Thematic Index of the Collected Works of the Mother
Thematic Index of the Collected Works of the Mother
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust
the problem of pain
| 02, p. 052-54 | “Since we are made up of an imperfect substance, we cannot but share in this imperfection.” Mother tells the cause of this imperfection from two points of view—general and individual. The general is the lack of receptivity of Matter to the more subtle forces which are to be manifested through it. From the individual point of view it is the illusion of a separate self which brings about two tendencies within ourselves. She describes these tendencies. |
| 08, p. 077 | “…the world is in a state of obscurity, suffering, misery…simply because it is not conscious of the Divine.” But that the Oneness exists, even if you feel just the opposite, is a fact you can do nothing about, for it is a divine action and a divine fact. The minute the individual consciousness is separated from the divine Consciousness, it enters the inconscience which is the cause of all its miseries. The conclusion is that the true transformation is the transformation of consciousness—all the rest will follow automatically. |
| 10, p. 075-80 | Commenting on an aphorism (“To hate the sinner is the worst sin, for it is hating God; yet he who commits it glorifies in his superior virtue.”) Mother answers the question, “What is the true attitude, the effective attitude in the face of evil?” |
| 11, p. 075-77 | “…it is said that always the good and the true triumph, but we see that often in life it is otherwise. The wicked win, seem somehow to be protected from suffering.” Mother answers this question. |
| 11, p. 199-200 | In the midst of describing her recent transformative experiences Mother declares that what we call evil, “has its indispensable place in the whole. It will not be felt as evil the moment one becomes conscious of That—necessarily. Evil is this infinitesimal element looking at its infinitesimal consciousness; but as consciousness is essentially one, it resumes, regains the Consciousness of the Unity.” |
| 05, p. 071-73 | Separation from the origin meant inconscience (pain and suffering) but was essential for the process of individualisation which was the Divine Will. These pages elaborate on this process and tell that the remedy is at the very core of the evil—it is for all the millions of scattered individuals to become conscious again by finding the truth that is within them. |
| 05, p. 203 | As men do not know and do the organising around the psychic they go through life experiencing blows, pains and suffering. They suffer, cry, groan but it is simply because they have not done that little work. If you learn to do it when young you go through life with true reactions and you learn and progress instead of suffering. You can go through life gloriously and become all-powerful masters of your destiny. (also under: 1.3.4.b) |
| 06, p. 146b | In the context of yoga pain and suffering (which result from repeating a mistake over and over) comes and will increase until it is sufficiently great to impose a total sincerity. It is not a recommended way but in the intensity of suffering one can find the will for sincerity. |
| 06, p. 323-25 | “It is very difficult to be sincere. That is why blows and difficulties multiply and sometimes become terrible because that is the only thing which breaks your stupidity. This is the justification of calamities.” “How many blows are needed in life for one to know to the very depths that one is nothing, that one can do nothing, that one does not exist, that one is nothing, that there is no entity without the divine Consciousness and the Grace.” But there is a big difference between the way you feel when a blow comes from living in the ordinary consciousness and when one comes because you have sincerely aspired for the Grace to help you to change something in yourself that needs changing. |
| 07, p. 381-84 | Mother comments on Sri Aurobindo’s statement: “The divine working is not the working which the egoistic mind desires or approves; for it uses error to arrive at truth, suffering in order to arrive at bliss, imperfection in order to arrive at perfection.” The ordinary mind demands miracles in order to have faith in the divine working but it is possible to enter another state of consciousness and see that everywhere and always there is a miracle. The more faith one has in the miracle and the Grace, the more capable one becomes of seeing it, or perceiving it constantly where it is. |
| 08, p. 083-85 | You are always under the illusion that pain belongs to you. It is not true. It is something thrust upon you. The same event could occur without throwing the shadow of pain on you. It depends on whether you identify with the negative things you wish to eliminate or with the positive Grace that is eliminating the unwanted movements. If you are identified with the sources below you suffer, if with the forces from above, you are happy—not the happiness of pleasure. (also under: 2.4.a, 4.3.2.h) |
