Prayers & Meditations
The Mother's Message
During the years 1941 - 1948
Preface written in English for a book translated from the original French into English.
Year: 1912
2 November 1912
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Dona
ALTHOUGH my whole being is in theory consecrated
to Thee, O Sublime Master, who art the life, the light
and the love in all things, I still find it hard to carry out
this consecration in detail. It has taken me several weeks
to learn that the reason for this written meditation, its
justification, lies in the very fact of addressing it daily to
Thee. In this way I shall put into material shape each day
a little of the conversation I have so often with Thee; I
shall make my confession to Thee as well as it may be; not
because I think I can tell Thee anything — for Thou art
Thyself everything, but our artificial and exterior way of
seeing and understanding is, if it may be so said, foreign
to Thee, opposed to Thy nature. Still by turning towards
Thee, by immersing myself in Thy light at the moment
when I consider these things, little by little I shall see them
more like what they really are, — until the day when,
having made myself one in identity with Thee, I shall no
more have anything to say to Thee, for then I shall be
Thou. This is the goal that I would reach; towards this
victory all my efforts will tend more and more. I aspire
for the day when I can no longer say “I”, for I shall be
Thou.
How many times a day, still, I act without my action
being consecrated to Thee; I at once become aware of it by
an indefinable uneasiness which is translated in the sensi-
bility of my body by a pang in my heart. I then make my
action objective to myself and it seems to me ridiculous,
childish or blameworthy; I deplore it, for a moment I am sad, until I dive into Thee and, there losing myself with
a child’s confidence, await from Thee the inspiration and
strength needed to set right the error in me and around
me, — two things that are one; for I have now a constant
and precise perception of the universal unity determining
an absolute interdependence of all actions.
19 November 1912
| Audio currently | unavailable |
I SAID yesterday to that young Englishman who is seek- ing for Thee with so sincere a desire, that I had definitively found Thee, that the Union was constant. Such is indeed the state of which I am conscious. All my thoughts go towards Thee, all my acts are consecrated to Thee; Thy Presence is for me an absolute, immutable, invariable fact, and Thy Peace dwells constantly in my heart. Yet I know that this state of union is poor and precarious compared with that which it will become possible for me to realise tomorrow, and I am as yet far, no doubt very far, from that identification in which I shall totally lose the notion of the “I”, of that “I”, which I still use in order to express myself, but which is each time a constraint, like a term unfit to express the thought that is seeking for expression. It seems to me indispensable for human communication, but all depends on what this “I” manifests; and how many times already, when I pronounce it, it is Thou who speakest in me, for I have lost the sense of separativity. But all this is still in embryo and will continue to grow towards perfection. What an appeasing assurance there is in this serene confidence in Thy All-Might! Thou art all, everywhere, and in all, and this body which acts is Thy own body, just as is the visible universe in its entirety; it is Thou who breathest, thinkest and lovest in this substance which, being Thyself, desires to be Thy willing servant.
26 November 1912
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WHAT a hymn of thanksgiving should I not be raising
at each moment unto Thee! Everywhere and in everything
around me Thou revealest Thyself and in me Thy Will and
Consciousness express themselves always more and more
clearly even to the point of my having almost entirely lost
the gross illusion of “me” and “mine”. If a few shadows,
a few flaws can be seen in the great Light which manifests
Thee, how shall they bear for long the marvellous bright-
ness of Thy resplendent Love? This morning, the con-
sciousness that I had of the way Thou art fashioning this
being which was “I” can be roughly represented by a great
diamond cut with regular geometrical facets, a diamond
in its cohesion, firmness, pure limpidity, transparency, but
a brilliant and radiant flame in its intense ever-progressive
life. But it was something more, something better than all
that, for nearly all sensation inner and outer was exceeded
and that image only presented itself to my mind as I
returned to conscious contact with the outer world.
It is Thou that makest the experience fertile, Thou
who renderest life progressive, Thou who compellest the
darkness to vanish in an instant before the Light, Thou
who givest to Love all its power, Thou who everywhere
raisest up matter in this ardent and wonderful aspiration,
in this sublime thirst for Eternity.
Thou everywhere and always; nothing but Thou in
the essence and in the manifestation.
O Shadow and Illusion, dissolve! O Suffering, fade
and disappear! Lord Supreme, art Thou not there?
28 November 1912
| Audio currently | unavailable |
THE outer life, the activity of each day and each instant,
is it not the indispensable complement of our hours of
meditation and contemplation? And is not the proportion
of time given to each the exact image of the proportion
which exists between the amount of effort to be made for
the preparation and realisation? For meditation, contem-
plation, Union is the result obtained — the flower that
blooms; the daily activity is the anvil on which all the
elements must pass and repass in order to be purified,
refined, made supple and ripe for the illumination which
contemplation gives to them. All these elements must
be thus passed one after the other through the crucible
before outer activity becomes needless for the integral
development. Then is this activity turned into the means
to manifest Thee so as to awaken the other centers of
consciousness to the same dual work of the forge and the
illumination. Therefore are pride and satisfaction with
oneself the worst of all obstacles. Very modestly we must
take advantage of all the minute opportunities offered to
knead and purify some of the innumerable elements, to
make them supple, to make them impersonal, to teach
them forgetfulness of self and abnegation and devotion
and kindness and gentleness; and when all these modes of
being have become habitual to them, then are they ready
to participate in the Contemplation, and to identify them-
selves with Thee in the supreme Concentration. That is
why it seems to me that the work must be long and slow
even for the best and that striking conversions cannot
be integral. They change the orientation of the being,
they put it definitively on the straight path; but truly to
attain the goal none can escape the need of innumerable
experiences of every kind and every instant.
. . . O Supreme Master who shinest in my being and
each thing, let Thy Light be manifest and the reign of Thy
Peace come for all.
2 December 1912
| Audio currently | unavailable |
SO long as one element of the being, one movement of the thought is still subjected to outside influences, not solely under Thine, it cannot be said that the true Union is realised; there is still the horrible mixture without order and light, — for that element, that movement is a world, a world of disorder and darkness, as is the entire earth in the material world, as is the material world in the entire universe.
3 December 1912
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LAST night I had the experience of the effectivity of
confident surrender to Thy guidance; when it is needful
that something should be known, one knows it, and the
more passive the mind to Thy illumination, the clearer
and the more adequate is its expression.
I listened to Thee as Thou spokest in me, and I would
have liked to write down what Thou saidst so that the
formula in all its precision might not be lost, — for now
I should not be able to repeat what was said. Then I
thought that this care for conservation was again an in-
sulting lack of confidence towards Thee, for Thou canst
make of me all that I need to be, and in the measure in
which my attitude allows Thee to act on me and in me,
Thy omnipotence has no limits. To know that at each
instant what must be surely is, as perfectly as is possible,
for all those who know how to see Thee in everything
and everywhere! No more fear, no more uneasiness, no
more anguish; nothing but a perfect Serenity, an absolute
Confidence, a supreme unwavering Peace.
5 December 1912
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Dona
IN Peace and Silence the Eternal manifests; allow noth-
ing to disturb you and the Eternal will manifest; have
perfect equality in face of all and the Eternal will be
there. . . . Yes, we should not put too much intensity,
too much effort into our seeking for Thee; the effort and
intensity become a veil in front of Thee; we must not de-
sire to see Thee, for that is still a mental agitation which
obscures Thy Eternal Presence; it is in the most com-
plete Peace, Serenity and Equality that all is Thou even as
Thou art all, and the least vibration in this perfectly pure
and calm atmosphere is an obstacle to Thy manifesta-
tion. No haste, no inquietude, no tension, Thou, nothing
but Thou, without any analysis or any objectivising, and
Thou art there without a possible doubt, for all becomes
a Holy Peace and a Sacred Silence.
And that is better than all the meditations in the
world.
