The Supramental Ship (Radio program)

Transcript of:

The Supramental Ship

by Loretta, 2011 (1:08:32)

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What seekers have sought

Good evening everyone. And welcome. Mother is going to express the inexpressible. She's going to speak the unspeakable. She's going to use words for which there are no words. It is that. That which has drawn saints and sages throughout history. That which has caused people to dance drunk with ecstasy in the streets. That which has caused people in this country for centuries to leave their homes, and leave their families, and go to the Himalayas in search of a guru who will connect them – who will bring them a touch – of that. And that is what Mother lived and that is the work that Mother did. And that is what drew us to Mother, each one of us.

Monks and nuns have lived in monasteries and abbeys all of their lives, for a touch of that. They've gone through trainings, and austerities, and penances, for that. That which is joy and happiness and love and beauty. And Sri Aurobindo teaches us what that is: it's the Supermind. It's the Topic::supramental consciousness, the supramental consciousness that is the all-love, that has manifested the universe, that has created us and created them – and it is that which touches us and brings us so much.

It is that which we will ultimately realise. And it is that which transforms us, and brings us the transformation.

Throughout history there have been great beings who have manifested the first experience, the first consciousness, of the wonderful new thing that has come into the evolution. We call them avatars. Sri Aurobindo and Mother are avatars. They gave their whole lives to bring that into our world; to embody it, to teach it, to give it to us. Books, classes, recordings, helping us to come into contact with that. With the touch of that we've all felt more or less in our lives; and the touch of that calls us again and again.

Mother's classes and this class in particular

So Mother gave lectures to the students in the Ashram school. We're gonna set the scene. It's in the Ashram Playground. And Mother started teaching French in the school. Why did Mother start teaching French? Because the French teachers in the school weren't teaching the children properly. They were teaching them by rote. They were teaching them to memorize French sentences. And one day Mother went to a little girl, and said to her, “What is your name?” And the little girl said in French, “Hello, how do you do?” And Mother said “Hello, how do you do?” And the little girl said, “My name is...”

And so Mother knew that they were not being taught properly. And so she started taking classes in French. And then as time went by, she started taking other classes. She took a class in which she taught the children. And she taught the children great spiritual things. These things have been memorialized for us in the Mother's Questions and Answers, in the Entretiens.

And when you read these questions and answers, you read the questions – and I know when I first read them, I listened to those questions inside and I thought “Wow, what advanced people these elder Ashramites would be. What great yogis they would be.” And then, when I heard the tape, it was children! asking these questions. So many very special beings came to the Ashram as very young children. And Mother knew that. And in fact she said, more than once, that they had been together before, that they have come together for a special work. And Mother taught them.

Now wherever Mother went, the whole Ashram followed. So what we have is we have a scene: we have the room in the Playground. We have all the children sitting on the floor in their exercise clothes, in their playground clothes – shorts and shirts, and the girls wearing these kitty caps to cover their hair, like Mother wore. And behind them, we have all the Ashram standing. And we're going to join them.

Mother brings a report of this remarkable major experience that she has, that she's been working for since her childhood. She's now seventy-nine years old. Her birthday will be in three days, and then she will be eighty, on the 21st of February Year::1958. But on the 19th of February, Mother comes and stands before the Ashram to bring her report to them. And she teaches on so many levels, because just in the way she speaks to us, she teaches. And in this case, what I mean is, she doesn't come before the Ashram excited, and all rosy, and wanting to share her joy with great happiness – she just stands before the Ashram and she reads out a report. Like it's the most normal and natural thing in the world. Instead of her consciousness going to another world, she might as well have gone to Madras! and come back, and read the report on her trip.

This grounds us. And we will see throughout this talk how she grounds us again and again, as she takes her consciousness from this experience, back into the life of the Ashram. Back into the experience, back into the life of the Ashram. Because this was some part of Mother's work. And the people in the Ashram had come like we have now come, to be a part of Mother's work.