| 08, p. 096-97 | Usually it is a flight from the miseries of life that pushes you towards the spiritual life. Very few people would think of the Divine if they were in a state of perfect inner and outer harmony and nothing unpleasant or painful happened to them. The negative experiences of pain and sorrow and difficulties and disappointments awaken an aspiration for something better. The positive need to know the Divine and unite with him usually comes much later. |
| 09, p. 040-42 | A general discussion of the subject as Mother comments on a passage from Thoughts and Glimpses by Sri Aurobindo. Pleasure vapourises us; it deceives us, leads us astray. To seek it is to miss out on the real purpose of our life. Pain brings us back to a deeper truth by obliging us to concentrate…. It is in pain one most easily finds true strength and true faith. Mother also tells the secret of the way to pass beyond suffering to the eternal rapture of divine life. (also under: 2.4.a) |
| 09, p. 072-74, 75 | Mother comments on a long passage from Sri Aurobindo about how great destructions and holocausts are the crucible for a larger and greater creation. Mother tells that the nature of the mass of humanity requires such terrible experiences but that this can change if a few have the courage to face the fire of inner purification. If man would only consent to be spiritualised…. (see also page 78) but he loves his imperfection. |
| 10, p. 048-52 | These pages have several aphorisms and Mother’s comments on the meaning of pain and suffering. Basically the messages are that the Divine’s ultimate good works through suffering too and that it is only perceived as suffering when one is in a lower consciousness. |
| 10, p. 055-57 | It is certain that a life of failure and defeat is just as useful to the soul’s growth as the experience of success and victory and more useful than the experience of an uneventful life. One must not despair over events. It is not really the events that are the problem but a lack of faith; and despair, a sign of weakness and tamas, is an adverse force working against the sadhana. (also under: 4.2.3.d) |
| 10, p. 057, 58 | Commenting on the aphorism “O Thou that lovest, strike! If Thou strike me not now, I shall know that Thou lovest me not.” Mother says that all who aspire for the divine perfection know that the blows which the Lord deals us in His infinite love and grace are the surest and quickest way to make us progress. |
| 10, p. 106-09, 113 | Here Mother comments on aphorisms about sin, what it is and why it has been necessary. She also tells about cruelty. |
| 10, p. 166-70 | First there are several aphorisms about why there is death, cruelty, ignorance and error. Mother comments. The opposition and contraries are a stimulus to progress and are the quickest and most effective means to bring creation out of its inertia. |
| 10, p. 170-72 | “Pain is the touch of our Mother teaching us how to grow and bear in rapture. She has three stages of her schooling, endurance first, next equality of soul, last ecstasy.” Mother comments on this aphorism and talks especially about physical pain. |
| 10, p. 246 | Several aphorisms deal with the subject. One is “When thou art able to see how necessary is suffering to final delight, failure to utter effectiveness and retardation to the last rapidity, then thou mayst begin to understand something, however faintly and dimly, of God’s workings.” In another he says that only when one is purified of egoism can one penetrate this secret. There is no ineffugable law that a given contact shall create pain or pleasure. Brief comments by the Mother. |
| 10, p. 247 | “There is no iron or ineffugable law that a given contact shall create pain or pleasure; it is the way the soul meets the rush or pressure of Brahman upon the members from outside them that determines either reaction.” Mother briefly comments on this aphorism. |
| 11, p. 041-44 | An excellent discussion that answers the questions “Why is there suffering? How to cure suffering?” Mother here speaks mainly of physical suffering because “all the other sufferings—vital, mental, emotional sufferings are due to a wrong working of the mind and can be classified together as Falsehood.” |
| 11, p. 108-10, 111-12 | Mother discusses how if the Divine is all-delight why we do not feel the delight of the Divine but evil and good. On page 111 she tells how “the tendency is to put up the two poles: the pleasant thing, the good thing, and the unpleasant thing, the bad thing. But as soon as you seek to return to the Origin, the two tend to fuse into each other.” |