7 December 1912
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Dona
LIKE a flame that burns in silence, like a perfume that
rises straight upward without wavering, my love goes to
Thee; and like the child who does not reason and has no
care, I trust myself to Thee that Thy Will may be done,
that Thy Light may manifest, Thy Peace radiate, Thy Love
cover the world. When Thou willest I shall be in Thee,
Thyself, and there shall be no more any distinction; I
await that blessed hour without impatience of any kind,
letting myself flow irresistibly toward it as a peaceful
stream flows toward the boundless ocean.
Thy Peace is in me, and in that Peace I see Thee alone
present in everything, with the calm of Eternity.
10 December 1912
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O SUPREME Master, Eternal Teacher, it has been once
more granted me to verify the unequalled effectivity of a
full confidence in Thy leading. Thy Light was manifested
through my mouth yesterday and it met no resistance in
me; the instrument was willing, supple, keen of edge.
It is Thou who art the doer in each thing and each
being, and he who is near enough to Thee to see Thee in all
actions without exception, will know how to transform
each act into a benediction.
To abide always in Thee is the one thing that mat-
ters, always and ever more and more in Thee, beyond
illusions and the deceptions of the senses, not drawing
back from action, refusing it, rejecting it — a struggle
useless and pernicious — but living Thee alone in the act
whatever it may be, ever and always Thee; then the illu-
sion is dispelled, the falsehoods of the senses vanish, the
bond of consequences is broken, all is transformed into a
manifestation of the glory of Thy Eternal Presence.
So let it be. Amen.
11 December 1912
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I AWAIT, without haste, without inquietude, the tearing
of another veil, the Union made more complete. I know
that the veil is formed of a whole mass of small imperfec-
tions, of attachments without number. . . . How shall all
these disappear? Slowly, as the result of countless small
efforts and a vigilance not faltering even for a moment,
or suddenly, through a great illumination of Thy All-
Puissant Love? I know not, I do not even put to myself
the question; I wait, keeping watch as best I can, in the
certitude that nothing exists save Thy Will, that Thou
alone art the doer and I am the instrument; and when the
instrument is ready for a completer manifestation, the
manifestation will quite naturally take place.
Already there is heard from behind the veil the word-
less symphony of gladness that reveals Thy sublime Pres-
ence.
Year: 1913
5 February 1913
| Audio currently | unavailable |
THY voice is heard as a melodious chant in the still-
ness of my heart, and is translated in my head by words
which are inadequate and yet replete with Thee. And
these words are addressed to the Earth and say to her:
— Poor sorrowful Earth, remember that I am present in
thee and lose not hope; each effort, each grief, each joy
and each pang, each call of thy heart, each aspiration
of thy soul, each renewal of thy seasons, all, all without
exception, what seems to thee sorrowful and what seems
to thee joyous, what seems to thee ugly and what seems
to thee beautiful, all infallibly lead thee towards me, who
am endless Peace, shadowless Light, perfect Harmony,
Certitude, Rest and Supreme Blessedness.
Hearken, O Earth, to the sublime voice that arises,
Hearken and take new courage!
8 February 1913
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O LORD, Thou art my refuge and my blessing, my
strength, my health, my hope, and my courage. Thou
art supreme Peace, unalloyed Joy, perfect Serenity. My
whole being prostrates before Thee in a gratitude beyond
measure and a ceaseless worship; and that worship goes
up from my heart and my mind towards Thee like the
pure smoke of incense of the perfumes of India.
Let me be Thy herald among men, so that all who are
ready may taste the beatitude that Thou grantest me in
Thy infinite Mercy, and let Thy Peace reign upon earth.
10 February 1913
| Audio currently | unavailable |
MY being goes up to Thee in thanksgiving, not because
Thou usest this weak and imperfect body to manifest
Thyself, but because Thou dost manifest Thyself, and
that is the Splendour of splendours, the Joy of joys, the
Marvel of marvels. All who seek Thee with ardour should
understand that Thou art there whenever there is need of
Thee; and if they could have the supreme faith to give
up seeking Thee, but rather to await Thee, at each mo-
ment putting themselves integrally at Thy service, Thou
wouldst be there whenever there was need of Thee; and
is there not always need of Thee with us, whatever may
be the different, and often unexpected, forms of Thy
manifestation?
Let Thy glory be proclaimed,
And sanctify life;
Let it transform men’s hearts,
And Thy Peace reign on earth.
12 February 1913
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AS soon as all effort disappears from a manifestation,
it becomes very simple, with the simplicity of a flower
opening, manifesting its beauty and spreading its fra-
grance without clamour or vehement gesture. And in this
simplicity lies the greatest power, the power which is least
mixed and least gives rise to harmful reactions. The power
of the vital should be mistrusted, it is a tempter on the
path of the work, and there is always a risk of falling into
its trap, for it gives you the taste of immediate results;
and, in our first eagerness to do the work well, we let
ourselves be carried away to make use of this power. But
very soon it deflects all our action from the right course
and introduces a seed of illusion and death into what we
do.
Simplicity, simplicity! How sweet is the purity of Thy
Presence! . . .
11 May 1913
| Audio currently | unavailable |
AS soon as I have no longer any material responsibili-
ties, all thoughts about these things flee far away from me,
and I am solely and entirely occupied with Thee and Thy
service. Then, in that perfect peace and serenity, I unite
my will to Thine, and in that integral silence I listen to Thy
truth and hear its expression. It is by becoming conscious
of Thy Will and identifying ours with Thine that there
is found the secret of true liberty and all-puissance, the
secret of the regeneration of forces and the transfiguration
of the being.
To be constantly and integrally at one with Thee is to
have the assurance that we shall overcome every obstacle
and triumph over all difficulties, both within and without.
O Lord, Lord, a boundless joy fills my heart, songs
of gladness surge through my head in marvellous waves,
and in the full confidence of Thy certain triumph I find
a sovereign Peace and an invincible Power. Thou fillest
my being, Thou animatest it, Thou settest in motion its
hidden springs, Thou illuminest its understanding, Thou
intensifiest its life, Thou increasest tenfold its love; and I
no longer know whether the universe is I or I the universe,
whether Thou art in me or I in Thee; Thou alone art and
all is Thou; and the streams of Thy infinite grace fill and
overflow the world.
Sing O lands, sing O peoples, sing O men,
The Divine Harmony is there.
18 June 1913
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TO turn towards Thee, unite with Thee, live in Thee
and for Thee, is supreme happiness, unmixed joy, im-
mutable peace; it is to breathe infinity, to soar in eternity,
no longer feel one’s limits, escape from time and space.
Why do men flee from these boons as though they feared
them? What a strange thing is ignorance, that source of
all suffering! How miserable that obscurity which keeps
men away from the very thing which would bring them
happiness and subjects them to this painful school of
ordinary existence fashioned entirely from struggle and
suffering!
21 July 1913
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. . . YET what patience is needed! How imperceptible
the stages of progress! . . .
Oh! how I call Thee from the very depths of my
heart, True Light, Sublime Love, Divine Master who art
the source of our light and of our living, our guide and
our protector, the Soul of our soul and the Life of our
life, the Reason of our being, the supreme Knowledge,
the immutable Peace!
28 November 1913
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IN this calm concentration which comes before day-
break, more than at any other moment, my thought rises
to Thee, O Lord of our being, in an ardent prayer.
Grant that this day which is about to dawn may bring
to the earth and to men a little more of pure light and true
peace; may Thy manifestation be more complete and Thy
sweet law more widely recognised; may something higher,
nobler, more true be revealed to mankind; may a vaster
and deeper love spread abroad so that all painful wounds
may be healed; and may this first sunbeam dawning upon
the earth be the herald of joy and harmony, a symbol of
the glorious splendour hidden in the essence of life.