So here we are. Mother's going to express the inexpressible. She's going to use the words that don't work, written on a piece of paper – she's going to read them and it will work.

So we're all sitting around now. We're all part of Mother's class. And Mother starts to read:

Questions and Answers 1957-1958
February 19, 1958

PDF (8 pages)

The animal world, human world and supramental world

“February 3rd, 1958.

“Between the beings of the supramental world and men, almost the same separation exists as between men and animals. Some time ago I had the experience of identification with animal life, and it is a fact that animals do not understand us; their consciousness is so constructed that we elude them almost entirely. And yet I have known pet animals — cats and dogs, but especially cats — that used to make an almost yogic effort of consciousness to reach us. But usually, when they see us as we live and act, they do not understand, they do not see us as we are and they suffer because of us. We are a constant enigma to them. Only a very tiny part of their consciousness has a link with us. And it is the same thing for us when we try to look at the supramental world. Only when the link of consciousness is established shall we see it — and even then only the part of our being which has undergone transformation in this way will be able to see it as it is — otherwise the two worlds would remain apart like the animal and human worlds.”

So now you have the meaning in English. I'm going to play the Mother speaking it in French, and you can just take what she brings.

“3 février 1958.

“Entre les êtres du monde supramental et les hommes, il existe à peu près la même séparation qu’entre les hommes et les animaux. Il y a quelque temps, j’ai eu l’expérience de l’identification à la vie animale, et c’est un fait que les animaux ne nous comprennent pas ; leur conscience est ainsi construite que nous leur échappons presque totalement. J’ai connu, cependant, des animaux familiers — des chats et des chiens, mais surtout des chats — qui faisaient un effort de conscience presque yoguique pour nous rejoindre. Mais généralement, quand ils nous regardent vivre, agir, ils ne comprennent pas, ils ne nous voient pas tels que nous sommes, et ils souffrent par nous. [Nous sommes pour eux une énigme constante.] Seule, une partie très infime de leur conscience a un lien avec nous. Et c’est la même chose pour nous quand nous essayons de regarder le monde supramental. C’est seulement quand le lien de conscience sera établi que nous le verrons — et encore, seule la partie de notre être qui aura ainsi subi la transformation sera capable de le voir tel qu’il est —, sinon les deux mondes resteraient séparés comme le monde animal et le monde humain.”

“The experience I had on the third of February is a proof of this. Before that I had had an individual subjective contact with the supramental world, whereas on the third of February I moved in it concretely, as concretely as I once used to walk in Paris, in a world that exists in itself, outside all subjectivity. It is like a bridge being thrown between the two worlds. Here is the experience as I dictated it immediately afterwards:”

“L’expérience que j’ai eue le 3 février en est une preuve. Avant, j’avais eu un contact individuel, subjectif, avec le monde supramental, tandis que le 3 février, je m’y suis promenée concrètement, aussi concrètement que je me promenais à Paris autrefois, dans un monde qui existe en soi, en dehors de toute subjectivité.

C’est comme un pont qui est en train d’être jeté entre les deux mondes.

Voici l’expérience telle que je l’ai dictée aussitôt après :”

"The supramental world exists permanently"

“The supramental world exists permanently and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had the proof of this even today when my earth-consciousness went there and remained there consciously between two and three o’clock in the afternoon. Now, I know that what is lacking for the two worlds to unite in a constant and conscious relation, is an intermediate zone between the physical world as it is and the supramental world as it is. This zone remains to be built, both in the individual consciousness and the objective world, and it is being built. When I used to speak of the new world which is being created, it was of this intermediary zone that I was speaking. And similarly, when I am on this side, that is, in the field of the physical consciousness, and I see the supramental power, the supramental light and substance constantly penetrating matter, it is the construction of this zone which I see and in which I participate.”

