Revue Cosmique
Mother's Agenda
December 15, 1962
(Mother to Satprem, 1971:) “You know, the Cosmique had a very interesting effect in my life. I was completely against ‘God’. The European notion of God was quite repulsive to me. But at the same time naturally, that prevented me from having any experience. And with the ‘cosmic teaching’ of the inner god (that was Théon's idea, the inner god – Mother touches her chest – the one that is inside each of us), brff! (gesture as if walls were crumbling). The experience was fantastic. I am very grateful to him. That's how it happened; I found it by following his instructions and searching within, behind the solar plexus. I found it, I had an experience ... an absolutely convincing experience.
Only people will stumble upon some vital force and mistake it for the soul, so.... You have to be VERY sincere, that is the absolute condition. You have to be VERY sincere, VERY sincere – not only must you not deceive others, but you must not deceive yourself. You have to be VERY sincere. And then you find it. You find it, it's an absolutely concrete experience.
I had the experience before coming here. Before I came, before knowing Sri Aurobindo, I had the experience. So three quarters of the work was already done, you could say.... I didn't have mental knowledge (the mental knowledge was nothing to talk about), but it's not necessary for the experience. If you're sincere, you have the experience without thinking, you don't NEED to think. But you have to be sincere.”[1]
| Revue Cosmique Vol. 1 No. 1 (Jan. 1901)  PDF (64 pages) |
Revue Cosmique Vol. 5 No. 11 (Nov. 1906)  PDF (64 pages) |
Revue Cosmique Vol. 5 No. 12 (Dec. 1906)  PDF (68 pages) |
(Mother to Satprem and Pavitra, 1960) “...five years of the Revue Cosmique. And written in such a French! How funny it was!
Théon's wife dictated it in English while she was in trance. Another English lady who was there claimed to know French like a Frenchman. “Myself, I never use a dictionary,” she would say, “I don't need a dictionary.” But then she would turn out such translations! She made all the classic mistakes of English words that mustn't be translated like that. Then it was sent to me in Paris for correcting. It was literally impossible.
There was this Themanlys, my brother's schoolmate; he wrote books, but he was lazy-minded and didn't want to work! So he had passed that job on to me. But it was impossible, you couldn't do a thing with it. And what words! Théon would invent words for the subtle organs, the inner senses; he had found a word for each thing — a frightful barbarism! And I took care of everything: I found the printer, corrected the proofs — all the work for a long time.
They were stories, narratives, an entire initiation in the form of stories. There was a lot in it, really a lot. She knew many things. But it was presented in such a way that it was unreadable.
I also wrote one or two things, experiences I had noted down; they were rather interesting, which is why I'd like to get them back. I had described some of my visions to Madame Théon, and then she explained their meaning to me. So I would narrate the vision and give its explanation. That was readable and interesting, because there was some symbolism.
| Revue Cosmique “Une Vision”, November 1906  PDF (4 pages) |
Revue Cosmique “Une Vision”, December 1906  PDF (3 pages) |
- (Pavitra:) What was this “Chronicle of Ki”?
It wasn't ‘Ki’ but ‘Chi’, for he was the founder of China! — those things were fantastic! The story was almost childish, but there was a whole world of knowledge in it. Madame Théon was an extraordinary occultist. That woman had incredible faculties, incredible.”[2]
(Mother to Satprem, 1961:) “It was written in English and I am the one who translated it into French – into horrible French, perfectly ghastly, because I put in all the new words Théon had dreamed up. He had made a detailed description of all the faculties latent in man, and it was remarkable – but with such barbarous words! You can make up new words in English and get away with it, but in French it's utterly ridiculous. And there I was, very conscientiously putting them all in! Yet in terms of experience, it was splendid. It really was an experience – it came from Madame Théon's experiences in exteriorization. She had learned what Théon also taught me, to speak while you're in the seventh heaven (the body goes on speaking, rather slowly, in a rather low voice, but it works quite well). She would speak and a friend of hers, another English woman who was their secretary, would note it all down as she went along (I think she knew shorthand). And afterwards it was made into stories, told as stories. It was all shown to Sri Aurobindo and it greatly interested him. He even adopted some of the words into his own terminology.
The divisions and subdivisions of the being were described down to the slightest detail and with perfect precision. I went through the experience again on my own, without any preconceived ideas, just like that: leaving one body after the other, one body after the other, and so on twelve times.... And my experience – apart from certain quite negligible differences, doubtless due to differences in the receiving brain – was exactly the same.