O Divine Master, grant that today may bring to us
a completer consecration to Thy Will, a more integral
gift of ourselves to Thy work, a more total forgetfulness
of self, a greater illumination, a purer love. Grant that
in a communion growing ever deeper, more constant and
entire, we may be united always more and more closely to
Thee and become Thy servitors worthy of Thee. Remove
from us all egoism, root out all petty vanity, greed and
obscurity. May we be all ablaze with Thy divine Love;
make us Thy torches in the world.
A silent hymn of praise rises from my heart like the
white smoke of incense of the perfumes of the East.
And in the serenity of a perfect surrender, I bow to
Thee in the light of the rising day.
Year: 1914
24 January 1914
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O THOU who art the sole reality of our being, O sublime Master of love, Redeemer of life, let me have no longer any other consciousness than of Thee at every instant and in each being. When I do not live solely with Thy life, I agonise, I sink slowly towards extinction; for Thou art my only reason for existence, my one goal, my single support. I am like a timid bird not yet sure of its wings and hesitating to take its flight; let me soar to reach definitive identity with Thee.
Year: 1914
1 February 1914
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I TURN towards Thee who art everywhere and within
all and outside all, intimate essence of all and remote
from all, centre of condensation for all energies, creator of
conscious individualities: I turn towards Thee and salute
Thee, O liberator of the worlds, and, identified with Thy
divine love, I contemplate the earth and its creatures, this
mass of substance put into forms perpetually destroyed
and renewed, this swarming mass of aggregates which are
dissolved as soon as constituted, of beings who imagine
that they are conscient and permanent individualities and
who are as ephemeral as a breath, always alike or almost
the same, in their diversity, repeating indefinitely the same
desires, the same tendencies, the same appetites, the same
ignorant errors.
But from time to time Thy sublime light shines in
a being and radiates through him over the world, and
then a little wisdom, a little knowledge, a little disin-
terested faith, heroism and compassion penetrates men’s
hearts, transforms their minds and sets free a few elements
from that sorrowful and implacable wheel of existence to
which their blind ignorance subjects them.
But how much greater a splendour than all that have
gone before, how marvellous a glory and light would be
needed to draw these beings out of the horrible aberration
in which they are plunged by the life of cities and so-called
civilisations! What a formidable and, at the same time,
divinely sweet puissance would be needed to turn aside
all these wills from the bitter struggle for their selfish,
mean and foolish satisfactions, to snatch them from this
vortex which hides death behind its treacherous glitter,
and turn them towards Thy conquering harmony!
O Lord, eternal Master, enlighten us, guide our steps,
show us the way towards the realisation of Thy law,
towards the accomplishment of Thy work.
I adore Thee in silence and listen to Thee in a religious
concentration.
14 February 1914
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PEACE, peace upon all the earth!
May all escape from the ordinary consciousness and
be delivered from the attachment for material things; may
they awake to the knowledge of Thy divine presence,
unite themselves with Thy supreme consciousness and
taste the plenitude of peace that springs from it.
Lord, Thou art the sovereign Master of our being.
Thy law is our law, and with all our strength we aspire
to identify our consciousness with Thy eternal conscious-
ness, that we may accomplish Thy sublime work in each
thing and at every moment.
Lord, deliver us from all care for contingencies, deliver
us from the ordinary outlook on things. Grant that we
may henceforth see only with Thy eyes and act only by
Thy will. Transform us into living torches of Thy divine
love.
With reverence, with devotion, in a joyful consecra-
tion of my whole being I give myself, O Lord, to the
fulfilment of Thy law.
Peace, peace upon all the earth!
15 February 1914
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Heide
O THOU, sole Reality, Light of our light and Life
of our life, Love supreme, Saviour of the world, grant
that more and more I may be perfectly awakened into
the awareness of Thy constant presence. Let all my acts
conform to Thy law; let there be no difference between
my will and Thine. Extricate me from the illusory con-
sciousness of my mind, from its world of fantasies; let me
identify my consciousness with the Absolute Conscious-
ness, for that art Thou.
Give me constancy in the will to attain the end, give
me firmness and energy and the courage which shakes off
all torpor and lassitude.
Give me the peace of perfect disinterestedness, the
peace that makes Thy presence felt and Thy intervention
effective, the peace that is ever victorious over all bad will
and every obscurity.
Grant, I implore Thee, that all in my being may be
identified with Thee. May I be nothing else any more than
a flame of love utterly awakened to a supreme realisation
of Thee.
7 March 1914
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On board the “Kaga Maru”:
THOU wert with us yesterday as the most marvellous
of protections; Thou didst permit Thy law to triumph
even in the most external manifestation. Violence was
answered by calm, brutality by the strength of sweetness;
and where an irreparable disaster would have occurred,
Thy power was glorified. O Lord, with what fervent grat-
itude did I greet Thy Presence. It was for me the sure sign
that we would have the strength to act, to think, to live
in Thy name and for Thee; not only in intention and will,
but effectively in an integral realisation.
*This morning my prayer rises to Thee, always with
the same aspiration: to live Thy love, to radiate Thy love,
with such potency and effectiveness that all may feel
fortified, regenerated and illumined by our contact. To
have power to heal life, to relieve suffering, to generate
peace and calm confidence, to efface anguish and replace
it by the sense of the one true happiness, the happiness
that is founded in Thee and never fades. . . . O Lord, O
marvellous Friend, O all-powerful Master, penetrate all
our being, transfigure it till Thou alone livest in us and
through us!*
8 March 1914
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IN front of this calm sunrise which turned all within
me into silence and peace, at the moment when I grew
conscious of Thee and Thou alone wast living in me, O
Lord, it seemed to me that I adopted all the inhabitants of
this ship, and enveloped them in an equal love, and that
so in each one of them something of Thy consciousness
would awake. Not often had I felt so strongly Thy divine
power and Thy invincible light, and once again total was
my confidence and unmixed my joyful surrender.
O Thou who relievest all suffering and dispersest all
ignorance, O Thou the supreme healer, be constantly
present on this boat in the heart of those whom it shelters
that once again Thy glory may be manifested!
9 March 1914
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THOSE who live for Thee and in Thee may change
their physical surroundings, their habits, climate, “mi-
lieu”, but everywhere they find the same atmosphere;
they carry that atmosphere in themselves, in their thought
constantly fixed on Thee. Everywhere they feel at home,
for everywhere they are in Thy house. No longer do they
marvel at the novelty, unexpectedness, picturesqueness of
things and countries; for them, it is Thy Presence that is
manifest in all and Thy unchangeable splendour, which
never leaves them, is apparent in the least grain of sand.
The whole earth chants Thy praises; in spite of the obscu-
rity, misery, ignorance, through it all, it is still the glory
of Thy love which we perceive and with which we can
commune ceaselessly everywhere.
O Lord, my sweet Master, all this I constantly experi-
ence on this boat which seems to me a marvellous abode
of peace, a temple sailing in Thy honour over the waves
of the subconscient passivity which we have to conquer
and awaken to the consciousness of Thy divine Presence.
Blessed was the day when I came to know Thee, O
Ineffable Eternity.
Blessed among all days be that day when the earth
at last awakened shall know Thee and shall live only for
Thee
25 March 1914
Voice by: Heide
| Audio currently | unavailable |
SILENT and unseen as always, but all-powerful, Thy
action has made itself felt and, in these souls that seemed
to be so closed, a perception of Thy divine light is awake.
I knew well that none could invoke Thy presence in vain
and if in the sincerity of our hearts we commune with
Thee through no matter what organism, body or human
collectivity, this organism in spite of its ignorance finds
its unconsciousness wholly transformed. But when in one
or several elements there is the conscious transformation,
when the flame that smoulders under the ashes leaps out
suddenly illumining all the being, then with joy we salute
Thy sovereign action, testify once more to Thy invincible
puissance and can hope that a new possibility of true
happiness has been added to the others in mankind.
O Lord, an ardent thanksgiving mounts from me
towards Thee expressing the gratitude of this sorrow-
ing humanity which Thou illuminest, transformest and
glorifiest and givest to it the peace of Knowledge.
