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Opening, Sincerity and the Mother’s Grace
What is real opening? It is the receptivity to the Mother’s presence and her forces. What is the right and perfect rule of opening? Aspiration, quietude, widening of oneself to receive, rejection of all that tries to shut you to the Divine. How shall I know that I am opening to the Mother and not to other forces? You have to be vigilant and see that there is no movement of disturbance, desire, ego. What are the signs of a real opening to the Mother? That shows itself at once —when you feel the divine peace, equality, wideness, light, Ananda, Knowledge, strength, when you are aware of the Mother’s nearness or presence or the working of her Force, etc., etc. If any of these things are felt, it is the opening —the more are felt, the more complete the opening. What is the way to open all the knots of the being? By aspiration, by consent of the being to the workings of the Divine Force, by the descent and working of that Force. 25 April 1933
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What does "opening" mean? Is it "not to keep anything secret from the Mother"?
Page – 150 That is the first step towards opening. 17 June 1933
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How does one “open”? By faith and surrender in a quiet mind. 18 June 1933
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To be open is simply to be so turned to the Mother that her Force can work in you without anything refusing or obstructing her action. If the mind is shut up in its own ideas and refuses to allow her to bring in the Light and the Truth, if the vital clings to its desires and does not admit the true initiative and impulsions that the Mother’s power brings, if the physical is shut up in its desire, habits and inertia and does not allow the Light and Force to enter in it and work, then one is not open. It is not possible to be entirely open all at once in all the movements, but there must be a central opening in each part and a dominant aspiration or will in each part (not in the mind alone) to admit only the Mother’s workings, the rest will then be progressively done. 28 October 1934
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To remain open to the Mother is to remain always quiet and happy and confident, not restless, not grieving or desponding, to let her force work in you, guide you, give you knowledge, give you peace and Ananda. If you cannot keep yourself open, then aspire constantly but quietly that you may be open.
Opening to the Mother and the Integral Yoga
I cannot understand whether I am doing Yoga. Can it be said that I am doing your Purna Yoga? Everyone who is turned to the Mother is doing my Yoga. It is a great mistake to suppose that one can “do” the Purna Yoga —i.e. carry out and fulfil all the sides of the Yoga by one’s own effort. No human being can do that. What one has to do is to put
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oneself in the Mother’s hands and open oneself to her by service, by bhakti, by aspiration; then the Mother by her light and force works in him so that the sadhana is done. It is a mistake also to have the ambition to be a big Purna Yogi or a supramental being and ask oneself how far have I got towards that. The right attitude is to be devoted and given to the Mother and to wish to be whatever she wants you to be. The rest is for the Mother to decide and do in you. April 1929
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I offer myself at your feet. Accept me as your child and show me the divine path. Give me directions and inform me what will be the attitude in my sadhana. Write to him1 that he can begin sadhana, if he feels truly the call. He need do nothing at first but sit in meditation for a short time every day and try to open himself to the Mother’s power, aspiring for the opening, for a true change of consciousness, for peace, purity and strength to go through the sadhana, for her protection against all difficulties and errors and for an always increasing devotion. Let him see first if he can thus successfully open himself. 2 November 1929
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Today at soup time I remained concentrated. I felt all kinds of eccentric movements rise up, but they were not in contact with the Mother. Sometimes when I concentrate to get contact with her force and touch, I feel that my head is becoming a solid block, compact, and that my mind has become a vacuum. But I think this prevents the opening and permits attacks from above when the consciousness goes below. You write always as if all opening must be to the confused mental and vital movements, thoughts, voices etc. That is not so. You can be open in all your being, but to the Mother alone, to the Divine alone and to nothing else.
