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Comments on Chapter 6 At the very beginning is written: "The four Powers of the Mother." Which are these four powers, Sweet Mother?
These!
The aspects, aren’t they, Mother?
(Long silence)
Yes.
What does this mean: "The Supreme is … manifested through her in the worlds as the one and dual consciousness of Ishwara-Shakti and the dual principle of Purusha-Prakriti…."?
What does this mean? It means what it says. (Laughter) It means that in the world the single force of the creating energy is divided in all the manifestations, even the most contrary manifestations, you see. It is this single force which, in the creation, is divided into Purusha and Prakriti and, also, energy and resistance. That’s what it means; at the origin the force is single and in the manifestation it is divided, and it is divided in all the contraries, which are
at the same time complementaries. Because, for creation, this division was necessary, otherwise there would have been only one single thing all the time.
What does "Vibhuti" mean?
It means the incarnation of an emanation. An emanation of the Mother incarnates in a being and this being becomes a Vibhuti.
Sweet Mother, here I do not understand this: "But something of her ways can be seen and felt through her embodiments and the more seizable because more defined and limited temperament and action of the goddess forms in whom she consents to be manifest to her creatures." This means, you see, that precisely there are different qualities, different ways of being which manifest in different forms and that each of these forms is one of the godheads whom men have worshipped and whom they understand because of the limitations. When something is limited it is more easily understandable for man than when it is unlimited, for man has a limited nature and he naturally understands what is limited. And so, to be comprehensible, things must be divided and limited. Otherwise the Power in its essence, which is indivisible and unlimited, is absolutely above human comprehension — for man as he now is, in his present state.
What is "the triple world of the Ignorance"?
"The triple world…"?
"… of the Ignorance".
The Ignorance? Matter, life and mind; that is, the physical, the vital and the mental, the triple world of the Ignorance.
What do Mahasaraswati and Mahalakshmi look like?
What?
What do they look like?
My child, you must see them.1 When you see them you will know…. The aspect is different in each case, according to the people to whom she shows herself, according to the work she does… not the one seen in this body.
Are the images we see of Mahasaraswati true?
Oh, Lord! (Laughter) When a very small child tries to make someone’s portrait, does it resemble that person? It
1. Mother having spoken very softly here, some words of this passage have not been clearly recorded. We have left the sentences unfinished, as they were transcribed.
is very much like this, sometimes worse! Because the child is frank and sincere, whereas the one who makes the images of the gods is full of fixed notions and preconceived ideas, or else of all that others have said about the subject and of what has been written in the scriptures and what has been seen by people. And so he is bound by all that. At times, from time to time, there are artists who have an inner vision, a great aspiration, a great purity of soul and of vision, who have made things which are reasonably good. But this is extremely rare. And generally, I believe it is almost the opposite. I have seen some of these forms in the vital and mental worlds, which were truly human creations. There is a force from beyond which manifests. But in these triple worlds of falsehood, truly man has created God in his own image — more or less — and there are beings which manifest in forms which are the result of the formative thought of man. And here, you see, it is truly frightful! 1 have seen some of these formations… (silence) and all this is so obscure, so incomprehensible, inexpressive…. Some of the gods are more ill-treated than others. For example, that poor Mahakali, you know, what things are done to her!… It is so frightful, it is unimaginable! But this form lives only in a very low world… yes, in the lowest vital; and what it possesses of the original being is something… a reflection so remote from the origin that it is unrecognisable. However, usually, it is this that is attracted by human consciousness. And when an idol is made, you see, and the priest brings down a form —
when the ceremony takes place in a regular manner, he puts himself in an inner state of invocation and tries to bring down a form or an emanation of the godhead into the idol in order to give it a power — if the priest is truly a man with a power of invocation, he can succeed. But usually — there are exceptions to everything — but usually these people have been educated in the common ideas according to tradition. And so, when they think of the godhead whom they are invoking, they think of all the attributes and appearances that have been given to it, and the invocation is usually addressed to entities of the vital world or at best to those of the mental world, but not to the Being itself. And it is these small entities which manifest in one idol or another. All these idols in small temples or even in families — some people have their little shrines, you know, in their homes and keep an image of the godhead they worship — these entities manifest in them; sometimes the consequences are rather unfortunate, for these forms are precisely so remote from the original godhead that… they are awkward formations. Some of those Kalis they worship in certain families are veritable monsters! I can tell you, believe me, that I have advised some people to take the statue and throw it in the Ganges in order to get rid of a thoroughly disastrous influence. In fact, this has succeeded very well…. Some of these are… unlucky presences. But this is man’s own fault. It is not the fault of the godheads. It would be wrong to put the blame on the godheads. It is man’s fault. He wants to
fashion the gods in his own image. Some who are wicked make them still more autocratic; and those who are nice make them still more nice; that is, men have magnified their own defects a little more. 11 August 1954
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