Chapter 10425 May 1970

15 August 1967 I took my seat, it was almost time, perhaps half a minute before, and all of a sudden, without preparation, like that, like a hammer blow: a descent so powerful — completely immobile — of something... It was as though Sri Aurobindo spoke to me at the same time (because the definition came at the same time as the experience: it was a vision that was not a vision, it was wholly concrete) and the word was: golden peace. But so strong! And then it did not move. During the whole half-hour, it did not move. It is something new that I had never felt before. I cannot say... It was perceived, but not like an objective vision. And spontaneously, other persons told me that as soon as they were seated for meditation (gesture of massive descent), something came down with a tremendous power, completely immobile, and a feeling of peace that they had never felt in their life.

Golden peace. And it is true, it gave the impression of the golden supramental light. But it was... a peace! Concrete, you know, not the negation of disorder and activity, no: concrete, concrete peace. I did not want to stop. The time was over, still I remained two minutes, three minutes. When I stopped, it was gone. And it has made a great difference for the body — the body itself — such a difference that when it had gone, I felt quite uneasy, I needed half a minute to regain my equilibrium.

It came and it went away. It came for the meditation and then it went away. For more than half an hour, thirty-five min-utes.

And in the evening, at the balcony,1 there was a crowd. I believe it was the biggest crowd that we have ever had: it spread 1 On August 15, Sri Aurobindo’s birthday, Mother gave Darshan by standing for several minutes on the balcony of her upstairs room and looking upon those assembled on the streets below.

out into all the streets; as far as I could see, the streets were full of people. Then I came out, and as I came out, there arose from this crowd like a... something between an imploring, a prayer and a protest about the condition the world is in, particularly this country. And that rose up in waves. I looked at it, and then (it was extremely insistent) I said to myself: “It is not my day, it is Sri Aurobindo’s day.” I went like this (gesture of withdrawal) and I put Sri Aurobindo in front. And when he was put in front, standing in front he simply said, simply: “The Lord knows best what he is doing.” (Mother laughs) Immediately, I began to smile (I did not laugh, but I began to smile) and there came the same peace as in the morning.

There you are. “The Lord knows best what he is doing”, with his most perfect sense of humour. And immediately everything became calm.

What must be done to pull the country out of its difficulty? Sri Aurobindo has foreseen all the troubles and he has given the solution. Just now we are approaching his Centenary; it seems arranged, you know, divinely arranged, because this would be a wonderful occasion to spread his teaching all over the country: the teaching, the practical teaching, his teaching about India, how to organise India, the mission of India. It seems to me that taking the Centenary as an occasion, his teaching could be spread all over the country with a little more organising — so that his ideas get spread. Those people who are interested can take it up and teach it, hold meetings and give the light and the knowledge to the people. It is a wonderful occasion. And it is only this that gives a clue to all these difficulties.

About all that has happened and all that is happening now, he has said clearly that to go back to it is useless. We must give the country its true position, that is, the position of relying on the Divine. Naturally, this is at the other end of what people try to believe now. But Sri Aurobindo explains it in such a way that even those who are against it can agree. You understand? He has found a way of saying it which can be understood by everybody. That’s the only solution, as far as I can see; it is the only solution. All the rest will mean complication, contradiction and fighting.

Just now we have two years in front of us to organise a kind of demonstration of what he was teaching. And this is above politics, you see. It is not a question of party, it’s not that: because some are for it, others will naturally not be. It is above all politics. It is to organise the country beyond politics. And it is the only way. In politics it is always fight and ugly fight — ugly. And it has become so bad. He was telling me always that things would become worse and worse, because it is the end of this age. We are entering into an age where things must be organised differently. It is a difficult time because of that.

Because we know what will come, we can help to make it come sooner and with less turmoil. There is no hope in going backwards; it would make things last endlessly. We must go forward, absolutely, and go beyond, beyond party. And nobody can explain that better than Sri Aurobindo, because he was so much, so much beyond party; he saw the advantages and disadvantages of all parties and he stated them exactly.

If you read carefully what he has written — so much — you will find the answer to all these questions. And at the same time you will know that you will have the full support of the Divine Power. The Power that was behind him is behind this transformation. It is time for transformation. We can’t cling to the past.

The best way to go beyond politics is to spread the message of Sri Aurobindo. Because he is no more a political element wanting to take power; there are only his ideas and ideals. And, of course, if people could understand and realise his programme, the country could be very strong, very strong.

Those who understand the teaching can take up the work of organising and spreading it.

But Mother, unless Mother’s children come into the government...

(Mother laughs) They will break. And they themselves will feel so restricted.

If there is a man who feels like going in for politics, that is different; but I think the others will be stronger without being inside.

But the government will be there in any case. If Mother...

But they must be political people in temperament.

Politics is always limited by party, by ideas, by duties also — unless we prepare a government that has no party, a government that admits all ideas because it is above parties. Party is limitation; it is like a box: you go into the box (Mother laughs). Of course, if there were some people who had the courage to be in the government without a party — “We represent no party! We represent India” — that would be magnificent.

Pull the consciousness up, up, above party. And then, naturally, certain people who couldn’t come into political parties — that! that is truly working for tomorrow. Tomorrow it will be like that. All this turmoil is because the country must take the lead, must go above all these old political habits. Government without party. Oh, it would be magnificent!

Note on the Texts Most of the texts in this volume were first published between the 1930s and 1970s in books and journals put out by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram or groups associated with it. The remaining texts first appeared in 1980 in the first edition of this volume. About two-thirds of the short written statements comprising Part One were written in English, the rest in French. About three-fourths of the conversations comprising Part Two were spoken in French, the rest in English.

The conversations in Part Two were transmitted in various ways. The six conversations of 1950 and 1951 were taken down in shorthand. The conversation of 3 April 1962 was noted from memory. The manner of transcription of two conversations is not known — those of 1958 (1) and January 1960. All the other conversations were tape recorded. Most of them were spoken in French; those spoken in English are: 1958 (1), January 1960, 3 April 1962, 13 April 1962 (first half only), 11 May 1967 and 25 May 1970.

The volume has been divided into six parts, each part having a number of sections. Each section does not necessarily contain all of the statements that could be placed there. Each statement has been put only in one section, though it might have been put in more than one. Statements that appear in other volumes have not, as a rule, been reproduced here.

Quotations from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are occasionally cited in the text and footnotes. The sources of these works are the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library (SABCL) and the second edition of the Collected Works of the Mother (CWM).

The text of this second edition is the same as that of the first edition, apart from the correction of some typographical errors and the revision of a few English translations.