September 16, 1967The Mother
Agenda
Volume 8
September 16, 1967
(Regarding a rather painful letter Satprem has received from the same very Catholic lady.)
Yes, the first impression was... painful, then I took a good look; and at bottom, the whole trouble comes from the fact that this person has a very high opinion of herself, she judges everything from the height of her superiority – for instance, that air of benevolent compassion for the Ashram.... But that was my first impression when I saw her the first time, and it has been growing since then. And this letter has confirmed everything.
So then, I didn't say anything, but yesterday I made F. talk about the lady, and she finally told me, “There is something I have never told you because it made me uneasy, but today I will tell you. Soon after we first met, Mrs. Z one day told me (I repeat word for word), ‘Because of MY position and YOUR position, I am convinced that we are destined to bring the Catholic Church and the Ashram together....’” F. told me, “I didn't reply – didn't argue, didn't answer, didn't say a word or anything, I just left it at that.”
But I said to myself, “There is the answer to everything....” She has put herself at the very top, on the “summit” of the Catholic religion....
Yes, she told me the same thing.
That's it: she has been sent by God (laughing) to bring the Church and the Ashram together.
So I think it will be wiser not to say anything, to leave it at that – not to argue or reply. If she comes (I don't think she will dare) just be polite, that's all. To reply is to play her game (that's what she wants). If you like, I will keep your letter and hers with me like that, because for me it acts as a center of action.
Before she came to see me, I didn't know she was a fervent Catholic, I hadn't thought about it, but the first time she came and saw me, I simply thought (or saw), “My dear girl, you lack the humility indispensable for making progress.” That's all. Then everything has been unveiled little by little, and yesterday the picture was complete because it takes some cheek to say, “We are destined to bring the Catholic Church and the Ashram together.”
When I got her letter, the force in it literally wrung my stomach....
(long silence)
All this is part of a great Plan of organization in the Mind....1
You know, in olden days you were put through ordeals – they were symbolic things, naturally, but you were aware that they were ordeals, so you were on your guard. But now... I remember, in the very beginning, when I started working with Sri Aurobindo, he warned me (I had already noticed it long before) that the circumstances of life are every minute organized in such a way that one who is destined to do the work is confronted with his own difficulties, which he must conquer, and with the difficulties of the world he works in, which he must conquer too. If he has the humility needed to see in himself what must be transformed so he can become capable of doing the Work, then all goes well. Naturally, if he is full of pride and vanity, thinks the whole fault lies outside and there is none in him, then naturally things go wrong. And the difficulties become sharper. And for as long as I did the work, for... (how many years?) the thirty years I worked with Sri Aurobindo and he was there, and I was like this (gesture hidden behind Sri Aurobindo), so comfortable, you know – I was in front, I
seemed to be the one doing the work – but for my part, I felt completely protected, behind him like this (same gesture); I was very quiet, not trying to understand or know or anything – I was simply attentive to... what had to be done, the necessary action. It was rarely necessary to tell him; if sometimes I was faced with a difficulty I would tell him, but he didn't need to answer: it was immediately understood – thirty years like that.
And when he left, there was a whole part – the most material part of the descent of the supramental body up to the mind – that visibly came out of his body and entered mine, and it was so concrete that I felt the FRICTION of forces passing through the pores of the skin.... I remember I said at that time, “Well, anyone who has had this experience can, with it, bring the proof of afterlife to the world.” It was... it was as concrete as if it had been material. So naturally, after that it was there in the field of consciousness.... But I have seen more and more often, more and more clearly, that all that takes place, all the people we meet, all that happens to us personally (that is, taking this little body as being the person), all of it is ALWAYS a test: you stand firm or you don't; if you stand firm, you make a progress forward; if you don't, you have to go through it again.
Now it has become that way FOR THE BODY: when it hurts, when it gets disorganized, when it threatens to fall apart.... And then, there is always that Consciousness inside, straight as a sword, saying, “Now, will you stand firm?” And the cells are really touchingly goodwilled: “Oh, is it like that? Very well, very well.” So you remain very quiet, very peaceful, and then you call – you call the Lord. And you say the mantra, which comes automatically, and... Peace establishes itself. And after a while the pain has disappeared – everything, just everything, all the threats disappear one after another. That's how it is: “Lord, You are here....” And you know, such dazzling, indisputable proof of this Presence, which is so wonderful and so simple, so simple, so total, in all that comes, all that happens, down to the smallest details, so as to lead you as fast as possible to the transformation.
