(On January 18, Mother received the Dalai Lama. It should be noted that Mother had long ago admitted a number of Tibetan refugees to the Ashram and Auroville.)
Anything to say?
I’d be curious to know what you felt with the Dalai Lama?
A truly benevolent man. Buddhist benevolence, you know, and he practices it marvelously.
He seems to have no… no selfishness in him (there’s no word for it in French). I mean, a constant concern to do the right thing.
(silence)
Very active [mentally]—there wasn’t much of a deeper contact.
That’s all.
He was happy with his visit, I was told. Did you hear that too?
Yes, I heard he was happy.
Didn’t you see him?
No, Mother, no.1
He is a young man….
Though I had seen him in a “dream” a few months ago.
Ah?
Yes, we met. Why, I have no idea.
Very benevolent—he’s very benevolent.
I was told something (I don’t know if it’s true), he is reported to have said, “Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are the most important personalities in the world today”—I don’t know if it’s true.
He seems to have been pleased with his visit. He was very happy to see the school and the children.
But on the plane where I live… he doesn’t seem to be very conscious THERE…. I don’t know. I don’t know, but in any case he has a very light presence, very light—he doesn’t impose himself at all.
I sensed a very strong man—very strong. And harmoniously strong; his right arm was bare, you know, it gave the feeling of a strong and quiet force. But… I didn’t have much of a deeper contact…. I can’t say.
That’s all.
What about Tibet, did you see anything—do you see anything for that country?
I told him Tibet would become independent again. He asked me when. I said, “I don’t know.”2
Sri Aurobindo’s idea was an independent Tibet within a sort of great federation with India. But when will that happen? I don’t know.
Tibet was locked in a lower form of Tantrism; the Chinese probably came to free them from their imprisonment…
Yes.
…in that lower Tantrism. When that cleansing is over (with much damage, unfortunately), maybe they’ll be free again?
(Mother nods her head)
He gave me this (Mother shows a Tibetan Buddha in brass). It’s a Buddha. Is there something written there [under the statue]?
Yes, Mother, there are some inscriptions.
I think it’s Tibetan.
Very nice.
Yes, it has a good face.
(silence)
You didn’t see him?
No, Mother, I only saw pictures of him. Something akin to Pavitra, was my impression.
Oh, really!
Yes, in the same “line,” if you will.
***
ADDENDUM
(Account of the Dalai Lama’s visit. The Dalai Lama’s questions were put to Mother by Kireet, the Registrar of the Centre of Education, who in turn conveyed Mother’s answers back to the Dalai Lama.)
(original English)
(Dalai Lama:) It is my dream to have the perfect economic development of Tibet, the perfect organization, the efficiency that we find in Communism, but all this based upon, founded upon the Buddhistic qualities of Compassion and Love, so that the people in power do not degenerate into corruption. What is Mother’s view of this dream, and whether such a thing will be realized in Tibet?
It is not a dream. It will naturally be. But the time it will take, I do not know. This is something like what Sri Aurobindo has said about the Supramental.
Truth, Love, Compassion will give a basis to the new creation. It is not birth but the value of men that should give the right to authority.
If the teaching of Sri Aurobindo can spread over the world, and if there is the full manifestation of the Supramental, then the Supramental will be the power of the liberation of Tibet.
It is bound to come, it will come; but if it goes as it is going now, it will take hundreds of years. But if the Supramental is manifested, it may come quick. Quick does not mean ten or twenty years—that would be almost miraculous.
(Kireet:) But the Supramental is now working very powerfully.
It is, it is working. It will be manifested with enough power when the right people have the authority.
For the moment, it seems that the opposition, the falsehood attacks with full power before dying. Never, never have men lied as much as they are doing now. It seems the old habit comes spontaneously. But it must be broken.
We are at a very… what we could call an unpleasant moment of the history of the earth. It is interesting because the action is very powerful, but I can’t call it pleasant.
But I have told you that already; I wrote it.3
(Kireet:) Yes, Mother. The Mother has given the message.
(Dalai Lama:) As for myself, I have no desire to continue in power in the Government. For I feel that the Government involves so much of conflicts of parties, and the necessity of taking sides with one party against the other….
One can govern without taking sides. That is the mistake of all the governments; they reduce their capacity tremendously.
But beyond the mind, there is a higher and deeper consciousness—they would find a Consciousness in which one can make use of all the capacities. It is a question of the consciousness being broad enough, so that each capacity can be put in its place in order to make a general harmony.
(Dalai Lama:) There is good will, there is sincerity among people all over the world, but the number of such people is not large. Will they be able to have an effect to change the conditions of the world?
It is bound to change; it is bound to change. Only, if the people are sincere it will shorten the time; it will go faster if the people are sincere.
The first and indispensable step is to stop all falsehood. Falsehood is all that contradicts in us the Presence of the Divine.
Satprem had no fondness for crowds, and that day the entire Ashram had thronged the place. The Dalai Lama had expressed the wish to see Mother alone, but the Ashram's dignitaries were literally glued to him and stayed in Mother's room throughout the meeting. It was hard to have any "deeper contact" under those circumstances. ↩
Mother replied, "All depends on the world's receptivity to the supramental consciousness." We publish in the Addendum an account of the Dalai Lama's questions and Mother's answers. ↩
Message of November 26, 1972: "Before dying, falsehood rises in full swing. Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe. Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the truth? I ask an effort from all so that it has not to be. It is only the Truth that can save us; truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the Truth or being destroyed." ↩
***
January 17, 1973
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