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PART TWO
LETTERS ON THE MOTHER
THE MOTHER
AND THE PURPOSE OF HER EMBODIMENT WHO IS THE MOTHER ?
Q: Do you not refer to the Mother (our Mother) in your book, “The Mother” ? A: Yes. Q: Is she not the “Individual” Divine Mother who has embodied “the power of these two vaster ways of her existence” (Part One, p. 20.) ― Transcendent and Universal ? A: Yes. Q: Has she not descended here (amongst us) into the Darkness and Falsehood and Error and Death in her deep and great love for us ? A: Yes. 17-8-1938
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Page – 47 Q: There are many who hold the view that she was human but now embodies the Divine Mother and her “Prayers”, (Prayers and Meditations of the Mother, See Part Three.) they say, explain this view. But, to my mental conception, to my psychic feeling she is the Divine Mother who has consented to put on her the cloak of obscurity and suffering and ignorance so that she can effectively lead us ― human beings ― to Knowledge and Bliss and Ananda and to the Supreme Lord. A: The Divine puts on an appearance of humanity, assumes the outward human nature in order to tread the path and show it to human beings, but does not cease to be the Divine. It is a manifestation that takes place, a manifestation of a growing divine consciousness, not human turning into divine. The Mother was inwardly above the human even in childhood, so the view held by “many” is erroneous. Q: I also conceive that the Mother’s “Prayers” are meant to show us ― the aspiring psychic ― how to pray to the Divine. A: Yes. 17-8-1938 THE MOTHER’S MANIFESTATION AND THE SUPRAMENTAL DESCENT
Q: Is there any difference between the Mother’s manifestation and the descent of the Supramental ? A: The Mother comes in order to bring down the Supramental and it is the descent which makes her full manifestation here possible. 23-9-1935
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Page – 48 Q: The Mother does not work on the Sadhak directly from her own plane above, though she can do so if she wants to ― she can even supramentalise the world in a day; but in that case the supramental Nature created here would be the same as it is above, and not the earth in Ignorance evolving into the supramental earth, a manifestation which will not be in appearance quite the same as what the Supermind is. A: That is a very important truth. 17-6-1935 PURPOSE OF THE MOTHER’S EMBODIMENT
Q: Am I right in thinking that she as an individual embodies all the Divine Powers and brings down the Grace more and more to the physical plane, and her embodiment is a chance for the entire physical consciousness to change and be transformed ? A: Yes. Her embodiment is a chance for the earth-consciousness to receive the Supramental into it and to undergo first the transformation necessary for that to be possible. Afterwards there will be a further transformation by the Supramental, but the whole earth-consciousness will not be supramentalised ― there will be first a new race representing the Supermind, as man represents the mind. 13-8-1933
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There is one divine Force which acts in the universe and in the individual and is also beyond the individual and the universe. The Mother stands for all these, but she is working here in the body to bring down something not yet expressed in this material world so as to transform life here ― it is so that you should regard her as the Divine Shakti working here for that purpose.
Page – 49 She is that in the body, but in her whole consciousness she is also identified with all the other aspects of the Divine.