10 April 1914
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SUDDENLY the veil was rent, the horizon was disclosed
— and before the clear vision my whole being threw itself
at Thy feet in a great outburst of gratitude. Yet in spite of
this deep and integral joy all was calm, all was peaceful
with the peace of eternity.
I seem to have no more limits; there is no longer the
perception of the body, no sensations, no feelings, no
thoughts — a clear, pure, tranquil immensity penetrated
with love and light, filled with an unspeakable beatitude
is all that is there and that alone seems now to be myself,
and this “myself” is so little the former “I”, selfish and
limited, that I cannot tell if it is I or Thou, O Lord, sublime
Master of our destinies.
It is as though all were energy, courage, force, will,
infinite sweetness, incomparable compassion. . . .
Even more forcibly than during these last days the past
is dead and as though buried under the rays of a new life.
The last glance that I have just thrown backward as I read
a few pages of this book definitely convinced me of this
death, and lightened of a great weight I present myself
before Thee, O my divine Master, with all the simplicity,
all the nudity of a child. . . . And still the one only thing
I perceive is that calm and pure immensity. . . .
Lord, Thou hast answered my prayer, Thou hast
granted me what I have asked from Thee; the “I” has
disappeared, there is only a docile instrument put at Thy
service, a centre of concentration and manifestation of
Thy infinite and eternal rays; Thou hast taken my life and
made it Thine; Thou hast taken my will and hast united
it to Thine; Thou hast taken my love and identified it
with Thine; Thou hast taken my thought and replaced it
by Thy absolute consciousness.
The body, marvelling, bows its forehead in the dust in
mute and submissive adoration.
And nothing else exists but Thou alone in the splen-
dour of Thy immutable peace.
17 April 1914
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Pondicherry:
O LORD, O almighty Master, sole Reality, grant that
no error, no obscurity, no fatal ignorance may creep into
my heart and my thought.
In action, the personality is the inevitable and indis-
pensable intermediary of Thy will and Thy forces.
The stronger, the more complex, powerful, individu-
alised and conscious is the personality, the more power-
fully and usefully can the instrument serve. But, by reason
of the very character of personality, it easily tends to be
drawn into the fatal illusion of its separate existence and
become little by little a screen between Thee and that
on which Thou willest to act. Not at the beginning, in
the manifestation, but in the transmission of the return;
that is to say, instead of being, as a faithful servant, an
intermediary who brings back to Thee exactly what is
Thy due — the forces sent forth in reply to Thy action, —
there is a tendency in the personality to want to keep for
itself a part of the forces, with this idea: “It is I who have
done this or that, I who am thanked. . . . ” Pernicious
illusion, obscure falsehood, now are you discovered and
unmasked. That is the maleficent canker corroding the
fruit of the action, falsifying all its results.
O Lord, O my sweet Master, sole Reality, dispel this
feeling of the “I”. I have now understood that so long as
there will be a manifested universe, the “I” will remain
necessary for Thy manifestation; to dissolve, or even to
diminish or weaken the “I”, is to deprive Thee of the
means of manifestation, in whole or part. But what must
be radically and definitively suppressed is the illusory
thought, the illusory feeling, the illusory sensation of the
separate “I”. At no moment, in no circumstances must
we forget that our “I” has no reality outside Thee.
O my sweet Master, my divine Lord, tear out from
my heart this illusion so that Thy servant may become
pure and faithful and faithfully and integrally bring back
to Thee all that is Thy due. In silence let me contemplate
and understand this supreme ignorance and dispel it for
ever. Chase the shadow from my heart, and let Thy light
reign in it, its uncontested sovereign.
12 May 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
MORE and more it seems to me that we are in one of
those periods of activity in which the fruit of past efforts
becomes apparent, — a period in which we act according
to Thy law in the measure in which it is the sovereign
controller of our being, without having even the leisure
to become conscious of the law.
This morning passing by a rapid experience from
depth to depth, I was able, once again, as always, to iden-
tify my consciousness with Thine and to live no longer in
aught but Thee; — indeed, it was Thou alone that wast
living, but immediately Thy will pulled my consciousness
towards the exterior, towards the work to be done, and
Thou saidst to me, “Be the instrument of which I have
need.” And is not this the last renunciation, to renounce
identification with Thee, to renounce the sweet and pure
joy of no longer distinguishing between Thee and me,
the joy of knowing at each moment, not only with the
intellect but by an integral experience, that Thou art the
unique Reality and that all the rest is but appearance
and illusion. That the exterior being should be the docile
instrument which does not even need to be conscious of
the will which moves it, is not doubtful; but why must I
be almost entirely identified with the instrument and why
should not the “I” be entirely merged in Thee and live
Thy full and absolute consciousness?
I ask, but I am not anxious about it. I know that all
is according to Thy will, and with a pure adoration I
trust myself joyously to Thy will. I shall be what Thou
wouldst have me be, O Lord, conscient or inconscient, a
simple instrument as is the body or a supreme knowledge
as art Thou. O the sweet and peaceful joy when one can
say “All is good” and feel Thee at work in the world
through all the elements which lend themselves to that
transmission.
Thou art the sovereign Master of all, Thou art the
Inaccessible, the Unknowable, the eternal and sublime
Reality.
O marvellous Unity, I disappear in Thee.
21 May 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
OUTSIDE all manifestation, in the immutable silence
of Eternity, I am in Thee, O Lord, an unmoving beatitude.
In that which, out of Thy puissance and marvellous light,
forms the centre and reality of the atoms of matter I
find Thee; thus without going out of Thy Presence I can
disappear in Thy supreme consciousness or see Thee in
the radiant particles of my being. And for the moment
that is the plenitude of Thy life and Thy illumination.
I see Thee, I am Thyself, and between these two poles
my intense love aspires towards Thee.
22 May 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
WHEN we have discerned successively what is real
from what is unreal in all the states of being and all the
worlds of life, when we have arrived at the perfect and in-
tegral certitude of the sole Reality, we must turn our gaze
from the heights of this supreme consciousness towards
the individual aggregate which serves as the immediate
instrument for Thy manifestation upon earth, and see in
it nothing but Thee, our sole real existence. Thus each
atom of this aggregate will be awakened to receive Thy
sublime influence; the ignorance and the darkness will
disappear not only from the central consciousness of the
being but also from its most external mode of expres-
sion. It is only by the fulfilment, by the perfection of this
labour of transfiguration that there can be manifested the
plenitude of Thy Presence, Thy Light and Thy Love.
Lord, Thou makest me understand this truth ever
more clearly; lead me step by step on that path. My whole
being down to its smallest atom aspires for the perfect
knowledge of Thy presence and a complete union with
it. Let every obstacle disappear, let Thy divine knowledge
replace in every part the darkness of the ignorance. Even
as Thou hast illumined the central consciousness, the will
in the being, enlighten too this outermost substance. And
let the whole individuality, from its first origin and essence
to its last projection and most material body, be unified
in a perfect realisation and a complete manifestation of
Thy sole Reality.
Nothing is in the universe but Thy Life, Thy Light,
Thy Love.
Let everything become resplendent and transfigured
by the knowledge of Thy Truth.
Thy divine love floods my being; Thy supreme light
is shining in every cell; all exults because it knows Thee
and because it is one with Thee.
26 May 1914
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Heide
ON the surface is the storm, the sea is in turmoil,
waves clash and leap one on another and break with
a mighty uproar. But all the time, under this water in
fury, are vast smiling expanses, peaceful and motionless.
They look upon the surface agitation as an indispensable
act; for matter has to be vigorously churned if it is to
become capable of manifesting entirely the divine light.
Behind the troubled appearance, behind the struggle and
anguish of the conflict, the consciousness remains firm at
its post; observing all the movements of the outer being,
it intervenes only to rectify direction and position, so
as not to allow the play to become too dramatic. This
intervention is now firm and a little severe, now ironical,
a call to order or a mockery, full always of a strong,
gentle, peaceful and smiling benevolence.
