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The Mother
Agenda
Volume 2
January 7, 1961
I came down at 9:30 sharp, thinking half an hour would be enough to cross the corridor and get here. Apparently not!
(Mother gives Satprem a rose) This is the Tenderness of the Divine for... for himself! The tenderness He has for his creation. “Creation”... I don't like that word, as if it all were created from nothing! It is He himself, creating with all his tenderness. Some of these roses get quite big; they're so lovely!
And I am... how to put it? Nothing we say is ever absolutely true, but, to stretch it a bit, while I am... not worried, not perturbed, not discouraged, I feel I can't get anything done; I spend all my time, all my time, seeing people, receiving and answering letters – doing nothing. I haven't touched my translation1 for over a week. T. sent me her notebook with questions and I had it for two weeks before I found time to answer.2 Nothing is ready for the Bulletin except what you have done.
It's a pity you have no time to do your work.
Even the translation.... You know, when I am tired and work on the translation I feel rested. But, oh, all these letters! Even the best of them are stupid. Anyway.... When I came here just now there was someone waiting to see me – I told him to come at 11: 00, and by then there will be 700 people waiting for me to come out. They are already gathered around the Samadhi.3
Well, enough grumbling. Let's get to work.
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(Later, during the course of the conversation, Mother remarked.)
Understanding The Synthesis of Yoga is quite simple: I have only to be silent for a moment, and Sri Aurobindo is here.
It's not this body's understanding: HE is here!
1 Mother generally worked a little every day on the French translation of The Synthesis of Yoga.
2 The notebook in which a young woman disciple asked questions on Sri Aurobindo's Thoughts and Aphorisms. Later, Mother preferred answering verbally Satprem's questions on the aphorisms. This allowed her to speak of her experiences freely without the restrictions imposed by a written reply. These “Commentaries on the Aphorisms” were later partially published in the Bulletin under the title A Propos. Here they are republished chronologically in their unabridged form.
3 Where Sri Aurobindo's body lies, in the Ashram courtyard.