The Winds of Wonder

The Mother about Paul Richard — Two

The Arya began in June 1914, and the first issue was scheduled to come out on August 15, Sri Aurobindo’s birthday; and the war broke out before the first issue appeared—on August 3, I believe—a very interesting point. June 21 was Paul Richard’s birthday, so on that day we announced the coming publication of the Arya and that the first issue would appear on August 15. Between June 21 and August 15, the war broke out. But since everything was ready we went ahead and published it.

… The Arya was bilingual, one part in French and one in English, but it was one and the same magazine published here in Pondicherry. There was never any question of publishing anything in France; this is incorrect, entirely false—a myth. Besides, it was I who translated the English into French, and rather poorly at that!

I have noticed that as soon as one speaks of Richard one is unwittingly led to tell lies. That’s why I am so terribly careful to avoid the subject.

The first issue began with The Wherefore of the Worlds, Le pourquoi des mondes, (the English following the French), and in it Richard attributed the origin of the world to Desire. They were in perpetual disagreement on this subject, Richard saying, ‘It is Desire,’ and Sri Aurobindo, ‘The initial force of the Manifestation is Joy.’ Then Richard would say, ‘God DESIRED to know Himself,’ and Sri Aurobindo, ‘No, God had the Joy of knowing Himself.’ And it went on and on like that!

When Richard went to Japan, he sent his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo, including The Wherefore of the Worlds and The Eternal Wisdom, and Sri Aurobindo continued to translate them into English.

Frankly, it was a relief for Sri Aurobindo when we left; he even wrote to someone or other (but in a totally superficial way) that Richard’s departure was a great relief for him.

When we returned to France, Richard got himself declared unfit for military service on health grounds—a yogic heart ailment! But life in France was impossible; and my presence there was dangerous because monstrous things were going on, monstrous; as Sri Aurobindo said, my sitting at home all alone was generating revolutions—armies were revolting. I saw that happening and I didn’t want the Germans to win, which would have been even worse, so I said, ‘I had better go.’ Then Richard managed to have himself sent to Japan on business (an admirable feat!), representing certain companies. People didn’t want to travel because it was dangerous—you risked being sunk to the bottom of the sea; so they were pleased when we offered and sent us to Japan.

Once there (this would also make a great novel), Richard continued writing and sending his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo. Finally, when the Peace Treaty was signed and it was possible to travel, the English said that if we tried to return to India they would throw us in jail! But it all worked out miraculously, almost becoming a ‘diplomatic incident’: the Japanese government decided that if we were put in prison they would protest to the British government! (What a story—I could write novels!) In short, Richard returned here with me. And that’s when the tragi-comedy began….

I will tell you about it one day—fantastic!

It was certainly Sri Aurobindo’s power that made Richard decide to leave. For twelve years I had been Richard’s ‘guru’ (that’s where our relationship stood), but I hadn’t succeeded in converting him, and when we came back here I said, ‘I’m through with it. I’ve tried and I’ve failed. I’ve failed completely. Ask Sri Aurobindo.’ When Sri Aurobindo took him in hand, that was another story…. He couldn’t take it—he left.

But the whole affair was diabolic, you know; it had turned into something fantastic.

Finally he left.

This man clearly led a rather loose life. Right after he left here he spent some time in the Himalayas and became a Sannyasi. Then he went to France and from France to England. In England he married again—bigamy! I didn’t care, of course (the less he showed up in my life, the better), but he was in a fix! One day I suddenly received some official letters from a lawyer telling me I had ‘initiated divorce proceedings against Richard.’ it seems I had a lawyer over there! A lawyer I had never asked for, whose name I didn’t know, a lawyer I didn’t even know existed—‘my lawyer’! The trial was taking place at Nice, and ‘I’ was accusing Richard of abandoning me without any means of support! (That was nothing new—I had paid all the expenses from the first day we met! But anyway….) Naturally, he couldn’t plead that he was a bigamist; nor could he have me accuse him of being a bigamist, because it was true! So it seemed he hadn’t been paying my expenses; but then I wasn’t claiming anything from him in the case, no alimony—a little incoherent, all that…. After a few months I was finally informed that I was divorced, which was rather convenient for me as far as the bank was concerned. I had a marriage contract stipulating that our properties were separate; since I was the one with the money (he had nothing), I wanted to be free to do with it as I pleased. But the French were impossible in such matters: the woman was considered the minor party, so even if the money was the wife’s and not the husband’s, she couldn’t withdraw it without his authorization. I don’t know if it’s still like that, but in those days the husband always had to countersign—an annoying situation! I got around this in Japan (the banker there found the rule stupid and told me to ignore it), but the bank here can be a pain in the neck, so it was good to get this cleared up.