1 Written by Sri Aurobindo to his secretary, who replied to the enquirer. —Ed.
Page – 152 When the consciousness is filled with the Mother’s force, then there is the condition you speak of as felt in the head —a solid block, compact, silent, free from all random thoughts and movements. But this can be felt not only in the head, but in all the body and also in all the consciousness above, around and below the body. When it is like that then all foreign intrusions are either automatically excluded or if they come, easily observed and rejected as not one’s own and not the Divine’s. One feels full of the Divine, full of the Mother’s force and presence so that nothing else can enter and misuse the mind, the vital or the body. 6 April 1931
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Sita suffered without Rama, the Gopis without Krishna —how they longed for God! This will not happen to us because you and the Mother are here with us. If this is the Truth, why do we still feel dissatisfied at times? How to establish the Truth in the mind and vital so that we have an end to the feelings of dissatisfaction? The Truth for you is to feel the Divine in you, open to the Mother and work for the Divine till you are aware of her in all your actions. The physical presence here is not enough; there must be this consciousness of the divine presence in your heart and the divine guidance in your acts. This the psychic being can easily, swiftly, deeply feel if it is fully awake; once the psychic has felt it, it can spread to the mental and vital also. 16 February 1932
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The advantage of being in the psychic consciousness is that you have the right awareness and its will being in harmony with the Mother’s will, you can call in the Mother’s Force to make the change. Those who live in the mind and the vital are not so well able to do this; they are obliged to use mostly their personal effort and as the awareness and will and force of the mind and vital are divided and imperfect, the work done is imperfect and not definitive. It is only in the Supermind that Awareness, Will,
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Force are always one movement and automatically effective. 7 May 1932
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You have only to aspire, to keep yourself open to the Mother, to reject all that is contrary to her will and to let her work in you —doing also all your work for her and in the faith that it is through her force that you can do it. If you remain open in this way the knowledge and realisation will come to you in due course. 15 May 1932
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Keep yourself open to the Mother in the right attitude of surrender and you will receive from her gradually all that you need within you. 21 November 1932
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I began work on this masonry project a month ago. At first I had only a general idea of the work. Then I got the necessary energy and interest. Now I think that the fourth aspect of the Mother —richness in detail, completeness, perfection —is coming. I await further suggestions. It is very good. By remaining psychically open to the Mother, all that is necessary for work or sadhana develops progressively, that is one of the chief secrets, the central secret of the sadhana. 13 February 1933
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There is no part of you that is not open, but you have to make the opening always wider and the reception more complete; but that too will be done progressively if you remember and call the Mother’s force at all times and remain confident, vigilant and devoted, as you have been and are. 25 February 1933
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Sri Aurobindo says in reply to your letter2 that you can meditate on the Mother in the heart and call on her —remember her and
2 Written by Sri Aurobindo to his secretary, who replied to the enquirer. —Ed.
Page – 154 dedicate or offer to her all your life and thoughts and actions. If you like you can make a japa of her name. You can call to her to purify your being and change your nature. Or you can concentrate to call down from above you (where it always is) first her calm and peace, then her power and light and her ananda. It is always there above the head —but superconscient to the human mind —by aspiration and concentration it can become conscient to it and the adhar can open to it so that it descends and enters into mind, life and body. 14 March 1933
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If a sadhak even after a long time cannot open himself fully and constantly to the Mother owing to great obstacles in his nature, will he die in the middle and not be accepted by the Mother? There is no meaning in such a question. Those who follow the Yoga here are accepted by the Mother —for “accepted” means “admitted into the Yoga, accepted as disciples”. But the progress in the Yoga and the siddhi in the Yoga depend on the degree to which there is the opening. 24 June 1933
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Keep open to the Mother —throw away the faults and defects of character you can change of yourself —allow the Mother’s power to work in you —then these difficulties can be made to disappear, the mind will open. 3 May 1934
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A cloud surrounds me. Protect me and give me strength. Let me open completely to the Mother. To be open to the Mother entirely, you should be open both within and without. You should be perfectly frank and tell her everything —do not shrink from showing to her candidly all that is within you. That will at once enable you to be completely open and her also to help you fully. 22 July 1934
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I am not getting much time to sit down for meditation, but the calmness is maintained throughout my work. What should I do when I can make no time for meditation? Keep yourself open, remember the Mother always —call for her help and guidance in your work. You must get into a condition in which not only the calmness remains always but the sadhana is going on all the time in work and rest as well as in meditation. 20 September 1934
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I understand that once the Mother accepts us as disciples, we should simply go to her. One should not be miserable if one does not see her in the heart. One has only to remain with her in the Asram. No, it is not enough to be in the Asram —one has to open to the Mother and put away the mud which one was playing with in the world. 25 September 1934
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I could not decide whether to give up my present work or to change it. Then I thought I will leave the work in order to meditate. But I do not know what is good for me. You alone know everything. It is a mistake to exercise the mind about these things and try to arrange them with the ordinary mind. It is by confidence in the Mother that the opening needed will come when your consciousness is ready. There is no harm in arranging your present work so that there will be time and energy for some meditation, but it is not by meditation alone that what is needed will come. It is by faith and openness to the Mother. 9 October 1934
