# Words of Long Ago *Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.* --- > Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: The Mother, Words of Long Ago, bahai-library.com. > ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── > > The Mother > > BIR TH > February 21, 1878 > > ARRIVAL IN INDIA > March 29, 1914 > > MAHA SAMAD HI > November 17, 1973 > > CENTENARY > February 21, 1978 > > De Luxe Volume 2 > COLLECTED WORKS OF THE MOTHER - CENTENARY EDITION > © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1978. Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram > The Mother and Abdul Baha > > The Mother and Abdul Baha INTRODUCTION TO A TALK > > ~.the prophets, all the instructors who have come to bring > f knew Abdul Baha very well, the successor of the dtvme word to men, have, on one point at least, given an > Baha Ullah, founder of the Bahai religion; Abdul Baha was his > identical teaching. > son. He was born in prison and lived in prison till he was forty, > I believe. When he came out of prison his father was dead and All of them have taught us that the greatest truths are sterile > he began to preach his father's religion .... 1 unless they are transformed through us into useful actions. All > have proclaimed the necessity of living their revelation in daily > * > ** life. All have declared that they show us the path but that we > must tread it ourselves; no being, however great, can do our > He was the son of the famous Baha Ullah who had been ,.; > á~'"' work in our stead. > put into prison for spreading ideas that were more progressive > and broad-minded than those of the Sufis, and was resented by > I > • I > I > Baha Ullah was no exception to this rule. I shall not quote > > I > orthodox Muslims. After his death, his son, the sole heir, be- ! > ' > the texts to you, you know them as well and better than I do. > came determined to preach his father's religious ideas, and for How many times Abdul Baha has said: "Do not talk, act; words > this purpose he travelled to many countries of the world. He ' • are of no use without actions, we must be an example to the > had an excellent nature. He was as simple as his aspiration was world." > great. I liked him very much .... '.'l!~ It is indeed very necessary that each one of us should be > His sincerity and his aspiration for the Divine were simple an example to the world. For it is only by showing to men how > and very spontaneous. One day, when I went to visit him, he an inner commerce with the eternal truths transforms disorder > was to give a lecture to his disciples. But he was sick and could into harmony and suffering into peace, that we shall induce > not get up. Perhaps the meeting would have to be postponed. them to follow the way which will lead them towards liberation. > When I came near to him, he said, "Go and take my place at But Abdul Baha is not content to give us this teaching, he is > today's lecture." I was startled, unprepared as I was to hear such living it, and therein lies all his power of persuasion. > a request. I said to him, "I am not a member of your sect and Indeed, who has seen Abdul Baha and not felt in his pre- > I know nothing about it, so how can I talk to them about any- sence this perfect goodness, this sweet serenity, this peace ema- > thing ?" But he insisted, saying, "It does not matter. Say any- nating from his being ? > thing at all, it will be quite all right. Go and talk .... Concentrate And the revelations of Baha Ullah -imparted through the > in the sitting-room and then speak." At last he persuaded me to mouth of his son are all the more comprehensible and convin- > do it .... cing to us since he is living them within himself. > Then one day he asked me to stay in Paris and take the To some of you, perhaps, this reflection will occur: "If > responsibility for his disciples. But I told him that as I did not Abdul Baha can realise this beauty, it is because he is the mas- > myself accept the beliefs of his sect, it was out of the question ter, but for us ... " > for me to do so ... ! Certainly, our indolence could not formulate a better rea- > ' Questions and Answers 1950-51 (14 April), pp. 316-17. son for refusing to make any effort, but thi~ is merely a lazy > ' From an unpublished talk. excuse. > > 104 105 > Words of Long Ago > The Mother and Abdul Baba > > There is, without doubt, an almost ineradicable difference as dream and is very intimately 1.mked witá h th e fi rst, as you > between individuals, the one arising from their special role, will see. 1 > their place, their status in the infinite hierarchy of beings; but > whatever this role or status may be, within it each one can de- The very ancient traditions, whether Chaldean or Hindu > velop his own qualities to perfection, each one can and must have taught from all. time that thoughts are formations: by hi~ > aspire to gain the perfect purity, the perfect sincerity, the deep t~~ught a human bemg has the power of giving birth to real, > harmony which bring us into accord with the laws of order in hvmg and active entities. > the universe. And it should not be thought that this can be done