“Le monde supramental existe d’une façon permanente et je suis là d’une façon permanente dans un corps supramental. J’en ai eu la preuve aujourd’hui même quand ma conscience terrestre est allée là et y est restée consciemment entre deux et trois heures de l’après-midi. Maintenant, je sais que ce qui manque pour que les deux mondes se joignent dans une relation constante et consciente, c’est une zone intermédiaire entre le monde physique tel qu’il est et le monde supramental tel qu’il est. C’est cette zone qu’il reste à construire, à la fois dans la conscience individuelle et dans le monde objectif, et qui est en train de se construire. Quand je parlais autrefois du monde nouveau qui est en train de se créer, c’est de cette zone intermédiaire que je parlais. Et de même, quand je suis de ce côté-ci, c’est-à-dire dans le domaine de la conscience physique, et que je vois le pouvoir supramental, la lumière et la substance supramentales pénétrer constamment la matière, c’est la construction de cette zone que je vois et à laquelle je participe.”

"Everything had been arranged for this first landing."

“I was on a huge boat which was a symbolic representation of the place where this work is going on. This boat, as large as a city, is fully organised, and it had certainly already been functioning for some time, for its organisation was complete. It is the place where people who are destined for the supramental life are trained. These people — or at least a part of their being — had already undergone a supramental transformation, for the boat itself and everything on board was neither material nor subtle-physical nor vital nor mental — it was a supramental substance. This substance was of the most material supramental, the supramental substance which is closest to the physical world, the first to manifest. The light was a mixture of gold and red, forming a uniform substance of a luminous orange. Everything was like that—the light was like that, the people were like that — everything had that colour, although with various shades which made it possible to distinguish things from each other. The general impression was of a world without shadows; there were shades but no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything went on regularly and in silence. And at the same time one could see all the details of an education, a training in all fields, by which the people on board were being prepared.”

“Je me trouvais sur un immense bateau, qui est une représentation symbolique de l’endroit où ce travail est en train de s’accomplir. Ce bateau, aussi grand qu’une ville, est entièrement organisé, et certainement il fonctionnait déjà depuis un certain temps car son organisation était complète. C’est l’endroit où l’on forme les gens destinés à la vie supramentale. Ces gens (ou du moins une partie de leur être) avaient déjà subi une transformation supramentale, parce que le bateau lui-même, et tout ce qui était à bord, n’était ni matériel ni physique subtil, ni vital ni mental — c’était une substance supramentale. Cette substance elle-même était du supramental le plus matériel, la substance supramentale la plus proche du monde physique, la première à se manifester. La lumière était un mélange d’or et de rouge, formant une substance uniforme d’un orange lumineux. Tout était comme cela — la lumière était comme cela, les gens étaient comme cela —, tout avait cette couleur, avec des nuances variées cependant, qui permettaient de distinguer les choses les unes des autres. L’impression générale était d’un monde sans ombres ; il y avait des nuances, mais pas d’ombres. L’atmosphère était pleine de joie, de calme, d’ordre ; tout marchait régulièrement [et en silence]. Et en même temps, on pouvait voir tous les détails d’une éducation, d’un entraînement dans tous les domaines, grâce auquel les gens du bord étaient préparés.”

“This immense ship had just reached the shore of the supramental world and a first group of people who were destined to become the future inhabitants of this supramental world were to disembark. Everything had been arranged for this first landing. At the wharf several very tall beings were posted. They were not human beings, they had never been men before. Nor were they the permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I was in charge of the whole thing from the beginning and all the time. I had prepared all the groups myself. I stood on the boat at the head of the gangway, calling the groups one by one and sending them down to the shore. The tall beings who were posted there were inspecting, so to say, those who were landing, authorising those who were ready and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training on board the ship.”

