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object:0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak
book class:Some Answers From The Mother
author class:The Mother
subject class:Integral Yoga
class:chapter



Series Six

Series Six
Letters to a Young Sadhak
To a young sadhak who later became a teacher in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education.1
I
I hope and believe Your work does not depend upon
human beings.
No, it does not depend at all upon human beings. What has to
be done will be done despite all possible resistances.
*
Is there no means of uniting my will with Yours? Perhaps
You have no special will, for You want nothing.
I know perfectly well what I want or rather what the divine Will
is, and it is that which will triumph in time.
*
What we want to bring to the earth can hardly be called a revolution, although it will be the most marvellous change ever seen;
in any case this cannot be compared at all with the bloody revolutions which quite uselessly tear up countries without bringing
any great change after them, because they leave men as false, as
ignorant, as egoistic as before.
*

This Series is organised broadly by subject into thirteen parts — the form in which
it was originally published; in this it differs from the other Series, which are arranged
chronologically. The replies here were written between 1933 and 1949 — most of them
between 1933 and 1935.

I believe a day will come when the Divine will be seen
quite naturally as one sees earthly things and then there
will be no need to exclaim: “The Divine is everywhere”
— for this will be a normal experience.
If the realisation were to be limited to this, it would hardly be
worth much. It is an integral transformation of terrestrial life
which is anticipated.
*
Beloved Mother, every moment I feel a great transformation taking place in me. Isn’t this true?
It is quite true. But it seems to me that even the outer forms,
the appearances are changing more than you say. Only, this is
not very easily seen because it happens normally, in accordance
with the law of the truth of things, and not arbitrarily through
a mental decision.
*
Certainly the Divine Grace is always at work, it is the material
world and the men living there that do not want it!
*
What does the Divine want of me?
He wants that you first find yourself; that with your true being,
your psychic being, you master and govern the lower being, and
then you will quite naturally take your proper place in the great
Divine Work.
*
Where is my true being?
Farther within or higher above, on the other side of the emotions,
beyond the mind.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

I feel indignant, Mother, for I cannot find my “self”, as
soon as I try to do so, I find nothing but this body, which
is like a lair of banal thoughts and lawless desires.
One must persist without getting discouraged, and first of all
refuse to recognise the body as one’s “self”. Indeed, what would
it be without the feelings and thoughts which animate it? An
inert, lifeless mass.
*
Mother, what is it that will help me always remember
that I am living a spiritual life?
The awareness of the Divine Presence in all things and always.
*
You have said in your Conversations that to prepare
oneself for the Yoga one must first of all be conscious.
To be conscious of the Divine Presence in us is our goal;
I don’t see how I can be conscious from the beginning.
I have not said “conscious of the Divine Presence”, I have said
“conscious”; that means one does not live in total ignorance of
what happens within oneself.
*
I cannot accept all that happens with a calm heart.
This is, however, indispensable for yoga; and he who has so great
an aim as to be united with the Divine and to manifest Him, how
can he be affected by all the futilities and foolishnesses of life?
*




There are people who say one must unite closely with
the outer nature to be able to taste the joy which the
manifested world so effectively conceals.
I don’t think this is true; union with the outer nature brings more
certainly sorrow than joy!
*
If you were a man of the world as you say, you would not be
here; you would be in the world. These are certain elements in
the being which remain attached to their old activities and refuse
to change. They will have to yield and be transformed one day
or another.
*
I ask You once again, Mother, what is it that divides my
being?
The conflict is between that which aspires towards consciousness, the “sattwic” part of the being, and that which lets itself
be invaded and governed by the inconscience, the “tamasic”
part of the being, between that which pushes upwards and that
which pulls downwards and therefore is subject to all outer
influences.
*
Mother, Your world may hurt me, but it cannot give me
any enjoyment; I myself too do not want any.
It is good to be above all enjoyments the world can give, but
why accept to be hurt by it?
*
I don’t like this life without any attachments.


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

If truly you are no longer attached to anything, it is a great yogic
realisation and it would be wrong of you to complain about it.
*
The whole world is against me and I am in despair.
Why do you want to think the whole world is against you? This
is childish.
*
My physical mind is not yet convinced that human life
is capable of overcoming all suffering and even death.
It may be that human life is indeed incapable of it; but for the
divine life nothing is impossible.
*
Is it strange that one should become disgusted with this
world? The repetition of the same round — that is death
itself.
This is one way of seeing things; but there is another in which
one finds that no two things, no two moments are exactly alike
in the world and that everything is in perpetual change.
*
I do not understand a phrase in Your Prayers: “and that
all are equal — infinitesimal grains of dust or identical
stars — before Eternity”.
All the stars (spiritually speaking) are the same. I mean that one
may call human beings grains of dust if one likes, or compare
them to the stars; in either case they are all alike in size and
worth before Eternity.




