The Gods
Those who still believe in gods can certainly continue to worship them if they feel like it—but they must know that this creed and this worship has nothing to do with the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and no connection whatever with the Supramental Realisation.
1964
*
Even the gods have to make their surrender to the Supreme if the Divine creation is to be realised upon earth
*
Men like festivals.
9 November 1969
*
As an answer to my letter on the significance of festivals you wrote to me: “Men like festivals.” Does it then mean that they are men's fancy and whim?
14Have they no meaning and no utility?
It is men who give a meaning to festivals in order to legitimate their presence.
21 November 1969
*
Krishna and Radha
Krishna represents both the universal Godhead and the immanent Godhead, he whom one can meet within one's being and in all that constitutes the manifested world.
And do you want to know why he is always represented as a child? It is because he is in constant progression. To the extent that the world is perfected, his play is also perfected—what was the play of yesterday will no longer be the play of tomorrow; his play will become more and more harmonious, benign and joyful to the extent that the world becomes capable of responding to it and enjoying it with the Divine
*
Krishna's play: a power of progress veiling itself behind appearances
*
Krishna's play in Matter: beauty, love and joy are comrades; a play which widens and makes you progress
*
Krishna's play in the physical: the rule of the Avatar upon earth, that is to say, the realisation of the new divine world
*
15Surely she has lived and is still living
*
Radha's consciousness symbolises perfect attachment to the Divine
*
Kali, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati
It must be Kali's force which you evoke
*
I want to ask you a question concerned with my reaction to the inconsideration and vulgarity in X's letter about Sri Aurobindo. I remember an occasion many years ago when a lady friend of mine spoke unbecomingly of both of you. I verbally choked her off at once, but the indignation within me went on burning. It was like a sword of fire leaping out of my chest, striking and striking through the hours. My mind could serve only to direct it accurately; it had itself little part in the actual violence. The next day the lady had a terrific attack of diarrhoea.
A similar blaze began to go out of my chest yesterday on reading Y's letter. I had no scruple in directing it at his journal as if to consume its future to ashes. But although I also struck out at Y himself as if to destroy him, I did not encourage the fiery onslaught. I started wondering 16if it was right to attack like that a person. At times I thought I was perfectly justified. At other times it seemed to me that I should offer my sword of fire to you and Sri Aurobindo and leave it to you both to use it instead of myself concentratedly directing it at Y. I shall be thankful if I can have some words of guidance from you. Please keep in mind that I am not talking of a mere outburst of anger: some force appears to be there which wants to destroy and which feels it has the power to destroy. Of course I would never think of using it for my own private ends.
It is evidently the working of the Kali force that has lit and is directing this fire in you. There is nothing wrong in its action; it is not an anger personal to you but the wrath of a divine power and it must be allowed to act; in fact, I think you could not stop it from burning in you even if you wanted to stop it. This man has drawn it on himself and there is nothing wrong in what is happening, he alone is responsible. Of course, it must not be used for any personal aim or in any self-regarding way.
8 October 1950
*
Of all the aspects of the Mother, Kali most powerfully expresses vibrant and active love, and despite her sometimes terrible aspect, she carries in herself the golden splendour of an all-powerful love.
24 February 1965
*
Kali rarely acts in the mind. In the higher domains she is a power of love which pushes towards progress and transformation; in the vital she is a power of destruction of falsehood, hypocrisy and ill-will.
17All that is good, truthful and progressive is never destroyed by her. On the contrary, she protects and sustains it.
5 June 1965
*
Behind all destructions, whether the immense destructions of Nature, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, floods, etc., or the violent human destructions, wars, revolutions, revolts, I find the power of Kali, who is working in the earth-atmosphere to hasten the progress of transformation.
All that is not only divine in essence but also divine in realisation is by its very nature above these destructions and cannot be touched by them. Thus the extent of the disaster gives the measure of the imperfection.
The true way of preventing the repetition of these destructions is to learn their lesson and make the necessary progress
*
Integral wealth of Mahalakshmi: wealth of feelings and action in all fields of activity—intellectual, psychological and material
*
Mahasaraswati's mission is to awaken the world to the need of perfection; but perfection itself belongs to the Supreme Lord alone; no one else can even know what it is
*
In their aspect above the Overmind, in the higher regions, the aspects of the Mother have very simple forms and don't have multiple limbs.
18All the details and complications are appearances mostly added by men in order to give a symbolic expression to invisible qualities.