In the silence I beheld Thy infinite and eternal Beati-
tude.
Then softly a prayer rises towards Thee from what is
still in the shadow and the struggle: O sweet Master, O
supreme Giver of illumination and purity, grant that all
substance and every activity may be no more anything
other than a constant manifestation of Thy divine Love
and Thy sovereign Serenity. . . .
And in my heart is the song of gladness of Thy sublime
magnificence.
27 August 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
TO be the divine love, love powerful, infinite, unfath-
omable, in every activity, in all the worlds of being — it is
for this I cry to Thee, O Lord. Let me be consumed with
this love divine, love powerful, infinite, unfathomable, in
every activity, in all the worlds of being! Transmute me
into that burning brazier so that all the atmosphere of
earth may be purified with its flame.
Oh, to be Thy Love infinitely. . . .
31 August 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
IN this formidable disorder and terrible destruction can
be seen a great working, a necessary toil preparing the
earth for a new sowing which will rise in marvellous
spikes of grain and give to the world the shining harvest
of a new race. . . . The vision is clear and precise, the
plan of Thy divine law so plainly traced that peace has
come back and installed itself in the hearts of the workers.
There are no more doubts and hesitations, no longer any
anguish or impatience. There is only the grand straight
line of the work eternally accomplishing itself in spite
of all, against all, despite all contrary appearances and
illusory detours. These physical personalities, moments
unseizable in the infinite Becoming, know that they will
have made humanity take one farther step, infallibly and
without care for the inevitable results, whatever be the
apparent momentary consequences: they unite themselves
with Thee, O Master eternal, they unite themselves with
Thee, O Mother universal, and in this double identity
with That which is beyond and That which is all the
manifestation they taste the infinite joy of the perfect
certitude.
Peace, peace in all the world. . . .
War is an appearance,
Turmoil is an illusion,
Peace is there, immutable peace.
Mother, sweet Mother who I am, Thou art at once the
destroyer and the builder.
1 September 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
O MOTHER Divine, with what fervour, what ardent love I came to Thee in Thy deepest consciousness, in Thy high status of sublime love and perfect felicity, and I nestled so close into Thy arms and loved Thee with so in- tense a love that I became altogether Thyself. Then in the silence of our mute ecstasy a voice from yet profounder depths arose and the voice said, “Turn towards those who have need of thy love.” All the grades of consciousness appeared, all the successive worlds. Some were splendid and luminous, well ordered and clear; there knowledge was resplendent, expression was harmonious and vast, will was potent and invincible. Then the worlds dark- ened in a multiplicity more and more chaotic, the Energy became violent and the material world obscure and sor- rowful. And when in our infinite love we perceived in its entirety the hideous suffering of the world of misery and ignorance, when we saw our children locked in a sombre struggle, flung upon each other by energies that had devi- ated from their true aim, we willed ardently that the light of Divine Love should be made manifest, a transfiguring force at the centre of these distracted elements. Then, that the will might be yet more powerful and effective, we turned towards Thee, O unthinkable Supreme, and we implored Thy aid. And from the unsounded depths of the Unknown a reply came sublime and formidable and we knew that the earth was saved.
25 September 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
O DIVINE and adorable Mother, with Thy help what
is there that is impossible? The hour of realisations is
near and Thou hast assured us of Thy aid that we may
perform integrally the supreme Will.
Thou hast accepted us as fit intermediaries between
the unthinkable realities and the relativities of the phys-
ical world, and Thy constant presence in our midst is a
token of Thy active collaboration.
The Lord has willed and Thou dost execute:
A new Light shall break upon the earth.
A new world shall be born,
And the things that were promised shall be fulfilled.
28 September 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
MY pen is mute to chant Thy presence, O Lord; yet art
Thou like a king who has taken entire possession of his
kingdom. Thou art there, organising, putting all in place,
developing and increasing every province. Thou awak-
enest those that were asleep. Thou makest active those
that were sinking towards inertia; Thou art building a
harmony out of the whole. A day will come when the har-
mony shall be achieved and all the country shall be by its
very life the bearer of Thy word and Thy manifestation.
But meanwhile my pen is mute to chant Thy praise.
30 September 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
(Only last three paragraphs of this prayers were marked by Sri Aurobindo.)
O Thou, Sublime Love, to whom I gave never any
other name, but who art so wholly the very substance of
my being, Thou whom I feel vibrant and alive in the least
of my atoms even as in the infinite universe and beyond,
Thou who breathest in every breath, movest in the heart
of all activities, art radiant through all that is of good
will and hidden behind all sufferings, Thou for whom
I cherish a cult without limit which grows ever more
intense, permit that I may with more and more reason
feel that I am Thyself wholly.
And Thou, O Lord, who art all this made one and
much more, O sovereign Master, extreme limit of our
thought, who standest for us at the threshold of the
Unknown, make rise from that Unthinkable some new
splendour, some possibility of a loftier and more inte-
gral realisation, that Thy work may be accomplished and
the universe take one step farther towards the sublime
Identity, the supreme Manifestation.
And now my pen falls mute and I adore Thee in
silence.
5 October 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
IN the calm silence of Thy contemplation, O Divine
Master, Nature is fortified and tempered anew. All prin-
ciple of individuality is overpassed, she is plunged in Thy
infinity that allows oneness to be realised in all domains
without confusion, without disorder. The combined har-
mony of that which persists, that which progresses and
that which eternally is, is little by little accomplished in
an always more complex, more extended and more lofty
equilibrium. And this interchange of the three modes of
life allows the plenitude of the manifestation.
Many seek Thee at this hour in anguish and incerti-
tude. May I be their mediator with Thee that Thy light
may illumine them, that Thy peace may appease. My
being is now only a point of support for Thy action and a
centre for Thy consciousness. Where now are the limits,
whither have fled the obstacles? Thou art the sovereign
Lord of Thy kingdom.
7 October 1914
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Dona
OH, let Light be poured on all the earth and Peace
inhabit every heart. . . . Almost all know only the material
life heavy, inert, conservative, obscure; their vital forces
are so tied to this physical form of existence that, even
when left to themselves and outside the body, they are
still solely occupied with these material contingencies that
are yet so harassing and painful. . . . Those in whom the
mental life is awakened are restless, tormented, agitated,
arbitrary, despotic. Caught altogether in the whirl of the
renewals and transformations of which they dream, they
are ready to destroy everything without knowledge of
any foundation on which to construct, and with their
light made only of blinding flashes they increase yet more
the confusion rather than help it to cease.
In all there lacks the unchanging peace of Thy
sovereign contemplation and the calm vision of Thy
immutable eternity.
And with the infinite gratitude of the individual being
to whom Thou hast accorded this surpassing grace, I
implore Thee, O Lord, that under cover of the present
turmoil, in the very heart of this extreme confusion the
miracle may be accomplished and Thy law of supreme
serenity and pure unchanging light become visible to the
perception of all and govern the earth in a humanity at
last awakened to Thy divine consciousness.
O sweet Master, Thou hast heard my prayer, Thou
wilt reply to my call.
14 October 1914
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Heide
MOTHER Divine, Thou art with us; every day Thou
givest me the assurance and, closely united in an identity
that grows more and more total, more and more constant,
we turn to the Lord of the Universe and to That which is
beyond in a great aspiration towards the new Light. All
the earth is in our arms like a sick child who must be cured
and for whom one has a special affection because of his
very weakness. Cradled on the immensity of the eternal
becomings, ourselves those becomings, we contemplate
hushed and glad the eternity of the immobile Silence
where all is realised in the perfect Consciousness and
immutable Existence, miraculous gate of all the unknown
that is beyond.
Then is the veil torn, the inexpressible Glory uncov-
ered and, suffused with the ineffable Splendour, we turn
back towards the world to bring it the glad tidings.