And all that draws near – near to a greater or lesser distance, but all that draws near is swept along in the Movement, without even knowing it.
That's why I have kept this lady's letter.
To come back to her Catholic preoccupation, there have been some really interesting things.... You know that the Pope, when he came here to Bombay, said things that I had told him like this
(gesture of inner communication) when we had that
conversation2 (he certainly does not know whom he had that conversation with, but I think he is conscious enough to know he had one). A conversation... We had three of them, but one was long, important, precise; he himself was taken, like that, and when the time came to leave each other – for him to go back to his body and for me to go back to my work – he said to me, “And what will you say to people about our meeting?...” I told you the story. And, well, the things he said when he came here to India were exactly what I had told him; the decisions he made there were exactly what I had told him.... which shows it has had some effect.
Have you heard about the latest decision?... In the church, the priest always used to have his back to the faithful while officiating: he would face the deity and have his back to the faithful (the original idea was certainly that he represented the faithful's aspiration and prayer: he addressed himself to the Divine). Now the Pope has said, “Turn your altars around, face the public and represent the Divine.” It's interesting.... They are doing it here now, and the comical part is that they've asked U. [a disciple] to do the work of turning the altars around. That's how I know it, it's U. who told me; they have asked him to go to all the churches here and turn the altars around. It's a big work because they are sealed.
(silence)
I'd like to be clear on one point deep down in my consciousness. If this person comes to see me again, should I keep alive in her the idea of a possibility of reconciliation between her Christ and the yoga, or should I squarely leave her under no illusion and tell her, “Anyone who wants to do the yoga must break out of that”?
When I read her letter and learned the whole story, as always I did like this (gesture of still offering upward), and then the TRUE thing came (not at all what she thinks or what the Pope thinks, but the TRUE thing): an essential unity that will manifest on earth, but not just for this particular religion – for ALL religions, all the religions that were manifestations of a... to understand each other clearly, let us say of an Avatar, that is, something that was
sent down from above, that came to earth to bring a message, and a religion came out of it (I am not talking about all the forms of superstition and ignorance). Those religions are destined to go back to their Origin and form a complex unity, complete, total, that is to say, the essence of all human aspirations for... the unknown Divine. And that has not only been sanctioned: it EXISTS. In other words, it's ready to descend.
In egoistic and limited human consciousnesses, it finds expression in this or that person, or it finds expression in the Pope who, naturally, would like to ...3 That's his whole raison d'être, otherwise he would just be one little man among many others. There is, in other words, the whole motivation of human egoism. That's what distorts everything. But there is a “something” (which they talk about without knowing what they talk about), a something ready to manifest. And at the same time I seem to be told, “Don't worry, be in peace, you don't need to do anything: it WILL BE, and as usual you will spontaneously say what you need to say, without knowing it.” There.
But what I wanted to say is that if she comes materially, you shouldn't try to fight or convince her or change her, you should.... be a manifestation: you know, the shining Light, WITHOUT INTENTION. Then the work will be done in order. To be the shining Light – without intention. Simply the shining Light. Then you quite spontaneously say what you have to say, but without intention, without mental intention. You do what you have to do, say what you have to say – the Lord is there.
It's interesting.
These people (laughing), we could say that their ego has taken the attitude of being the Divine's instrument – but it's the ego. So naturally, they don't see clearly: they see what they want to see, do what they want to do. And for them, “I am God's instrument.”
We'll see.
I am trying to keep her somewhat quiet, I don't like her to interfere too much in your life. It's an unnecessary strain. But if you do as I've said, if you withdraw into the Light and remain like that, it will no longer tire you, or much less at any rate.
(long silence)
It's this extraordinary experience that when you take all that
comes as the means to learn what you should be – to increase your receptivity, increase your effectiveness – you immediately feel a wonderful, all-powerful Presence, but concrete, like that.
Then you understand that nothing is impossible.
1 This great “Plan” is the whole broadening of Christianity which, since 1967, appears to have taken a decisive turn.
2 See Agenda VI of July 3 and September 7, 1963, and Agenda V of December 2, 1964.
3 Mother probably means, “who would like to bring about unity under Catholic auspices.”