One of the most difficult and perhaps the last conquest is the conquest over Falsehood. This talk is dedicated to this most important victory of Truth over Falsehood.
Words of the Mother
Human beings and their nature are the same everywhere. But I am not looking at their faults and defects, I am looking at possibilities. I know each of them is full of ignorance. Truly, it takes time to improve and make them perfect. Justice, truth, peace, harmony, order these cannot come in a day. Nevertheless, everyone has to transform himself and that is why all these defects and falsehood of nature come out and show themselves for the Divine Consciousness to act upon them. If everyone were perfect, why should have I come upon this earth? I would have remained in my Heave Do you know the story? Once some people were throwing stones at a woman, whom they called a sinner. Christ happened to go there. He asked the people what right they had to throw stones at the woman. Further, he said, “Whoever among you is perfect, let him pick up a stone and throw it at the woman.” Nobody dared to do so. Here the Divine Consciousness and Strength are working. Everything has been given to people and if they do not make the most of these things, I do not know what to do or say.
Here all are not Yogis. Nevertheless, the Divine’s Grace is spread everywhere and in everything; that is why everyone can remain over here, otherwise not a single person could stay. Storms always come, but at that time people must keep quiet by taking shelter in the Divine’s Arms and let the storms pass away.
* * *
The Mind is a great thing that human beings have, and with it human beings can consider what should be done and what shouldn’t be done. When attacks come, simply call the Lord. But you must remember that you must call Him at the right moment; just in time and not after. The Lord wants earth to be beautiful, peaceful and happy. You must remember that the Supreme Mother has innumerable aspects and She holds the whole Universe in Her arms. She wants each and everything to be transformed and to attain their Goal. Her Consciousness is Greater and Vaster than the Universe. And Myself is one of the physical aspects of the Mother. This physical body is limited but my Consciousness is limitless. I always spread my Consciousness and with It, I answer many calls. But very few receive my answers. ‐ Most people are not conscious and receptive, otherwise my work would be more easy. But who collaborates and receives? If the human beings had collaborated with the Divine in Her work ‐ right from the very beginning, then, the Truth that has taken, million of years to realise would have been realised within a few years. And there wouldn’t have been so much struggle or difficulties. All depends on sincere collaboration and receptivity.
February 19, 1963
* * *
When we breathe air, when we eat, we always breathe falsehood and eat falsehood into ourselves, because the world is full of falsehood insincere, dishonest and ugly. That is why we must change this physical. (Pointing to the flesh on her arm). But the Lord is behind each and every thing and He is necessarily Victorious.
* * *
I went to the Mother this morning. She explained to me what truth, lies and falsehood are. She had never explained them to me before.
There is a vast difference between falsehood and a lie. When people tell a lie, it is words that come from their mouth and they are contrary to the actual fact or deny it. For instance, if you have gone somewhere and deny to have gone or if you have done something and refuse to admit the fact ‐ it is a lie. But lies have no strength. Lies are always the sign of a great weakness and, if they are habitual, of a great crookedness.
Falsehood is something very serious. The world, as it is, is in a state of falsehood it denies the Eternal Truth. There are three chief categories of Falsehood:
1) People who aspire for the Truth but are not sincere enough in their aspiration to discriminate between the Truth and the Falsehood, they fall always into trouble and misery and get out from the path leading to Truth.
2) This category is dangerous. People who can very well discriminate between Truth and Falsehood, who know that Truth is better but have no strength to resist the temptation and fall constantly into falsehood.
3) The last one is the most dangerous of all. People who are aware of the Truth but refuse to recognise the Truth and choose deliberately the falsehood. They have a kind of hate for the Truth and reject It violently.
These, on the list of the Eternal can be marked “Missing Souls” ‐ as it is written in Savitri:
So might one fall on the Eternal’s road
Forfeiting the spirit’s lonely chance in Time
And no news of him reach the waiting gods,
Marked “missing” in the register of souls…
(Book Two, P. 239)
Happily there are very few like that who deny the Truth and choose the Falsehood. There are, of course, a number of people who have good will, good purpose, good aspiration and the rest; but in spite of all that they still live in falsehood because they have not the strength to fight for the Truth. And if you let yourself go without reacting with a constant vigilance you are bound to live in Falsehood because this world is a world of Falsehood. When souls come upon earth by accepting the sorrows, miseries and troubles of the world it is because they want to conquer Falsehood, and help in the Victory of the Truth. I call them heroic souls. For those who leave aside their mental, vital and physical and live only in the Bliss, there is no struggle and pain, because their beings are untouched, undisturbed and they remain as they are. But the souls who carne upon earth to fight face to face with Falsehood, are the truly heroic souls, and the Supreme Love is there with them. They set a concrete example for the world.
