Asura of Falsehood

(Mother to Satprem, 1961:) “These emanations, conscious of their own power, separated themselves from their Origin; that is, instead of being entirely surrendered to the supreme Will and expressing only [that], they seem to have acquired a sense of personal power. (They were personalities of sorts, universal personalities, each representing a mode of being.) Instead of remaining connected, they cut the link – each acted on his own, to put it simply. Then, naturally, Light became darkness, Life became death, Bliss became suffering and Truth became falsehood. And these are the four great Asuras: the Asura of Inconscience, the Asura of Falsehood, the Asura of Suffering and the Asura of Death.”

(Mother to Satprem, 1961:) “It was not by choice that I met all the four Asuras – it was a decision of the Supreme. The first one, whom religions call Satan, the Asura of Consciousness, was converted and is still at work. The second [the Asura of Suffering] annulled himself in the Supreme. The third was the Lord of Death (that was Théon). And the fourth, the Master of the world, was the Lord of Falsehood; Richard was an emanation, a vibhuti, as they say in India, of this Asura.
         Théon was the vibhuti of the Lord of Death.
         It’s a wonderful story, a real novel, which will perhaps be told one day ... when there are no more Asuras. Then it can be told.”

(Mother to Satprem, 1959:) “Behind the Titan attacking us particularly now, there is something else. This Titan has been delegated by someone else. He has been there since my birth, was born with me. I felt him when I was very young, but only gradually, as I became conscious of myself, did I understand WHO he was and what was behind him.
         This Titan has been specially sent to attack this body, but he can’t do it directly, so he uses people in my entourage. It is something fated: all those around me, who are close to me, and especially those capable of love, have been attacked by him; a few have succumbed, such as that girl in my entourage who was absorbed by him. He follows me like a shadow, and each time there is the least little opening in someone near me, he is there.
         The power of this Titan comes from an Asura. There are four Asuras. Two have already been converted, and the other two, the Lord of Death and the Lord of Falsehood, made an attempt at conversion by taking on a physical body – they have been intimately associated with my life. The story of these Asuras would be very interesting to recount ... The Lord of Death disappeared; he lost his physical body, and I don’t know what has become of him. As for the other, the Lord of Falsehood, the one who now rules over this earth, he tried hard to be converted, but he found it disgusting!
         At times he calls himself the ‘Lord of Nations’. It is he who sets all wars in motion, and only by thwarting his plans could the last war be won ... This one does not want to be converted, not at all. He wants neither the physical transformation nor the supramental world, for that would spell his end. Besides, he knows ... We talk to each other; beyond all this, we have our relationship. For after all, you see (laughing), I am his mother! One day he told me, “I know you will destroy me, but meanwhile, I will create all the havoc possible.”
         This Asura of Falsehood is the one who delegated the Titan that is always near me. He chose the most powerful Titan there is on earth and sent him specially to attack this body. So even if one manages to enchain or kill this Titan, it is likely that the Lord of Falsehood will delegate another form, and still another, and still another, in order to achieve his aim.
         In the end, only the Supramental will have the power to destroy it. When the hour comes, all this will disappear, without any need to do anything.”

(Mother to Satprem, 1961:) “It was certainly Sri Aurobindo’s power that made Richard decide to leave. For twelve years I had been Richard’s ‘guru’ (that’s where our relationship stood), but I hadn’t succeeded in converting him, and when we came back here I said, “I’m through with it. I’ve tried and I’ve failed. I’ve failed completely. Ask Sri Aurobindo.” When Sri Aurobindo took him in hand, that was another story.... He couldn’t take it – he left.
         But the whole affair was diabolic, you know; it had turned into something fantastic.
         Finally he left.
         …
         I don’t like to talk about these things, though – they don’t interest me. As Sri Aurobindo said, I lived my whole life absolutely free. I watched myself living through events like watching a movie. I had an inner vision, an inner will, and my inner reason for doing things was an Order received, an Order I was conscious of; but outwardly – fantastic! ... Naturally – how else could it have been?
         Here in Pondicherry, those last days might have become tragic (but of course it was impossible). There was the great argument (for he was perfectly aware of who I was): “But after all,” he would tell me, “since you are the eternal Mother, why have you chosen Aurobindo as Avatar? Choose me! You must choose me – me!” It was the Asura speaking through him. I would smile and not discuss it. “That’s not how it’s done!” I would tell him (laughing). Then one day he said, “Ah, so you don’t want to.... (gesture to the throat) Well, if you don’t choose me, then....” He was a strong fellow with powerful hands. I kept quite calm and said inwardly, My Lord, my Lord.... I called Sri Aurobindo and I saw him come, like that (gesture enveloping Mother and immobilizing everything). Then Richard’s hands loosened their grip.
         There were marks on my neck.
         A few days later, it was the same scene again. It was always the same scene.... Then he would take the furniture (it wasn’t ours, we had rented a furnished apartment) and start throwing it out the window into the courtyard!
         A novel....

