Letters of the Mother

[in most cases only The Mother’s replies are available] 

It is not the Mother who takes up or pushes back, it is the child who draws near or moves away.

No, it is not for lack of interest that I have not answered in writing — I have made a silent reply.
When I do not answer, it is only because the reply is too subtle to be given in a few words and I do not always have the time to write at length.

There was nothing wrong, but you ought to understand that I can be absorbed in some inner work and not smile although I am not in the least displeased.

Boats, like trains, motor-cars and all other means of transport, are a symbol of the sadhana, the discipline that leads towards the goal.

There is in every man a will. This will should refuse its consent to the movements of the vital and give its full support only to the movements of the psychic.

Evidently it is better to be cheerful than morose, but there is something better still, it is to live in a happiness calm and concentrated.

You say yourself that it is the lower thoughts that are passing; there is nothing to do but to put them away from you without fixing your attention on them.
Remain calm, in calmness the aspiration will become more sincere and spontaneous.

If I understand correctly what you are saying, you seem to think that idle gossip can insult the Divine. You need to be set right. The Divine cannot be insulted by anything or anybody. So if there is insult, it recoils on the one who makes it.

When you give us the red lotus which is the symbol of Sri Aurobindo, we receive from you the consciousness of the Supreme, don’t we?

I cannot give the consciousness of the Supreme, for who would be capable of receiving it? — When I give the red lotus I establish simply a relation between the sadhaks and Sri Aurobindo — or rather I renew this relation.