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Openness is not always complete from the first —a part of the being opens, other parts of the consciousness remain still closed or half open only —one has to aspire till all is open. Even with the best and most powerful sadhak the full opening takes time;
Page – 156 nor is there anyone who has been able to abandon everything at once without any struggle. There is no reason to feel therefore that if you call, you will not be heard —the Mother knows the difficulties of human nature and will help you through. Persevere always, call always and then after each difficulty there will be a progress. 20 April 1935
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What poise or mode should we keep for the supramental descent? As for poise or mode —that you need not trouble yourself about. An entire faith, opening, self —giving to the Mother are the one condition necessary throughout. 23 September 1935
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It seems to me that the best place for getting rid of wrong movements is the Asram, under the Mother’s grace, help, protection and physical nearness. That is only true if one can open oneself to the Mother. To be here and shut up to it and under another control does not help. 8 March 1936
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That is what must be done. Trust in the Mother and will only to be open to her always and as quietly confident as may be. The work to be done is too great for the outer mind to understand how it is to be done; it is only by growing light and experience that one day it begins to understand —it is also too great and difficult for it to do by itself, —it can only help the Power that is working by its readiness, aspiration, faith, quietude. But in no sadhak are these things constant —the aspiration gets suspended, the faith wavers, the quietude is disturbed or shaken —but still the Mother is there at work and one has only to persevere, —finally the perseverance will be justified by the result. To give up is the one thing one must never do. 14 May 1936
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That the mind is turning away more and more from outward things and the will to be turned wholly to the Mother is growing is very good, for that is the first necessity. The condition of being so turned and wholly open can then more easily develop. The two minutes’ flash of opening showed you how it will come; for it comes like that, by glimpses at first of brief duration, but afterwards it grows in hold and duration till it is ready for permanence. It is a new birth in the nature and so it can’t come all at once, but once begun it grows till it is perfect. Of course the more quiet the consciousness can remain in a steady way, the more the condition is favourable for this to be. 19 July 1936
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The first thing one has to be careful not to do, is not to shut oneself in any way to the Mother. If one conceals what is happening in one from the Mother, something gets shut up. It is the mistake X has been making. Formerly she was quite open and unreserved and whenever there came a difficulty she got the full help. The Mother has told her to be perfectly open and hide nothing; if she does that, she will soon recover. The Mother can not only know everything but do everything if she decides to do so —but if she did, where would be the sadhana? All would be only puppets moving in her hands. There are certain conditions which the sadhak must satisfy, and the Divine veils his power and knowledge so that the sadhak may have the occasion to love and will and think and act and grow into the true consciousness. As for writing, the Mother has no time any longer, that is why she leaves it to me. X formerly used to tell the Mother to take full rest and not wear herself out etc. —how is it now she weeps because the Mother does not write? Her former attitude was the true one —she was in the psychic consciousness and always with the Mother’s presence close to her.
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In meditation you must call on the Mother and concentrate on
Page – 158 the call in your heart till you feel an opening to her or some inner contact with her.
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I cannot meditate, for when I sit many thoughts come in. Which path must I take, then, to advance and make it easier for the Mother to work in me? If you cannot meditate, pray. Offer all you do to the Mother and pray to her to take control of your actions and your nature. Love and worship. What is needed is to get a full opening in which you will become conscious of the Mother. These things will bring the opening. Only, even if it takes time, you must not get depression, despair or revolt —for these things get into the way of the opening.
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The whole thing is to keep yourself open to the Mother. The preparation of the nature for the decisive experiences always takes time and should be a continuous self —opening without discouragement or impatience for immediate results.
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Confidence in the Mother followed by a full opening to her is the best way.
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O Mother, how long will you remain far from me? Am I not your child? The Mother is never far from you. If you keep open, you will always feel her with you.
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My sweet Mother, let me live in you. Keep open to the Mother’s peace and joy —by living in it you will come to live in her.
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Am I right in believing that Mother will do everything for me? Yes, but it must be done with your inner assent and you must take the right attitude and openness to the Mother.
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Mother, how can one always receive Ananda from you? By thinking less and less of oneself and more and more of the Divine. Mother, how can I open myself to you? By quieting the mind and vital, by concentrating more on the Mother and by calling for her Force to enter and work in the being. Mother, why is one harmed when one enters into relation with someone? It is because one receives mental and vital influences from others and some of these are harmful. Lord, when will all my undesirable activities be abolished and only daivic activities remain? That is to say, when will I behave only as the Mother wants? When the psychic being comes in the front. Mother, how can one develop the buddhi? The ordinary way is to read and study or to observe and try to understand all things; the sadhak’s way is to open his mind to the light from above.
