April 8, 1972
Perhaps you remember that in January, Msgr. R. wrote to you,
and you concentrated on him for a long time; then you asked
me to write him and ask "if he had been conscious of some
thing." [[See conversation of January 29. ]] I have received his reply: one letter addressed to me
and another to you. Here’s what he writes to me (his answer
was delayed because of Cardinal Tisserant’s death):
"My brother,
… Actually, on the 29th of January (between five and
six o’clock), Mother paid me a visit. An inner visit, but to
me it was beyond a shadow of doubt. She told me so
many things … in so short a time.
I think I am now ready to break with an entire past
that has brought me nothing but deception, illusion and
trickery…."
And this is what he writes to you:
"Since that unforgettable 29th of January (between
five and six o’clock), I have been constantly living with
you. I have never felt your presence so strongly. Not a
bodily presence next to mine, but a spiritual presence
made of affection and love.
I have heard and understood your message.
Yes, I know, I must change the direction of my life.
The time has come. Soon nothing will keep me from
doing it … not even pseudo-duty to this one or that one.
I would like, I want to work with you to pursue an
ideal – an ideal that fills my whole being with enthu
siasm.
Everything I have so painstakingly created is collaps
ing…. I am left with a feeling of having worked and
suffered in vain and for nothing.
And so I turn to you in total trust.
The death of Cardinal Tisserant, who for twenty-one
years was a peerless father to me, has plunged me into
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total disarray…. I feel like an orphan…. It is thus
with all my earnestness that I say to you: Mother, help
me to live again."
(Mother remains concentrated for a
very long time)
It’s a beautiful letter.
(silence)
Is he French?
Yes, Mother.
What day is it today? And what time is it there?
Today is Saturday. It’s about five o’clock in the morning
there…. Do you have a message for him?
Tell him (words are so restrictive) that when I heard his letter, I saw – I saw and felt – the marvelous action of the divine Grace. There was a sort of … flood of Grace concentrated on him, and it stayed there, on him – it is there, concentrated on him (embracing gesture).
It is very concrete – very concrete and very powerful: a concentration.
As if the Grace were concentrated on an instrument of the Divine, of the divine Power – an instrument.
For me, you see, there was constantly: May Your Will be done, Lord, may Your Will be done, Lord…. As if he were chosen as an instrument, as one of the instruments. May Your Will be done, Lord … with a great force of concentration.
(Mother plunges in)
***
(Mother then listens to several texts from Sri Aurobindo for
the message of April 24. Sujata suggests the following passage
from Savitri, which Mother immediately accepts:)
He comes unseen into our darker parts
And, curtained by the darkness, does his work,
A subtle and all-knowing guest and guide,
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Till they too feel the need and will to change.
All here must learn to obey a higher law,
Our body’s cells must hold the Immortal’s flame. Savitri,
I.III.35
That’s excellent.
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