29 September 1967
*
The Avatar
Avatar—the Supreme manifested on earth in a body
*
The Avatar: the supreme Divine manifested in an earthly form—generally a human form—for a definite purpose
*
The Divine, being all-powerful, can lift people up without bothering to come down on earth. It is only if it is part of the world arrangement that he should take upon himself the burden of humanity and open the Way that avatarhood has any meaning.
6 March 1935
*
Men tolerate the presence of the Divine upon earth only on condition that He suffers there
*
Only when men depend exclusively on the Divine and on nothing else, will it no longer be necessary for the incarnate god to die for them.
2 August 1952
*
The chief purpose of the “avatar” is to give to man a concrete proof that the Divine can manifest upon earth.
12 July 1954
*
19Unless your aim is the Divine Realisation upon earth, at any cost, take good care not to draw too close to the divine messengers: for their action is like a hurricane that sweeps away all established things.
7 May 1957
*
Superior Beings
The human race tolerates and accepts the existence of superior beings only on condition that they are at its service.
4 February 1965
*
For ordinary men, the sage is a sort of music box of wisdom into which it is enough to put the penny of a question in order to receive the answer automatically
*
For them to recognise a god, he must have a halo behind his head; for them to recognise a king, he must have a sceptre in his hand
*
One who is no longer egoistic no longer has any personal place in this world. That is to say, in exact proportion to his impersonality, this personal world no longer has any personal relations with him. He is in relation with the world, with beings and things only as universal and non-individual forces are; like them, he acts in all, animates all, supports all, but in a general way he is completely ignored by all that he animates, supports and sets in motion.
It is not he who no longer wants the world, it is the world that no longer wants him or, rather, that no longer even notices that he exists
*
20Adverse Forces
Each time that we have made a decisive step in our spiritual progress, the invisible enemies of the Divine always try to take their revenge, and when they cannot injure the soul they strike the body. But all their efforts are in vain and will finally be defeated, for the Divine Grace is with us
*
We must never give a chance to the adverse forces to do their mischief—they take advantage of the slightest unconsciousness
*
It is jealousy, selfish dissatisfaction and hurt vanity that open the doors of the consciousness to the hostile attacks by pulling one out of the Divine's protection.
It is only by refusing to allow these wrong movements to take place in oneself that one can hope to get rid of the adverse influence and its disastrous effects
*
It is a great ignorance that makes a being answer to the suggestions of the forces of darkness and destruction. With a true sense of gratitude for the Divine's infinite mercy, one would be saved from such dangers
*
Yes, they do come from outside, from some vital entity that is amusing itself by sending them to you to see how you will receive them. I saw the suggestion passing at the time I gave you the flower. I did not attach any importance to it because it was just foolishness—but I see that you received it.
28 April 1934
*
21The wrath of Mahakali manifests from time to time and acts all right, but the effect of it does not last because those who answer to the adverse force do not truly want to be cured—they are not sincere.
1 July 1935
*
If you thought less about the attacks, there would not be so many.
7 October 1935
*
Constantly thinking of the hostile forces and fearing them is a very dangerous weakness
*
As you say, it is the adverse force itself that must be conquered and destroyed, otherwise it will always find people to manifest it.
28 May 1936
*
Hostile forces are tolerated in the world only because they put man's sincerity to the test. The day that man becomes integrally sincere, they will pass away, for there will no longer be any reason for their existence.
13 March 1949
*
These adverse forces are connected with sexual desire. They live on the energy wasted when the act takes place. And even a thought, a mental or vital desire is sufficient to let them come in and settle in the atmosphere. Thus it is in the mind itself that the purification must take place.
My blessings.
12 September 1950
*
These visions are imaginations which probably come from old thought-forms. There is no reason to sentimentalise about flies. They are beings created by the adverse forces and they must disappear from the earth
*
In the terrestrial organisation, the world of insects is, so to say, the direct work of hostile creators in the vital world; they are the result of adverse and often diabolical thoughts and imaginations, directed not towards man but towards the divine work. Often an insect that looks quite harmless is the messenger of a bad and malevolent will; in that case one must deal severely with it.
Love can tolerate anything—but in action, the Divine chooses and decides. Yet even in his act of destruction, there shines out pure Love, sublime Love.
14 October 1955
*
23When the adverse forces are dealt with in the right way, all that is ugly and false disappears to leave place only for what is true and beautiful
*
Your ego, at the slightest thing that displeases it, is in the habit of opening the door of your being to an evil spirit of arrogant and impudent disbelief which passes its time in throwing mud and filth on all that is sacred and beautiful and especially on the aspiration of your soul and the help from the Divine's Grace.