“Cet immense navire venait juste d’arriver au rivage du monde supramental, et un premier groupe de gens qui étaient destinés à devenir les futurs habitants de ce monde supramental devait descendre. Tout était arrangé pour ce premier débarquement. Au débarcadère, se trouvaient postés un certain nombre d’êtres de très haute taille. Ce n’étaient pas des êtres humains, ils n’avaient jamais été hommes auparavant. Ce ne sont pas non plus les habitants permanents du monde supramental. Ils avaient été délégués d’en haut et postés là pour contrôler et surveiller le débarquement. J’avais la direction de tout cet ensemble depuis le début et tout le temps. J’avais moi-même préparé tous les groupes. Je me tenais en haut de la passerelle sur le bateau, appelant les groupes un à un et les faisant descendre au rivage. Les êtres de haute taille qui étaient postés là passaient en revue, pour ainsi dire, ceux qui débarquaient, autorisant ceux qui étaient prêts et renvoyant ceux qui ne l’étaient pas et qui devaient poursuivre leur entraînement à bord du navire.”

“While I was there looking at everybody, the part of my consciousness which came from here became extremely interested; it wanted to see and recognise all the people, see how they had changed and check which ones were taken immediately and which ones had to remain to continue their training. After a while, as I stood there observing, I began to feel that I was being pulled back so that my body might wake up—a consciousness or a person here—and in my consciousness I protested, “No, no, not yet, not yet! I want to see the people!” I was seeing and noting everything with intense interest.... Things continued in this way until suddenly the clock here began to strike three, and this brought me back violently. There was a sensation of suddenly falling into my body. I came back with a shock because I had been called back very suddenly, but with all my memory. I remained quiet, without moving, until I could recollect the whole experience and keep it.”

“Comme je me trouvais là à regarder tout le monde, cette partie de ma conscience qui venait d’ici devint extrêmement intéressée ; elle voulait voir et reconnaître tous les gens, voir comment ils étaient changés et vérifier ceux qui étaient pris immédiatement et ceux qui devaient rester pour continuer leur entraînement. Au bout d’un certain temps, comme j’étais là à observer, j’ai commencé à sentir que j’étais tirée en arrière pour que mon corps se réveille — une conscience ou une personne ici — et dans ma conscience je protestais : « N on, non, pas encore ! Pas encore, je veux voir les gens ! » Je voyais et je notais avec un intérêt intense... Les choses continuèrent ainsi jusqu’au moment où, tout à coup, cette pendule ici se mit à sonner trois heures, ce qui me rappela violemment. Il y eut une sensation de chute soudaine dans mon corps. Je suis revenue avec un choc, mais avec toute ma mémoire parce que j’avais été rappelée très soudainement. Je restai tranquille, sans bouger, jusqu’à ce que je puisse ramener toute l’expérience et la garder.”

The supramental substance

“On the boat the nature of objects was not the one we know on earth; for instance, clothes were not made of cloth and what looked like cloth was not manufactured: it formed a part of the body, it was made of the same substance which took different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it took place, not by any artificial and external means but by an inner operation, an operation of consciousness which gave form or appearance to the substance. Life created its own forms. There was one single substance in everything; it changed the quality of its vibration according to need and use.”

“Sur ce bateau, la nature des objets n’était pas celle que nous connaissons sur la terre ; par exemple, les vêtements n’étaient pas faits d’étoffe, et cette chose qui ressemblait à de l’étoon ffe n’était pas fabriquée : elle faisait partie de leur corps, elle était faite de la même substance qui prenait différentes formes. Cela avait une sorte de plasticité. Quand un changement devait être effectué, il se faisait, non par un moyen artificiel et extérieur mais par une opération intérieure, par une opération de la conscience qui donnait forme ou apparence à la substance. La vie créait ses propres formes. Il y avait une seule substance en toute chose ; elle changeait la qualité de sa vibration suivant les besoins ou les usages.”

“Those who were sent back for fresh training were not of a uniform colour, it was as if their body had greyish, opaque patches of a substance resembling earthly substance; they were dull, as if they had not been entirely permeated with light, not transformed. They were not like that everywhere, only in places.”

“Ceux qui étaient renvoyés pour un nouvel entraînement n’étaient pas d’une couleur uniforme, c’était comme si leur corps avait des taches d’une opacité grisâtre, d’une substance qui ressemblait à la substance terrestre ; ils étaient ternes, comme s’ils n’avaient pas été entièrement imprégnés par la lumière, pas transformés. Ils n’étaient pas partout comme cela, mais par endroits.”