| 11, p. 209 | Mother refers to Sri Aurobindo’s aphorism: “The sense of sin was necessary in order that man might become disgusted with his own imperfections. It was God’s corrective for egoism. But man’s egoism met God’s device by being very dully alive to its own sins and very keenly alive to the sins of others.” Mother tells that the remedy is to perfect oneself which can be done no matter what are the circumstances so one must never blame them or other people. |
| 15, p. 359-60 | Mother tells about the cause of suffering and how there are two distinct categories of suffering which in practice are very often mixed, one which is egoistic and one which comes from compassion for the world’s misery. |
| 05, p. 266-67 | Progress both for man and for the world often requires battles and wars against the things that resist change. Nature has formidable forces at her disposal and what we know is only what is happening on earth. The universal forces last almost eternally in an immensity to which the human dimensions and movements are as the swarming ant-world to us. You must not judge by the measure of the human consciousness. A Nordic legend is told which gives a sense of the vastness: two titans have a very short conversation by their standard of time which lasts thousands of years by earth time. (also under: 1.3.4.a) |
| 05, p. 270-71 | Discussion of the amount of resistance (all that refuses to progress) in relation to the amount of receptivity. We are all in a tremendous sea of vibrations and not aware of it because we are not receptive. And there is such resistance in us that when something does succeed in entering, three-quarters of it is thrown out violently because we are not able to contain it. Consciousness, Light, Understanding, Force, Love and all the rest is wasted upon Earth because the Earth is not ready to take it. One must become open and simply breathe. |
| 06, p. 157fn-158 | Sri Aurobindo wrote that one of the “three fundamental obstacles” which stand in the way of transformation is Egoism—the mind clinging to its own ideas, the vital preferring its own desires to a true surrender, the physical adhering to its own habits. Elaboration given. |
| 06, p. 446 | “those who have the greatest power for Yoga…have too, very often …the greatest imperfections.” – Sri Aurobindo (Bases of Yoga) Mother explains that it is like this because one must have a strong, powerful nature, with great inner strength in order to have a great capacity for yoga; and very strong natures have also very strong difficulties. |
| 07, p. 298-99 | Mother tells here how everything that brings down the consciousness is an obstacle to progress and then she gives a very long list of examples that illustrate. The discussion began in response to the question of value of film songs and Mother said that cultivating vulgarity in oneself is an obstacle to progress. |
| 07, p. 420-21 | Mother says more here about the shadow—the difficulty that in each one must be conquered: “When you represent the possibility of a victory, you always have within you the thing contrary to this victory, which is your perpetual trouble. Each one has his own difficulty…And when you see a very black shadow somewhere, very black, something that’s truly painful…you can be sure that you have in you the possibility of the corresponding light.” Mother gives examples—the coward who must represent fearlessness and courage, and one who must become good, full of compassion and generosity is somewhere in his being sharp, sour and even bad. |
| 08, p. 200-04 | A good discussion of the difficulties that one must overcome by the mere fact of having an animal conception and birth and an atavism imposed upon one by the circumstances of one’s environment and one’s parents, much of which is an obstacle to progress and must be overcome even in the best of cases. Mother gives examples and also tells how better conditions could be provided by the parents if they have the knowledge and aspiration so that the incoming soul could have fewer physical difficulties to struggle against and overcome. She also talks about how the soul progresses over thousands of lives until it becomes capable of selecting the earthly conditions and environment that it wants to have. |
| 08, p. 209-10b | “As soon as you want to progress, you immediately meet the resistance of everything that does not want to progress both in you and around you. And this resistance naturally expresses itself in all the thoughts that correspond to it.” Your occupations and affinities will put you almost contradictorily into contact with ideas that are the opposite of your way of being. Mother illustrates with the example of wanting to make a progress regarding attachment to food. Mother tells how to deal with the difficulty by rising to a higher level than the level of the thoughts at which time the things, whatever they are, can be put in their right place—which is not a very big place in the universe. |