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There are not many Mothers, there is One in many forms. The transcendental is only one aspect of the Mother. I don’t know what is meant by the embodied aspect of the transcendental Mother. There is the embodied aspect of the One Mother ― what she manifests through it depends on herself. 7-7-1936 *
Q: Why does the Mother in her universal action act according to the law of things, but in her embodied physical by constant Grace ? A: It is the work of the Cosmic Power to maintain the cosmos and the law of the Cosmos. The greater transformation comes from the Transcendent above the universal, and it is that transcendent Grace which the embodiment of the Mother is there to bring into action. 13-8-1933 Q: What would you say about the utility of the physical approach to the Mother ? A: There is the utility of the physical approach to the Mother ― the approach of the embodied mind and vital to her embodied Power. In her universal action the Mother acts according to the law of things ― in her embodied physical action is the opportunity of a constant Grace ― it is for that that the embodiment takes place. 12-8-1933 Page – 50 DIFFERENT APPEARANCES OF THE MOTHER
The Mother has many different personalities and her appearance varies according as one or another predominates. The something common, of course, exists. There is first, the one whom all these personalities manifest but that cannot be expressed in name or word ― there is also the supramental personality which from behind the veil presides over the aim of the present manifestation. 9-11-1933 *
The Mother has not only one appearance, but many at different times. Behind the physical body there are many forms and powers and personalities of the Mother 14-5-1933 *
Q: Two days back I saw in a vision that the fire of aspiration was rising from my heart and going upward with the constant remembrance of the Mother. Then I saw that the Mother, as we see her in her physical body, was descending in the fire and filling all my parts with peace and strength. What does this vision indicate ? Why did I see the Mother exactly as we see her in her physical body and not in her divine form ? A: It indicates an aspiration and an action for realisation in the external nature and not only in the inner being. When it is an inner action or an action of another plane one can see the Mother in any of her forms, but for realisation in the physical her appropriate form is that which she wears here. 15-7-1933
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Page – 51 Q: Why does the Mother appear different at different times, as at Pranam or Prosperity or while giving the interview ? Sometimes even anatomical differences are visible. What is the reason of these differences in her appearance ? Does it depend on the extent to which she turns outwards ? A: It is rather, I think, dependent on the personality that manifests in front ― as she has many personalities and the body is plastic enough to express something of each when it comes forward. 4-12-1933 *
Q: Often when I see the Mother I feel as if she is the image of divine Ananda and her form looks like that of a young girl. Is there any truth in my feeling ? A: Ananda is not the only thing ― there is Knowledge and Power and Love and many other powers of the Divine. As a special experience only it may stand. 30-4-1933 *
Yes. Many see like that, as if the Mother were taller than her ordinary physical appearance. 29-9-1933 REVELATION OF THE MOTHER’S COMING
Q: When Ramakrishna was doing Sadhana, Mother was on earth physically for the first eight years of her childhood, from 1878 to 1886. Did he know that Mother had come down ? He must have had some vision at least of her coming, but we do not read anywhere definitely about it.
Page – 52 And when Ramakrishna must have been intensely calling Mother, she must have felt something at that age.
A: In Mother’s childhood’s visions she saw myself whom she knew as “Krishna” ― she did not see Ramakrishna. It was not necessary that he should have a vision of her coming down as he was not thinking of the future nor consciously preparing for it. I don’t think he had the idea of any incarnation of the Mother. 11-7-1935 *
I don’t say on what plane X is, but his method is that of Adwaita Knowledge and Moksha ― so there is no necessity for him to recognise the arrival of the Divine. Y’s Guru was a bhakta of Divine Mother, believed in the dynamic side of existence, so it was quite natural for him to have the revelation of the coming of the Mother. 23-1-1936 *
X is very much of a Vedantist. He does not believe in what we believe or in the descent etc. At the same time he himself had experiences in which the Mother interfered in a visible free material form and prevented him from doing what he intended to do. 7-7-1936 SEEING THE DIVINE IN THE MOTHER
Q: This morning I perceived a great beauty in the Mother. It was as if her whole body was glowing with a supernatural light. In fact I felt as if a Supreme Goddess had come down from the heavens above. Kindly explain that.
Page – 53 A: It was only that you felt the Divinity with her which is always there. 20-7-1933 *
As for seeing the Divine in the Mother at first sight, he is not the only one to do that. Plenty of people have done that … e.g. X’s cousin, a Musulman girl, who as soon as she met her declared, “This is not a woman, she is a goddess”, and has been having significant dreams of her ever since, and whenever she is in trouble, thinks of her and gets helped out of the trouble. It is not so difficult to see the Divine in the Mother as you make it out to be. 23-7-1935 *
Q: I don’t know what the Musulman lady exactly saw. From what you say it seems to be a flash of intuition. A: Not at all, it was a direct sense of the Godhead in her ― for I suppose you mean by intuition a sort of idea that comes suddenly ? That is what people usually understand by intuition. It was not that in her case nor in X’s. 29-7-1935 *
Q: But is it not extremely difficult to see the fully flaming resplendent Divine Mother ? A: I don’t believe X or anybody would have that at first view. That can only come if one has already developed the faculty of vision in the occult planes. What is of more importance is the clear perception or intimate inner feeling or direct sense, “This is She”. I think you are inclined to be too romantic and poetic and too little spiritually realistic in these things.
