother, Sri Aurobindo has always said that You, You are within us.
Yes, it is true, perfectly right.
Me, I am there as a Presence in the Eternal Flame, the Power that animates and initiates the action, the Peace that renders all sweet and peaceful, the Joy that overflows and sublimates, the Light that purifies, and the Vibration that sanctions. Sri Aurobindo is there as a sustaining Entity, and me I am there like a Guide. In fact, it is the same identity in two. One, who observes, – the Witness, and the other that effectuates, – the Shakti. So long as one has not realised that, one cannot understand anything. … Yes, my child, he who recognises Sri Aurobindo and me, – in fact, it is the same thing, the same identity, – for him all obstacles, all difficulties, all traps, all the so-called interruptions on the march towards the Truth, are swept away and removed for ever, – in this life, as well as after death and in the lives to come, – till Eternity. Yes, for him, the Lord is all powerful. Only to repeat: “Ma – Sri Aurobindo, Ma – Sri Aurobindo” … (trance). That is enough. (trance)
Words of the Mother
There is only one thing of which I am absolutely sure, and that is who I am. Sri Aurobindo also knew it and declared it. Even the doubts of the whole of humanity would change nothing to this fact.
But another fact is not so certain―it is the usefulness of my being here in a body, doing the work I am doing. It is not out of any personal urge that I am doing it. Sri Aurobindo told me to do it and that is why I do it as a sacred duty in obedience to the dictates of the Supreme.
Time will reveal how far earth has benefited through it.
Chapter 20
I Remained Only For the Sake of the Work
Words of the Mother
By acting from above, one can keep these things under control, hold them in place, prevent them from taking any unpleasant initiatives, but that’s not…. To transform means to transform.
Even mastery can be achieved – it’s quite easy to do from above. But for the transformation one must descend, and that is terrible…. Otherwise, the subconscient will never be transformed, it will remain as it is.
One can even pose as a superman! (Mother laughs) But it remains like that (gesture in the air), it’s not the real thing. It’s not the new creation, it’s not the next step in terrestrial evolution.
You might as well say, ‘Why are you in a hurry? Wait for Nature to do it.’ But Nature would take a few million years and in the process squander away a host of people and things. A few million years are unimportant to her – a passing breeze.
(silence)
Anyhow, I was sent here to do this work, so I am trying to do it, that’s all. I could have…. If it hadn’t been for the work, I would have left with Sri Aurobindo; there you have it. I remained only for the sake of the work – because it was there to be done and he told me to do it and I am doing it…. Otherwise, when one is perfectly conscious, one is far less limited without a body: one can see a hundred people at the same time, in a hundred different places, just as Sri Aurobindo is doing right now.
Chapter 21
Joy of the Cells Seeking to Unite With Sri Aurobindo
Words of the Mother
Some months ago, when this body had once again become a battlefield and was confronting all the obstacles, when it was suspended, asking itself whether… it wasn’t wondering intellectually, but asking for a kind of perception, wanting to touch something: it wondered which direction it was taking, which way things were going to tilt. And suddenly, in all the cells, there was this feeling (and I know where it came from): ‘If we are dissolved out of this amalgam, if this assemblage is dissolved and can no longer go on, then we shall all go straight, straight as an arrow’ – and it was like a marvelous flame – ‘straight to rejoin Sri Aurobindo in his supramental world, which is right here at our door.’ And there was such joy! Such enthusiasm, such joy flooded all the cells! They didn’t care at all whether or not they would be dissociated…. ‘Oh,’ they felt, ‘so what!’
This was truly a decisive stage in the work of illuminating the body.
All the cells felt far more powerful than that stupid force trying to dissolve them; what is called ‘death, left them entirely indifferent: ‘What do we care? We shall go THERE and consciously participate in Sri Aurobindo’s work, in the transformation of the world, one way or the other – here, there, like this, like that – what does it matter!’
This came more than a year ago, I think. It has never left. Never. All anxiety and all conscious tension have gone.
Only – there is an ‘only’ in all this – if there were a more liberal proportion between the ‘refreshing’ (if I may say so) freedom of solitude and the necessity for collective work, there would probably be fewer difficulties…. Towards the end of the first year after I retired upstairs (perhaps even before, but anyway, some time after I began doing japa while walking), I recall having such sessions up there!… Had there been a personal goal, this goal was clearly attained; it is indescribable, absolutely beyond all imaginable or expressible splendor.
And that was when I received the Command from the Supreme, who was right here, this close (Mother presses her face). He told me, ‘This is what is promised. Now the Work must be done.’
And not individual but collective work was meant. So naturally, because of the way it came, it was joyously accepted and immediately implemented.
But when I remember that experience and consider what I have now…
(silence)
Well, what Sri Aurobindo did by leaving his body is somewhat equivalent, although far more total and complete and absolute – because he had that experience, he had that, he had it; I saw him, I saw him supramental on his bed, sitting on his bed.
(silence)
He has written: I am not doing it individually, for myself, but for the whole earth. And it was exactly the same thing for me – but oh, that experience! Nothing counted for me anymore: people, the earth – even the earth itself had absolutely no importance.
Chapter 22
The Twin Action of Ishwara and Shakti
Words of Sri Aurobindo
Also it will be a mistake if you make too rigid a separation between A.G.1 and Mirra. Both influences are necessary for the complete development of the sadhana. The work of the two together can alone bring down the Supramental Truth into the physical plane. A.G. acts directly on the mental and on the vital being through the illumined mind; he represents the Purusha element whose strength is predominantly in illumined (intuitive, supramental or spiritual) knowledge and the power that acts in this knowledge, while the psychic being supports this action and helps to transform the physical and vital plane. Mirra acts directly on the psychic being and on the emotional, vital and physical nature through the illumined psychic consciousness, while the illumined intuitions from the supramental being give her the necessary knowledge to act on the right lines and at the right moment. Her force representing the Shakti element is directly psychic, vital, physical and her spiritual knowledge is predominantly practical in its nature. It is, that is to say, a large and detailed knowledge and experience of the mental, vital and physical forces at play and with the knowledge the power to handle them for the purposes of life and of Yoga.
1 The abbreviation for Sri Aurobindo which the disciples used until late 1920s. Later on the Mother revealed that Sri Aurobindo’s name is in itself a Mantra.