(the clock strikes)
I have to go....
I don't know if those experiences have been described in traditional scriptures. I haven't read any – I know nothing of Indian literature, nothing at all. I only know what Sri Aurobindo has said, plus a few odds and ends from here and there. And each time I found myself faced with their vocabulary ... oh, it really puts you off!”[3]
(Mother to Satprem, 1958:) “[Théon] said he had received initiation in India (he knew a little Sanskrit and the Rig-Veda thoroughly), and then he formulated a tradition which he called the ‘cosmic tradition’ and which he claimed to have received — I don't know how — from a tradition anterior to that of the Cabala and the Vedas. But there were many things (Madame Théon was the clairvoyant one, and she received visions; oh, she was wonderful!), many things that I myself had seen and known before knowing them which were then substantiated.
So personally, I am convinced that there was indeed a tradition anterior to both these traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, there is a similarity in the experiences. When I came here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from the occult standpoint, he always said that it conformed to the Vedic tradition. And as for certain occult practices, he told me that they were entirely tantric — and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neither the Vedas nor the Tantras.
So very probably there was a tradition anterior to both. I have recollections (for me, these are always things I have LIVED), very clear, very distinct recollections of a time that was certainly VERY anterior to the Vedic times and to the Cabala, to the Chaldean tradition.
But now, there is only a very small number of people in the West who know that it isn't merely subjective or imaginative (the result of a more or less unbridled imagination), and that it corresponds to a universal truth.”[4]
(Mother to Satprem, 1962:) “But I also remember reading The Tradition, before I met Sri Aurobindo (it was like a novel, a serialized romance of the world's creation, but it was very evocative; Théon called it The Tradition). That was where I first learned of the universal Mother's first four emanations, when the Lord delegated his creative power to the Mother. And it was identical to the ancient Indian tradition, but told like a nursery story; anyone could understand – it was an image, like a movie, and very vivid.
So She made her first four emanations. The first was Consciousness and Light (arising from Sachchidananda); the second was Ananda and Love; the third was Life; and Truth was the fourth. Then, so the story goes, conscious of their infinite power, instead of keeping their connection with the supreme Mother and, through Her, with the Supreme, instead of receiving indications for action from Him and doing things in proper order, they were conscious of their own power and each one took off independently to do as he pleased – they had power and they used it. They forgot their Origin. And because of this initial oblivion, Consciousness became unconsciousness, and Light became darkness; Ananda became suffering, Love became hate; Life became Death; and Truth became Falsehood. And they were instantly thrown headlong into what became Matter. According to Théon, the world as we know it is the result of that. And that was the Supreme himself in his first manifestation.
But the story is easy to understand, and quite evocative. On the surface, for intellectuals, it's very childish; but once you have the experience you understand it very well – I understood and felt the thing immediately.”[5]
(Mother to Satprem, 1962:) “Well, if you speak this way to philosophers and metaphysicians, they'll look at you as if to say, “You must be a real simpleton to believe all that claptrap!” But these things are not to be taken as concrete truths – they are simply splendid images. Through them I really did come in contact, very concretely, with the truth of what caused the world's distortion, much better than with all the Hindu stories, far more easily.”[6]
| “Bref Exposé de la Philosophie Cosmique” (1914, Paris)  PDF (36 pages) |
“Exposé Preparatoire a l'étude de la Philosophie Cosmique” (1926, Nice)  PDF (56 pages) |
(Mother to Satprem, 1962:) “Even before coming and meeting Sri Aurobindo, I had realized everything needed to begin his yoga. It was all ready, classified, organized. Magnificent! A superb mental construction ... which he demolished within five minutes!
How happy I was! Aah! ... It was really the reward for all my efforts.
Nothing! I knew nothing any more, understood nothing at all – not a single idea left in my head! Everything I had carefully built up over so many years (I was past thirty-five, I think), through all my experiences: conscious yoga, non-conscious yoga, life, experiences lived, classified and organized (oh, what a monument!) ... crash! It all came tumbling down. Magnificent. I hadn't even asked him.”[7]
- ↑ Mother's Agenda 1971, 16 October 1971
- ↑ Mother's Agenda 1951-1960, 22 October 1960
- ↑ Mother's Agenda 1962, 27 January 1962
- ↑ Mother's Agenda 1951-1960, 4 November 1958
- ↑ Mother's Agenda 1962, 27 January 1962
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid., 25 July 1962
See also
External links