“The tall beings on the shore were not of the same colour, at least they did not have that orange tint; they were paler, more transparent. Except for one part of their body, one could only see the outline of their form. They were very tall, they seemed not to have any bones and could take any form according to their need. Only from the waist down had they a permanent density, which was not perceptible in the rest of their body. Their colour was much lighter, with very little red, it was more golden or even white. The parts of whitish light were translucent; they were not positively transparent but less dense, more subtle than the orange substance.”

“Les êtres de haute taille sur le rivage n’étaient pas de la même couleur, du moins ils n’avaient pas cette teinte orange, ils étaient plus pâles, plus transparents. À l’exception d’une partie de leur corps, on ne pouvait voir que les contours de leur forme. Ils étaient très grands, ils semblaient n’avoir pas d’ossature et pouvoir prendre des formes selon leurs besoins. C’est seulement de la taille jusqu’aux pieds qu’ils avaient une densité permanente, que l’on ne sentait pas dans le reste de leur corps. Leur couleur était beaucoup plus pâle et contenait très peu de rouge, elle tirait plutôt sur l’or ou même le blanc. Les parties de lumière blanchâtre étaient translucides ; elles n’étaient pas positivement transparentes, mais moins denses, plus subtiles que la substance orange.”

“When I was called back and while I was saying “Not yet”, each time I had a brief glimpse of myself, that is, of my form in the supramental world. I was a mixture of the tall beings and the beings aboard the ship. My upper part, particularly the head, was only a silhouette whose contents were white with an orange fringe. Going down towards the feet, the colour became more like that of the people on the boat, that is, orange; going upwards, it was more translucent and white and the red grew less. The head was only a silhouette with a sun shining within it; rays of light came from it which were the action of the will.”

“Quand j’ai été rappelée et au moment où je disais « pas encore », j’ai eu chaque fois une rapide vision de moi-même, c’est-à-dire de ma forme dans le monde supramental. J’étais un mélange de ce qu’étaient ces êtres de haute taille et les êtres à bord du bateau. Le sommet de moi-même, particulièrement la tête, n’était qu’une silhouette [dont le contenu] était de couleur blanche avec une frange orange. Plus on descendait vers les pieds, plus la couleur ressemblait à celle des gens du bateau, c’est-à-dire orange ; plus on remontait vers le sommet, plus c’était translucide et blanc, et le rouge diminuait. La tête n’était qu’une silhouette avec un soleil brillant à l’intérieur ; il en sortait des rayons de lumière qui étaient l’action de la volonté.”

"I recognized them all."

“As for the people I saw on board the ship, I recognised them all. Some were from here, from the Ashram, some came from elsewhere, but I know them too. I saw everybody but as I knew that I would not remember them all when I returned, I decided not to give any names. Besides, it is not necessary. Three or four faces were very clearly visible, and when I saw them, I understood the feeling I had here on earth when looking into their eyes: there was such an extraordinary joy.... People were mostly young, there were very few children and they were about fourteen or fifteen, certainly not below ten or twelve — I did not remain long enough to see all the details. There weren’t any very old people, apart from a few exceptions. Most of the people who went ashore were middle-aged, except a few. Already, before this experience, some individual cases had been examined several times at a place where people capable of being supramentalised were examined; I had a few surprises and noted them; I even told some people about it. But the ones whom I put ashore today, I saw very distinctly; they were middle-aged, neither young children nor old people, apart from a few rare exceptions, and that corresponded fairly well with what I expected. I decided not to say anything, not to give any names. As I did not remain until the end, it was not possible for me to get an exact picture; the picture was not absolutely clear or complete. I do not want to say things to some and not to others.”