(silence)

And you understand, it wasn’t the struggle of a man against a god, but the struggle of a god against a god. And when he was like that, he clearly had a formidable, formidable Power! He forced everybody to obey him – but it was Falsehood. And he preached an ascetic spirituality, you can’t imagine! He was incredibly convincing, but he couldn’t see a petticoat without.... Boys, girls, nothing got by him!
         Fantastic.
         He wrote ‘The Lord of Nations’.... And I saw him, oh! I saw this Lord of Nations. During the last war [World War II] I had some dealings with him again, but not through Richard – directly. The being who used to appear to Hitler was the Lord of Nations. An incredible story! ... ”

(Concerning the Sino-Indian conflict along the Himalayan border:)

(Mother to Satprem, 1962:) “Panditji wrote N. to announce – in precise and almost violent terms – that it was the beginning of a general upheaval, a catastrophic world war.
         I know it's the will of that Asura I've mentioned to you several times, the Lord of Falsehood who was born the Lord of Truth, and who knows that his hour is at hand (‘at hand’ relative to that world there) and has declared he will cause as much havoc as he can before disappearing. Quite recently, just before the present conflict broke out, I went to a realm in the vital world which is right above the earth, like a platform (not a mountain top, but a spot where you get an overall view, like the bridge of a ship, for instance, where the captain stands; it was a place like that in the vital world, overlooking all terrestrial life). I went there – it was rather dark, very dark in fact – and that tall being was there (he's quite tall, higher than this room – Mother looks up at the ceiling – he likes to look tall). He's very tall and all black. (That's more or less his natural state; he appears to humans blazing with light, but that doesn't fool someone with inner vision: it's an icy light. But some people are fooled and take him for the supreme God. Anyway, that's an aside.) So he was there and I went to him – not to him: I went to that place and found him there. He was gloating and told me to take a look around.
         From there you had a panoramic view of everything. And no sooner did I arrive than a storm broke out – a terrible storm. I kept watching, and then I saw in this direction (I don't know whether it was north, south or west, but it was this direction: Mother points to the north), I saw two nearly simultaneous flashes of lightning. The first one (I was looking north, I was quite conscious of facing north) ... the first one, a terrific bolt, came and fell from the east; and just a moment after, very soon after, another came from the west. The two didn't come together, but they fell on the same spot – they didn't meet but they fell on the same spot. It was pitch dark, the earth and everything was dark, you couldn't see a thing, and suddenly those two flashes of lightning lit up the area where they fell, making a dreadful din, and (my field of vision was confined to that area; all the rest was in darkness, you see) ... it burst into flames! Everything was set ablaze. In the lightning flashes you could distinguish the tops of monuments, houses, all sorts of things, and then everything burst into flames: a dreadful conflagration.
         I even remarked to myself (it was a rather curious feeling), “Well, it's interesting to have such a close view of it.” That is, I had the feeling that my ‘station’, as Sri Aurobindo calls it, for viewing the world was very high up, and I'd had to come down to that place. And that's what made me say, “Well, it's interesting to have such a close view of things.” (I didn't say it to that being, I thought it.) And he was there next to me, gloating, standing some distance off to my right (looking up, I could see his head – Mother looks up at the ceiling). He was jubilant, gloating: “You see, you see, you see!” Overjoyed. I kept absolutely still; everything was still, calm, motionless (the thought that came was like something passing through me: “It's interesting to have such a close view of it”). And then I stopped everything, like this (Mother remains as still as a statue, fists clenched). And very soon afterwards (I can't say exactly because time there isn't the same as here), very soon afterwards, everything stopped. The storm's only purpose was to cause the two thunderbolts, and it stopped after they fell on the earth. And then the flames ... the whole area was set ablaze (it was like a huge city, but not a city: most likely it was symbolic of a country): vroom! It burst into flames; some flames were leaping up very, very high. But I simply did this, stopped everything (Mother remains motionless, eyes closed, fists clenched), and then looked out once again – everything had returned to order. Then I said (I don't know why, but I was speaking to him in English ... yes, it's because he was speaking English, saying, “You see, you see!”), I said, “Ah, that didn't last long. They quickly brought it under control.” With that he turned his back on me (laughing); he went off one way and I the other. Then I regained my outer consciousness, which is why I remember everything exactly.
         I believe they began fighting up there two or three days after it happened.
         What can the west side be?...
         I don't know. I thought it would be Russia, but Russia seems to be trying its hardest not to interfere. I don't know.

(Satprem:) Was it India that was struck?

Yes, of course, it was India. ”

(Udar Pinto:) “There was once someone very close to the Mother who had been a very sweet person at one time but had become, for some reason, unbearably difficult. Unbearable to all of us, but the Mother did bear everything; and to us who saw this, it was extremely distressing. Then I broke down. I could not take it any more. I felt that somehow or other I must take a drastic step to save the Mother from the pain She had to endure. I did not care for the consequences to myself. The Mother came to know of my desperate decision and took me up about it. She did not scold me at all; rather She understood the motive behind it. But She showed me how foolish was my idea. She asked me if I did not know how sweet the person had been before and then the change had come. She told me why there had been the change. It was because the person became possessed by an Asura, not just any Asura but the most powerful one, whom the Mother called ‘Le Seigneur des Nations’ (‘The Lord of Nations’). It was that Asura's mission to destroy the world. I asked the Mother how She could tolerate such an Asura in the Ashram. Surely She had the power to drive him away? The Mother said that he was in the Ashram because She wanted it so. In this way She could save the world, by taking the suffering on Herself. That was a great sacrifice of Hers for the world but She did not want to speak about it. Now only can I tell of it. Then the Mother went on to explain that if one killed the possessed person, one would only kill the body of a being who was really very sweet. One could not touch the Asura at all. All one would succeed in doing would be to spoil some other sweet innocent person as the Asura would promptly go on to possess him or her. And finally the Mother explained that the Asura would continue to remain in the Ashram till ultimately he was destroyed or dissolved or perhaps converted. This has happened to some of the other very powerful Asuras.”

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See also

• Paul Richard
• Datta
• Hitler
• Asura of Inconscience
• Asura of Suffering
• Asura of Death
• Asuras