| 08, p. 296 | Here Mother talks about the reasons why people don’t practise and make the effort required for change. |
| 09, p. 027 | This is a quotation of Sri Aurobindo from Thoughts and Glimpses which spells out how man is kept in his present condition by his love for the chains which bind him. |
| 09, p. 166-69 | Mother talks here about the two points in the human consciousness (both collective and individual) which resist most strongly—all that has to do with politics and all that has to do with money. |
| 09, p. 174 | Here is one short paragraph of explanation that both individually and collectively “every time one wants to realize something, the first difficulty one meets is the opposition of all that was inactive before and now rises up to resist…the difficulty you wish to conquer immediately increases tenfold in importance and intensity in your consciousness.” The remedy is to persevere for it will then pass. |
| 09, p. 306-07 | Mother talks here about making a mistake through ignorance and about making the same mistake consciously which is more serious because it indicates insincerity which is always an open door for the adversary. Light can cure the ignorance. Cauterisation is necessary to cure conscious relapse. |
| 09, p. 420-21a | Mother first describes how the spiritual force acts to begin the awakening of one’s consciousness which one experiences as an aspiration and opening to something higher and truer than the mental consciousness. She next briefly talks about the infinite Grace at work to bring the world out of its misery and about resistance to change. “Everyone can gauge, from the resistance he meets in his own being, the tremendous resistance which the world opposes to the work of the Grace.” |
| 10, p. 034-35 | Mother tells how it is that people continue to err even after they have seen what must be changed. To give the excuse that, “Oh human nature is like this. Oh we are in the inconscience…the ignorance — is laziness and weakness and behind the laziness and weakness there is a huge bad will.” ... “To put into practice the little you know is the best way to learn more; it is the most powerful means of advancing on the way—a little bit of really sincere practice.” Mother tells why people complain about their disabilities and continue to repeat mistakes rather than building up the will and vigilance and conquering them. (also under: 4.3.2) |
| 10, p. 066 | “If someone needs a contradiction, an inner opposition to intensify his aspiration and effort, the Lord, in His infinite Grace, even while drawing this being upward and giving him the power to rise, will at the same time hold him down to create in him the resistance needed to intensify his aspiration and effort.” |
| 10, p. 113 | Aphorism 69: “Sin and virtue are a game of resistance we play with God in His efforts to draw us towards perfection. The sense of virtue helps us to cherish our sins in secret.” |
| 10, p. 172-74 | Commenting on an aphorism about renunciation, Mother explains how the feeling of renunciation is really resistance to change. She speaks of the time when she herself experienced maximum resistance. As the being progresses the power of dissolution of the resistance increases. |
| 10, p. 232-35 | Mother describes how the power of the divine meets resistances of the inertia that is in every consciousness and in Matter. It is the resistance that causes all the catastrophes. When the Grace is accepted it comes to moderate the results wherever possible which explains why aspiration, faith and trust on the part of earthly human elements has a great harmonising power. |
| 11, p. 175 | “Sri Aurobindo was always saying: the confusion becomes all the more intense and dark at the time the light is about to dawn…a dark chaos.” |
| 11, p. 309-12 | Mother describes how “Ordinary human nature is such that it prefers defeat through its own will to victory gained otherwise.” She tells the source of the resistance and how to deal with it and the difficulties produced by it. This is told in the context of the work of transformation of the body that she was doing in 1972. (also under: 4.7.3.e) |
| 14, p. 234-50 | These pages have many short passages in which Mother tells the cause and utility of difficulties and gives guidance about how to deal with them when they arise. “The difficulties are always due to a resistance, some part or several parts of the being refusing to receive the force, the consciousness and the light put upon them….” |
| 16, p. 087 | Cultivate a trusting and patient attitude. A sadhak writes, You keep promising me beautiful things and I keep resisting them. How then can I ever be happy? Mother replies, “You must not worry—it does not help towards the realisation of the promises; and also you must be patient. In this material world, things take time to get realised.” (also under: 4.6.a) |
