Chapter 5February 17, 1968

Though there was Steiner who had much power over his disciples, but in his case, it was without doubt an adverse force with all the power of the Asuras.

Ah, before we start work... I’ve received this:

(Mother first holds out a letter)

"Here are a few pages of our issue on Auroville, the city of love guarded by the four Mothers.

Signed: Y.”

(Then Mother holds out

a leaflet showing...19 )

If you can make out anything, please tell me.

Can you?

No.

You can’t make it out? And I thought you would explain it to me!

It’s quite a muddle there.

Is it a snake biting its tail?

To be precise, it’s really a mental construction.

Oh, yes.

And the text... There isn’t even a little vibration of truth in it.

Yes, it’s entirely a construction.

There isn’t a flame, there’s nothing in it.

It seems very human.

(Mother laughs) Very, very human indeed. I looked a good deal, and wondered if it wasn’t in fact going to be the modern conception of yoga?

Yes, they are full of this business of "yoga of sex." They think of nothing else, talk of nothing else. The "city of love" – as for me, I find it...

But as soon as this word is used in the ordinary way, it becomes like that. I don’t know what to do.

I don’t find it interesting.

I don’t find it interesting AT ALL. But isn’t it dangerous? That’s the question.

It means, at any rate, giving a false idea of Auroville. It opens the door to all kinds of ambiguities.

(Mother looks at the accompanying

little sketches, which look like

three intertwined lines)

There’s always one, two, three. If at least there were only two, but it’s always one, two, three – that is, union and the result!

And the main sketch is exactly the picture of a belly, it’s at belly level.

Oh, but then it’s still worse!

That’s what it evokes, it gives the sense of a visceral picture.

Horrible!

Something wholly turned in on itself, shut in on itself.

Yes, that’s right.

I don’t like it.

Neither do I. And Z has a disease that only occurs with suppressed sexual desires. He can’t get rid of it because he doesn’t get rid of the cause... They are up to the neck in that. What should I do with this?

It would be a pity if people were given this at Auroville’s inauguration.

It’s worse than that: they’re going to hold a conference for the children in which the children will ask questions, and ten people or so will be there to reply, but mainly Y. and Z. So those children are coming with the idea of finding something a little true, and that’s what they are going to find.

him, a talk so heated that afterwards, I got a sort of revelation and wrote a whole letter on the problem of sexuality in yoga. But the man reeks with this business of sex. He is sent by Planète. So if they show him this, the "city of love"...

It’s troublesome.

I think it’s become worse, mon petit, because I remember, when I asked Y. to look after education in Auroville, she was still decent enough. I think it’s gone to her head.

Well, it’s the story of little R. whom they educate with music and caresses. It’s the same story. But still, the "city of love," damn! Auroville should be something that impels you towards other concepts than these petty things. I went there one day, and, you know, that place is moving...

Oh, it’s beautiful.

It’s beautiful, moving, you really feel something about to be created. So the "city of love"...

But I never said Auroville was the city of love, never, not once!

The word is too subject to misuse. It would be better not to talk about it.

In fact, the word "love" can be used only with the word "divine" before it. It’s the only way it can be used. Without the word "divine," it becomes impossible. And these people refuse to use the word "divine."

Yes, they’re afraid of it.

So what are we going to do?... If I send her paper back without saying anything, she will say I have approved of it; if I tell her it won’t do, she’ll get still more furious.... And she looks after everything, pokes her nose into everything – legitimately, in a sense, since I told her I put her in charge of education. But it’s AFTER that she became like this. At that time, she was a bit cranky, but still quite decent.

It’s troublesome. (Mother remains silent for a while) Should I send her this:

"Beware of the word ‘love’ if it is not preceded by the adjective ‘divine,’ because in the general mentality the word evokes sexuality."

Just this, nothing else, no opinion about what she’s done, but this. (Mother writes her note)

I find her paper noxious, because not only does it say nothing, it also opens the door to ambiguities. And it says nothing: the hippies too are the "sons of love," it’s their great doctrine.

To tell the truth, when I opened that paper, I got a sense of disgust.