He remarried two or three more times. By now (I believe) he is the father of quite a large family, with grandchildren and perhaps great-grandchildren. He lives in America. Someone once told me he was dead, but I could sense that he wasn’t. Then, out of the blue, E. arrived, full of admiration, telling me she had met Richard and how stunningly he could preach to people….

He had quite a life, you know!

I don’t like to talk about these things, though—they don’t interest me. As Sri Aurobindo said, I lived my whole life absolutely free. I watched myself living through events like watching a movie. I had an inner vision, an inner will, and my inner reason for doing things was an Order received, an Order I was conscious of; but outwardly—fantastic!… Naturally—how else could it have been?

Here in Pondicherry, those last days might have become tragic (but of course it was impossible). There was the great argument (for he was perfectly aware of who I was): ‘But after all,’ he would tell me, ‘since you are the eternal Mother, why have you chosen Aurobindo as Avatar? Choose me! You must choose me—me!’ It was the Asura speaking through him. I would smile and not discuss it. ‘That’s not how it’s done!’ I would tell him (laughing). Then one day he said, ‘Ah, so you don’t want to…. (gesture to the throat) Well, if you don’t choose me, then….’ He was a strong fellow with powerful hands. I kept quite calm and said inwardly, My Lord, my Lord…. I called Sri Aurobindo and I saw him come, like that (gesture enveloping Mother and immobilizing everything). Then Richard’s hands loosened their grip.

There were marks on my neck.

A few days later, it was the same scene again. It was always the same scene…. Then he would take the furniture (it wasn’t ours, we had rented a furnished apartment) and start throwing it out the window into the courtyard!

A novel….

And you understand, it wasn’t the struggle of a man against a god, but the struggle of a god against a god. And when he was like that, he clearly had a formidable, formidable Power! He forced everybody to obey him—but it was Falsehood. And he preached an ascetic spirituality,⁷ you can’t imagine! He was incredibly convincing, but he couldn’t see a petticoat without…. Boys, girls, nothing got by him!

Fantastic.

He wrote ‘The Lord of Nations’…. And I saw him, oh! I saw this Lord of Nations. During the last war [World War II] I had some dealings with him again, but not through Richard—directly. The being who used to appear to Hitler was the Lord of Nations. An incredible story!… And I knew when they were going to meet (because after all, he’s my son!⁹ That was the funniest part of it); and on one occasion I substituted myself for him, became Hitler’s god and advised him to attack Russia. Two days later he attacked Russia. But upon leaving the ‘meeting’ I encountered the other one [the real Asura] just as he was arriving! He was furious and asked me why I had done that. ‘It’s none of your business,’ I said, ‘it’s what had to be done.’ ‘You will see,’ he replied, ‘I KNOW, I know you will destroy me, but before being destroyed I will wreak just as much havoc as I can, you can be sure of that.’

When I returned from my nocturnal promenades I would tell Sri Aurobindo about them.

What a life!… People don’t know what goes on. They know nothing—nothing. But it’s fantastic.

Occasionally some people were slightly conscious. For instance, during the last war I spent all my nights hovering above Paris (not integrally, but a part of myself) so that nothing would happen to the city. Later it came out that several people had seen what seemed to be a great white Force with an indistinct form hovering above Paris so that it wouldn’t be destroyed.

Throughout the war Sri Aurobindo and I were in such a CONSTANT tension that it completely interrupted the yoga. And that is why the war started in the first place—to stop the Work. At that time there was an extraordinary descent of the Supermind; it was coming like that (massive gesture), a descent! Exactly in ‘39. Then the war broke out and stopped everything cold. For had we personally continued [the work of transformation] we were not sure of having enough time to finish it before ‘the other one’ crushed the earth to a pulp, setting the whole Affair back… centuries. The FIRST thing to be done was stop the action of the Lord of Nations.

The Lord of Falsehood….

5 November 1961

https://incarnateword.in/agenda/02/november-5-1961/