| 16, p. 137 | To a sadhak experiencing great resistance to change, Mother responds, “You are right to tell me…it helps you to open yourself. I know it is troublesome to feel this resistance in yourself; but persist in your will to overcome it and it will suddenly give way.” |
| 16, p. 246 | “One clings to one’s [defects and] vices as one clings to a part of one’s body, and pulling out a bad habit hurts as much as pulling out a tooth. That is why one does not progress.” Mother gives the remedy which is to make an offering of one’s defects, vices and bad habits. Then one has the joy of offering and receives in exchange the force to replace what has been given by a better, truer vibration. “If one generously makes an offering of one’s defect, vice or bad habit, then one has the joy of making an offering and one receives in exchange the force to replace what has been given, by a better and truer vibration.” (also under: 4.3.2.g, 5.4) |
| 16, p. 284b | “One is aware of one’s difficulties only insofar as one can change them and at the moment when one can make the change.” (also under: 4.3.1) |
| 16, p. 307 | An example of what it means to effect change by means of consciousness: How to get rid of the black cloud of jealousy? “By widening one’s consciousness and making it universal.” A more difficult way is “by realising the supreme Unity”. (also under: 4.3.1) |
| 16, p. 388 | “It [the reason man does not accept the Divine] is undoubtedly out of ignorance and fear of what he doesn’t know. It is only the Asuras and a few great hostile beings who refuse and oppose the Divine even though they know who He is.” (also under: 4.2.3) |
| 17, p. 085 | “It is impossible to overcome a difficulty if the consciousness gets lowered. On the contrary, in order to overcome difficulties, the consciousness must strive to rise above the ordinary level.” (also under: 4.3.1) |
| 03, p. 036-37 | About the role of death in the evolution – the usefulness of death in Nature. How the time has come to change this ages-old formation. |
| 09, p. 033-36 | Commenting on a passage about the necessity for death from Thoughts and Glimpses, Mother elaborates on why death has been necessary and how now perhaps the game can be changed with the help of the new Force which has descended. |
| 12, p. 341-348 | These pages show how Mother worked with a group of students to help them understand what physical death is and what is the process of transformation. (also under: 4.7.3.d, 6.1) |
| 07, p. 023-24 | Suicide is not only an act of cowardice but means that one will have to make the required progress in another life under only more difficult conditions. Also, unless one is in a psychic consciousness, when one dies one enters the vital world with all its passions and troubles—one also goes to this world when having a nightmare but can return to the body by suddenly awakening. In suicide the body is no longer there to return to for protection. |
| 03, p. 033-34 | When the adverse forces attack try to keep as quiet as possible and “push them away as you would some material object”. “Attacks of adverse forces are inevitable: you have to take them as tests on your way...” Have true confidence in the divine help. |
| 03, p. 066-67 | The hostile forces are necessary to make sure that nothing is forgotten in the work of transformation. Their action is like a testing process, they make you painfully aware that you had forgotten something. When no longer necessary these forces will either change or go. Rather than rushing about in agitated action moved by these forces, become one who is able to “stand outside the action in silence, for it is they who are the instruments of the Divine Power...they bring down the forces that change the world.” |
| 05, p. 147-48 | Asking why ill-will is there is more or less useless. The first fact is that it is that way, the second fact is that one doesn't want it and the third is to find the means that it may no longer exist. |
| 05, p. 161 | The money power is at present in the clutch of hostile beings and forces of the vital world and is one of the principal means by which they keep their grip upon the earth. |
| 06, p. 049-51 | About the relationship between adverse forces and fear. It is always something dark and unconscious that is afraid. The best remedy for conquering fear is to face boldly what one fears—story told of ancient initiations. Through fear the adverse forces have their strongest hold on human beings. (also under: 4.2.3.c) |
