Chapter 1May 2, 1961

There is obviously a force at work....

When Sri Aurobindo was here, the work was done in another way; there was such an impression of hovering above difficulties, of acting on them from above. It was so strong that even rebellious elements, even things which were not going well, even... they were dominated from above and they could not manifest – they stayed like that. And as they could not manifest, they faded quietly away.

I have seen people (people from outside) who were enemies – all their enmity was pacified, pacified, pacified. They were unable to do any harm, even when they wanted to. Everything was made innocuous in that way. And it was the same thing here in the Ashram; as always, people had wrong movements and wrong thoughts, but all this, too, was dominated – it was pacified, pacified.

I had continued to work in the same way. But now... it’s as if everything has been engulfed. And the number of ugly things, petty movements, nasty reactions – everywhere, everywhere, in everyone, oh!... I am swamped with letters, and such letters! Such letters!

And I don’t see, I really do not see why all that needs to manifest in order to disappear. Because before, when it didn’t manifest, it faded away by itself; but now it creates problems and problems and problems. (For me they are not problems but stupidities; they are problems and complications for others.) And it’s so useless! So much time is lost, so much time coping with stupid reactions.... I don’t know why.

And nothing can be done until it’s over.

Aphorism 60 - There is no mortality. It is only the Immortal who can die; the mortal could neither be born nor perish. The Immortal can pass from the condition of life to the condition of death (but not ‘death’ as we understand it); ‘can die’ means ‘can change condition.’ The Immortal can pass from this condition to that condition and back and forth again. We call it ‘death,’ but it has nothing to do with either life or death. They are changes of state.

(silence)

I’ve had this notebook154 for days – don’t feel like answering.