II
Beloved Mother, guide my steps, illumine my mind, and
do not leave, I pray, any distance between You and me.
I too do not want any distance between us. But the relation must
be a true one, that is, based on union in the divine consciousness.
*
Open your heart yet wider, yet better, and the distance will
disappear.
*
This prison that separates me from You and from the
Divine must be broken. O Mother, I don’t know what I
ought to do.
It is in a calm and persevering will that this can be accomplished.
*
May my whole being be only that love which wants to
give itself, and which leads me to You.
Keep this aspiration and you are sure of victory; you will love
me one day with a love which fills you with strength and with
joy.
*
My Mother, with all my will and all my effort I want to
realise that love which You have foreseen in your divine
vision.
I shall always be with you in your endeavour.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

My dear Mother, I do not say that I love You and belong
to You, I must prove it in my actions; without that these
would be worthless words behind which a man seeks
shelter and protection. But even so, I am always Your
child.
That’s good. You are indeed always my child and I expect you to
become even more a good child who will be able to tell me in all
sincerity and truth: “I love You and I am Yours for all eternity.”
*
O Mother, take me with You; I shall seat You for ever in
my heart; I could not bear to lose You.
There is no question of losing me. We carry in ourselves an
eternal consciousness and it is of this that one must become
aware.
*
Whatever the reason may be, as soon as my consciousness loses You I become joyless and without energy.
At no moment do I forget you. Don’t you rather allow too many
other influences to come between you and me?
*
Mother, why is it so difficult to feel Your Presence constantly near me? In the depths of my heart I know well
that without You there is no meaning in life for me; yet
my mind flits hither and thither as soon as it finds the
slightest occasion.
It is precisely because of this that you lose the feeling of the
Presence.
*




I am always with you, and to become conscious of the inner
Presence is one of the most important points of the sadhana.
Ask X, he will tell you that the Presence is not a matter of faith
or of mental imagination, it is a fact, absolutely concrete and
as real and tangible to the consciousness as the most material
phenomenon.
*
My beloved Mother, if only I could convince my ignorant
being that it is possible to find You in the centre of my
heart.
It is not a question of convincing your heart, you must get the
experience of this presence and then you will become aware
that in its depths your heart has always been conscious of this
presence.
*
Remove from me all obscurity which blinds me, and be
always with me.
I am in every thought, every aspiration which you turn towards
me; for if you were not always present in my consciousness you
would not be able to think of me. So you may be sure of my
presence. I add my blessings.
*
Beloved Mother, how shall I find the source of that
Love which will make me feel that the divine Presence is
always and everywhere?
You must find the Divine first, whether in yourself by interiorisation and concentration, or in Sri Aurobindo and me through
love and self-giving. Once you have found the Divine you will
naturally see Him in all things and everywhere.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

There are two ways of uniting with the Divine. One is to concentrate in the heart and go deep enough to find there His Presence;
the other is to fling oneself in His arms, to nestle there as a child
nestles in its mother’s arms, with a complete surrender; and of
the two the latter seems to me the easier.
*
My darling Mother, if the Divine shows Himself to me
in exchange for my love for Him and the giving of my
soul, then it is a very easy thing for me.
Not only of the soul, but of the whole being, without reserve.
*
Who is there to hold me back far from You?
You yourself.
It is quite incorrect that I wish to remain far from you; but
to be near me you must climb up close beside me, and not expect
me to come down so far.
*
My beloved Mother, one day You wrote to me that I
must climb to the plane where You are, to be able to
have You intimately, and that I must not expect You
to come down here. But Mother, You are so great and
remain so high up that it seems to me almost impossible
to climb up there. There is a world of difference between
our two planes. I dare not dream of the moment I shall
be at your side; You will always be higher, and I shall
aspire to You; I shall follow You from plane to plane,
but You will be always far from me. This picture does
not appear bad to me, because I know there is a great




joy in seeking; but it is true that my heart will always be
thirsty.
From a certain point of view what you say is true; but there is
also a sort of reversal of consciousness in which it comes out of
its state of blind and falsifying ignorance and enters into a state
of truth, and when that reversal, that conversion takes place,
you will feel yourself always close to me.
*
My beloved Mother, is it not possible to meet You on
some other plane than the physical? I don’t mean by
leaving the body; even when in the body, is it not possible
to meet on some other higher plane?
Certainly, this is quite possible. But one must awaken to the
consciousness of these planes.
*
Mother, I want simply to leave the body; it is the body
which separates me from You.
To say that it is your body which separates you from me is sheer
stupidity. It seems to me that actually it is just the opposite, for
without the possibility of seeing me daily, what contact will you
have with me in the present state of your consciousness? Are
you capable of feeling me, experiencing concretely my presence,
even when your physical eyes do not see me? I don’t think so, for
if it were so, you would not complain of separation, you would
know, on the contrary, that there is no separation and that in
the reality of your being we are always united.
To think that if you leave your body you will come closer to
me is a big mistake; for the vital being remains what it is, whether
the body be alive or dead, and if the vital being is, during one’s
life, incapable of feeling the nearness, the deep intimacy, how


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

can one reasonably hope it will suddenly be able to do so just
because it has left the body? It is ignorant childishness.
And that other idea that if the body is changed the next
one will necessarily be better, is also a mistake. It is only when
one has profited fully and to the utmost by the opportunity for
progress which life in a physical body represents, that one may
hope to be reborn in a higher organism. All defection, on the
contrary, naturally brings in a diminution of being.
Only the resolution to face courageously, in the present existence, all the difficulties, and to overcome them, is the sure
means of attaining the union you desire.
*
My one hope is to progress as much as I can, so that my
next birth may not be useless like this one.
This is all nonsense; we have not to busy ourselves with the next
life, but with this one which offers us, till our very last breath,
all its possibilities. To put off for the next birth what one can do
in this life is like putting off for tomorrow what one can do this
very day; it is laziness. It is only with death that the possibility
of integral realisation ceases; so long as one is alive, nothing is
impossible.
*
What cannot be acquired or conquered during life can certainly
not be done after death. It is the physical life which is the true
field for progress and realisation.
*
Beloved Mother, I must either be transformed or cease
to be.
It is impossible to cease to be; nothing that belongs to the manifested universe can go out of it except through the door of
spiritual liberation, that is, transformation.




