(Meeting with S.S., the third member of the trio of rivals. He reports to Mother that some Aurovilians are rumored to be "American spies.")
(Mother speaks in English)
Some people say that they are spies and are kept by the American Government, some others (some Americans) tell me that the Americans would never take such incapable spies! So myself I don’t see the…. To tell the truth, I don’t appreciate them very much, but I have nothing very positive against them. That’s all. It’s all like that.
I tried my best to push them out, that is to say, that they would WANT to go. But they… it didn’t happen, they really willed to remain. If we could have evident proof that they are spies, then it would be very easy. I would tell them to go. But for so many years they have been here. It must be proved, it can’t be a feeling or an idea or something like that, there must be a concrete proof. Voilà.
I would like that the Divine’s will should manifest very clearly, in a very positive way. Because human appreciation is worth nothing. He alone knows the Truth, and it is He who has to decide. Like that. I don’t know if you understand and follow; what I say may not be clear. But I—you see, to tell the truth, I have no respect for human appreciation and outlook, and I am absolutely convinced that only the Divine can see the truth. What I do is to tell, to show clearly His way so that we will do only what He says, what He sees. We are not capable of seeing. We will go by the Divine.
(silence)
Que Ta volonté soit faite [let Your will be done]—WHATEVER it is. Voilà. That’s my position.
(Auroville’s architect enters)
(The architect:) There has been a chain of events which makes it necessary for me to ask you a question. I have read this question to S.S., because we have spoken together at length, insofar as we feel that certain decisions must be made to try and improve the situation in Auroville. But we keep running up against the same problem, which I have summarized in this letter:
“Auroville is burdened by a small group of people who are contaminating its life and spirit and jeopardizing its progress. They thwart any effort to implement safety and hygiene measures, working decisions, and they behave in contradiction to Auroville’s ideal. One solution would be to send some of these people back home and, for a certain period, to limit newcomers to those elements directly useful to the building of Auroville.
“We see that, in practice, this possibility has not been endorsed by you. Is the presence of these elements—which according to us are undesirable—necessary to Auroville for reasons known to the Divine Consciousness? Are we supposed to build Auroville amidst the difficulties they represent? And are they useful to Auroville’s development?”
(Mother speaks in French)
In a general and absolute way, difficulties are ALWAYS graces. And due to… (how can I put it?) human weakness they fail to be helpful. Difficulties are ALWAYS graces. I have been on earth for quite a while this time and always—always, always, always, without a single exception—I have seen in the end that difficulties are nothing but graces. I can neither feel nor see things otherwise because it has been my experience all my life. I might be upset at first and say, “How come, I am full of goodwill, yet difficulties keep piling up….” But afterwards, I could have simply given myself a slap: “Silly you! It’s just to bring more perfection to your character and the work!” There.
(silence)
Some persons have been driven out of the Ashram into Auroville. Those, I admit, are difficult elements who make things difficult. I wish they would be naturally driven out of Auroville to… somewhere else. This wouldn’t be very nice for the rest of the world—but never mind! Although in a free environment, they may be tolerable. Practically, one would have to speak to each one individually.
Now go on, tell me what you wanted to say.
(The architect:) Well, Mother, I simply wanted to know if we are supposed to accept the presence of these seemingly undesirable people as a necessity for Auroville’s growth, and if so, we’ll just have to act accordingly and face the difficulties they represent; or should we take definite measures to solve the problems of safety, the problems of hygiene….
What problems of hygiene? What problems of safety?
For example, Mother, it’s absolutely useless to give them fire extinguishers, hoses and water if they don’t make any effort to learn how to use the fire extinguisher and keep the water hose in proper condition.
Yes, that’s plain.
The same for hygiene.
Is there no one who could be given the responsibility for those things?
Yes, Mother, we’ll have to manage with what we have.
Yes. Something could be organized with the people we can trust, and if the others are dissatisfied, they can leave. Do you understand what I mean? Instead of taking an active position of “Go away” (which for many reasons is very difficult), if we put them under an authority they don’t accept, they will be forced to leave. They will protest at first, but we must remain firm: “This is how it is.”
We must find the people capable of doing this, with the required strength of character, and once we find them, they can be given the authority, and if the others don’t like it, they’ll have to leave! And that’s that. But we can’t dismiss people who are already there as long as we don’t have the person or persons capable of actively assuming that position.
Yes, Mother, it’s clear. But there’s also the problem of admissions to Auroville.
Oh—well?
For instance, certain elements seem absolutely undesirable to us from the start. And yet these people are sometimes accepted Is there a reason for this?
On trial. Only on a trial basis, never otherwise.
But, Mother, once they’re here on trial, nobody can ever send them away!
Ah, no! If they are not satisfactory, they can be sent away. I was only speaking of those (this is in fact what I was saying to S.S.) whom I was forced to remove from the Ashram because they were totally undesirable in the Ashram,1 and they went to Auroville; these people should either go, or else feel… as I said, feel that they have no place here. But the newcomers, those who are accepted on a trial basis and who turn out to be undesirable, can be sent away. I meant the old-timers, those who have been here for years and years. But the newcomers, all those who have been taken on trial and are not satisfactory, they can leave—they MUST leave. I give you full authority to send them away.