| 06, p. 169-74 | The earth is full of adverse forces and of people who respond to them—usually the more one realises the Divine, the more enemies one has around himself. The adverse forces attack with as much strength as they have those who could compel them to lose their power. Discussion follows of the light in the Asura, the four original Asuras two of which have been converted, and about how they now exert their influence through nations more than through individuals. Asuras try to get hold of the earth-atmosphere but to do it they have to get a hold of men. But if they take a human body themselves the psychic being is there. The contradiction of their existence is that no Asura can eternally resist the influence of the psychic being. |
| 06, p. 247-48 | People are open to receiving hostile forces because they give one the sense of being a very superior being, that one is truly remarkable and capable of seeing the faults of things that others don’t see. This happens most easily to ambitious people who want to have power, dominate others, want to be great masters or perform miracles or have extraordinary powers. When Mother has freed some of these people from the adverse force they are only happy for a short time and then call in another one because they do not like feeling powerless and ordinary. |
| 06, p. 434-37 | These pages are about how hostile beings can take possession of someone, the stages of the possession. Then follows a discussion of how some asuric beings attempt to become converted. Then Mother tells about the frequent cases of people being under the influence of adverse forces which can happen when people take to yoga without sufficient purification or with egoistic intentions, for reasons of ambition or vanity. Finally she talks about those cases where one has to fight constantly against a hostile influence that they experience because of some circumstance in their environment. These people can gain a great victory, if they rely on a force higher than their own, for they can help free the earth from the presence of hostile forces. |
| 06, p. 462 | “…the adverse forces—which of course are responsible for all difficulties—are tolerated in the world so far as they serve to make the world completely conscious. This indeed is true. But it is seems to me a very human way of putting it because it could be said that as long as the world is not perfectly conscious, this allows the existence of these forces.” Each of these two opposite ways of stating it contains something correct but neither is completely true. And if one wants to say the thing exactly, one can only say, “Things are like that because they are like that.” |
| 10, p. 080-82 | Mother comments on an aphorism (“When I hear of a righteous wrath, I wonder at man’s capacity for self-deception.”) She explains how anger, like every kind of violence, is a sign of weakness, impotence and incapacity and can only be something blind, ignorant and asuric. She tells how people deceive themselves in order to not see this in themselves. |
| 10, p. 120-23 | About the role of adverse forces and a way of working to transform them. First the aphorism: “Examine thyself without pity, then thou wilt be more charitable and pitiful to others.” Then Mother says: “Do not try to appear virtuous. See how much you are united…with everything that is anti-divine. Take your share of the burden… and offer it…give it all with total love.” To the extent one can do this things will change. (also under: 4.3.2) |
| 11, p. 258-60 | Mother describes a recent rush of adverse forces and falsehood and how it affected people and how one must deal with such a situation. |
| 15, p. 386 | “To tell the truth, you are never freed from hostile forces until you come out for good into the Light, above the lower hemisphere.” “The adverse forces know quite well that in the supramental world they will automatically disappear.” The link between the worlds is being built. |
| 15, p. 408-09 | Mother tells here her experience in 1962 of meeting the hostile asuric being who takes the form of Sri Aurobindo and is trying to create a new religion in the name of the supramental realisation. She tells how to recognise him so as to be on one’s guard. |
| 16, p. 187-89 | Mother tells three signs to recognize the action of an adverse force: “1st sign: One feels far away from Sri Aurobindo and me. 2nd: One loses confidence, begins to criticise, is not satisfied. 3rd: One revolts and sinks into falsehood.” Other short statements follow telling how to deal with these forces. |
| 16, p. 388 | “It [the reason man does not accept the Divine] is undoubtedly out of ignorance and fear of what he doesn’t know. It is only the Asuras and a few great hostile beings who refuse and oppose the Divine even though they know who He is.” (also under: 4.2.2) |
| 17, p. 033, 36, 59 | Brief guiding replies of Mother to one who wrote about being attacked. Page 36 has replies about dealing with adverse forces one contacts-receives from meeting people. And on p. 59: “The less importance one attaches to these dark periods, the sooner they are over.” |