III
I often ask myself if there is a truth behind this desire to
come close to You.
Yes, there is the Truth of perfect union with the Divine in an
identity of consciousness and will.
*
My sweet Mother, do You say that I ought to overcome
this desire to come to You physically?
I have never said anything of the kind. But you must prepare
yourself, purify yourself within, so that this approach may be
useful and profitable.
*
If you say I am there for you alone, obviously it is egoistic and
false; but if you think I am there for all my children, that I carry
them in my heart, that I want to lead them to the Divine and
that I am grieved when they move away from Him, — then this
is quite true.
*
I have not the least intention of keeping you away from me; I
wanted only to remind you that you are not alone in the Ashram
and that I have to divide my time among all those who have need
of me.
*
If you are physically far from me and think of me all the time,
you will surely be nearer to me than if you were seated near me
but thinking about other things.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

Mother, how can I feel You concretely near me, even
when my body is far from You?
By concentrating your thought.
*
Beloved Mother, there are twenty-four hours in a day,
but I can’t remain at Your feet for more than a few
seconds; how can I live?
Go within into yourself, find your psychic being and you will
find me at the same time, living in you, life of your life, ever
present and ever near, quite concretely and tangibly.
*
Remain very quiet, open your mind and your heart to Sri Aurobindo’s influence and mine, withdraw deep into an inner silence
(which may be had in all circumstances), call me from the depths
of this silence and you will see me standing there in the centre
of your being.
*
Because I stopped the pranam for two days, you should not
think that I was not with you. Wherever you work, physically
near or far, I am always with you in your work and in your
consciousness. You ought to know that.
*
Life will no longer have any attraction for me if I do not
feel that You are with me.
But I am always with you.
*




Do not leave my heart empty, Mother.
I am always in your heart.
*
The psychic being is constantly and invariably in contact with
the Divine and never loses this contact.
*
The Divine is constantly present in the psychic being and the
latter is quite conscious of this.
*
The psychic being is asleep in me.
The psychic being is not asleep. It is the connection with it which
is not well established because the mind makes too much noise
and the vital is too restless.
*
Mother, if the psychic always feels the Divine Presence,
why does the human being cry and lament the lack of
this Presence?
I have already told you that it is because the contact between
the outer consciousness and the psychic consciousness is not
well established. He in whom this contact is well established is
always happy.
*
The suffering we experience proves that the psychic being is far away from the Divine.
It is not the psychic being which suffers, it is the mind, the vital
and the ordinary consciousness of ignorant man.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

About ten or eleven years ago I had an experience in Your
presence and through You. I was in a great difficulty and
was feeling quite lost. Suddenly I felt something that
rose from the depths of my being, through a crowd of
obstacles, and when this thing had come out above, all
was changed in me; then I was in joy and peace and all
difficulties suddenly disappeared. Since that day I have
not had any difficulty which could bar my way.
What was this thing, Mother?
Certainly it was the psychic being, but it became active only
through my intervention.
*
Now, if you don’t like me to show you your faults, I can very
well stop doing it. But then you should no longer ask me to
help you to progress, for you cannot on the one hand ask me to
intervene and on the other refuse my intervention.
*
If you are vexed by what I tell you, it proves that you do not
wish to progress, and consequently that it is not necessary for
me to make you aware of what is to be changed in you.
*
I feel, Mother, that I am a very frivolous fellow; won’t
You change me?
I would be very happy to change you, but are you quite sure
that what is frivolous in you wants to change?
*
How do you expect me to help you if you have no trust in me!
*




I shall never be able to realise fully this relationship
which exists eternally, if You don’t help me to do it.
My help is there completely; you have only to open yourself to
it with confidence and you will receive it.
*
Yes, my help is with you to master all the movements which are
opposed to the Divine.
*
I have not the least intention in the world to push you into a
corner, and if I had not the full assurance that you can overcome
all these difficulties, I would not even have mentioned them. It
is no good telling someone, “You have such and such a fault”,
if it does not help him to correct it.
*
This morning I was thinking I would get another blow
from You.
I don’t see why I should give you blows — I don’t give them for
the pleasure of giving them, but only when they are altogether
indispensable.
*
After all, my whole life is consecrated to You; I shall
remain very calm without bothering about what happens
to me.
That’s very good, but if you were to add to this the idea that I
know you and love you better than you yourself do and that I
know better than you what is good for you — then that would
be perfect.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