only > I knew an old sage who used to compare men to minerals thro~gh so~e extraordinary and dangerous practice known as > that were more or less crude, more or less rich, but all contain- magic. Nothing of the kind. > ing gold. Let this ore undergo the purifying flames of spiritual- ~y thou~t that is at all strong and persistent, any desire > isation and at the bottom of the crucible will be found an ingot that 1s. at all mte~e - which is again a way of thinking_ > which is more or less heavy, but always of pure gold. dete.rmme mechanically, so to say, in their own medium, a for- > We must therefore seek to release from its matrix the pure mation whose duration and power of action will depend on the > gold that is within us. force and intensity of the thought or desire which has given > How many methods have been recommended for this ! birth to it. á > They are all excellent, but each one applies to a special cate- To make myself understood more clearly, I have brought > gory of mentality and character, and each individual must find you a few passages from an as yet unpublished philosophical > the one that best suits his temperament. volume. > That is why, unless I am mistaken, Miss Sanderson asks > one person or another to set forth here his own special view of "All that lives is substantial, but all that is substantial is > the question or else the method which he finds most effective. living. Every state of substance is a world of living forces of > real forms. ' > I do not intend today to expound any one of these methods > to you in its entirety. . "~o restrict the real to the sole domain of the forms we per- > I would like - since we are taught that our first duty is to ceive .1s to restrict the universal intelligence to its physical mani- > act and, moreover, that our acts are for ourselves the most festation alone, all light to the one field of our vision. > powerful agents of transformation - I would like only to draw "However, no space exists where there is no vibration of > your attention to two categories of action which, in my opinion, light, no depth exists where the essence of the intelligible does > are not always accorded the full importance they have with not assume appropriate forms." > regard to others and to ourselves. > They are purely mental actions, but nonetheless, very much "So long as we imagine that the whole universal reality is > alive, very powerful and consequently very beneficial or very confined to the one order of substance, to the one state of mate- > harmful according to the direction imparted to them. riality perceived by our senses, we know nothing and can ex- > plain nothing. > The first is our faculty of mental formation, thought; the 1 > This introduction seems originally to have preceded the third talk on > second is our activity in states of sleep, which is usually known thought (pp. 83-92) and the talk on dreams (pp. 30-37). > > 106 107 > Words of Long Ago The Mother and Abdul Baba > > "When science endeavoured to understand what light is, it And yet we must kindle the stars that one by one will come > had to break out of the too narrow space and too limited area to illumine this night. This is, from the mental point of view, > of perceptible phenomena, and it postulated, under the name of what Abdul Baha expects from us all. This is the way to be > ether, a subtle state of reality. But, in reaching this state, it has intellectually an example to the world. > taken only its first steps on the path of infinite transcendence .... For such an action more than for any other, perhaps, the > "Thus, we can now become aware that the realm of being usefulness of meetings such as this one becomes clearly visible. > which we know is merely the field of manifestation, of a more By uniting our thoughts for one or two hours around a very > complete materialisation of its own distant and anterior modes, pure and lofty idea, in a common will for disinterested progress, > the last among the fields of life." we create a mental atmosphere that is ever more luminous and > strong. But this is not enough; it would even be very little if, > "If we could perceive the living images which thoughts pro- when leaving these meetings, we were to plunge back defence- > duce around us at each moment, if we could measure the force less into this coarse and heavy atmosphere. For in the mental > of their power of formation, we would understand what can be as in the physical domain we are in a state of perpetual inter- > created by the concourse of our converging wills and the for- change with the corresponding environment.1 > midable concert of the collective ideas and beliefs of a people, > 10 March 1912 > a civilisation, a race." > "Certainly, all ideas are not creative to the same degree. In > fact, few minds are capable of thinking real thoughts; and most NOTES FOR A MEETING > individual mental formations are no more than distortions, > malformations of stereotypes formed by some anonymous thinker What a true meeting should be. > which have become common property. The forms they assume Mr. Ber. talked to us last Friday about mantras. > in the intellectual