Page – 54 With many people the faculty of this kind of occult vision is the first to develop when they begin Sadhana. With others it is there naturally or comes on occasions without any practice of Yoga. But with people who live mainly in the intellect (a few excepted) this faculty is not usually there by nature and most have much difficulty in developing it. It was so even with me. It would be something of a miracle to see things without the faculty of seeing. We don’t deal much in miracles of that kind. 29-7-1935 RECOGNITION OF THE MOTHER’S DIVINITY
There are people who start at once, others take time.
X recognised the Mother as divine at first sight and has been happy ever afterwards; others who rank among Mother’s devotees took years to discover or admit it, but they arrived all the same. There are people who had nothing but difficulties and revolts for the first five, six, seven or more years of the Sadhana, yet the psychic ended by awaking. The time taken is a secondary matter: the one thing needful is ― soon or late, easily or with difficulty, to get there.
Q: Many times I find that old Sanskaras come up and disturb my faith in the Mother and her divinity. How is it possible to prevent it ? A: It is only if you see the divinity of the Mother that there can be a settled conviction ― that is a question of the inner consciousness and vision. 5-6-1937 *
Q: How to convince the mind that Mother is divine and that her workings are not human ?
Page – 55 A: It is by opening up the psychic and letting it rule the mind and vital that this can be done ― because the psychic knows and can see what the mind cannot.
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Q: It seems that part of my external being which was not accepting the Mother is now recognising her divinity. But why do I forget it when I physically come before her ? A: It is the physical mind in its most external action that sees physical things as only physical. 15-8-1937 *
This struggle in you [between bhakti for Sri Krishna and the sense of the divinity of the Mother] is quite unnecessary; for the two things are one and go perfectly together. It is he who has brought you to the Mother and it is by adoration of her that you will realise him. He is here in the Ashram and it is his work that is being done here. 1933 *
Q: Even a good devotee and a brilliant student like X finds it difficult to accept the Mother. I cannot understand why he cannot see the simple truth about her. A: If he finds it difficult to accept Mother, how is he a good devotee ? A devotee to whom ? A brilliant student is another matter; one can be a brilliant student and yet quite incompetent in spiritual matters. If one is a devotee of Vishnu or some other Godhead, then it is different ― one may see only one’s object of worship and so not be able to accept anything else. 14-11-1934 *
Page – 56 Q: Some people seem to be quite misled in understanding the Mother’s status with regard to the higher planes. When they are in these planes or receive something from them, they begin to think that they have reached a great height, and that the higher planes have nothing to do with the Mother. Especially about the Supermind they have such queer notions ― that it is something greater than the Mother. A: If they have a greater experience or consciousness than the Mother, they should not stay here but go and save the world with it.
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Q: Is the attitude that I am the Brahman not necessary in the Integral Yoga ? A: It is not enough to transform the whole nature. Otherwise there would be no need of the Mother’s being here. It could be done by simply thinking of oneself as the Brahman. There would be no need of the Mother’s presence or the Mother’s force. 27-12-1935 THE MOTHER’S OFFER OF TRUTH
The Mother cannot decide for you whether you should follow the Path of Nirvikalpa Samadhi or accept this Yoga, she can only offer to you the Truth and if you accept it, guide you towards it. 8-9-1933 THE MOTHER AND THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE
Why should Mother dislike the Yoga of Knowledge ? The realisation of Self and of the Cosmic being (without which the realisation of Self is incomplete) are essential steps in our Yoga; it is the end of other Yogas, but it is, as it were, the beginning of
Page – 57 ours, that is to say, the point where its own characteristic realisation can commence. 26-3-1936 *
Certainly, Samadhi is not barred from this Yoga. The fact that the Mother was always entering into it is proof enough of that. 10-6-1936 Page – 58 |