Lord, Thou hast given me the happiness infinite. What
being, what circumstance can have the power to take it
away from me?
25 October 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
MY aspiration to Thee, O Lord, has taken the form
of a beautiful rose, harmonious, full in bloom, rich in
fragrance. I stretch it out to Thee with both arms in a
gesture of offering and I ask of Thee: If my understanding
is limited, widen it; if my knowledge is obscure, enlighten
it; if my heart is empty of ardour, set it aflame; if my
love is insignificant, make it intense; if my feelings are
ignorant and egoistic, give them the full consciousness
in the Truth. And the “I” which demands this of Thee,
O Lord, is not a little personality lost amidst thousands
of others. It is the whole earth that aspires to Thee in a
movement full of fervour.
In the perfect silence of my contemplation all widens
to infinity, and in the perfect peace of that silence Thou
appearest in the resplendent glory of Thy Light.
8 November 1914
| Audio currently | unavailable |
FOR the plenitude of Thy Light we invoke Thee, O
Lord! Awaken in us the power to express Thee.
All is mute in the being as in a desert crypt; but in the
heart of the shadow, in the bosom of the silence burns the
lamp that can never be extinguished, the fire of an ardent
aspiration to know Thee and totally to live Thee.
The nights follow the days, new dawns unweariedly
succeed to past dawns, but always there mounts the
scented flame that no storm-wind can force to vacillate.
Higher it climbs and higher and one day attains the vault
still closed, the last obstacle opposing our union. And so
pure, so erect, so proud is the flame that suddenly the
obstacle is dissolved.
Then Thou appearest in all Thy splendour, in the daz-
zling force of Thy infinite glory; at Thy contact the flame
changes into a column of light that chases the shadows
away for ever.
And the Word leaps forth, a supreme revelation.
Year: 1915
15 February 1915
| Audio currently | unavailable |
O LORD of Truth, thrice have I implored Thy mani-
festation invoking Thee with deep fervour.
Then, as always, the whole being made its total sub-
mission. At that moment the consciousness perceived the
individual being mental, vital and physical, covered all
over with dust, and this being lay prostrate before Thee,
its forehead touching the earth, dust in the dust, and it
cried to Thee, “O Lord, this being made of dust prostrates
itself before Thee praying to be consumed with the fire
of the Truth that it may henceforth manifest only Thee.”
Then Thou saidst to it, “Arise, thou art pure of all that is
dust.” And suddenly, in a stroke, all the dust sank from
it like a cloak that falls on the earth, and the being ap-
peared erect, always as substantial but resplendent with
a dazzling light.
3 March 1915
| Audio currently | unavailable |
(Taken the lines which marked by Sri Aurobindo)
On board the Kamo Maru
SOLITUDE, a harsh, intense solitude, and always this
strong impression of having been flung headlong into a
hell of darkness! Never at any moment of my life, in any
circumstances, have I felt myself living in surroundings
so entirely opposite to all that I am conscious of as true,
so contrary to all that is the essence of my life. Sometimes
when the impression and the contrast grow very intense,
I cannot prevent my total submission from taking on a
hue of melancholy, and the calm and mute converse with
the Master within is transformed for a moment into an
invocation that almost supplicates, “O Lord, what have
I done that Thou hast thrown me thus into the sombre
Night?” But immediately the aspiration rises, still more
ardent, “Spare this being all weakness; suffer it to be the
docile and clear-eyed instrument of Thy work, whatever
that work may be.”
7 March 1915
| Audio currently | unavailable |
(Taken the lines which marked by Sri Aurobindo)
I am exiled from every spiritual happiness,
and of all ordeals this, O Lord, is surely the most painful
that Thou canst impose: but most of all the withdrawal of
Thy will which seems to be a sign of total disapprobation.
Strong is the growing sense of rejection, and it needs all
the ardour of an untiring faith to keep the external con-
sciousness thus abandoned to itself from being invaded
by an irremediable sorrow. . . .
But it refuses to despair, it refuses to believe that
the misfortune is irreparable; it waits with humility in an
obscure and hidden effort and struggle for the breath of
Thy perfect joy to penetrate it again. And perhaps each
of its modest and secret victories is a true help brought
to the earth. . . .
If it were possible to come definitively out of this
external consciousness, to take refuge in the divine con-
sciousness! But that Thou hast forbidden and still and
always Thou forbidst it. No flight out of the world! The
burden of its darkness and ugliness must be borne to the
end even if all divine succour seems to be withdrawn.
I must remain in the bosom of the Night and walk on
without compass, without beacon-light, without inner
guide.
I will not even implore Thy mercy; for what Thou
willst for me, I too will. All my energy is in tension solely
to advance, always to advance step after step, despite
the depth of the darkness, despite the obstacles of the
way, and whatever comes, O Lord, it is with a fervent
and unchanging love that Thy decision will be welcomed.
Even if Thou findest the instrument unfit to serve Thee,
the instrument belongs to itself no more, it is Thine; Thou
canst destroy or magnify it, it exists not in itself, it wills
nothing, it can do nothing without Thee.
8 March 1915
| Audio currently | unavailable |
FOR the most part the condition is one of calm and
profound indifference; the being feels neither desire nor
repulsion, neither enthusiasm nor depression, neither joy
nor sorrow. It regards life as a spectacle in which it takes
only a very small part; it perceives its actions and reac-
tions, conflicts and forces as things that at once belong to
its own existence which overflows the small personality
on every side and yet to that personality are altogether
foreign and remote.
But from time to time a great breath passes, a great
breath of sorrow, of anguished isolation, of spiritual des-
titution, — one might almost say, the despairing appeal
of Earth abandoned by the Divine. It is a pang as silent as
it is cruel, a sorrow submissive, without revolt, without
any desire to avoid or pass out of it and full of an infinite
sweetness in which suffering and felicity are closely wed-
ded, something infinitely vast, great and deep, too great,
too deep perhaps to be understood by men — something
that holds in it the seed of To-morrow. . . .
26 November 1915
| Audio currently | unavailable |
THE entire consciousness immersed in divine contem-
plation, the whole being enjoyed a supreme and vast
felicity.
Then was the physical body seized, first in its lower
members and next the whole of it, by a sacred trembling
which made all personal limits fall away little by little
even in the most material sensation. The being grew in
greatness progressively, methodically, breaking down ev-
ery barrier, shattering every obstacle, that it might contain
and manifest a force and a power which increased cease-
lessly in immensity and intensity. It was as a progressive
dilatation of the cells until there was a complete identifica-
tion with the earth: the body of the awakened conscious-
ness was the terrestrial globe moving harmoniously in
ethereal space. And the consciousness knew that its global
body was thus moving in the arms of the universal Being,
and it gave itself, it abandoned itself to It in an ecstasy of
peaceful bliss. Then it felt that its body was absorbed in
the body of the universe and one with it; the consciousness
became the consciousness of the universe, immobile in its
totality, moving infinitely in its internal complexity. The
consciousness of the universe sprang towards the Divine
in an ardent aspiration, a perfect surrender, and it saw in
the splendour of the immaculate Light the radiant Being
standing on a many-headed serpent whose body coiled
infinitely around the universe. The Being in an eternal
gesture of triumph mastered and created at one and the
same time the serpent and the universe that issued from
him; erect on the serpent he dominated it with all his
victorious might, and the same gesture that crushed the
hydra enveloping the universe gave it eternal birth. Then
the consciousness became this Being and perceived that
its form was changing once more; it was absorbed into
something which was no longer a form and yet contained
all forms, something which, immutable, sees, — the Eye,
the Witness. And what It sees, is. Then this last vestige
of form disappeared and the consciousness itself was
absorbed into the Unutterable, the Ineffable.
The return towards the consciousness of the indi-
vidual body took place very slowly in a constant and
invariable splendour of Light and Power and Felicity and
Adoration, by successive gradations, but directly, with-
out passing again through the universal and terrestrial
forms. And it was as if the modest corporeal form had
become the direct and immediate vesture, without any
intermediary, of the supreme and eternal Witness.