Another important thing to be remembered is that one must have an unshaken faith in the Lord. The Flame of faith must be kept burning and it must grow and spread its light widely to replace the falsehood, because it is the Light of Truth.
Why should you get disturbed? You must leave everything to the Lord. It is He who knows ‐ not only knows but sees and looks after everything, arranges everything. It is His responsibility and not the responsibility of human beings. The more they get disturbed and upset by Falsehood, the more it will come under various forms and take a quick chance to enter their consciousness, hearts and brains and make them miserable. Here the body and the true consciousness are not separated, so naturally the body too suffers from Falsehood.
You must try constantly to ignore the Falsehood by remembering the Lord’s Love only. Whatever thing may happen to you, do not get upset just pray to the Lord.
* * *
Adverse forces are much amused when you listen to them and they take great joy in breaking up faith in the Divine. At that time do not think, do not write and do not speak anything ‐just keep quiet. You must endure and let the storm pass. Thus you will be cured of falsehood in this very birth.
Go within yourself, never look outward because the Presence of the Lord and His Sweetness and Love are right in the depths of the heart.
* * *
Don’t look exteriorly. Always look within yourself and there you will find Love, Peace, Light and Strength. Even the Truth cannot manifest without Love. It is only through Love that the Truth manifests. Love is a fire burning in the depths of the heart. Only Love can save You. And the world will open to Love only. I always pray to the Lord, “0 Supreme Lord, manifest Thy Love … “
The Grace is always there. If you go within and find the Love there, then there is no ‘I’, no ‘you’, no ‘Lord’, no ‘anybody’ but the Love and that Love gives strength and patience. Love is eternal and never fails you. The outer world is full of confusions.
Go on living within, where dwells the LOVE….. .
* * *
Here several people are gossiping and tell many lies ‐ even they use my name and tell many things. Do not believe what they say because they do not tell the truth.
They imagine many things, they make stories and spread things all around without any basis. I tell you: Never listen to these people even if they tell you ‘The Mother says this or that. .. ‘ Just keep quiet and answer, ‘1 am not interested in the talk … ‘ There are only a handful of people who are really honest, sincere and have goodwill. The rest, well, they make a mess of themselves by gossiping and they remain as they are! As a matter of fact, 1 do not really care what people say, think or imagine. I am untouched by falsehood. I ask you not to listen to them.”
* * *
The struggle is not yet over because as the truth has come, there will be a fight between truth and falsehood but this is the last fight. The Earth’s Consciousness and Force refuse to yield to the Truth.”
I asked the Mother, “Shall I be free if I overcome these forces of Falsehood or shall I have to struggle with the rest of humanity?”
The mother replied without hesitation.
Yes, you have to struggle.
Even Buddha, who achieved Nirvana, had still to struggle and suffer with humanity.
But, Mother, I am not Buddha.
The Mother said,
All of us are the Divine and our right is to become the Divine we all come from the ONE and we shall go to the ONE in the Peace of Beatitude. You must not think with the mind because it leads you nowhere. Have faith in the Divine. Life has its ups and downs but one day everyone will reach their goal…
* * *
When the room is filthy, do not remain in it. Come out of it and shut the door behind. This is the world of Falsehood. If I would have minded it I would have never stayed in it even for moment.
But there is only one way to escape. Try to remain in your soul, where you will get peace, comfort and happiness.
* * *
Never try to understand anything, never listen to ordinary worldly people because they tell you sheer lies and that will never lead you anywhere.
Your soul is a part of me, we know each other very well. And you too know how to avoid the adverse forces, also you have enough knowledge to reach your goal…
Small beings in people have no forms but if the beings get a chance they at once take forms and start their mischief by putting wrong suggstions and falsehoods into peoples’ minds. People must remain in the Aura of the Truth and cling to the Lord alone with full faith. Even though they have no power ‐ nothing if they have faith in the Lord and love for the Lord, then everything is all right. ..