| 05, p. 098-100 | There is a great difference between these beings of the vital plane and the human being which has a psychic being, the Divine Presence within and can choose to be converted. The adverse forces do not have a psychic being. They are made up entirely of personal self-assertion, despotic authority, separation from the Origin, and, of a great disdain for all that is pure, beautiful and noble. They do not want to change for they would lose all their power. Goodwill, purity and beauty are things that make them disappear. “The Lord of Nations” proclaims that he will cause as much destruction, ruin, corruption as possible before his inevitable downfall. |
| 05, p. 102-03 | Not noticing attacks of the adverse forces happens through unconsciousness, not being alert, not attentive when you are busy with the tiny external things of daily practical life. By the lack of vigilance they can enter without your notice. Most often they do not attack directly because you would feel uneasy and become attentive. They go down into the inconscient and come up quietly from below and comfortably instal themselves. You have to become more conscious so as to distinguish the various movements of the being and also become more sincere and vigilant. |
| 05, p. 117-19 | (a)” The beings of the vital world are powerful by their very nature; when to their power they add knowledge, they become doubly dangerous…you should avoid having any dealings with them unless you have the power to crush and destroy them.” They have great hypnotic power when they manifest on the physical plane. (b) Vital power is essential so it must not be deadened but must be converted. (c) It is through fear that they hold human beings. Several effective ways of combating fear are given. (also under: 4.2.3.c) |
| 05, p. 157-59 | These forces attack everyone without exception. They are necessary “in order to break down limits of mental constructions that prevent your opening to the Light and Truth.” They are very clever and do not always put on a look of wickedness, for you would immediately notice that and not let yourself be taken in; generally they come in the garb of a friend. If you are sincere you will soon notice some indications e.g. compliments that encourage your vanity or awaken doubts or make you unconscious of what is to be done or lead to self-satisfaction or to a sense of grandeur or the opposite sense of discouragement or worthlessness. The only safety is in having even the slightest, contact with your psychic being—to have felt the solidity of contact. Then whatever comes from a person or circumstance you place in front of that and see if it is all right or not. |
| 05, p. 234-36 | To do harm happens because the world at present is still under the influence of the adverse forces, particularly the vital force which is dynamic and generally makes you act. This adverse vital force has a will to spoil and destroy things instead of wishing that they grow and progress. It is the hatred of the divine Presence and the will to destroy etc. and one step more, the will to inflict suffering. Very few people escape this hold altogether. And if one gives way to it one is helped by an onrush of forces which were just waiting for the opportunity to manifest and which make you feel stronger when you do evil. One must become a hero to never do, think, or wish evil. |
| 07, p. 402-03 | It is with the Adversary that suffering came into the world. And it is only joy that can vanquish him definitively and totally—nothing else. At the moment the Adversary is necessary, as the touch-stone for gold: to know if it is pure. To deal with him you must go beyond him and ignore him in order to free yourself from his influence. And when you are liberated from his influence then the self-giving can be total and with the self-giving comes joy. If you are truly sincere the Adversary will leave you alone for he would be courting his own destruction. |
| 07, p. 406 | The world as it is today is in its greater part under the influence of the adverse forces…they oppose the divine life. They want things to remain as they are. We must tear away from them, bit by bit, all the things they have conquered in the outer life. One thing we must do is give up the old idea of an opposition between material life and spirituality which has left a clear field for the adverse forces. (also under: 1.2.3) |
| 15, p. 366 | Adverse forces act as examiners to test the sincerity of one’s spiritual seeking. In the spiritual domain everything is the Divine, nothing is Anti-Divine. |
| 05, p. 094-96 | Attacks from adverse forces are inevitable but by courageously struggling with them you gain and advance a step. They make your determination stronger, your aspiration clearer. When you are quiet and reject an adverse force does not mean that you have got rid of that small part within that allowed the attack to come. Example of depression given and an effective method given. (also under: 4.3.2.h) |