If this is allowed to continue, it will end in a sure catastrophe and ruin. Strong steps must be taken to put an end to this, and for that the collaboration of your soul is needed. It must wake up and join in the fight against the ego by resolutely closing the door to this evil spirit.
9 April 1958
*
After all, what is freedom? To go about doing whatever you like? But do you know what is “you”? Do you know what is your own will? Do you know what comes from you and what comes from elsewhere? Well, if you had a strong will I could have allowed you to work. But it is not like that; it is only impulses that move you and they are also not your own. They come from outside and make you do all sorts of stupid things. You fall into the hands of the Rakshasas. First they make you do stupid things and then they laugh. If you have a strong will, if your will, your impulses and all else are centred around the psychic, then and then alone can you have some taste of liberty and freedom; otherwise you are a slave.§
*
If you refuse to become a docile and surrendered servant of the Divine and of the Master who manifests Him, it means that you 24will remain a slave of your egoism, your vanity, your presumptuous ambition, and a toy in the hands of the Rakshasas who allure you with brilliant images in their attempt—not always unsuccessful—to possess you
*
If you had understood and reacted in the right way, you would have passed the test and got rid not only of this special difficulty but probably of this hostile's influence altogether. But you failed and got possessed. And only one thing was left to me to do, it was to flood you with the pure light, the white flame of purification to chase from inside you the intruder. It is what you took probably for a cut in our relations, a wall of separation between us; there was nothing of the kind; I was inside you, penetrating you as usual, but in the form of this supreme purity which is so foreign to all that is anti-divine or even to all ordinary human movement.
This adverse entity is not only vital, it is also mental and supports its desires by some apparently reasonable principles which become aggressively stupid by their rigidity. When this seizes you, you seem to lose all common sense and the most elementary understanding.
No wall at all—only the pure light, the white flame of purification penetrating right through, from outside inside, from inside outside.
Now I can tell you what has happened with a chance of being understood
*
[About a sadhak's accident]
Here is a sad but striking illustration of what I said.
This case is clear. For some egoistic reason he attempted to do more than he could.
If the year had been good he might have succeeded.
25With an ordinary or neutral year he would not have succeeded but without bad results for himself or for the others.
This year, because it is dangerously bad, the consequences came in full. Now all I can do is to make the best out of the situation; but it has become a big fight.
This is what I meant when I spoke, but very few people understood what I meant by “Be careful.” I meant: “Do always the best you can and make as far as possible no spiritual mistake.” On the contrary, most of them started fearing and that in itself is already a big spiritual mistake. Instead of being more vigilant and more faithful, most of them at once opened the door to the hostile suggestions and aggravated the situation. Some went even so far as to blame me for having spoken, not understanding that if I cannot warn the people here and advise them to keep firm in the right attitude, it means that they are not true sadhaks and have no sincerity in their attitude.
In order to make myself more clear, I repeat what I wanted to say; in a year like this one when the adverse forces have decided to attack at the utmost of their capacity, it is required from all those who have decided to fight for the Divine Realisation, to avoid carefully all fear.
When I spoke at the beginning of the year I insisted on the necessity of being especially vigilant because when times are bad whatever mistake one makes brings immediately its full consequences, the action of the Grace being hampered by the intensity of the adverse attack; the faith must be more total, the vigilance more constant, the trust in the Divine more absolute.
1955
*
As for your opening upward—fear nothing; it all depends on your sincerity. If it is the Divine alone that you want and not some personal advantage, it is the Divine alone who will answer 26your call. Adverse replies are a danger only when the motive is egoistic.
With my blessings.
5 September 1964
*
Last night, at three in the morning, sleepy, exasperated, I called you. A few seconds later, three times, I felt a strong force paralyzing me and trying to plunge me into unconsciousness. I struggled hard against it because I felt it as an adverse force which wanted to take away my subtle body. The third time, with one eye open I saw part of the dark blue robe of a tall person who was waiting to take me away; it seemed as if an emanation of X was at his side.
How is it that after I had called you, Mother, I had this experience?
This is the disadvantage of placing oneself under the influence of several occult forces.
In the past, one was recommended, not without reason, to choose one spiritual master and to take great care not to see any others, to avoid a mixture of influences, which has serious disadvantages. So-called modern wisdom, which springs from ignorance, is open to all kinds of influences which are sometimes contradictory, and the result is a great confusion.
Now there is only one solution, to go beyond all human representations and approach the Supreme directly with the utmost sincerity you are capable of, and… await the result.
Blessings.
25 March 1970