The Supreme Power has the Supreme Humility. The Supreme does not boast, though He is All‐Powerful.
Mother You Said So
* * *
In fact, in Savitri, Sri Aurobindo went through all the worlds, and it so happens that I am following that without knowing it (because I never remember – thank God, I really thank heaven! – I asked the Lord to take away my mental memory and He took it away entirely, so I am not weighed down), but I follow that description in Savitri without mentally knowing the sequence of the worlds, and these last few days … I was in that Muddle of Falsehood (I told you last time), it was really painful, and I was tracking it down to the most tenuous vibrations, those that go back to the origin, to the moment when Truth could turn into Falsehood – how it all happened. And it is so tenuous, almost imperceptible, that deformation, the original Deformation, that you tend to lose heart and you think, “It’s still really quite easy to topple over … the slightest thing and you can still topple over into Falsehood, into Deformation.” And yesterday, I had in my hands a passage from Savitri that was brought to me – it’s a marvel, but … it’s so sad, so miserable, oh, I could have cried (I don’t easily cry).
The world grew full of menacing Energies,
And wherever turned for help or hope his eyes,
In field and house, in street and camp and mart,
He met the prowl and stealthy come and go
Of armed disquieting bodied Influences.
A march of goddess figures dark and nude
Alarmed the air with grandiose unease;
Appalling footsteps drew invisibly near,
hapes that were threats invaded the dream-light,
And ominous beings passed him on the road
Whose very gaze was a calamity:
A charm and sweetness sudden and formidable,
Faces that raised alluring lips and eyes
Approached him armed with beauty like a snare,
But hid a fatal meaning in each line
And could in a moment dangerously change.
But he alone discerned that screened attack.
(II.VII.205)
It makes you wonder…. It’s like something gluey surrounding you, touching you all over; you can’t go forward, you can’t do anything without encountering those black and gluey fingers of Falsehood. It was a very painful impression.
And last night, there was the Answer, as it were. This morning, when I got up, I didn’t remember clearly, but in the middle of the night I knew it very well. (It’s not going from sleep to the waking consciousness: it is coming out of one state to enter another one, and when I came out of that state to enter the so-called normal one, I remembered very well.) I was as if made to live the WAY of turning that Falsehood into Truth, and it was so joyful!… So joyful. In the sense that it’s a vibration similar to joy that is capable of dissolving and overcoming the vibration of Falsehood. That was very important: it isn’t effort, it isn’t righteousness, or scruple or rigidity, none of that, none of that has any effect on that sadness (it is a sadness) of Falsehood – it’s something so sad, so helpless, so miserable … so miserable. And only a vibration of Joy can change it.
It was a vibration that flowed like silvery water – it rippled and flowed like silvery water.
Which means that austerity, asceticism, even an intense and stern aspiration, all sternness, all that: no action. No action – Falsehood stays put in the background…. But it cannot resist the sparkling of joy. It’s interesting.
(silence)
And in his text, Sri Aurobindo says that the Lord joins the contraries, the opposites, puts them together so they fight each other, and that this will and action give Him a sardonic smile (I am commenting).
A tract he reached unbuilt and owned by none:
There all could enter but none stay for long.
It was a no man’s land of evil air,
A crowded neighbourhood without one home,
A borderland between the world and hell.
There unreality was Nature’s Lord:
It was a space where nothing could be true,
For nothing was what it had claimed to be:
A high appearance wrapped a spacious void.
Yet nothing would confess its own presence
Even to itself in the ambiguous heart:
A vast deception was the law of things;
Only by that deception they could live.
An unsubstantial Nihil guaranteed
The falsehood of the forms this Nature took
And made them seem awhile to be and live.
A borrowed magic drew them from the Void;
They took a shape and stuff that was not theirs
And showed a colour that they could not keep,
Mirrors to a fantasm of reality.
Each rainbow brilliance was a splendid lie;
A beauty unreal graced a glamour face.
Nothing could be relied on to remain:
Joy nurtured tears and good an evil proved,
But never out of evil one plucked good:
Love ended early in hate, delight killed with pain,
Truth into falsity grew and death ruled life.
A Power that laughed at the mischief of the world,
An irony that joined the world’s contraries
And flung them into each other’s arms to strive,
Put a sardonic rictus on God’s face.