Mother of joy, I am surprised to find that there are people
who think that You call only those sadhaks who cannot
receive Your Grace from afar; and that it is a sign of
weakness on the part of those who see You from time to
time.
Don’t bother about what people believe or say; it is almost
always ignorant stupidities.
I always wonder that people imagine they can know the
reasons for my actions! I act differently for each one, according
to the needs of his particular case.
*
I don’t think it would be bad to let You know about a
thought, an idea which goes on in me, even if this idea,
this thought is bad.
On the contrary, it is good to let me know immediately.
*
Nothing is better than a confession for opening the closed doors.
Tell me what you fear most to tell me, and immediately you will
feel yourself closer to me.
IV
The Divine is infinite and innumerable, and consequently the
ways of approaching Him are also infinite and innumerable,
and on the manner of one’s approach to the Divine depends
what he receives and knows of the Divine. The bhakta meets
a Divine full of affection and sweetness, the wise man will find
a Divine full of wisdom and knowledge. He who fears meets a
severe Divine, and he who is trusting finds the Divine a friend
and protector... and so on in the infinite variety of possibilities.
*




Fear nothing: the Divine always answers every sincere aspiration
and never refuses what is offered to Him whole-heartedly; thus
you may live in the peace of the certitude that you are accepted
by the Divine.
*
Beloved Mother, how to master this lethargy that overcomes me? I do not live, Mother, I just exist in some way.
Mother, I must find something which can divert me.
It is certainly not with such a state of mind that you can hope
to find the Divine Presence. Far from seeking to fill your heart
with frivolities in order to “divert” it, you must with a great
obstinacy empty it of everything, absolutely everything, both
great and small, so that the power of that great emptiness may
attract the Marvellous Presence. One must know how to pay
this supreme Grace the price it deserves.
*
Of each one is asked only what he has, what he is, nothing more,
but also nothing less.
*
You are right to want to create the emptiness in you; for you will
soon discover that in the depths of this emptiness is the Divine.
*
If I find some solace in books, how can I say that nothing sustains me and that I am plunged in the divine life
through an absolute emptiness?
“The absolute emptiness” is more of an image than a reality. It
is better to keep in one’s heart a high aspiration rather than an
obscure somnolence.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

When I try to look within myself, I find there a being that
is detached from everything, a great indifference reigns
there.
Indifference is a stage of development which must lead to a
perfect equality of soul.
*
Mother, my life is dry, it was always so; the dryness of
my life constantly increases.
This does not depend upon any outer circumstance but on your
inner state. It happens because you live in a very superficial
region of your mind. You must try to find some depth in your
consciousness and dwell there.
*
It is certainly not by becoming morose and melancholy that one
draws near the Divine. One must always keep in one’s heart an
unshakable faith and confidence and in one’s head the certitude
of victory. Drive away these shadows which come between you
and me and hide me from your sight. It is in the pure light of
certitude that you can become conscious of my presence.
*
The sadder you are and the more you lament, the farther you
move away from me. The Divine is not sad and to realise the
Divine you must reject far from yourself all sadness and all
sentimental weakness.
*
Sweet Mother, I am happy because I love You and because I suffer a little in loving You.
I don’t see the need of your suffering. Psychic love is always
peaceful and joyous; it is the vital which dramatises and makes




itself unhappy without any reason. I hope, indeed, that you will
soon become conscious of my presence always near you, and
that it will give you peace and joy.
*
My most beloved Mother, the idea of separation opens
between You and me like a frightening abyss. I am not
satisfied; from where does this dissatisfaction come?
It is always the vital being which protests and complains. The
psychic being works with perseverance and ardour to make the
union an accomplished fact, but it never complains, and knows
how to wait for the hour of realisations to come.
*
It is the vital which asks and asks and is never satisfied... The
psychic, the true deep feelings are always satisfied and never ask
for anything. The psychic feels my constant presence, is aware
of my love and solicitude, and is always peaceful, happy and
satisfied.
*
There is a joy in seeking, a joy in waiting, a joy in aspiring, at
least as great as in possessing.
*
Indeed, nothing brings more happiness than a pure and disinterested love.
*
The true divine love is above all quarrels. It is the experience of
perfect union in an invariable joy and peace.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

Radha is the symbol of loving consecration to the Divine.
*
Keep always your balance and a calm serenity; it is only thus
that one can attain the true Union.
*
It is in your soul that the calmness can be found and it is by contagion that it spreads through your being. It is not steady because
the sovereignty of your soul is not yet definitively established
over all the being.
*
I don’t see anything wrong in not being sentimental; nothing is
further from true love, the divine love, than sentimentality.
*
All will be done, Mother, but why is my heart becoming
more and more dry and hard?
Are you quite sure it is so dry and hard? Don’t you call “dry
and hard” an absence of sentimentality, that is, of a weak and
superficial emotionalism?
True love is something very deep and very calm in its intensity; it may very well not manifest itself through outer effusiveness.
*
To love is not to possess, but to give oneself.
*




I don’t experience a violent and uncontrollable love for
anyone; nobody attracts me. And it is because of this
that I told You I was losing all human feelings.
This can hardly be called a loss; I consider it an inestimable gain.
*
A love which is sufficiently strong can make a person the
slave of the beloved.
You speak here of vital love, but certainly not of psychic love
and still less of the Divine Love.
*
The person I love belongs to me.
This is a very ugly love, quite egoistic.
*
The Ashram is not a place for being in love with anyone. If you
want to lapse into such a stupidity, you may do so elsewhere,
not here.
*
It is not this person or that who attracts you... it is the eternal
feminine in the lower nature which attracts the eternal masculine in the lower nature and creates an illusion in the mind; it
is the great play, obscure and semi-conscious, of the forces of
unillumined nature; and as soon as one succeeds in escaping
from its blind and violent whirlwind, one finds very quickly that
all desires and all attractions vanish; only the ardent aspiration
for the Divine remains.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