“Quant aux gens que j’ai vus à bord du bateau, je les reconnaissais tous. Certains étaient ici, à l’Ashram, certains venaient d’ailleurs, mais je les connais aussi. J’ai vu tout le monde, mais comme je savais que je ne me souviendrais pas de tous quand je reviendrais, j’ai décidé de ne donner aucun nom. D’ailleurs, ce n’est pas nécessaire. Trois ou quatre visages étaient très clairement visibles, et quand je les ai vus, j’ai compris le sentiment que j’ai eu ici, sur terre, en regardant dans leurs yeux : il y avait une joie si extraordinaire... Les gens étaient jeunes en général ; il y avait très peu d’enfants et leur âge variait entre quatorze ou quinze ans environ, certainement pas en dessous de dix ou douze ans (je ne suis pas restée assez longtemps pour voir tous les détails). Il n’y avait pas de personnes très âgées, sauf quelques exceptions. La majorité des gens qui descendaient au rivage étaient d’un âge moyen, sauf quelques-uns. Déjà, avant cette expérience, certains cas individuels avaient été examinés plusieurs fois à un endroit où l’on examinait les gens capables d’être supramentalisés ; j’ai eu alors quelques surprises et les ai notées ; je l’ai même dit à certains. Mais ceux que j’ai fait débarquer aujourd’hui, je les ai vus très distinctement ; ils étaient d’un âge moyen, ce n’étaient ni de jeunes enfants ni de vieilles gens, à quelques rares exceptions près, et cela correspondait assez à ce que j’attendais. J’ai décidé de ne rien dire, de ne pas donner de noms. Comme je ne suis pas restée jusqu’à la fin, il ne m’était pas possible de faire un tableau exact ; le tableau n’était pas absolument clair ni complet. Je ne veux pas dire les choses à certains et ne pas les dire à d’autres.”

Belonging to the supramental world

“What I can say is that the point of view, the judgment, was based exclusively on the substance of which the people were made, that is, whether they belonged completely to the supramental world, whether they were made of that very special substance. The standpoint taken is neither moral nor psychological. It is probable that the substance their bodies were made of was the result of an inner law or inner movement which at that time was not in question. At least it is quite clear that the values are different.”

“Ce que je peux dire, c’est que le point de vue, le jugement, était basé exclusivement d’après la substance qui constituait les gens, c’est-à-dire s’ils appartenaient complètement au monde supramental, s’ils étaient faits de cette substance si particulière. Le point de vue adopté n’est ni moral ni psychologique. Il est probable que la substance dont leur corps était fait était le résultat d’une loi intérieure ou d’un mouvement intérieur qui, à ce moment-là, n’était pas en question. Du moins il est tout à fait clair que les valeurs sont différentes.”

“When I came back, simultaneously with the recollection of the experience I knew that the supramental world is permanent, that my presence there is permanent, and that only a missing link was necessary for the connection to be made in the consciousness and the substance, and it is this link which is now being forged.”

“Quand je suis revenue, en même temps que le souvenir de l’expérience, je savais que le monde supramental est permanent, que ma présence là-bas est permanente, et que seul un chaînon manquant était nécessaire pour permettre la jonction dans la conscience et dans la substance, et c’est ce chaînon qui est en train de se construire.”

“I had the impression — an impression which remained for quite a long time, almost a whole day — of an extreme relativity — no, not exactly that: the impression that the relation between this world and the other completely changed the standpoint from which things should be evaluated or appraised. This standpoint had nothing mental about it and it gave a strange inner feeling that lots of things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended on the capacity of things, on their aptitude in expressing the supramental world or being in relation with it. It was so completely different, sometimes even altogether contrary to our ordinary appraisal. I recollect one little thing which we usually consider to be bad; how strange it was to see that in truth it was something excellent! And other things we consider to be important have in fact absolutely no importance at all: whether a thing is like this or like that is not at all important. What is very obvious is that our appraisal of what is divine or undivine is not right. I even laughed to see certain things.... Our usual feeling of what is antidivine seems artificial, seems based on something that’s not true, not living — besides, what we call life here did not seem living to me compared with that world — anyway, this feeling should be founded on our relation between the two worlds and on how things make the relation between them easier or more difficult. This would make a great difference in our appraisal of what brings us nearer to the Divine or what separates us from Him. In people too I saw that what helps them to become supramental or hinders them from it, is very different from what our usual moral notions imagine. I felt how... ridiculous we are.”