(Savitri: 206-207)
I was asked for an illustration for H.; I saw the image, the Lord’s face with a sardonic smile. And then, after last night’s experience, this morning suddenly that expression of the face changed, and I saw the image of the true, the true sorrow of Compassion – I don’t know how to explain it…. The sardonic smile changed: from sardonic it grew bitter, from bitter it grew sorrowful, from sorrowful it grew full of an extraordinary compassion….
(silence)
So we could say that Falsehood is the sorrow of the Lord. And that His Joy is the cure for all Falsehood. Sorrow had to be expressed so as to be erased from the creation. And sorrow is Falsehood – the Lord’s sorrow, sorrow in its essence, is Falsehood. So to live in Falsehood is to hurt the Lord.
It opens up horizons…. And His Joy is the cure for everything.
That’s the problem seen from the other angle.
So, if we love the Lord, we cannot give Him cause for sorrow, and necessarily we emerge from falsehood and enter Joy. That’s what I saw last night. It was all silvery. All silvery, silvery….
There was even the vision of how the vibrations were in the cells: vibrations that were silvery, sparkling, rippling, but very regular, and precise … (how can I put it?). It was the contradiction of Falsehood in the cells; like little flashes of silvery light.
But that [Falsehood] is the great obstacle, the extreme difficulty. It’s something gluey which entered the creation and sticks to everything, and which has become a material habit too, because it’s not only Mind that has Falsehood in it: there’s Falsehood in Life, in Life itself. In the completely inanimate, I don’t know…. Maybe it came with Life? (According to Savitri, the origin of Falsehood lies in Life.) But it’s as though Unconsciousness, in order to go towards Consciousness, to return to Consciousness, had taken the path of Falsehood and Death instead of the path of Truth.
And Falsehood is this: the sorrow of the Lord.
I was asked for a message for next year, and things of that sort kept coming to me, so I didn’t say anything. They wouldn’t even understand, it’s incomprehensible if you don’t have the experience. And if you say just like that, almost dogmatically, “Falsehood is the sorrow of the Lord,” it doesn’t mean anything.
Or if you say it in a literary way, it’s no longer true.
And if you said, “Falsehood is the Lord’s way of being unhappy” (!) (Mother laughs), people would think you’re not being serious.
Well. My children, I think it’s time to go and do our work. I wish you a happy new year!
* * *
There is a rush of adverse forces. A mad rush. But the Response has started coming—it is just a small beginning. In everyone it was as though a hurricane—it has not gone completely. All that was believed to have been conquered and repulsed, rushes back again—in themost unexpected persons—in all forms, but especially in character, oh!… doubts and revolts and all that….
(Silence)
A message was asked from me for the whole of India. I have given it.
(Mother hands the text to the disciple.)
Supreme Lord, Eternal Truth
Let us obey Thee alone
and live according to Truth.
It is a terrible onrush of Falsehood. It was as though the whole world, everyone were lying, even the most unexpected people— everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. And for me it was a living thing (Mother makes a gesture of seeing) oh! horrible, you can’t imagine…. A little twist to the right, a little twist to the left, a little twist… nothing, nothing, nothing is straight. And then the body asked itself, “Where is your falsehood?” It looked at itself. And it saw this old story: “The Lord is to be called only when the matter is important! (Mother laughs) You don’t expect to be with Him all the time!” Then it got a good rap!… It was not aggressive, it looked something like humility—it got a good slap.
It was a mad fury of disagreeable things—more than disagreeable: truly, truly wicked and bad and destructive. A fury, until it got the understanding. Then this feeling came in the whole body, in all the cells, everywhere, all the while—it reached such a point that I was not able to swallow when I was eating—until everything, everything got the understanding: I exist only through the Divine and I cannot subsist but through the Divine… and I cannot be myself but by being the Divine. After that, things were better. Now the body has understood.
* * *
“There is only one solution for falsehood.
“It is to cure in ourselves all that contradicts in our
consciousness the Presence of the Divine.”
Yes, I insist on that; it is very true, very true. It may not be easy to understand, but it is a very profound truth. All that veils and deforms and prevents the manifestation of the Divine in us: it is that, the falsehood.
It is quite a labour!
This is what I have been doing all the while—every day and the whole day long, even while I see people. It is the only thing worth living for.
About Savitri | B1C3-11 Towards Unity with God (pp.31-33)