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
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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-
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