The Winds of Wonder

She has come

Divine Ananda: Abundant, succulent, nourishing, full of vigour. — The Mother

(Mother reads to the disciples an excerpt from Sri Aurobindo’s THE MOTHER, in which he describes the different aspects of the Creative Power—what is India is called the ‘Shakti,’ or the ‘Mother’—which have presided over universal evolution.)

‘…There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother, but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realization,—most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda¹ which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda that holds the key of a wonderful divines Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe.’

Sri Aurobindo, The Mother

(A disciple:) Sweet Mother, what is this Personality and when will It manifest?

My answer is ready.

I knew you would ask me this question because it is indeed the most interesting thing in the whole passage—so my answer is ready, along with my answer to another question. But first let me read you this one.

You asked, ‘What is this Personality and when will She come?’ Here is my answer (Mother reads):

‘She has come, bringing with Her a splendour of power and love, an intensity of divine joy heretofore unknown to the Earth. The physical atmosphere has been completely changed by her descent, permeated with new and marvellous possibilities.

But if She is ever to reside and act here, She has to find at least a minimal receptivity, at least one human being with the required vital and physical qualities, a kind of super-Parsifal gifted with an innate and integral purity, yet possessing at the same time a body strong enough and poised enough to bear unwaveringly the intensity of the Ananda She brings.

Thus far, She has not found what is needed. Men remain obstinately men and do not want to or are unable to become supermen. All they can receive and express is a love at their own dimension: a human love—whereas the supreme bliss of divine Ananda eludes their perception.

At times, finding the world unready to receive Her, She contemplates withdrawing. But how cruel a loss this would be!

It is true that at present, her presence is more rhetorical than factual, since so far She has had no chance to manifest. Yet even so, She is a powerful instrument in the Work, for of all the Mother’s aspects, She holds the greatest power to transform the body. Indeed, those cells which can vibrate at the touch of the divine Joy, receive it and bear it, are cells reborn, on their way to becoming immortal.

But the vibrations of divine Bliss and those of pleasure cannot cohabit in the same vital and physical house. We must therefore TOTALLY renounce all feelings of pleasure to be ready to receive the divine Ananda. But rare are those who can renounce pleasure without thereby renouncing all active participation in life or sinking into a stern asceticism. And among those who realize that the transformation is to be wrought in active life, some pretend that pleasure is a form of Ananda gone more or less astray and legitimize their search for self-satisfaction, thereby creating a virtually insuperable obstacle to their own transformation.’

Now, if there is anything else you wish to ask me… Anyone may ask, anyone—anyone who has something to say—not just the students.

Mother, even if we have not previously succeeded, can’t we still try?

What? (the disciple repeats his question) Oh! You can always try!

The world is recreated from minute to minute. If you knew how—I mean if you could change your nature—you could recreate a new world this very minute!

I didn’t say She HAD gone. I said She was CONTEMPLATING it … at times, now and then.

But Mother, if She came down, She must have seen a possibility!

She came down because there WAS a possibility—because things had reached such a stage that it was her hour to come down. But in truth, She came down because … because I thought it was possible for her to succeed.

Possibilities are still there—only they have to materialise.

This is borne out by the fact that her descent took place at a given moment and for two or three weeks the atmosphere—not only of the Ashram but of the Earth—was so highly charged with such a power of such an intense divine Bliss creating so marvelous a force that things difficult to do before could be done almost instantly.

There were repercussions the world over. But I don’t believe that a single one of you noticed it … you cannot even tell me when it happened, can you?

When did it happen?

I don’t know dates. I don’t know, I never remember dates. I can only tell you this … that it happened before Sri Aurobindo left his body, that he was told about it beforehand and that he … well, he acknowledged the fact.

But there was a formidable battle with the Inconscient, for when I saw that the level of receptivity was not what it should have been, I blamed the Inconscient … and tried to wage the battle there.

I don’t say it was ineffectual, but between the result obtained and the result hoped for, there was a considerable difference. But as I said, you who are all so near, so steeped in this atmosphere … who among you noticed anything?—You simply went on with your little lives as usual.

I think it was in 1946, Mother, because you told us so many things at that time.

Right.

https://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/25-august-1954