WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

"Relation with the Consciousness"

... I was looking at this experience of the relation with the Consciousness, the All; this relation of the human being with the All; of the earth--the consciousness of the earth--with the All; of the consciousness of the manifested universe with the All; and of the consciousness that presides over the universe--over all the universes--with the All; and this inexpressible phenomenon that each point of consciousness--a point that does not occupy any space--each point of consciousness is capable of all experiences.... It is very difficult to express.

One could say that only limits make differences--differences in time, differences in space, differences in size, differences in power. It is only the limits. And as soon as the consciousness goes outside its limits at any point in the manifestation, whatever the dimension of this manifestation--yes, the dimension of this manifestation has absolutely no importance--at any point in the manifestation, if one goes outside the limits, it is the Consciousness.

From this standpoint one could say that it is the acceptance of limits that has made the manifestation possible. The possibility of manifestation came with the acceptance of the sense of limits.... It is impossible to express. Always, as soon as one begins to speak, one has the impression of something which does this (same gesture of reversal), a kind of tipping over, and it is finished, the essential thing has gone. Then the metaphysical [old p. 222]sense comes along and says, "One could put it like [new p. 220]this, one could put it like that...." To use words: every point contains the Consciousness of Infinity and Eternity--these are words, nothing but words. But the possibility of this experience is there. It is like stepping back out of space.... It might be amusing to say that even stone, even... oh, water certainly, fire certainly, has the power of Consciousness--the original--all the words that come are stupid--essential, primordial--all that means nothing--eternal, infinite Consciousness.... All this is meaningless, it gives me the impression of dust thrown on glass to prevent it from being transparent!... Finally, in conclusion, after having relived this experience--these last few days I have had it repeatedly, it reigned supreme, in spite of everything, work, activities, it ruled over everything--any attachment to any formula, even the ones that have stirred people through the ages, seems childish to me. And now it's only a matter of choice: you can choose whether it is like this or like that or like that; you can say this or this or that--amuse yourselves, my children... if it amuses you.

But it is certain--this is an observation for general use--it is certain that the human mind, in order to have the urge to act, needs to build a dwelling-place--more or less large, more or less complete, more or less flexible--but it needs a dwelling- place. Only (laughing) it is not that! That distorts everything!

And what is strange, what is strange, is that outwardly one goes on living automatically according to certain ways of life, which no longer even have the virtue of seeming necessary to you, which no longer even have the force of habit, and which are accepted and lived almost automatically, with a sense--a kind of feeling or sensation, but it is neither feeling nor sensation, it is a kind of very subtle perception--that Something, so immense that it is undefinable, wants it. I say "wants" it or I say "chooses" it, but it is "wills" it; it is a Will that does not function like the human will, but which wills it--which wills it or sees it or decides it. And in each thing there is this luminous, golden, [old p. 223]imperative vibration... which [new p. 221]is necessarily all-powerful. And it provides as a background the perfect well-being of certitude, which, a little lower down in the consciousness, expresses itself by a smile of benevolent amusement.

Collected Works of The Mother, First Edition, Volume 10, pp. 221-23