(Special Note):
This is a letter which the Mother sent to Sri Aurobindo and to which he
answered on 31-12-1915 as follows:
The experience you have described is Vedic in the real sense, though not
one which would easily be recognised by the modern systems of Yoga which call
themselves Vedic. It is the union of the “Earth” of the Veda and Purana with
the divine Principle, an earth which is said to be above our earth, that is to say,
the physical being and consciousness of which the world and the body are only
images. But the modern Yogas hardly recognise the possibility of a material union
with the Divine.
Year: 1916
26 December 1916
| Audio currently | unavailable |
ALWAYS the word Thou makest me hear in the si-
lence is sweet and encouraging, O Lord. But I see not
in what this instrument is worthy of the grace Thou ac-
cordest to it or how it will have the capacity to realise
what Thou attendest from it. All in it appears so small,
weak and ordinary, so lacking in intensity and force and
amplitude in comparison with what it should be to un-
dertake this overwhelming role. But I know that what
the mind thinks is of little importance. The mind itself
knows it and, passive, it awaits the working out of Thy
decree.
Thou biddest me strive without cease, and I could
wish to have the indomitable ardour that prevails over
every difficulty. But Thou hast put in my heart a peace
so smiling that I fear I no longer know even how to
strive. Things develop in me, faculties and activities, as
flowers bloom, spontaneously and without effort, in a
joy to be and a joy to grow, a joy to manifest Thee,
whatever the mode of Thy manifestation. If struggle
there is, it is so gentle and easy that it can hardly be
given the name. But how small is this heart to contain
so great a love! and how weak this vital and physical
being to carry the power to distribute it! Thus Thou
hast placed me on the threshold of the marvellous Way,
but will my feet have the strength to advance upon
it? . . . But Thou repliest to me that my movement is
to soar and it would be an error to wish to walk. . . .
O Lord, how infinite is Thy compassion! Once more
Thou hast taken me in Thy omnipotent arms and cra-
dled me on Thy unfathomable heart, and Thy heart
said to me, “Torment not thyself at all, be confident
like a child: art thou not myself crystallised for my
work?”
27 December 1916
| Audio currently | unavailable |
O MY beloved Lord, my heart is bowed before Thee,
my arms are stretched towards Thee imploring Thee to
set all this being on fire with Thy sublime love that it may
radiate from there on the world. My heart is wide open
in my breast; my heart is open and turned towards Thee,
it is open and empty that Thou mayst fill it with Thy
divine Love; it is empty of all but Thee and Thy presence
fills it through and through and yet leaves it empty, for it
can contain also all the infinite variety of the manifested
world. . . .
O Lord, my arms are outstretched in supplication to-
wards Thee, my heart is wide open before Thee, that
Thou mayst make of it a reservoir of Thy infinite love.
“Love me in all things, everywhere and in all beings”
was Thy reply. I prostrate myself before Thee and ask of
Thee to give me that power.
Year: 1917
30 March 1917
| Audio currently | unavailable |
(Taken lines only marked by Sri Aurobindo)
THERE is a sovereign royalty in taking no thought for
oneself. To have needs is to assert a weakness; to claim
something proves that we lack what we claim. To desire
is to be impotent; it is to recognise our limitations and
confess our incapacity to overcome them.
If only from the point of view of a legitimate pride,
man should be noble enough to renounce desire. How
humiliating to ask something for oneself from life or
from the Supreme Consciousness which animates it! How
humiliating for us, how ignorant an offence against Her!
For all is within our reach, only the egoistic limits of
our being prevent us from enjoying the whole universe as
completely and concretely as we possess our own body
and its immediate surroundings.
31 March 1917
| Audio currently | unavailable |
EACH time that a heart leaps at the touch of Thy divine
breath, a little more beauty seems to be born upon the
Earth, the air is embalmed with a sweet perfume, all
becomes more friendly.
How great is Thy power, O Lord of all existences,
that an atom of Thy joy is sufficient to efface so much
darkness, so many sorrows and a single ray of Thy glory
can light up thus the dullest pebble, illumine the blackest
consciousness!
Thou hast heaped Thy favours upon me, Thou hast
unveiled to me many secrets, Thou hast made me taste
many unexpected and unhoped for joys, but no grace of
Thine can be equal to this Thou grantest to me when a
heart leaps at the touch of Thy divine breath.
At these blessed hours all earth sings a hymn of
gladness, the grasses shudder with pleasure, the air is
vibrant with light, the trees lift towards heaven their
most ardent prayer, the chant of the birds becomes a
canticle, the waves of the sea billow with love, the smile
of children tells of the infinite and the souls of men appear
in their eyes.
Tell me, wilt Thou grant me the marvellous power
to give birth to this dawn in expectant hearts, to awaken
the consciousness of men to Thy sublime presence, and in
this bare and sorrowful world awaken a little of Thy true
Paradise? What happiness, what riches, what terrestrial
powers can equal this wonderful gift!
O Lord, never have I implored Thee in vain, for that
which speaks to Thee is Thyself in me.
Drop by drop Thou allowest to fall in a fertilising
rain the living and redeeming flame of Thy almighty
love. When these drops of eternal light descend softly
on our world of obscure ignorance, one would say a rain
upon earth of golden stars one by one from a sombre
firmament.
All kneels in mute devotion before this ever-renewed
miracle.
7 April 1917
| Audio currently | unavailable |
A DEEP concentration seized on me, and I perceived
that I was identifying myself with a single cherry-blossom,
then through it with all cherry-blossoms, and, as I de-
scended deeper in the consciousness, following a stream
of bluish force, I became suddenly the cherry- tree itself,
stretching towards the sky like so many arms its innumer-
able branches laden with their sacrifice of flowers. Then
I heard distinctly this sentence:
“Thus hast thou made thyself one with the soul of
the cherry-trees and so thou canst take note that it is the
Divine who makes the offering of this flower-prayer to
heaven.”
When I had written it, all was effaced; but now the
blood of the cherry-tree flows in my veins and with it
flows an incomparable peace and force. What difference
is there between the human body and the body of a tree?
In truth, there is none: the consciousness which animates
them is identically the same.
Then the cherry-tree whispered in my ear:
“It is in the cherry-blossom that lies the remedy for
the disorders of the spring.”
28 April 1917
| Audio currently | unavailable |
O MY divine Master, who hast appeared to me this
night in all Thy radiant splendour, Thou canst in an
instant make this being perfectly pure, luminous, translu-
cid, conscious. Thou canst liberate it from its last dark
spots, free it from its last preferences. Thou canst . . . but
hast Thou not done this tonight when it was penetrated
with Thy divine effluence and Thy ineffable light? It may
be . . . for in me is a superhuman strength made all of calm
and immensity. Grant that from this summit I may not
fall; grant that peace may for ever reign as the master of
my being, not only in my depths of which it has long been
the sovereign but in the least of my external activities, in
the smallest recesses of my heart and of my action.
I salute Thee, O Lord, deliverer of beings!
“Lo! here are flowers and benedictions! here is the
smile of divine Love! It is without preferences and without
repulsions. It streams out towards all in a generous flow
and never takes back its marvellous gifts!”
Her arms outstretched in a gesture of ecstasy, the Eter-
nal Mother pours upon the world the unceasing dew of
Her purest love!
24 September 1917
| Audio currently | unavailable |
Tokio:
THOU hast subjected me to a hard discipline; rung after
rung, I have climbed the ladder which leads to Thee and,
at the summit of the ascent, Thou hast made me taste
the perfect joy of identity with Thee. Then, obedient to
Thy command, rung after rung, I have descended to outer
activities and external states of consciousness, re-entering
into contact with these worlds that I left to discover Thee.
And now that I have come back to the bottom of the
ladder, all is so dull, so mediocre, so neutral, in me and
around me, that I understand no more. . . .