You see, some people come to me—I don’t know their names, I don’t know what they do, I know nothing about them; the new requests for admission should come to me through one of you two (because you know the practical situation and the people). Unfortunately, many people write to me, and I don’t know, you see, I never remember names; I only remember when I know who they are, what they do and so on. But if you know these people’s worth and can tell me, “This one is like this or that,” I trust what you say; and if you tell me, “That person is undesirable,” well, he must go. But I have to be informed beforehand, because people usually go through one person, then another to get their request to me, and I don’t keep track, I don’t know. Do you see the picture? I give a general answer, and they take it as… because I think it’s somebody else. I don’t remember, I forget names—the next minute I have forgotten. My head is full of… something far vaster than all that, you know. There should be one person—one or two (two is very good)—to present the admissions to me, the new admissions to Auroville, and I fully agree to send back those you find undesirable.
Do you understand?
Yes, Mother. But at present all the requests are presented by S.S. No one else presents requests from newcomers. So things should be simple?
Are you sure about that?
For instance, the other day (I use this example, Mother, because for me it was a real problem), there was a girl who was on drugs and who had been expelled from Auroville; she asked S.S. to be allowed to come back. And we …
A girl?
Yes, Mother. S.S. and I were against it, but you said, “She must be given one more chance.”
Yes—yes, for one month?2
(S.S.:) They have been there for a week now, on trial.
You must give them at least one month. At least one month. But if they show the slightest insincerity, you understand, if they say, “I don’t do this, I do that, I won’t do this, etc…”, just tell them, “You can leave.” You don’t even need to ask me, you can just send them away. Simply inform me: such and such person has been found unsatisfactory. I give you the authority to do it. I won’t protest. But I must be informed because plenty of people come to me and… they’re very cunning, you see: they find another person to channel their request.
(The architect:) The question in our minds, Mother, was to know whether you saw these people as being useful in providing Auroville with a certain type of difficulty.
No! Certainly not! No, no, I don’t favor deliberately adding difficulties! I know they come for…. But they shouldn’t be invited—on the contrary. They shouldn’t. Things should be made as easy as possible. Only, we shouldn’t be ruffled by difficulty, that’s the point. I am not at all saying that difficulties should be accepted—don’t invite them at all, at all, at all; life is difficult enough as it is! But when a difficulty comes, you must take heart and face it courageously.
We must strive for Order, Harmony, Beauty and… collective aspiration—all the things which for the moment are not there. We must… you see, being the organizers, our task is to set the example of what we want others to do. We must rise above personal reactions, be exclusively attuned to the divine Will and be the docile instruments of the divine Will—we must be impersonal, without any personal reaction.
We must “be” in all sincerity. What the Divine wants—let it be. That’s all. If we can be that, then we are as we ought to be, and THAT is what we must become. For the rest… for all the rest, we do the best we can.
I know it’s not easy, but we are not here to do easy things; the whole world is there for those who like an easy life. I would like people to feel that coming to Auroville does not mean coming to an easy life—it means coming to a gigantic effort for progress. And those who don’t want to keep up with it should leave. That’s how things stand. I wish It were so strong—the need for progress, for the divinization of the being, so intense—that those who are unable (unable or unwilling) to adjust to it would leave by themselves: “Oh, this is not what I expected.” As it is now, all those who want an easy life and to do what they please as they please, say, “Let’s go to Auroville!” It should be just the opposite. People should know that coming to Auroville means an almost superhuman effort for progress.
It is the sincerity of our attitude and effort which makes a difference. People should feel that insincerity and falsehood have no place here—they just don’t work, you can’t fool people who have devoted their entire life to go beyond humanity.
There is only one way to be convincing—it is to BE that.
Then we’ll stand strong, we’ll have all the divine force on our side.
We are here to prepare a superhumanity, not to fall back into desires and easy life—no.
People must feel it; it should be so strong that the sheer force of our sincerity would drive them out—that’s what they have to feel. At that point, we will be what we should be. The power of the realization—of the sincerity of the realization—is such that it’s UNBEARLABLE to those who are insincere.
(silence)
That’s all.
Yes, Mother.
(silence)
If in all sincerity we are on the side of the Divine, we ARE all we should be.
That’s what Sri Aurobindo always said. If men only knew this: if in all sincerity—in all sincerity—they give themselves to the Divine and side with the Divine, they become all they should be.
It may take time, there may be turmoil and difficulty—you must be… inflexible: “I am for the Divine and the divine manifestation, in spite of everything and anything.” Voilà. Then it is omnipotence—EVEN OVER DEATH.
I am not saying tomorrow, I am not saying immediately, but… it’s a certainty.
In particular one of N.'s nephews. This undesirable person did not hesitate later to lodge a false complaint with the Supreme Court of India to have the recalcitrant Aurovilians expelled from Auroville and his uncle installed as Auroville's legal proprietor. ↩
Mother's memory is not that bad, after all! ↩
***
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