“J’avais alors l’impression (une impression qui est restée pendant assez longtemps, presque un jour entier) d’une extrême relativité — non, pas exactement : l’impression que la relation entre ce monde-ci et l’autre changeait complètement le point de vue d’après lequel les choses doivent être évaluées ou appréciées. Ce point de vue n’avait rien de mental et il donnait un sentiment intérieur, étrange, que quantité de choses que nous considérons comme bonnes ou mauvaises ne le sont pas réellement. Il était très clair que tout dépendait de la capacité des choses, de leur aptitude à traduire le monde supramental ou à être en relation avec lui. C’était si complètement différent, parfois même si contraire à notre appréciation ordinaire. Je me souviens d’une petite chose, que d’habitude nous considérons comme mauvaise, comme c’était drôle de voir qu’en vérité c’est une excellente chose ! Et d’autres choses que nous considérons comme importantes n’ont en fait absolument aucune importance : que ce soit comme ceci ou comme cela n’a aucune importance. Ce qui est très évident, c’est que notre appréciation de ce qui est divin ou non divin n’est pas correcte. J’ai même ri de certaines choses... Notre sentiment habituel de ce qui est antidivin semble artificiel, semble basé sur quelque chose qui n’est pas vrai, pas vivant (d’ailleurs, ce que nous appelons la vie ici ne me paraissait pas vivant par rapport à ce monde), en tout cas, ce sentiment devrait être basé sur notre relation entre les deux mondes et selon que les choses rendent leur relation plus facile ou plus difficile. Ceci rendrait alors toute différente notre appréciation de ce qui nous rapproche du Divin ou de ce qui nous en sépare. Chez les gens aussi, j’ai vu que ce qui les aide à devenir supramentaux ou les en empêche, est très différent de ce qu’imaginent nos notions morales habituelles. J’ai senti combien nous sommes... ridicules.”

The supramental is coming into the physical

So this is the totality of Mother's report on The Supramental Ship. But then she speaks to the children, briefly, afterwards. She tells them about the artificiality of our world. But I have recorded the very last thing that she says, because it's wonderfully beautiful:

“When I invited you to a journey into the unknown, a journey of adventure, I did not know I was so close to the truth, and I can promise those who are ready to attempt the adventure that they will make very interesting discoveries.”

“Quand je vous ai conviés à un voyage dans l’inconnu, un voyage d’aventures, je ne savais pas que je disais si vrai, et je peux promettre à ceux qui sont prêts à tenter l’aventure, qu’ils feront des découvertes très intéressantes.”

So we see that the surpramental world, fully formed and functioning; our world, fully formed and functioning; only need a link, only need a bridge – and of course that's what we need.

In her report, Mother brings a living link. The most material supramental is penetrating our most material physical. The most material supramental substance is the substance closest to our world. So we understand that the change is not coming in our vital beings, in our emotions; it's not coming in the way we think. It's coming right straight into the physical.

Mother and Sri Aurobindo were the first links. Sri Aurobindo concentrated for decades, bringing in his own body, the supramental.

Mother said that when she put her foot on the earth, she put the force down into the earth.

There's a line in Savitri where Sri Aurobindo is describing the Divine Mother, and he says: “She is the golden bridge, the wonderful fire.” It takes on a new meaning when we understand that that is a work that Mother was doing.

And then there's something that Sri Aurobindo writes in The Mother, where he says: “wherever she presses her wonderful feet course miraculous streams of intense Ananda.”

And again in Savitri he says:

All Nature dumbly calls to her alone

To heal with her feet the aching throb of life

And break the seals on the dim soul of man”

That's what they came here for. Sri Aurobindo wrote and re-wrote Savitri again and again not for the poetry, but to infuse more and more of the supramental – of that, of the inexpressible – into these words that we can read on the page. From this, these words, it can touch us, it can open us, it can colour our consciousness.

