# Questions and Answers 1950-51 *Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.* --- > Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: The Mother, Questions and Answers 1950-51, bahai-library.com. > ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── > > The Mother > > BIR TH > February 21, 1878 > > ARRIVAL IN INDIA > March 29, 1914 > > MAHASAMAD'HI > November 17, 1973 > > . > CENTENARY > February 21, 1978 > > De luxe Volume 4 > > WORKS OF THE MOTHER • CENTENARY EDITION > indo Ashram Trust 1972. Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram > 1 India at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry 605 002 > THE MOTHER-April 1950 > Questions and Answers > > quite a commonplace materialist if he does not receive his in- 14 April 1951 > spiration from a higher state. It is the mind which makes little > categories, this is more convenient for it, but that does not re- > Mother reads a question asked during her talk > semble the truth very much. in 1929: > > You have said that Wagner had an intuition of the oc- > "ls not surrender the same as sacrifice ?" > cult and that to have spiritual power one must con- > Questions and Answers 1929 ( 4 August) > quer sexuality. In fact, Wagner had the intuition of > this victory to be achieved, for in "The Ring of the > Nibelungen" there is a treasure hidden at the bottom Who is going to answer ? What is the difference ? > of a river. Three nymphs guard the treasure and to > take it one must renounce all desire for love and Surrender comes spontaneously. > woman. > I congratulate those whose surrender is spontaneous ! It is not > This is an old tradition in Nordic countries. But in his story it so easy. No, that is not the difference. > ends badly: the one who had to renounce the love of woman > Sacrifice diminishes the being. > is drowned and it ends with the twilight of the gods. > That is true, but why ? One thing is so, so simple - it is the > ve.ry mea?ing of the word. To sacrifice means to give up some- > thmg to which one clings. To sacrifice one's life is to give up > one's life to which one clings; otherwise it would not be a sa- > crifice, it would be a gift. If you use the word "sacrifice", it > means lt is something which makes you suffer when you give it > up. The word "sacrifice" is used at random, that is understood, > but I am speaking of the true sense. One can sacrifice only what > one holds dear. If one does not cling to it, it is not a sacrifice, > it is a gift with all the joy of the giving. Surrender has no value > if it is painful, if it is a sacrifice. Surrender must be truly a > joyous offering (I am using the word soumission in the sense > of surrender, but it is not quite surrender - surrender is be- > tween soumission and abandon). One gives up something, > surrenders oneself, but without sacrifice. > > "In our Yoga there is no room for sacrifice. But > > 314 315 > Questions and Answers 14 April 1951 > > everything depends on the meaning you put in the to preach his fat.her's religion. He told me his story and what > word. In its pure sense it means a consecrated giving, had happened in Persia at the beginning of the religion. And I > a making sacred to the Divine. But in the significance remember him telling me with what intense joy, what a sense > that it now bears, sacrifice is something that works of the divine Presence, of the divine Force, these people went > for destruction; it carries about it an atmosphere of to the sacrifice - it can't be called "sacrifice", it was a very joy- > negation. This kind of sacrifice is not fulfilment; it is ful gift of their life .... He always spoke to me of someone who > a deprivation, a_ self-immolation .... Whená you do any- was, it appears, a very great poet and who had been arrested as > thing with the sense of a compression of your being, a heretic because he followed the Bahai religion. They wanted > be sure that you are doing it in the wrong way." to take him away to kill him - or burn or hang or crucify him, > Ibid. I don't know what, the manner of death in vogue at the time > - and, because he expressed his faith and said he would be > Why does sacrifice have such a great value in reli- happy to suffer anything for his faith and his God, people de- > gion? vised the plan of fixing small lighted candle-ends on his body, > his arms, his shoulders. Naturally the candles melted with the > Many religions are founded upon the idea of sacrifice; for in- hot wax all over, till the wick of the candle burnt the skin. It > stance, all the Chaldean religions. The reforms of the Muslim seems Abdul Baha was there when this man was tortured and > religion also had a very strong tendency towards sacrifice. All as they came to the spot where he was to be killed, Abdul Baha > the first adepts, the first faithful, paid with their life for changing went up to speak to him affectionately - and he was in an ecs- > their religion. In Persia, they were persecuted beyond all telling. tasy of joy. Abdul Baha spoke to him of his sufferings; he re- > There are even many writings in which the joys of sacrifice are plied, "Suffer ! it is one of the most beautiful hours of my > praised highly - that is a Chaldean idea. But you should be on life .... " This cannot be called a sacrifice, can it? > your guard; all depends upon the meaning given to the word. Generally, all those who have suffered tortures for their > It is obvious that for him who sacrifices himself willingly, that faith, that is, for their highest thought, their most sublime ideal, > is, who gives up his life voluntarily and with joy, it is no longer have always felt a kind of divine grace helping them and keep- > a sacrifice, by the very definition we have given to the word. ing them from suffering. Of course, outsiders call this a "sacri- > We also speak of the "sacrifice" of the Divine. But I have fice" (that is understandable, they have sacrificed their life), but > noticed that this is called "sacrifice" when one understands that one cannot use the word for what personally concerns them, be- > if obliged to do it oneself it would be very difficult ! it would cause for them it was not a sacrifice, it was a joy. All depends > give you much pain, it would be very hard (laughing) so one on the inner attitude. Now, if for a single moment during the > speaks of sacrifice, but it is probable that for the Divine it was torture they had had the least idea, "Why am I being tortured ?" > not painful and he did it willingly, with all the joy of self-giving. they would have undergone unbearable suffering. A single pass- > I knew Abdul Baha very well, the successor of Baha Ullah, ing thought suffices. > founder of the Bahai religion; Abdul Baha was his son. He was Almost all events - at least all the important circumstances > born in prison and lived in prison till he was forty, I believe. of human life - may be looked at from two sides: from below > When he came out of prison his father was dead and he began or from above. If you see them from below, with the feel- > > 316 317 > > — *Questions and Answers 1950-51 (Used by permission of the curator)*