WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

Mother and Sri Aurobindo's books

Sweet Mother,

How should we read your books and the books of Sri Aurobindo so that they may enter into our consciousness instead of being understood only by the mind?

To read my books is not difficult because they are written in the simplest language, almost the spoken language. To get help from them, it is enough to read with attention and concentration and an attitude of inner good-will, with a desire to receive and live what is taught.

To read what Sri Aurobindo writes is more difficult because the expression is highly intellectual and the language far more literary and philosophic. The brain needs a preparation to really be able to understand and generally this preparation takes time, unless one is specially gifted with an innate intuitive faculty.

In any case, I always advise reading a little at a time, keeping the mind as quiet as one can, without making an effort to understand, but keeping the head as silent as possible and letting the force contained in what one reads enter deep inside. This force, received in calm and silence, will do its work of illumining and will create in the brain, if necessary, the cells required for understanding. Thus, when one re-reads the same thing some months later, one finds that the thought expressed has become much clearer and closer and even at times quite familiar.

It is preferable to read regularly, a little every day and at a fixed hour if possible; this facilitates the brain's receptivity.

2 November 1959

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Sweet Mother,

With what attitude should I read Sri Aurobindo's books when they are difficult and when I don't understand? Savitri, The Life Divine, for example.

Read a little at a time, read again and again until you have understood.

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