May 4, 1968The Mother
Agenda
Volume 9
May 4, 1968
(Mother gives a flower called “Divine Purity”: Isotoma longiflora.)
Do you know this?
Sri Aurobindo's definition of purity is being exclusively under the influence of the Divine. So naturally, the Divine is exclusively under his own influence (!), and that's purity!
Any news regarding P.L.?
He is expected today.
A “new fact,” he said, what can it be?...
As for me, I had a strong, very strong impression that they wanted to get rid of him, in the sense that either it was the Pope who didn't want to hear him, or, more likely, it was his friend, Monsignor R., who didn't want the Pope to hear what he had to say. It's a very strong impression.
I might put it this way: the impression I got, but a very strong one (very strong, it lasted for at least two days, it was very strong), was of Catholicism defending itself. And as in the mental region they couldn't touch P.L, they reached him from below and ruined his health – they know how to do all that, they are very skilled occultists.
And he didn't have this immense balance (vast gesture above) thanks to which none of that has any effect. He's still open.
But he didn't even listen to the elementary advice he was given. He was told, “Speak only to the Pope and to no one else.” And he spoke right and left. He spoke to Cardinal Tisserant, to this Monsignor R., so ...
(silence)
They are so attached to their power that they are capable of reverting to their old ways – excommunication, inquisition and the rest – to prevent things from moving. That's what I feel. That's the terrible thing. Whereas the Pope, there was in him an effort to go farther.
“There was,” did you say?
What did I say?
You said, there “was” an effort ...
Yes, I am not sure they won't...
(Mother remains silent)
Have you heard the rumor that the Pope was going to abdicate? A few days ago, newspapers reported a rumor according to which the Pope was going to
abdicate.1
There you are!... I didn't know.
There has been a denial, but the rumor has been quite widespread.
That's it. That's it. I didn't know. Oh, it's very interesting.... I think there's a band of brigands, over there.
Oh, yes!... X told me that when she was in Rome, she attended all the official receptions, and she said that all those prelates were as fat as... they were drinking champagne, brandy... Where was spirituality in that!
(after a silence)
Oh, the cardinals want to drive the Pope out....
(another silence)
Yes, they are going to resist as much as they can.
It would be good if contact could be made between you and him.
(Mother nods her head with force) Yes. Yes.
But I told you, I knew it, these people have a rather considerable occult knowledge and a total lack of scruples. I am absolutely convinced that they are the ones who made P.L. sick. He may not be aware of it (he probably isn't), but I am convinced of it, I am sure.
There has been a very strong attack here – very strong and directly on me. I saw it, you understand – I saw it. I can't say I felt it, but I saw it.
Coming from them?
Coming from them.
And not only was it directly on me, but it touched... (gesture in the Ashram's atmosphere), it touched.2
They are skilled.
You know, there's only one thing stronger than they, only one: the Lord's peace. I don't know if you understand what I mean (I speak with words that sound like their own language), but it's... (immense gesture above)... “That,” there, they can't touch. But it's the only thing. Few people know how to shield themselves from “that” [magic].
(Mother goes into a long contemplation)
*
* *
When was the last time you came? The day before yesterday?... The day before yesterday, at 5 in the morning, I read a letter from T.F. which I hadn't had the time to read. I was all alone, concentrated, and two sentences came in answer to her letter, which I wanted to write down. I started writing, and I found myself writing with a tiny handwriting! I tried to make it bigger – impossible. Then I drew within, I looked, and I saw it was Sri Aurobindo who was writing! So naturally, I let him write.
It's not his handwriting, but not mine either! It's a sort of combination of both.... I had the same experience years ago, very soon after that “illness,” when I began translating Savitri here.3 One day, while writing, it was he who wrote; it was his handwriting, that is, nearly illegible! So (laughing) I said, “No, I don't want it!” (Because it was illegible – if it had been clearer than mine, I'd have been happy!) And I stopped. But it came the day before yesterday, and it was... I forget where I put that paper (Mother looks for it). T. F. said in her letter her impression of who I am, and at the end she wrote, “If it is truly so, if I am not mistaken...” So in answer to that, Sri Aurobindo came and said... (Mother tries in vain to remember). I don't remember the words.
It's strange, I can't remember.
(here is the text, found later:)
“Divine life in the process of evolution, the divine Consciousness at work in Matter – here is, so to speak, what this existence represents.”
And at the same time, there was the clear vision, the very clear consciousness of the whole thing from the point of view of the earth's evolution: what's being worked out in the earth's evolution.
(long silence)
All these last days, there has been an INTENSE work, extremely intense, of impersonalization of the physical consciousness.... It results in a sort of... (unsteady gesture) You understand, the whole solid base that makes up the corporeal person – hop! gone, taken away. So then, at times there's a wobbliness. For instance, for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes, I had a total abolition of memory – of recollection and memory. And... Now I am used to those things (there's a tremendous number of them), so I stay like that, exclusively turned towards... all the cells are still, silent and exclusively turned towards the Force, the Consciousness, like this (gesture with the arms opened upward), and they wait. And then, there is a sort of concentration of energy, of force, and suddenly, as if coming from elsewhere (that's a very odd sensation)... You see, all that we do, all that we know, everything is based on a sort of semiconscious memory which is there – that's gone. And there's nothing anymore. It's replaced by a sort of luminous Presence, and... things are there, but you don't know how. It's not as if they had come back as before, it's not that, it's... They're there effortlessly. And what's there is ONLY JUST what's needed at a given moment. There isn't all that baggage you constantly drag behind yourself like that, as before, it's not that: there's JUST the thing you need. But you have to be very, very still; if you're restless or excited in the least, or even if you make an effort, there's nothing anymore.... And on the most material level, there is also a sort of perception that the whole material equilibrium of the past has disappeared too, and that anything may happen at any time.... Fortunately (that must be why it's done), fortunately the cells have a very ardent faith, very ardent.
I told you just before that I had felt that avalanche of attacks. It came in a very subtle form: the unreality of the conception that has been admitted and adopted – the unreality of the divine Presence
in the body, the unreality of the world in transformation towards a more and more divine state; like an unreality surging up (gesture as of a wave from below), in a sly way, to cut off the base and support of the faith.
But the Consciousness was there, and the awareness that it was an attack; and there was no battle, no attempt to convince or anything, simply like that (Mother opens her arms upward), a TOTAL surrender.
And that... I told you, it can't be touched.
A luminous stillness.
And little by little, the whole consciousness of the cells emerges from that hold and is reborn in the Light.
It was very, very interesting.
And naturally, the attack came with all the suggestions of illness, death, decomposition, unreality – all of that swarming around.
There wasn't even one attempt of struggle or anything, nothing; quite simply (same gesture with open arms), an aspiration and self-giving.
It's not yet over, but... I intended to talk about it only once it was fully over, but because of this [the question of the Pope's abdication], I see it has hastened things – hastened and concentrated.
We'll see. We are going to see.
1 “POPE RESIGNING? (Vatican City, April 30) Speculation is growing again that Pope Paul may resign as head of the Roman Catholic Church. Talk of such a possibility has become widespread not only in Vatican circles but also among civil officials in Rome. The State-run National Television network is said to have prepared a special programme on the Pope's career for broadcast instantly should he abdicate. The usual Vatican informants cannot give credence to the resignation speculation. But they do not rule out the possibility.” (The Hindu, I May 1968)
2 A few weeks later, Satprem too will be strongly affected for a long time.
3 See Agenda 4, December 31, 1963, p. 434.