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The
Mother Answers—Fear of Death - II
Page 1
Sweet Mother, I did not understand
the ending, the last paragraph: "There is yet another
way to conquer the fear of death, but it is within the reach
of so few that it is mentioned here only as a matter of
information. It is to enter into the domain of death deliberately
and consciously while one is still alive, and then to return
from this region and re-enter the physical body, resuming
the course of material existence with full knowledge. But
for that one must be an initiate.''
What do you want to say? You have not understood what I meant?...
I am not surprised! Has anyone understood?...
This
is a domain about which I have so far refrained from speaking
to you, for one must be already very conscious of oneself,
have a good mastery over one's reflexes and be above all fear,
precisely—above all possibility of fear, in order to
be able to enter upon it. It is a knowledge which in the modern
world is hardly recognised as scientific, but it is
scientific in the sense that it has exact processes and that
if the circumstances are correctly reproduced, the same results
are obtained. It is a progressive science and one can devote
oneself to it, can make quite a regular progress, as logical
as in all the sciences that are acknowledged as such in modern
times. But this one concerns a reality or certain realities
which do not belong to the most material domain. One needs
special capacities and a special development to be conscious
in that domain, for it escapes our ordinary senses.
We have subtle senses; even as we have a physical body, we
have other more subtle bodies which also have senses, and
much more refined senses, much more precise and much more
powerful than our physical senses. But naturally, as it is
not customary in modern education to work in these domains,
these things generally escape our ordinary knowledge. Yet
children spontaneously live a great deal in this domain. They
see things which are as real for them as physical things,
they speak about them—and they are usually told that
they are stupid because they speak of things others don't
see but which are as true for them, as tangible and real as
what can be seen by everyone. Their dreams have an intensity
and a capital importance in their life, and it is only with
intensive mental growth that those capacities diminish. Now,
there are people who have the good luck to be born with a
spontaneous development, with inner senses, and nothing can
prevent them from remaining awake. If these people meet in
good time someone who can help them in a methodical development,
they can become very interesting instruments for the study
and discovery of this occult world. In all ages there have
been initiatory schools which took up these particularly talented
people and educated them in this kind of science. These schools
were always more or less secret or hidden, for ordinary men
are quite intolerant of those capacities which are beyond
them—and disturb them. But there were fine periods in
human history when these schools were recognised and much
appreciated and respected, as in ancient Egypt, ancient Chaldea,
ancient India, and even partially in Greece and Rome. There
were always schools of initiation, even in mediaeval Europe,
but there they had to be very carefully hidden, for they were
pursued and persecuted by the official Christian religion,
and if perchance it was discovered that such and such men
or women were practising these occult sciences, they were
tied to the stake and burnt alive as sorcerers!... In our
times this knowledge is almost lost; there are only a very
few people who have it; but with mental growth the intolerance
also has gone. People don't like these things very much—they
are disturbed, annoyed by them—but still they are obliged
to admit that these things are not crimes and people practising
occultism are no longer burnt at the stake or imprisoned.
Only, there are many people who claim to know but there are
very few who do know. In any case, before entering upon this
study, one must have, as I told you at the beginning, a very
great self-mastery, must have attained a kind of abnegation,
a self-forgetfulness, an egolessness, a disinterestedness
and sense of sacrifice which enables one to practise this
without any danger. For, if you keep all egoistic or passionate
movements, full of desires, you are sure, in the practice
of this science, to meet with accidents which may have fatal
consequences. As I said at the beginning, the absolutely
indispensable condition is to have an intrepidity which does
not allow any fear to enter into you. For this has been very
often said, and it is quite true, that when you enter the
invisible realm, the first things you meet are literally terrifying.
If you have no fear, there is no danger, but the least fear
puts you into danger. So, before anybody at all was allowed
to practise this science, for a very long time, sometimes
for years, the novice was submitted to a discipline which
gave him the assurance that he could practise it without experiencing
the least fear and without any danger. That is why, my children,
I have never spoken to you about it. This article was not
specially for you the Bulletin goes to the whole world
and it can reach here and there people who are prepared. But
still, because it is written, I am telling you about it this
evening, and I tell you that if anyone among you feels a special
inclination, possesses special faculties and is ready to overcome
every weakness, all egoism and all fear, I am ready to help
him on the way and reveal these secrets to him. Voilà!
Now, you will have to be a little more mature for me to undertake
this task.
When
will we be ready, Sweet Mother?
That
depends upon you, my children! I practised occultism when
I was twelve. But I must say I had no fear, I feared nothing.
One goes out of one's body, but is tied by something resembling
an almost imperceptible thread; if the thread is cut, it is
all over. Life also is ended. One goes out, and then can begin
seeing the world he has entered. And usually the first things
one sees, as I said, are terrifying. Because, for you the
air is empty, there is nothing in it—you see something
blue or white, there are clouds, sunbeams, and all that is
very pretty—but when you have the other sight, you see
that it is filled with a multitude of small formations which
are all residues of desires or of mental deformation and these
swarm inside it, you see, in a mass, and this is not always
very pretty. At times it is extremely ugly. This assails you;
it comes, presses upon you, attacks you; and if you are afraid,
it takes absolutely frightful forms. Naturally, if you do
not flinch, if you can look upon all that with a healthy curiosity,
you perceive that it is not at all so terrifying. It may not
be pretty, but it is not terrifying.
I could tell you a little story.
I knew a Danish painter who was quite talented and who wanted
to learn occultism. He had come here, you know, had met Sri
Aurobindo; he had even done his portrait. That was during
the war, and when he came back to France, he wanted me to
teach him a little of this occult science. I taught him how
to go out of his body etc., and the controls, all that. And
I told him that, above all, the first thing was not to have
any fear. Then, one day he came to tell me that he had had
a dream the night before. But it was not a dream, for, as
I have told you, he knew a bit about how to go out of his
body, and he had gone out consciously. And once he had gone
out he was looking around seeing what was to be seen, when
suddenly he saw a formidable tiger coming towards him, drawing
close with the most frightful intentions... He remembered
what I had told him, that he must not be afraid. So he began
to say to himself, "There is no danger, I am protected,
nothing can happen to me, I am wrapped up in the power of
protection'', and he began looking at the tiger in that way,
without any fear. And as he went on looking at the tiger,
immediately it began to grow smaller and smaller and smaller
and—it became a tiny little cat! (Laughter)
3
March 1954
- The Mother
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