My beloved Mother, the whole day I thought of nothing
else except that red rose which signifies “Human passions changed into love for the Divine”. I want to know
precisely what the human passions are.
By “passion” we mean all the violent desires which take possession of a man and finally govern his life — the drunkard has
the passion for drink, the debauchee the passion for women,
the gambler the passion for dice, etc. If one human being feels
a violent and uncontrollable love for another, this is called a
passion, and it is of this we are speaking; it is this impassioned
love which human beings feel for one another that must be
changed into love for the Divine.
*
Sensations belong to the vital domain and to that part of it which
is expressed through the nerves of the body. It is sentiments
and emotions which are characteristic of the heart. It is always
preferable not to live in the sensations but to consider them as
something outside ourselves, like the clothes we wear.
V
Be courageous and do not think of yourself so much. It is because
you make your little ego the centre of your preoccupation that
you are sad and unsatisfied. To forget oneself is the great remedy
for all ills.
*
Certainly it is always better not to be too busy with oneself.
*




An excessive depreciation is no better than an excessive praise.
True humility lies in not judging oneself and in letting the Divine
determine our real worth.
*
Perhaps my vanity was better than this humility which
so casts me down.
You must avoid the one as carefully as the other.
*
My most beloved Mother, an introspection has revealed
to me many things. There is a jealousy in me which blinds
me; another part in me is very vain, it gives me the idea
that I have already reached my goal.
You have just given a very correct description, but it becomes
useful only from the moment you resolve that it is no longer
going to be like this, and that you will strive to conquer your
two great enemies: jealousy and vanity. The more we advance
on the road, the more modest we become, and the more we find
that we have done nothing in comparison with what remains to
be done.
*
It is when one feels like a blind man that one begins to be ready
for the illumination.
*
Formerly I used to repeat to myself: “I am one of the
greatest sadhaks.” Now I tell myself: “I am nobody.”


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

The best thing is not to think oneself either great or small, very
important or very insignificant; for we are nothing in ourselves.
We must want to be only what the divine Will wants of us.
*
All my good intentions, since my childhood, have been
of no worth. My nature is just what it was when I was a
child. I can scarcely hope that it will be transformed; and
after all, is it worth the trouble to try and transform it?
It is better not to think of this personal nature as mine;
not to identify myself with it is the best remedy I can
find against the lower and inconscient nature.
Nothing of all this is the right attitude. So long as you oscillate between wanting to transform yourself and not wanting to
transform yourself — making an effort to progress and becoming indifferent to all effort through fatigue — the true attitude
will not be there. All your observations should lead you to one
certainty, that by oneself one is nothing and can do nothing.
Only the Divine is the life of our life, the consciousness of our
consciousness, the Power and Capacity in us. It is to Him that
we must entrust ourselves, give ourselves without reserve, and it
is He who will make of us what He wants in His infinite wisdom.
VI
My sweet beloved Mother, I read in the Conversations:
“Concentration alone will lead you to this goal.” Should
one increase the time of meditation?
Concentration does not mean meditation; on the contrary, concentration is a state one must be in continuously, whatever the
outer activity. By concentration I mean that all the energy, all the




will, all the aspiration must be turned only towards the Divine
and His integral realisation in our consciousness.
*
To keep constantly a concentrated and in-gathered attitude is
more important than having fixed hours of meditation.
*
It would have been better to have sat in my chair and
thought about the moonlight playing upon the water.
Or, better still, not to have thought at all but contemplated the
Divine Grace.
*
If you do your work as an offering which you lay in all
sincerity at the feet of the Divine, work will do you as much
good as meditation.
*
Perhaps I am mistaken in believing that I shall find myself close to you more rapidly by dissolving my being
than by mixing with many people and doing much work.
I have had the experience myself that one can be fully concentrated and be in union with the Divine even while working
physically with one’s hands; but naturally this asks for a little
practice, and for this the most important thing to avoid is useless
talking. It is not work but useless talk which takes us away from
the Divine.
*
All depends not on what one does but on the attitude behind the
action.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

If in all sincerity one acts only to express the Divine Will, all
actions without exception can become unselfish. But so long as
one has not reached this state, there are actions which are more
helpful for the contact with the Divine.
*
The yogic life does not depend on what one does but on how
one does it; I mean it is not so much the action which counts
as the attitude, the spirit in which one acts. To know how to
give yourself entirely and without egoism while washing dishes
or serving a meal brings you much nearer the Divine than
doing what men call “great things” in a spirit of vanity and
pride.
*
First of all I must know if this work can be a means of
my coming a little closer to You.
It is not the work, any work, in itself which can bring you
close to me. It is the spirit in which it is done that is important.
*
Mother, which is this being that receives happily any
work from You? Which is this being that loves You?
It is that part of your being which is under the influence of the
psychic and obeys the Divine impulsion.
*
Do I serve You as best I can?
You serve me as best you can, but your best of tomorrow must
be better than your best of today.
*




