May 11, 1958
One of the things that most gives me the feeling of the miraculous is when these obscure throngs’ – really tamasic[[Tamas: in Indian psychology, inertia and obscurity. ]] beings, in fact, with children crying, people coughing – when all that is gathered there, and then suddenly … silence.
Each time that happens, I have truly the feeling of a miracle! I immediately say, ‘Oh, Lord! Your Grace is infinite!’
**
Something quite curious took place during a recent meditation. I no longer recall when exactly, but it was at a time when there were many visitors, for the courtyard was full. After perhaps no more than a few minutes, I suddenly heard a distinct voice, coming from my right, say ‘OM,’ like that. And then a second time, ‘OM.’ What an impact it had upon me! I felt an emotion here (gesture towards the heart) as I have not felt for years and years and years. And all, all, all was filled with light, with force – it was absolutely marvelous. It was an invocation, and during the whole meditation the Presence was resplendent.
I said to myself, ‘Who could have done that?’ I was not sure if only I had heard it, so I asked. The reply was, ‘But it was the ship leaving!’ There was actually a ship which had left during the night3 – that is in support of those who said it was a ship. But for me, it was SOMEONE because I felt someone there and I thought, Oh! If someone, in the ardor of his soul, said that in this … what I could call an atheistic silence. Because people here are so afraid of following tradition, of being the slaves of the old things, that they cast out anything closely or remotely resembling religion.
It was very strange, because my first reaction was one of bewilderment: how is it that someone … I was really bewildered for a fraction, not even the fraction of a second. And then …
I. Mother is referring to her “Darshan,” when four times a year She appeared on her balcony high above the assembled mass of disciples and visitors on the street below. The “darshan days” were February 21, April 24, August 15 and November 24.
2.
3. The waters off Pondicherry occasionally serve as a port.
In any event, if it wasn’t a man, if it was a ship, then the ship
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said it! Because it was THAT – it was that, it was nothing other than an invocation. And the result was fantastic!
People immediately thought, ‘Oh, it’s the ship!’ Well, even if it was a ship, it was the ship that said OM!
And then I wondered, ‘If we were to repeat the mantra we heard the other day’ (Om Namo Bhagavateh … ) during the half-hour meditation, what would happen?’
What would happen?
And these things act upon my body. It is strange, but it coagulates something: all the cellular life becomes one solid, compact mass, in a tremendous concentration – with a single vibration. Instead of all the usual vibrations of the body, there is now only one single vibration. It becomes as hard as a diamond, a single massive concentration, as if all the cells of the body had …
I became stiff from it. When the forest scene2 was over, I was so stiff that I was like that (gesture): one single mass.
May 17, 1958
Actually, when I myself am perfect, I believe that all the rest will become perfect automatically. But it does not seem possible to become perfect without there being a beginning of realization from the other side. So it proceeds like that, bumping from one side to the other, and we go stumbling along like a drunken man!
I. During an Indian film on Dhruva in which this manna was chanted for a long time. This film was shown at the Ashram Playground on April 29, 1958.
2. In the same film.
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