If an adverse Force comes, one has not to accept and welcome its suggestions, but to turn to the Mother and refuse to turn away
Page – 160 from her. Whether one can open or not, one has to be loyal and faithful. Loyalty and fidelity are not qualities for which one has to do Yoga; they are very simple things which any man or woman who aspires to the Truth ought to be able to accomplish. 21 April 1937
When I opened myself to the Mother in meditation, I saw her approaching me with an infant in her arms. As she came near, the golden Purusha frowned at her and she drew back behind you. I have seen this vision several times. What am I to do? You fill my whole being but, despite opening myself to the Mother, she is not allowed to approach me.
The infant in the Mother’s arms is the symbol of the psychic being. The soul in direct touch with the divine Truth is hidden in man by the mind, the vital being and the physical nature (manas, prāṇa, anna of the Taittiriya Upanishad); one may practise Yoga and get illuminations in the mind and the reason, power and all kinds of experiences in the vital, even physical siddhis, but if the true soul —power behind and the psychic nature do not come into the front, nothing genuine has been done. In this Yoga, the psychic being is that which opens the rest of the nature to the true supramental light and finally to the supreme Ananda. If the soul is awakened, if there is a new birth out of the mere mental, vital and physical into the psychic consciousness, then the Yoga can be done; otherwise (by the mere power of the mind or any other part) it is impossible. It is this new birth, this awakening of the psychic consciousness, that the Mother is offering in the vision. If the golden Purusha refuses it, it must be because he is bound by some kind of attachment, probably to mere "knowledge". In that case, he is not very consistent; for it was he who demanded surrender to the Mother and now he rejects the very heart and meaning of the surrender. Probably this repeated experience is an indication of the principal difficulty in the sadhana. If there is refusal of the psychic new birth, a refusal to become the child new born from the Mother, owing to attachment to intellectual
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knowledge or mental ideas or to some vital desire, then there will be a failure in the sadhana. Only if it is accepted, can his coming and doing sadhana here be fruitful. 26 November 1929
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Keep yourself open to the Mother’s Force, but do not trust all forces. As you go on, if you keep straight, you will come to a time when the psychic becomes more predominantly active and the Light from above prevails more purely and strongly so that the chance of mental constructions and vital formations mixing with the true experience diminishes. As I have told you, these are not and cannot be the supramental Forces; it is a work of preparation which is only making things ready for a future Yoga —siddhi. 18 September 1932
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What is the conscious way to bring the psychic to the front? Does awakening of the psychic being mean its coming to the front? No. Awakening is a different thing, it 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 Adhar is ready. 5 May 1933
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Is our inner being already open to the Mother or does it open in the course of the sadhana? The inner being does not open except by sadhana or by some psychic touch on the life. 30 November 1933
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When I think of the Mother’s compassion, I start weeping with gratefulness. Never before in my life have I felt so much
Page – 162 affection. If my mind is a bit quiet, will I be able to feel her help? Yes, it is by quieting the mind that you will become able to call the Mother and open to her. The soothing effect was a touch from the psychic —one of the touches that prepare the opening of the psychic with its gift of inner peace, love and joy. 17 September 1934
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Today again after pranam there were some vital dissatisfactions. But they have a great effect on the heart which has now begun to open to the Mother. Get rid of these dissatisfactions, they prevent the permanent psychic opening. 29 September 1934
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The heart is beginning to open to the Mother, but it is still easily touched by lower vital suggestions. That is probably why the vital is not always happy with the way the Mother deals with me at pranam. What the psychic always feels is “What the Mother does is for the best”, and it accepts all with gladness. It is the vital part of the heart that is easily touched by the suggestions. 29 September 1934
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I am not sure whether a direct psychic opening could have been done in my case without any difficulty. The direct opening of the psychic centre is easy only when the ego —centricity is greatly diminished and also if there is a strong bhakti for the Mother. A spiritual humility and sense of submission and dependence is necessary. 16 July 1936
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This child of the Mother is so unworthy. Only she knows when the child will be fit to have a place in her lap. There is only one thing needed to make anyone fit for the Mother’s grace —it is a perfect sincerity and a truthful openness to the Mother in all the being. 2 February 1934
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I see many defects in my nature —for instance my tendency to get angry and to argue. I request the Mother to change all this, for it is in her hands to transform me. It depends not only on the will of the Mother but on the sincerity of the sadhak. I do not see that you have any sincere will to do Yoga or to change. 13 July 1934