Without discipline it is impossible to realise anything on the
physical plane. If your heart were not willing to submit to the
strict discipline of beating regularly and constantly, you would
not be able to live upon earth.
The great realisers have always been the great disciplined
men.
*
It is not that there is a dearth of people without work in the
Ashram; but those who are without work are certainly so because they do not like to work; and for that disease it is very
difficult to find a remedy — it is called laziness...
*
The body is naturally phlegmatic. But in working for
You it will cease being “tamasic”.
Yes, this is just what will happen.
*
I try always to be more careful, but things get spoilt in
my hands.
Yes, this happens often; but you must call in more and more
peace and let it enter into the cells of the body; then the suggestion of awkwardness can no longer have any effect.
*
Mother, X has broken a porcelain bowl.
Yesterday you were surprised that she had never broken anything, — naturally today she has broken something; this is how
mental formations work. That is why one must state only what
one wishes to see realised.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

You must abstain from thinking about a person when you cannot
think anything good about him.
VII
I must find out how I can consecrate this being to You.
Keep always burning in you the fire of aspiration and purification which I have kindled there.
*
Without perseverance one never attains anything.
Because a thing is difficult it does not mean that one should give
it up; on the contrary, the more difficult a thing is, the greater
must be the will to carry it out successfully.
Of all things the most difficult is to bring the divine consciousness into the material world. Must the endeavour then be
given up because of this?
*
Our way is very long, and it is indispensable to advance calmly
without asking oneself at every step whether one is advancing.
*
If you persevere you are sure to succeed; as for my help you may
rest assured it is always with you, and one never calls in vain.
*
If you resolve to do it, my force will be there to back up your
effort.
*




You would be wrong to get disturbed; nothing is done arbitrarily,
and things get realised only when they are the expression of an
inner truth.
*
Yes, your mind gets too excited about things. It makes formations (it thinks forcefully: this must be like that, that must be
otherwise, etc.) and unknowingly it clings to its own formations
in such a way that when they are contradicted it gets a shock
and this gives it pain. It must become calm and develop the habit
of remaining quiet.
*
Have faith in the Divine Grace and the hour of liberation will
be hastened.
*
It is absolutely false that anything human can heal a human evil.
Only the Divine can heal. It is in Him alone that one must
seek help and support, it is in Him alone that one must put all
one’s hope.
*
All my power is with you to help you; open yourself with a
calm confidence, have faith in the Divine Grace, and you will
overcome all your difficulties.
*
Do not worry, only keep in you always the will to do things well.
*
Why accept the idea of being weak? It is this which is bad.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

Yes, it is in a calm and patient confidence that lies the certitude
of victory.
*
Confidence in the Divine I do not lack, but it is perhaps
my ego which unceasingly says that I cannot accomplish
what the Divine wants of me.
Yes, and as soon as the ego surrenders and abdicates, this fear
disappears giving place to the calm assurance that nothing is
impossible.
*
“You will overcome all your difficulties” — I repeat this;
only my whole being does not accept it.
If you repeat it with sufficient constancy, the recalcitrant part
will at last be convinced.
*
Yes, you are right to have hope; it is hope which builds happy
futures.
*
I have quite forgotten my past.
Yes, one must forget one’s past.
*
But why torment yourself so much? Be calm, don’t get disturbed,
remember that the conditions of our life are not quite ordinary
conditions, and keep your trust in the Divine Power to organise
all and do all through the human instruments which are open to
His influence.
*




Be with me, Mother, without You I am weak, very weak
and fearful.
One must have no fear, victory is for him who is without fear; I
am always with you to guide and protect you.
*
One must have no fear — fear is a bad counsellor; it acts like a
magnet and attracts what we fear. One must, on the contrary,
keep a calm certitude that sooner or later all will be well.
*
To be pessimistic has never been of any use except to attract
towards oneself just the things one fears. One must, on the
contrary, drive off all pessimistic thoughts and compel oneself
to think only of what one wants to happen.
VIII
My adored Mother, Sri Aurobindo’s last letter made me
think much. The most obvious sign of the action of an
adverse force — it is this that I want to learn to see in
myself and others.
1st sign: One feels far away from Sri Aurobindo and me.
2nd: One loses confidence, begins to criticise, is not satisfied.
3rd: One revolts and sinks into falsehood.
*
Do not grieve. Always the same battle must be won several
times, especially when it is waged against the hostile forces.
That is why one must be armed with patience and keep faith in
the final victory.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

My beloved Mother, can the adverse forces act effectively
against the terrestrial evolution without using a human
being as an intermediary?
It is not impossible, but it is easier for them to find a human
instrument.
*
It is good to be confident and to have a living and steady faith.
But in the matter of the adverse forces, it is good to be always
vigilant and sincere.
*
Mother, what attitude should I take towards women?
There is a part in me which prompts me to go to X. This
recalcitrant part advises me to do so, telling me that this
is the best means of overcoming an attraction, whether
small or great.
This is childish; it is always the same trap of the adverse forces;
if, instead of expressing their advice under cleverly perverted
forms, they were to speak of things as they are, it would come
to something like this: “Continue to drink in order to stop being a drunkard” or better: “Continue to kill to stop being a
murderer!”
*
One must never be afraid, and if the adverse forces try to lodge
themselves in your lower nature, you have only to dislodge them,
calling me to your help.
*