What is it then that Thou awaitest from me, and to
what use that slow long preparation, if all is to end in
a result to which the majority of human beings attain
without being subjected to any discipline?
How is it possible that having seen all that I have seen,
experienced all that I have experienced, after I have been
led up even to the most sacred sanctuary of Thy knowl-
edge and communion with Thee, Thou hast made of me
so utterly common an instrument in such ordinary cir-
cumstances? In truth, O Lord, Thy ends are unfathomable
and pass my understanding. . . .
Why, when Thou hast placed in my heart the pure
diamond of Thy perfect Felicity, sufferest Thou its sur-
face to reflect the shadows which come from outside and
so leave unsuspected and, it would seem, ineffective the
treasure of Peace Thou hast granted me? Truly all this is
a mystery and confounds my understanding.
Why, when Thou hast given me this great inner si-
lence, sufferest Thou the tongue to be so active and the
thought to be occupied with things so futile? Why? . . . I
could go on questioning indefinitely and, to all likelihood,
always in vain. . . .
I have only to bow to Thy decree and accept my
condition without uttering a word.
I am now only a spectator who watches the dragon of
the world unrolling its coils without end.
15 October 1917
| Audio currently | unavailable |
I HAVE cried to Thee in my despair, O Lord, and Thou
hast answered my call.
I have no right to complain of the circumstances of
my existence; are they not consonant with what I am?
Because Thou ledst me to the threshold of Thy splen-
dour and gavest me the joy of Thy harmony, I thought I
had reached the goal: but, in truth, Thou hast regarded
Thy instrument in the perfect clarity of Thy light and
plunged it back into the crucible of the world that it may
be melted anew and purified.
In these hours of an extreme and anguished aspiration
I see, I feel myself drawn by Thee with a dizzy rapidity
along the road of transformation and my whole being
vibrates to a conscious contact with the Infinite.
It is so that Thou givest me patience and the strength
to surmount this new ordeal.
25 November 1917
| Audio currently | unavailable |
O LORD, because in an hour of cruel distress I said
in the sincerity of my faith: “Thy Will be done”, Thou
camest garbed in Thy raiment of glory. At Thy feet I pros-
trated myself, on Thy breast I found my refuge. Thou hast
filled my being with Thy divine light and flooded it with
Thy bliss. Thou hast reaffirmed Thy alliance and assured
me of Thy constant presence. Thou art the sure friend
who never fails, the Power, the Support, the Guide. Thou
art the Light which scatters darkness, the Conqueror who
assures the victory. Since Thou art there, all has become
clear. Agni is rekindled in my fortified heart, and his
splendour shines out and sets aglow the atmosphere and
purifies it. . . .
My love for Thee, compressed so long, has leaped
forth again, powerful, sovereign, irresistible — increased
tenfold by the ordeal it has undergone. It has found
strength in its seclusion, the strength to emerge to the
surface of the being, impose itself as master on the en-
tire consciousness, absorb everything in its overflowing
stream. . . .
Thou hast said to me: “I have returned to leave thee
no more.”
And, my forehead on the soil, I have received Thy
promise.
Year: 1918
12 July 1918
| Audio currently | unavailable |
(Taken lines only marked by Sri Aurobindo)
SUDDENLY, before Thee, all my pride fell. I under-
stood how futile it was in Thy Presence to wish to sur-
mount oneself, and I wept, wept abundantly and without
constraint the sweetest tears of my life. . . . Ah yes, how
refreshing, how calm and sweet were those tears I shed
before Thee without shame or constraint! Was it not like
a child in its father’s arms? But what a Father! What
sublimity, what magnificence, what immensity of compre-
hension! And what a power and plenitude in the response!
Yes, my tears were like holy dew. Was it because it was
not for my own sorrow that I wept? *Tears sweet and
beneficent, tears that opened my heart without constraint
before Thee and melted in one miraculous moment all the
remaining obstacles that could separate me from Thee!
And now, although I weep no longer, I feel so near,
so near to Thee that my whole being quivers with joy.
Let me stammer out my homage:
I have cried too with the joy of a child, “O supreme
and only Confidant, Thou who knowest beforehand all
we can say to Thee because Thou art its source!
“O supreme and only Friend, Thou who acceptest,
Thou who lovest, Thou who understandest us just as we
are, because it is Thyself who hast so made us!
“O supreme and only Guide, Thou who never gain-
sayest our highest will because it is Thou Thyself who
willest in it!
“It would be folly to seek elsewhere than in Thee for
one who will listen, understand, love and guide, since
always Thou art there ready to our call and never wilt
Thou fail us!
“Thou hast made me know the supreme, the sublime
joy of a perfect confidence, an absolute serenity, a sur-
render total and without reserve or colouring, free from
effort or constraint.
Joyous like a child I have smiled and wept at once
before Thee, O my Well-Beloved!”
Year: 1919
3 September 1919
| Audio currently | unavailable |
SINCE the man refused the meal I had prepared with
so much love and care, I invoked the God to take it.
My God, Thou hast accepted my invitation, Thou hast
come to sit at my table, and in exchange for my poor and
humble offering Thou hast granted to me the last libera-
tion. My heart, even this morning so heavy with anguish
and care, my head surcharged with responsibility, are
delivered of their burden. Now are they light and joyful
as my inner being has been for a long time past. My body
smiles to Thee with happiness as before my soul smiled to
Thee. And surely hereafter Thou wilt withdraw no more
from me this joy, O my God! for this time, I think, the
lesson has been sufficient, I have mounted the Calvary of
successive disillusionments high enough to attain to the
Resurrection. Nothing remains of the past but a potent
love which gives me the pure heart of a child and the
lightness and freedom of thought of a god.
Year: 1920
22 June 1920
| Audio currently | unavailable |
Pondicherry.
AFTER granting me the joy which surpasses all expres-
sion, Thou hast sent me, O my beloved Lord, the struggle,
the ordeal and on this too I have smiled as on one of Thy
precious messengers. Before, I dreaded the conflict, for it
hurt in me the love of harmony and peace. But now, O
my God, I welcome it with gladness: it is one among the
forms of Thy action, one of the best means for bringing
back to light some elements of the work which might oth-
erwise have been forgotten, and it carries with it a sense
of amplitude, of complexity, of power. And even as I have
seen Thee, resplendent, exciting the conflict, so also it is
Thou whom I see unravelling the entanglement of events
and jarring tendencies and winning in the end the victory
over all that strives to veil Thy light and Thy power:
for out of the struggle it is a more perfect realisation of
Thyself that must arise.
Year: 1931
24 November 1931
| Listen | Prayer |
Voice by: Dona
O MY Lord, my sweet Master, for the accomplishment
of Thy work I have sunk down into the unfathomable
depths of Matter, I have touched with my finger the horror
of the falsehood and the inconscience, I have reached
the seat of oblivion and a supreme obscurity. But in my
heart was the Remembrance, from my heart there leaped
the call which could arrive to Thee: “Lord, Lord, ev-
erywhere Thy enemies appear triumphant; falsehood is
the monarch of the world; life without Thee is a death,
a perpetual hell; doubt has usurped the place of Hope
and revolt has pushed out Submission; Faith is spent,
Gratitude is not born; blind passions and murderous in-
stincts and a guilty weakness have covered and stifled Thy
sweet law of love. Lord, wilt Thou permit Thy enemies to
prevail, falsehood and ugliness and suffering to triumph?
Lord, give the command to conquer and victory will be
there. I know we are unworthy, I know the world is not
yet ready. But I cry to Thee with an absolute faith in Thy
Grace and I know that Thy Grace will save.”
Thus, my prayer rushed up towards Thee; and, from
the depths of the abyss, I beheld Thee in Thy radiant
splendour; Thou didst appear and Thou saidst to me:
“Lose not courage, be firm, be confident, — I COME.”
Year: 1937
23 October 1937
| Audio currently | unavailable |