April 23, 1968
(Mother shows a brochure on Auroville; the first photograph
in it shows the all-white urn under a vast sky.)
It’s very fine. It has something … I don’t know (Mother drives
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her fist down into the Earth), like a Law of Destiny: something that
imposes itself.
(silence)
Did I tell you that a Swedish or Norwegian lady wants to send me a big crucifixion?… I did. But I didn’t show you the two texts. You see, I chose a photo of the galaxy, then a photo of Auroville that somewhat looks like the first, and then, under the crucifixion, we’ll have in big letters (Mother reads):
“The Divine Consciousness crucified by man’s desires.”
Then, in very small letters, like this, we’ll put under the photo of Auroville:
“The Divine Consciousness manifested through human unity.”
We’ll see! The lady has a lot of goodwill, we’ll see the response in her country.
(silence)
Yesterday, they came from the press with the brochure on Auroville and said, “Oh, there’s a mistake, we’ve been told that the text of Auroville’s Charter had to be changed.” Someone told them I had said that “Divine Consciousness” had to be replaced throughout by “Perfect Consciousness.” I stared at him:
“What!”
“Yes, that’s what we’ve been told.”
Then I said (laughing), “Who’s the idiot who told you that!”
“But he said you had said so!”
Then I asked him, “Tell me his name so I may give him a good slap!”
Naturally, there’s no question of changing anything. What happened was that people in Russia, Yugoslavia who translated it … (it was translated into a certain number of languages, now I don’t remember), they asked me for an alternative to the word “Divine,” because … In Russia, they go one better, the word is banned! Using the word “divine” is forbidden! So I said all right. I said, “FOR RUSSIA, you may, if you wish, put ‘Perfect Consciousness’ instead of ‘Divine Consciousness.’” I pointed out to them (laughing), “It’s somewhat diminished, it’s brought down a little, but never mind!”
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Here, in the French brochure, it’s “Divine.” I said if they wanted another word in Russian or German (in German T. translated it into “the highest” [Consciousness]; I told her, “It’s rather poor, but anyway”), well, I said I wouldn’t protest. In Chinese it’s “Divine.” I think it’s “Divine” in Japanese too.
In German, they asserted, “Oh, if we put ‘Divine,’ people will immediately think of God….” I replied (laughing), “Not necessarily, if they’re not idiots!”
But it has given me a very precise picture of what would happen if for some reason or other I were no longer here…. Everyone would use my name to … (Mother laughs) It would be frightening!
Yes.
* * *
Mother then goes
into a contemplation
It’s very, very interesting, and very strange. A strange sensation…. It’s been like that for, I don’t know, a long time, but these last few days it has become so intense and so precise…. A sensation of being like this (gesture of hanging in suspense), of having gone out of an old way of being (not a personal way – terrestrial, let us say) and being on the verge – it’s on the verge – of entering a new way of being; and a sensation of being … like this (same gesture of hanging between two worlds).
The entire old way of being (way of feeling, thinking, even the state of consciousness) is seen … not exactly as a distortion or falsification, but something like that – it’s not that: it’s the human way of being. And it’s necessarily the way of being that resulted from intensive mental development.
What’s growing quite clear is – Consciousness. It’s no longer explained with words or defined or … it’s no longer that, it’s – Consciousness (or rather one feels one knows what it is), Consciousness. That’s the state: Consciousness. But it’s still a fragmented consciousness, which is (I can’t say “making effort” because there’s no effort), which is mutating into a total consciousness. So that is the transition (same gesture in suspense). It’s still a consciousness (not exactly individual or personal, but fragmented, or in other words, which has been objectified), a consciousness which is AWARE of its movement of union. It’s still that, not total union.
So it results in all kinds of experiences….
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And that [new state] isn’t the result of a concentration or anything else: it’s the normal way of being, constant at last. But there are still divisions, in the sense that there is an attitude of consciousness observing another, and yet another observing the first two – all that is still … (fluctuating gesture) Like a play of different consciousnesses observing one another, objectifying one another. So it’s not yet the thing.
All that is going on in the body – perhaps in different parts of the body, I don’t know. There are GRADATIONS of consciousness, or more or less complete identifications, according to certain bodily functions – I don’t know. And beneath, there are still old undercurrents of mental influence, from what we are used to calling the “higher” mind (intuitive mind and so on). And then, all around, a whole play of forces, suggestions, formations, which comes from outside. I say “from outside,” but there’s no sense of “outside”; there’s no such sense, no longer any sense of “these people here” and “those people there” – it’s not like that, no longer at all, even for the body.
(Mother abruptly goes into
a long contemplation that
lasts till the end)
To be continued!
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