Chapter 36Helpers on the Way · Their Knowledge of Human Nature

A suggestion sometimes comes to me: “As Mother has become stricter with you at pranam, so Sri Aurobindo is becoming stricter with you in his letters.” Is what I have written all right?

You attributed too many motives — e.g. that the Mother tries to allure the vital by indulging it in the beginning. She has no such intention. She behaves naturally and simply with the being — whatever change there is is in the vital’s impressions about her action rather than in the action itself — except in so far as there is a change necessitated by the change in the consciousness. Formerly you were writing from the higher mind mostly, but partly from the vital — the vital was often dissatisfied with my answers, so I ceased answering to it and wrote only what would mind and vital that you often write and so my answers must be to them and they feel they are not given the answers they want or in the tone of indulgence they would like. But to satisfy and indulge them would not be helpful to your sadhana.

9 December 1935

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It seemed to me that the Mother did not respond to my smile yesterday and that she put unnecessary pressure on me in regard to X’s letter. And when you replied to my note in the evening with a simple “all right”, I felt a terrible emptiness and a want of sympathy. It seemed as if your “all right” was also a sort of pressure in regard to X’s letter.

was no reason why she should do so. As for myself, I never even thought of it when I wrote the “all right”. The word “pressure” besides is an entirely wrong one to use; the only thing we put is a supporting force to help you in your difficulties or else to bring down more peace and more of the higher consciousness. I do not see how that can be described as an unnecessary pressure or produce bad consequences. But the idea that we were displeased about X’s letter or withdrew our support or were putting any kind of pressure about it is absolutely groundless. You ought not