| 07, p. 016-20 | A good discussion about the adverse forces and a description of the correct practical attitude to take towards their existence and their action. These beings are not hostile to human beings, they are hostile to the divine Work. But they do take a wicked pleasure in testing human beings. Example is given of how one opens oneself to their influence through such things as boasting. The best thing is not to be occupied with observing oneself in either a critical or congratulatory way but to keep the mental activity exclusively occupied with one’s aim or work. |
| 16, p. 073-74 | “There are thieves in the subtle world just as in the outer world.” “It is when you are depressed that they are best able to rob you.” “You must not listen to them—you must reject the wicked suggestions ...” (also under: 4.3.2.h) |
| 16, p. 133 | Mother tells the importance of ignoring adverse suggestions of incapacity and failure when one passes through the normal alternations that occur on the path. “Certainly there are difficulties...but with perseverance the victory is sure.” |
| 05, p. 117-19 | (a)” The beings of the vital world are powerful by their very nature; when to their power they add knowledge, they become doubly dangerous…you should avoid having any dealings with them unless you have the power to crush and destroy them.” They have great hypnotic power when they manifest on the physical plane. (b) Vital power is essential so it must not be deadened but must be converted. (c) It is through fear that they hold human beings. Several effective ways of combating fear are given. (also under: 4.2.3.a) |
| 06, p. 049-51 | About the relationship between adverse forces and fear. It is always something dark and unconscious that is afraid. The best remedy for conquering fear is to face boldly what one fears—story told of ancient initiations. Through fear the adverse forces have their strongest hold on human beings. (also under: 4.2.3) |
| 12, p. 082-87 | “…perhaps the greatest obstacle in the way of man’s progress is fear….” Here Mother deals with “The Fear of Death and the Four Methods of Conquering It” |
| 06, p. 032-33 | How can depressions be controlled? Depression occurs generally in the vital. One must enter a deeper or higher consciousness. Even the higher mind, the most lofty luminous thoughts have the power to drive away depression. Then the two causes of depression are given and the remedies. Contact with the psychic reality will make the movement vanish instantly. (also under: 4.5.b) |
| 07, p. 010-11 | The right attitude for conquering difficulties is to keep one’s trust, remain quiet, remain courageous, not lose faith, not be impatient, not be depressed, remain peaceful with as much aspiration as one can have and not worry about what is happening, to have the certitude that this will pass and all will be well. Pages 10 and 11 are about depression, what it is (a weak revolt coupled with the wish to show one’s unhappiness) and how if one makes the necessary effort to come out of it some progress has been accomplished in spite of it—not swiftly or brilliantly but nevertheless something changed. |
| 10, p. 055-57 | It is certain that a life of failure and defeat is just as useful to the soul’s growth as the experience of success and victory and more useful than the experience of an uneventful life. One must not despair over events. It is not really the events that are the problem but a lack of faith; and despair, a sign of weakness and tamas, is an adverse force working against the sadhana. (also under: 4.2.1) |
| 11, p. 256-57 | Mother tells how a decisive victory over the adverse forces is seen as a definite possibility and that pessimism is the devil’s great weapon. |
| 15, p. 365 | Mother tells here the number one argument of the adverse forces who try to establish a divorce between earth and the Spirit. The adverse forces say that no matter how beautiful your inner experiences are, “on the outer plane your life is spoiled and wasted.” Anything that tends to separate the inner experience from the outer world is good for these forces. Mother repeats that it is the contrary that is true: “it is the inner realisation that is the key to the outer realisation”. (also under: 1.2.3) |
| 16, p. 069 | Attitude to take to the resistance each discovers in himself. In the face of great difficulties (which everyone has) such as discouragement, Mother assures, “You have only to remain confident and cheerful.” (also under: 4.3, 4.6.a) |
| 17, p. 017, 25 | What to do when depression comes? “Shake it off, as you shake off the dust from your feet.” And on p. 25, “Pay no attention to it and behave as if it were not there.” (also under: 4.5.b) |