Mother, last night I had a nightmare and was almost
frightened.
One must never be afraid. Even in your sleep you must be able
to remember me and call me to your help if there is some danger.
You will see that the nightmares will vanish.
*
It seemed to me that there was someone in my room
who wanted to suck my blood; I wanted to stretch my
left hand to him so that he could do so.
If you start feeding the adverse forces, they will exact more and
more and will never be satisfied.
*
Y told me that very often he becomes an instrument of
the adverse forces.
Much of this is his own imagination; if he thought less of
these so-called vital beings, most of them would be immediately
dissolved.
*
If I can remain peaceful in the face of all circumstances,
I can be sure that the hostile force is far from me.
Yes, on condition that the “peace” is not that of a hardening but
of a conscious force.
*
Mother, I do not quite understand what a peace of
“hardening” means.
I am speaking of the peace experienced by those who are utterly
insensible and indifferent to the misfortunes of the world and


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

the suffering of others, those who have turned their hearts to
stones and are incapable of compassion.
IX
If I could detach myself entirely from this outer world,
if I could be quite alone, I would master this depression
which I cannot shake off.
This is not at all correct; the experience of all recluses, all ascetics, proves indisputably the contrary. The difficulty comes
from oneself, from one’s own nature, and one takes it along
wherever one goes, whatever the conditions one may be in. There
is but one way of getting out of it — it is to conquer the difficulty,
overcome one’s lower nature. And is this not easier here, with
a concrete and tangible help, than all alone, without anyone to
shed light on the path and guide the uncertain footsteps?
*
My darling Mamma, I want to lead a pure life and I shall
do all I can to progress towards the divine life.
This does not depend so much on outer conditions, but above
all on the inner state.
A pure being is always pure, in all circumstances.
*
You will admit that one can’t live with others without
being influenced more or less by them.
No, this is wrong! It is true of the ordinary life but not of a yogi.
*




Sweet Mother, if my company is not good for others,
should I not dissociate myself from everyone?
It would be much better to dissociate yourself from the tendency
to fall into your ordinary consciousness.
*
What will be the result if I meditate on the thought that
there is no difference between a certain thing, no matter
which, and me; for the Divine is as much present in that
thing as in me?
Probably a disastrous result; that is, a passive opening to all
sorts of influences, most of which are hardly commendable.
*
A yogi ought to accept and digest all dirt with a perfect
equality.
Why? I don’t see that this is necessary. The effort which would
be needed to become immune from the effects of dirt can be
utilized much more profitably elsewhere.
*
Mother dearest, You make me very happy and I would
like to see everybody as happy as I.
Of course, this shows very good feelings. But a certain amount
of knowledge must be added to these sentiments. For, to communicate peace and joy to others is not so easy, and unless one
has within oneself an unshakable peace and joy, there is a great
risk of losing what one has rather than passing it on to others.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

My heart is full of compassion for others and I am not
insensible to their suffering, but what’s the good of this
feeling if I cannot come to their aid in their suffering?
One cannot help others to overcome their sorrows and sufferings
unless one has overcome all this in oneself and is master of one’s
feelings and reactions.
*
It is to purify your own heart that you must work, instead of
passing your time in judging what others do or don’t do.
*
Yes, one must distrust superficial and baseless judgments.
*
It is just when one is innocent that one ought to be most indifferent to ill-treatment, because there is nothing to blame oneself
for and one has the approbation of one’s conscience to console
oneself.
*
It would be much better for you not to busy yourself with what
others say.
*
Surely those who have courage must have some for those who
have none.
*
I nearly got angry and it was with an effort that I
controlled myself.




It is very good to control one’s anger. Even if it were only to
learn to do so, these contacts with others are useful.
*
I do not know of anything more foolish than these quarrels in
which everybody is in the wrong. And is there anything more
ridiculous than ruffled amours-propres?
*
In keeping quiet one never risks doing anything wrong, while
one has nine chances out of ten of saying something stupid when
one speaks.
*
It is never good to tell a lie, but here its results cannot but be
disastrous, for falsehood is the very symbol of that which wants
to oppose the divine work of Truth.
X
Health is the outer expression of a deep harmony, one must be
proud of it and not despise it.
*
Why imagine always that one is ill or is going to be ill and thus
open oneself to all kinds of bad suggestions? There is no reason
to be ill and I don’t see why you should be so.
*
Mother dearest, I have caught a cold. Should I take my
bath as usual?


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

Do as you like, this is not of much importance; but what is
important is to cast off fear. It is fear which makes one fall ill
and it is fear which makes healing so difficult. All fear must be
overcome and replaced by a complete trust in the divine Grace.
*
For several days there has been pain in the nape of the
neck; I am tired of the remedies our dispensary gives me.
I rely on Your Will alone to rid me of this illness.
One must have an unshakable faith to be able to do without
medicines.
*
One must never lose hope or faith — there is nothing incurable,
and no limit can be set to the power of the Divine.
*
One must find the inner peace and keep it constantly. In the force
this peace brings, all these little miseries will disappear.
*
Mother, the inherent tendency of the material body is to
dissolve, and the mind helps it; how will You be able to
stop the natural propensity of my body to disintegration?
It must become aware of the immortality of the elements constituting it (which is a scientifically recognised fact), then it must
submit itself to the influence and the will of the psychic being
which is immortal in its very nature.
*