We have the great privilege to know

We are the links now. If we are not the links, who are the links? The supramental has to come into the individual consciousness. And most especially us – why? Because we know. We have the great privilege to know. To have books available, to have photographs available. Any touch of that can carry us along the way.

How do we do that? Is it mysterious? No, not at all. It comes first in the physical. We look back in the history of the Ashram and we find that from almost the beginning of the school Mother concentrated on physical education. She looked for people who could teach physical education; she tried to find people with the strength to do it; she – participated constantly. We have photographs of Mother out on the playing field marking the starting line of the little races that little tiny children made. She gave out the prizes for the games. She worked with them constantly and she actually reported back to Sri Aurobindo the progress in the Playground, talking about the students.

What do we know? It has to be a complete realisation. The realisation has to come all the way through into our physical substance. Mother said that for her it was not difficult to have these realisations, to have these experiences on all the other planes of her being. But it was to bring it into our body – to bring it into her body – that was difficult.

Sri Aurobindo left us a record of his experiences to help us along. And Mother did the same. The Agenda' is her constant report of what is going on. And you can hear, in her readings in the Agenda, the tremendous determination that she had to get this information out. To give it to the world. To make these guidelines – these signposts – for us, the links that she has left behind.

When we think of a – or at least when we used to think – of a spiritual goal, or a higher goal, it didn't include being in the body. It didn't include being grounded. It included going somewhere else. It included receiving something, but not keeping it in our cells.

This path has opened actually all over the world. All over the world there are now classes in new kinds of physical processes. Every culture is contributing its traditions to new classes, to new ways of learning how to be aware of our bodies, to work with our bodies. And here in Auroville we have a lot of that. People from all cultures are giving classes from their traditions, that work with the body. That open us. That teach us.

And if we can open ourselves and call in these forces, these lights, that Mother and Sri Aurobindo are, and that Mother and Sri Aurobindo have been giving – and are still giving, all the time – it completely changes us.

And what is it? It's joy. It's love. It's peace. It's happiness. We look all through the years at what Mother talked about – she talked about joy, love, happiness.

Many years ago there was one of the many messages that were given out to the Ashram (I paraphrase because I didn't have a printed copy.) Mother says: “This wonderful world of delight, waiting at our gates, for our call, to come down upon the earth.”

And most recently, on November 24th, of 2010, the Ashram message was something written by Sri Aurobindo: “If mankind could but see though in a glimpse of fleeting experience,” if he could but see “what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, [mankind] would leave all and never rest till they had gained these treasures.”

And what is the way again that Mother leaves us? “What Thou willest.” It's a tremendous aspiration.

And how do we do it? We start. We want to do it. That's it. It's so simple. Yes we want to do it – it's our aspiration, our being calls out, our being thirsts for that. For the unnameable. For the inexpressible that all of us have been touched by, and that all of us feel. And then we ask for their help, which they are so very ready to give.

And what are we? Today, modern science has reached what the great seers already knew. All creation is in ourselves. We are everything. We have everything. And the most recent thing that we have, is the personality that we formed in this life. Trying to make it through all the difficulties. Being in a family. Trying to become people. Doing our sadhana. And some of these things fog up the screen, and cloud the reception of these things. And this is the yoga: to purify. To clean these things out. And throughout the Entretiens, and throughout Sri Aurobindo's letters to the sadhaks, they give instructions. They address just about every problem that mankind could have on the way to becoming that. To becoming the essence, the source of creation, and to be transformed.

Mother and Sri Aurobindo were links. We are links – tiny links. We're making a great network of links, every time we love the Mother. Every time we do something better. Every time we aspire; every time we call. Every time we work on ourselves – some of that comes into us. And the links grow larger and larger.

Everything that Mother and Sri Aurobindo wrote, everything they said, was true. Most fantastic things, strange and wonderful things, things we couldn't possibly understand – the more we read them, the more it comes into our consciousness. And it is a very great adventure.

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