Chapter 7December 24, 1969

attentive to the least indication – but the indications are... not very clear.

It has become like this: when it puts something into its mouth, it expects a yes or a no; and it’s observing that it absolutely depends on its attitude, that if it doesn’t attach any importance to what it’s doing, things generally go smoothly enough (that is, if it’s busy with something else), but then it doesn’t learn anything! So it doesn’t know.

It has reached the point where all the things that are accepted and obvious (from a very young age one is accustomed to things taking place “just like that”) have become absolutely unreal and fantastic! All the things that are beyond arguing, that are self-evident – unreal and fantastic. At times, it wonders how, how a gesture can be made?... You understand, the whole functioning, all, all of it is called into question.

So one must take care that things don’t go too far (Mother, laughing, makes a gesture of tipping over).

(silence)

Your mother is thinking of you!

Sujata has discovered the photo of A.R.’s guru. Here it is.

(Mother looks at the photo) What does he wear on his head?

He has his “jata,”221 and a sort of plume or peacock feather in his hair.

(Laughing) He looks like a good man. He must be a simple man.

He’s seventy-eight, and his mission is to keep wandering about India, giving initiation to whoever

wants it. His method is very simple, he says one just has to repeat the divine Name: “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Hare Krishna...” It’s enough to purify.

Hare Krishna?... He does look like a good man!

Yes, he looks nice.

Yoga for simple souls! It’s good, I am happy with A.R.’s choice. Yes, he’s a good man.... A.R. must be

* * *

(Mother gives her message for Christmas)

Greetings

to

the

new

Light.

Let it grow in all hearts.

* * * Soon afterwards:

In his Aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo used the word God everywhere, which we translated as Dieu [“God” in French]....

And the word Dieu now evokes unacceptable things in people’s minds. So I am embarrassed. Even Divin, you see... In English, Divine is fine because it’s not God (!) But in French, Divin sounds like Dieu! Yet it’s the only word, because otherwise, “truth” is partial, “consciousness” is partial, and anything we may use is partial.

Yesterday I got a line from M.H. (quite polite, besides) asking me why marriage, which was forbidden in the Ashram, is now permitted since people are marrying and having children.... That must be some gossip, or else he saw some of the pregnant women in Auroville. But I sent him my explanation; I told him that if it were true that marriage is now permitted and children are born here, I would simply say, “It’s because the Divine so willed it.” (Which is a way of telling him that it’s a very ordinary consciousness that asks that question.) But then, when I wrote, I put the word “Divine” because I didn’t know what else to put.... Afterwards, I told him how things are, that they’re not at all that way, but that in Auroville people have children; in my reply I even wrote that Auroville’s maternity home had been created for all those who want their child to be a world citizen! (Laughing) And there are lots of them!

But at the time of writing “the Divine”... What’s to be done? What should we say?... It’s a convention, but words... In one of his Aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo said that atheism is necessary to counterbalance religions which had caused so much damage!...222 And that’s why using the word “God” is unfortunate.

Often I say “Truth,” often “supreme Consciousness,” but I am perfectly aware that it’s not the thing. “Divinity” too... The Ancients said That – but Ça in French?...

It can be used, but not everywhere.... The rishis said, “The Vast” [Brihat].

(after a silence)

What might possibly best render the impression is “the supreme Divinity,” because that’s not too... I don’t know how to put it. Everything has a mental stamp, you can’t help it.

222240 – “Atheism is a necessary protest against the wickedness of the Churches and the narrowness of creeds. God used it Yes, but “the Supreme Consciousness” is perfect when we’re talking about the creation; the Supreme Consciousness is precisely what created, but (laughing) there is what’s beyond!

Beyond, it’s “That.

Yes.

We can often use the word “That,” with a capital T.

(Mother nods her head)

In India’s languages, they have this OM... which is a marvel. You know what they say? That OM is the totality of the sounds of the creation perceived by the Supreme; He hears OM as a call to Him – as an idea, it’s magnificent! As a symbol, as a... Only...

And as a power! Not only as a symbol, but as a power.

Oh, a tremendous power – tremendous. The first time I heard it... The first time I heard it... There was a certain Bernard who had spent a year in India, in the Himalayas, and he was visited by yogis whom he didn’t know (he lived in a hut in the Himalayas, all alone). One yogi came to see him; he didn’t say anything, he just sat by his side and then left. And that yogi simply told him, “OM...” Then he came back to France, recounted his experiences in India, and he said that. Me, I knew absolutely nothing of India at the time, and when he uttered the word OM... (Mother brings her arms down), it came: a Force like this, my whole, entire body, everything vibrated in an extraordinary way! It was like a revelation – everything, but everything started vibrating. Then I said, “At last, here’s the true sound!” Yet I knew nothing, absolutely nothing, neither what it meant nor anything.

(long silence)

I forget who it was, I forget if it was a Russian or an Englishman, but he was well known: the creator of materialism in the world (I don’t remember who it was). And you know what he said?... He said (I forget in what language), “I thank God for having made me an atheist – for having created me an atheist!…”

I found that charming. I read it in English: “Thank God, he made me an atheist!”

* * * Towards the end:

One small thing. This body has become very, very sensitive. If someone comes displeased with something I did or said (I don’t know what kind of thing, but it has happened with three people with whom the contact is ordinarily quite good)... It’s something quite recent. This (Mother points to her forehead) is silent, there’s nothing, no perception, and then, all of a sudden, all the nerves (the body’s nerves) are as if tortured. And it comes from the person who’s there – and who shows all the signs of devotion and so on, absolutely no external sign, no spoken or direct manifestation: all the nerves are