Beloved Mother, do You grant that it is possible to do
without food?
For food to be no longer necessary, the body would have to be
completely transformed and no longer subject to any of the laws
governing it at present.
*
I don’t see why people should feel guilty because they are hungry.
If food is prepared, it is for eating.
*
My most beloved Mother, I think it would be better to
avoid a party of this kind.
Evidently, this creates an atmosphere in which food predominates; this is not very conducive to spiritual life.
XI
The vital is at once the place of desires and energies, impulses
and passions, of cowardice, but also of heroism — to bridle it is
to turn all this towards the divine Will and submit it to this Will.
*
The vital being seeks only power — material possession
and terrestrial power.
This also is false. The higher part of the vital being, like the
higher part of the mental being, aspires for the Divine and suffers
when far from Him.
*


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

This desire to live in an intellectual atmosphere —
doesn’t it show that my mind can govern the vital?
No, it only shows that in your consciousness the mind takes
a bigger place than the vital. What I call the domination of
the mind over the vital is when the latter takes no initiative,
accepts no impulse which has not been first sanctioned by the
mind, when no desire, no passion arises unless the mind thinks
it good; and if an impulse of desire, passion or violence comes
from outside, it is enough that the mind intervenes for it to be
immediately controlled.
*
Mother dearest, the vital desires will vanish as gradually
my body becomes weaker, won’t they?
Certainly not; quite on the contrary, to be able to conquer the desires of the vital one must have an excellent physical equilibrium
and sound health.
*
In the vital world attraction and repulsion are the right and
wrong sides of the same thing and always indicate an attachment. One must persistently turn away one’s thought from its
object.
*
Should one always avoid a circumstance which is conducive to undesirable impulses? Or should one rather
accept the circumstance and try to be its master?
It is always better to avoid the temptation.
*




One has only to persist with a calm confidence and the vital will
stop going on strike.
*
Depression is always unreasonable and leads nowhere. It is the
most subtle enemy of yoga.
XII
In Your Conversations You have said that the intellect is
like an intermediary between the true knowledge and its
realisation here below. Does it not follow that intellectual culture is indispensable for rising above the mind to
find there the true knowledge?
Intellectual culture is indispensable for preparing a good mental
instrument, large, supple and rich, but its action stops there.
In rising above the mind, it is more often a hindrance than
a help, for, in general, a refined and educated mind finds its
satisfaction in itself and rarely seeks to silence itself so as to be
surpassed.
*
It is a passing impulse which pushes me so much to study.
So long as you need to form yourself, to build your brain, you
will feel this strong urge to study; but when the brain is well
formed, the taste for studies will gradually die away.
*
My beloved Mother, I want to follow a systematic course
of metaphysics and ethics. I am also thinking of reading
The Life Divine.


Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

If you read metaphysics and ethics, you must do it just as
mental gymnastics to give a little exercise to your brain, but
never lose sight of the fact that this is not a source of knowledge and that it is not in this way that one can draw close
to knowledge. Naturally, this does not hold good for The Life
Divine...
*
In silence lies the source of the highest inspirations.
*
Identification with the Divine is our goal; I don’t see why
I am trying to know this or that.
It is not the work that is of importance but the spirit in which
one does it. It is difficult to keep one’s mind perfectly quiet; it
is better to engage it in studies than in silly ideas or unhealthy
dreamings.
*
I want to see what will happen to me if I stop reading
completely.
It is difficult to keep one’s mind always fixed on the same thing,
and if it is not given enough work to occupy it, it begins to
become restless. So I think it is better to choose one’s books
carefully rather than stop reading altogether.
*
I am reading a book on cars, but I read it hastily; I skip
the descriptions of complicated mechanisms.
If you don’t want to learn a thing thoroughly, conscientiously
and in all its details, it is better not to take it up at all. It is
a great mistake to think that a little superficial and incomplete




knowledge of things can be of any use whatsoever; it is good for
nothing except making people conceited, for they imagine they
know and in fact know nothing.
*
It is very difficult to choose games which are useful and beneficial
for a child. It asks for much consideration and reflection, and all
that one does unthinkingly may have unhappy consequences.
*
I am reading Molière; his writings are light.
Not as much as they seem to be. There is a deep and very wise
observation in the comedies of Molière.
*
I have just finished Salammbô;2 I did not find any ideal
character in it.
It is not a book of ideas; it is only for the beauty of its form and
style that it is remarkable.
*
When one reads a dirty book, an obscene novel, does
not the vital enjoy it through the mind?
In the mind also there are perversions. It is a rather poor and
unrefined vital which can take pleasure in such things!


A novel by Gustave Flaubert.



Series Six – To a Young Sadhak

XIII
The students talk so much in the class that I have to
scold them often.
It is not with severity but with self-mastery that children are
controlled.
*
I must tell you that if a teacher wants to be respected, he must
be respectable. X is not the only one to say that you use violence
to make yourself obeyed; nothing is less respectable. You must
first control yourself and never use brute force to impose your
will.
*
I have always thought that something in the teacher’s character
was responsible for the indiscipline of his students.
*
I hope you will give me precise instructions which will
help me keep order in my classes.
The most important is to master yourself and never lose your
temper. If you don’t have control over yourself, how can you
expect to control others, above all, children, who feel it immediately when someone is not master of himself?
*
The students cannot learn their lessons even when they
have their books.
One must have a lot of patience with young children, and repeat
the same thing to them several times, explaining it to them in
various ways. It is only gradually that it enters their mind.



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