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August 15, 1947

(A message Mother gave on the occasion of India's independence, which fell on Sri Aurobindo's 75th birthday.)
Invocation

O our Mother, O Soul of India, Mother who hast never forsaken thy children even in the days of darkest depression, even when they turned away from thy voice, served other Masters and denied thee, now when they have arisen and the light is on thy face in this dawn of thy liberation, in this great hour we salute thee. Guide us so that the horizon of freedom opening before us may be also a horizon of true greatness and of thy true life in the community of the nations. Guide us so that we may be always on the side of great ideals and show to men thy true visage, as a leader in the ways of the spirit and a friend and helper of all the peoples.

The Mother
Words of the Mother - I

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The Mother on India

India is not the earth, rivers and mountains of this land, neither is it a collective name for the inhabitants of this country. India is a living being, as much living as, say, Shiva.India is a goddess. If she likes, she can manifest in human form.

In the whole creation the earth has a place of distinction, because unlike any other planet it is evolutionary with a psychic entity at its centre. In it, India, in particular,is a divinely chosen country.

India ought to be the spiritual leader of the world. Inside she has the capacity, but outside. ..for the moment there is still much to do for her to become actually the spiritual leader of the world.

There is such a wonderful opportunity just now!

The Mother

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August 23, 1951

Let the splendours of Bharat's past be reborn in the realization of her imminent future with the help and blessings of her living soul.

The Mother
Words of the Mother - I

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November 15, 1955
(A message to India's president, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, when he paid a visit to Mother.)

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October 28, 1953

Here in India, there is an art tradition that has subsisted, the whole country is full of creations that were made at the height of the art history of the country. People live in it. The repercussion of what has taken place in the rest of the world, particularly in Europe, has not been felt much. Only those parts of India that have been a little too anglicized have lost the sense of beauty—some schools of Bombay, schools of artists, are dreadful. Then there was that attempt of the Calcutta School to revive Indian art, but that is only on a very small scale. From the artistic point of view, what you find within easiest reach is the old creations, the old temples and old paintings. All that was very fine. And it was done to express a faith. It was done with the sense of a whole, not of disorder.... Most of the works here, almost all beautiful works, I think, are unsigned. All those cave paintings and cave sculptures are unsigned. We have no idea who made them. And they didn't make them with idea of making a name for themselves, as they do now. You were a great sculptor, a great painter, a great architect, and that was all. There was no question of sticking your name on everything and making a sensational announcement of it in newspapers so no one would forget it! In those days, the artist did what he had to do, without bothering whether his name would go down to posterity or not. It was done with a movement of aspiration to express a higher beauty, and above all with the idea of giving a suitable dwelling to the deity invoked. In the cathedrals of the Middle Ages, it was the same thing.... Whereas now, there is not one scrap of painted or daubed canvass that does not display a signature to let you know, "This was done by Mister So-and-so"!

The Mother
Questions and Answers (1953) 28 October 1953

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