February 14, 1968
(Regarding certain disciples, who are the very ones that will
head the Ashram in the years after Mother’s departure.)
… But it’s very, very instructive. I mean, it’s not anything new to me, but it’s the wholly clear, precise, evident picture that it’s man who creates all his difficulties. Things would be simple and easy if there weren’t all these ego reactions: reactions of ambition, reactions of self-esteem – not to speak of deceit: when that comes … (gesture underhand). Yes, these three things: ambition, with the need to show off, to dominate; self-esteem or vanity (being hurt when you aren’t appreciated at your true value: then you lose your temper, you quarrel, there’s grating and friction); and, last, the thirst for money, greed, the desire to possess, cupidity: you want to “make the most” of the occasion – “I want to profit, I want to profit….” With these three things, everything is muddled.
So long as it all comes out in the open ingenuously and frankly, you smile, but when it turns into duplicity, when people use all kinds of tricks in the hope of deceiving, of hiding their motives while pretending to have others – all that in various combinations – then, it won’t do anymore.
And immediately – immediately, everything is disorganized.
And with proofs, you know, obvious proofs – one has to be absolutely blind not to see that. But the blindness is deliberate: one doesn’t want to know the cause [of the disorganization], one isn’t
Page 56
in the least anxious to know … because if one knew, one would be forced to change.
Instantly, instantly, everything is disorganized.
Ah! (Mother raises her two hands upward in a gesture of offering)
It’s far easier to say and believe that the world cannot be changed and must be left to its own decomposition – you just go away peacefully. How easy! … How easy.
(silence)
Do you know how the Hindu spiritual tradition was convinced – was forced to be convinced – of the multiplicity of souls (they don’t say “souls”), of the divine being in individuals? Because those people were very logical: had there been a single soul, that is, a single supreme consciousness, anywhere, at any time, once it had experienced liberation (flight into Nirvana, the renunciation of everything, the whole illusion of life and creation), if there had been only one soul, the whole thing would have been over! But as it happens, a number of beings went through the experience, and it made no difference to the world (as a whole, at any rate). So they reached the conclusion that there were perhaps as many souls as there were individuals, and that they communicate only up above, not down here.
When someone said that to me, it quite amused me!
And in all that, there’s nothing true! Neither on one side nor on the other. It’s only one aspect.
Because there’s only ONE.
* * *
Soon afterwards
Yesterday I was shown the photo of a man who is the guru of many people. [[Mahesh Yogi, whose disciples included the Beatles and a few Hollywood stars. ]] I do not know what he claims to be, but he is an Indian who went to Europe and America and has lots – thousands and thousands – of disciples, followers, believers. He says there is only one way to bring peace on earth, and that is total and complete freedom: intellectual and moral freedom, of course, but also vital and physical freedom. That is, freeing oneself from all subjections and all laws, living according to one’s own impulsion. Then, he says, "something" (I forget what he calls it) will govern you and
Page 57
will make you do what must be done. It’s not the individual who decides, it’s "that." And if he is asked, "But how? How do you know ‘that’ is it? How do you find ‘that’?", he simply answers, "Come and sit down beside me in meditation, and you will know." And he is convinced he can bring peace to earth with that.
I saw his photo yesterday. Vitally, he is extraordinarily strong. I don’t know if it’s his own force or if it’s what he receives from others, because you can find that out only through physical contact.
(silence)
It’s yet another approach.
There are lots and lots of such people now. I’ve already told you about three or four. And each of them has thousands of followers, who probably don’t understand anything of what he does! But the impression one gets is of something that … works up the dough, like that (gesture).
You catch hold of one tiny bit, one angle; you pierce a kind of little hole through which you can see on the other side, and with that you stir thousands of people.
So long as it’s not exclusive, that is, so long as the man or woman (whoever they are), the guru, doesn’t come and say, “I alone am the Truth” (meaning the others don’t know, I alone know), so long as they’re not like that, it’s quite all right. And when they’re enlightened enough to tell you, “Yes, I’ve caught hold of one little bit, I am giving it to you, but all other little bits are good” … But even if you put all the bits together, you are still far from THE Truth.
I should have kept that photo to show you. His body too lives in freedom! Uncombed hair (maybe he never washes!), a beard … Very strong eyes.
It’s strange, successful people of this sort are always Indians.
Though there was Steiner who had much power over his disciples, but in his case, it was without doubt an adverse force with all the power of the Asuras.
Page 58