(Sometimes when there was some additional work to be done, like carrying logs, harvesting, shifting a generator, night vigil etc., the Mother would ask me to organise it with the help of the boys of Group C[1] and others. And She would give Her protection and blessings for the work. On one occasion something went wrong and I asked pardon from the Mother for not being able to do the work in the proper manner.)
Mother, forgive me. You had given me the responsibility, and even then this has happened. I…
What? Responsibility!
Yes, Mother.
Responsibility of whom, of what, when? Have I lost my senses that I have given you the responsibility of these people? To you? What are you talking about? You, responsible? Are you mad? (Mother laughs) But what do you think you have become? Hmm?
But, Mother, You gave me the charge of this thing. And You asked me to organise it, and You asked me to see that all goes well.
Yes, it is true.
That is why I am responsible.
Ah, my child, I only asked you to organise and to accomplish a duty. But I have never given you the responsibility of these people. It is absurd to think like this.
But, Mother, as they are under me, I am responsible, am I not?
My child, nobody in this world is responsible. The Divine alone is responsible for us, (in a teasing tone) unless you have become the Divine!
No, Mother. (We laugh)
Nobody is responsible. Only the Divine is, for He has the power to change our destiny. What are you all? Nothing but puppets in the hands of Circumstance. You are completely subject to your destiny. You do not have any power to change it. What is written above, that is what you follow. Not even a step is different. You are bound entirely by karma. You do not even receive an indication of an imminent danger, or of an accident that awaits you. You have no power at all, leave aside the means of avoiding a catastrophe, or else to intervene to change your destiny at a given moment. Do you still believe that I would give you the responsibility when you do not even know what is going to happen to you the next minute? And still less for others. Well, you know nothing, nothing, not even what is at the tip of your nose. How can you then change your destiny? It is not possible for man, with this limited and incomplete knowledge, a knowledge that begins with the sensations, and then you add the bits, trying to give a meaning. You think you are doing well, but you only distort it. It is exterior knowledge lacking in truth. This is not the method, and that is much deeper.
It is only the Divine who can take the responsibility, for it is He who possesses the knowledge. It is He who knows the secret. It is He alone who can intervene or give indications to avoid the consequences of the destiny because it is He who has formulated them. The destiny of man is to exceed himself. It is to hasten the march towards the goal. And if the Divine sees that it is necessary, then He intervenes. He alone is responsible, because He alone can guide man. To take the responsibility means to take the destiny in one’s hands, to have the whole charge of one’s life, to guide it, to lead it to the goal of one’s existence. That is what taking responsibility means. And the Divine alone is capable of doing it, nobody else.
You see, it is not an easy thing. What you usually do is to obey a few moral and practical laws in order to do a given work, or to accomplish a task. And you do that without knowing what the result will be, what are the stages to be followed, what determines the result. You have no control over the circumstances which act…. So how can you mould something in the way you want? It is not possible. That is why you cannot take the responsibility. How can you?
Wait patiently. When you have acquired some divine qualities, then I shall give you some responsibility. (Mother smiles, showing a tiny little space between Her fingers) Not much. A little!
[1] Now called group D.