substance are usually crude and stupid; be- 2 kinds of masters according to Ramakrishna: > sides, they do not last long. The master who gives the mantra and who is thus an indirect > "But as soon as an idea becomes an idea-force, a true men- means of spiritualisation. > tal dynamism, it tends to produce and maintain its plastic re- . The master who has had the deep experience of divine > presentation in á a more stable and precise form. And great union and who by his presence alone transmits spirituality - > thoughts, co-ordinated syntheses of intellectual force, are in Abdul Baha. - > actual fact, in the s,ubstance they have assumed, living creations What a single man can do by his spiritual power can be > and active entities." achieved by a group if it unites in a thought of goodwill: > Chaldean initiation: > (At this point, in this talk of 10 March, the Mother pre- "When you are twelve united in righteousness, you will > sented again some material already given in the third talk on manifest the Ineffable." > thought, including the "description of the mental atmosphere Groups are subject to the same laws as individuals. > of a city like Paris" (p. 83)- the "night" referred to in the 1 > This talk continues with passages which have come already in On > sentence which follows.) Thought - Jll, etc. > > 108 109 > Words of Long Ago The Mother and Abdul Baba > > More favourable moments due to collective suggestions. To think of someone is to be near him, and wherever two > Renewals: the beginning of each new year, whatever date is beings may find themselves, even if they are physically separa- > chosen as a starting-point. ted by thousands of kilometres, if they think of each other they > An opportunity is given to awaken in oneself the idea that are together in a very real way. If we are able to concentrate > all things can be new and the resolution to make them so. our thought sufficiently and to concentrate sufficiently in our > Consequently, the usefulness of meeting at fixed times to thought, we can become integrally conscious of what we are > make favourable resolutions together. thinking of, and if it is a man, sometimes see or hear him - > Reading. in any case know his thought. > 3January1913 Thus separation no longer exists, it is an illusory appearance. > And in France, in America, in Persia or in China, we are always > near the one we love and think of. > THE DEPARTURE OF ABDUL BARA But this fact is all the more real in a case such as ours, > where we want to come into contact with an especially active > Last Monday, Abdul Baha took leave of us; in a very few and conscious thought, a thought which assumes and manifests > days he will have left Paris, and I know many hearts which will an infinite love, a thought which enfolds the whole earth with > feel a great void and will grieve. a loving and fatherly solicitude that is only too glad to come to > Yet only the body is leaving us, and what is the body if not the help of those who entrust themselves to it. > precisely that in which men are most alike, be they great or Experience this mental communion and you will see that > small, wise or ignorant, terrestrial or divine? Yes, you may rest there is no room for sorrow. > assured that only his body is leaving us; his thought will remain Each morning when you get up, before you begin your day, > faithfully with us, and his unchanging affection will enfold us, > and his spiritual influence will always be the same, absolutely > ( with love and admiration and gratefulness hail this great family, > these saviours of mankind who, ever the same, have come, > the same. Whether materially he is near or far matters little, for come and will come until the end of time, as guides and instruc- > the divine forces elude completely the laws of the material tors, as humble and marvellous servants of their brothers, in > world: they are omnipresent, always at work to satisfy every order to help them to scale the steep slope of perfection. Thus > receptivity, every sincere aspiration. when you wake up, concentrate on them your thought full of > So although it may be pleasant for our outer being to see trust and gratitude and you will soon experience the beneficial > his physical appearance or hear his voice, to dwell in his pre- effects of this concentration. You will feel their presence res- > sence, we must truly tell ourselves that, inasmuch as it seems ponding to your call, you will be surrounded, imbued with their > indispensable to us, this shows that we are still little conscious light and love. Then the daily effort to understand a little better, > of the inner life, the true life. to love a little more, to serve more, will be more fruitful and > Even if we do not attain to the marvellous depths of the easier at the same time. The help you give to others will be- > divine life, of which only very rare individuals are constantly come more effective and your heart will be filled with an unwa- > conscious, already in the domain of thought we escape the laws vering joy. > of time and space. 9 June 1913 > > 110 111 > > — *Words of Long Ago (Used by permission of the curator)*