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X once said to the Mother that if the sincerity was perfect there would be transformation in a day; to this the Mother replied “Yes”. I do not understand how that could be possible —a long process of conversion of consciousness compressed into one day’s work. Perhaps the Mother said yes to emphasise the importance of sincerity. By sincerity Mother meant being open to no influence but the Divine’s only. Now, if the whole being were sincere in that sense even to every cell of the body, what could prevent the most rapid transformation? People cannot be like that, however much the enlightened part of them may want to, because of the nature of the Ignorance out of which the ordinary Prakriti has been built —hence the necessity of a long and laborious working. 26 July 1934
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Why do people often say that this Yoga is a very arduous one, full of difficulties and obstacles? One who is sincere and open exclusively to the Divine Mother would not believe this. It is
Page – 164 difficult only for those who refuse to take her as their all. Of course; but most do not find it easy to take the Mother as their all. 22 March 1935
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We are told the Mother can act best if a sadhak is sincere. But what is meant by this? What is meant by sincere sadhana? In the Mother’s definition of sincere, it means “opening only to the Divine Forces”, i.e. rejecting all the others even if they come. 21 April 1936
Do calm and equality come down from above by the Mother’s Grace? When they descend, it is by the soul’s aspiration and the Mother’s grace.
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The Mother’s grace is there always; open yourself to it in quietude and confidence.
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I don’t feel Mother’s grace as before. Sometimes I get the suggestion that I am not fit for her service and for Yoga. What is all this nonsense? The grace of the Mother does not withdraw; open yourself and you will feel it. 1 May 1929
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The presence whose fading he regrets can only be felt if the inner being continues to be consecrated and the outer nature is put into harmony or at least kept under the touch of the inner spirit. But if he does things which his inner being does not approve, this condition will be inevitably tarnished and, each time, the possibility of his feeling the presence will diminish. He
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must have a strong will to purification and an aspiration that does not flag and cease, if the Mother’s grace is to be there and effective. 6 May 1930
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To practise Yoga implies the will to overcome all attachments and turn to the Divine alone. The principal thing in the Yoga is to trust in the Divine Grace at every step, to direct the thought continually to the Divine and to offer oneself till the being opens and the Mother’s force can be felt working in the Adhara. 26 July 1932
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When a sadhak feels the Mother’s Grace coming down in him, is it by the consent of the Purusha in him? What do you mean “by the consent”? The Mother’s Grace comes down by the Mother’s will. The Purusha can accept or reject the Grace. 22 April 1933
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Is there any law of the working of the Mother’s Grace? The more one develops the psychic, the more is it possible for the Grace to act. 13 August 1933
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Is the Mother’s Grace always general? Both general and special. 8 February 1934
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How to receive what the Mother gives generally? You have only to keep yourself open and whatever you need and can receive at the moment will come. 10 February 1934
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Page – 166 Some like me have exceptionally great imperfections and defects. We have no claim for any Yoga, much less for the Integral Yoga. Sheerly out of her care and grace, the Mother has managed to keep us here; but the only return we have given is to tire her out. It is so —if the sadhaks had been different in their reaction to the Mother’s grace, the work in the physical would have been much easier and less perilously subject to hostile attacks; perhaps it would have been done by now. 12 July 1936
Make yourself quiet and open —have complete confidence and you will feel the Mother’s presence with you. 9 October 1933
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It is by the constant remembrance that the being is prepared for the full opening. By the opening of the heart the Mother’s presence begins to be felt and by the opening to her Power above the Force of the higher consciousness comes down into the body and works there to change the whole nature. 7 August 1934
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The Mother says, “Keep yourself always open to me” and “I am always with you and around you.” How am I to feel her presence always? Also, what does “conscious” mean and how does one become conscious? The Divine Mother is everywhere and at all times she is with you. If one opens and becomes conscious, then one can feel her presence. It is because the nature is ignorant, full of itself and its desires that one cannot feel the presence. If one turns from self and desires and lives inwardly and outwardly for the Divine, then one begins to feel the divine Presence.
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The condition you describe is a very good one and it is evident from it that you opened sincerely to the Mother when you met
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her. Keep that sincere opening always and eventually a state of peace and joy and the sense of the Mother’s presence will become permanent.
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My dear Mother, peace in my vital, peace in my heart, peace everywhere. Let the vital and the heart open always to the Mother’s presence —the true source of peace.
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