Chapter 1August 1, 1970

(Mother gives Satprem the message for August 15:)

“Even the body shall remember God.”

* * *

(Then she translates another quotation from Sri Aurobindo:)

“Whatever sufferings come on the path, are not too high a price for the victory that has to be won and if they are taken in the right spirit, they become even a means towards the victory.”

* * * Soon afterwards:

We’ve made brochures, On India, and then five cards with quotations.

(Mother gives Satprem the texts)

I am told you said that the Chinese threat to India was “inescapable”?

No, I didn’t say that.... Who said that?

It’s attributed to P. B. You know, things get distorted....

Yes, completely distorted. I said it was “serious.” Because they aren’t conscious, the government wasn’t at all conscious of the danger. So I had them warned. But I didn’t say it was “inescapable”; I said it was dangerous – if it were inescapable, I wouldn’t have done anything!

You know that Calcutta’s walls are all covered with slogans: “The Chairman of China is our seems he is scared stiff.... He asked us to go and do something. So it’s almost officially that we’re called there.

The response in Orissa is excellent. But there is... I think it’s the Chief Minister, or a minister from Madras,80 who went to France because a Tamil congress was held there, and he met Z, who is our friend.81 And he told Z that he and the Madras government in general are “very guarded about the Ashram” because we are “Bengalis”... (I forget – absolutely stupid!) and “what we say isn’t true.” Anyway... such stupid things that I can’t even remember them. And that’s the official attitude. He said, “We’d rather have foreigners there than Bengalis, because we will be more secure.” There you are! Absolutely imbecile.

So we are in a... bizarre situation: the whole anti-government movement in India doesn’t want us to be helped by the government; and the government of one province says we are friends with another province and we shouldn’t be friends... So to please them, we would have to become as stupid as they are.

P. B., I don’t know what he says, but he read me something he had written, which was good. He said the danger is serious – and it’s true.... But there have been remarkable things: for instance some young people from that pro-Chinese movement [the “Naxalites”], who want the Chinese, have written to me to ask me if that is right, if they should be like that, and... “We’ll do as you say.” So it shows that in any case the Influence is strong.... There are signs... there is hope. No, it’s not inescapable. It’s dangerous, but not inescapable....

But among themselves they’re worse than hooligans! They quarrel in a very petty manner, and that’s what makes the work difficult.

But I’ve learned things about the Tibetans.... The Tibetans are with us, but a Tibetan boy who came here recounted some frightful things.... They fled from their country and had settled near the border (they lived in huts near the border, with his father, mother and grandfather). A Tibetan came and asked them for shelter. They took him and put him up. But after some time (I don’t know how many days), a group of other Tibetans came to find that man, saying he was an enemy. So those Tibetans (I thought they were all the “victims of the Chinese” – they are the victims of their own division), they came and killed the father, mother and grandfather; they tried to kill the son but missed: he escaped and is now here. Incredible stories! So they’re all like that, arguing and quarreling among themselves – naturally, if they continue... they open the door to everything.

So some tell me, “Don’t be with this man, because...” and others tell me, “Don’t be with those, because they are enemies....” There you are!

So we answer, “We are with everybody.”

One wonders what will have the power to pull India out of all this political pettiness.

They must be pulled out of politics.

79P. K. Basu, vice-chancellor or the Calcutta University. He paid a visit to Mother in June.

80M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.