Reason and Wisdom – Selections from “On Thoughts and Aphorisms” by The Mother (vegetarian), Part 1 of 2

Mirra Alfassa, who became known as The Mother, or SriMa, was born in 1878 in Paris, France. Although she showed great artistic, musical, and writing talent at an early age, her real interest was the spiritual side of life. The Mother also developed an extensive series of spiritual writings. These highlight a goal of ultimate union with the Divine, along with becoming master of ourselves and our destiny.

The following passages come from the Mother’s book, “On Thoughts and Aphorisms,” where she expounds on the following quote by Sri Aurobindo, “What men call knowledge is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. Reason divides, fixes details and contrasts them; Wisdom unifies, marries contrasts in a single harmony.”

“We read, we try to understand, we explain, we try to know. But a single minute of true experience teaches us more than millions of words and hundreds of explanations. So the first question is: ‘How to have the experience?’ To go within yourself, that is the first step. And then, once you have succeeded in going within yourself deeply enough to feel the reality of that which is within, to widen yourself progressively, systematically, to become as vast as the universe and lose the sense of limitation.

This effort, this attempt must be renewed very regularly, persistently. And after a certain lapse of time, which may be longer or shorter, you begin to perceive a reality that is different from the reality perceived in the ordinary, external consciousness. Naturally, by the action of Grace, the veil may suddenly be rent from within, and at once, you can enter the true truth; but even when that happens, in order to obtain the full value and full effect of the experience, you must maintain yourself in a state of inner receptivity, and to do that, it is indispensable for you to go within each day.”