Throb of Nature

— Conversations with the Mother on flowers and nature; Recollected by Mona Sarkar

		Price: Rs 325 Soft Cover Pages: 241 Dimensions (in cms): 18x25     Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department, Pondicherry ISBN: 978-93-5210-161-0
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About Throb of Nature

The compiler has collected his notations on Nature and flowers from his numerous conversations with the Mother. The notations are organised into chapters such as “Flowers Have Their Own Language”, “Aspiration”, “Transformation”, “Promptings of Nature”, and “The Universal Game”.  Each chapter begins with the picture of a flower with the significance given by the Mother, along with her comment. In these conversations the Mother reveals her identity with the powers and forces of universal Nature, how to communicate in joy and harmony with this subtle world, and the ways in which she used flowers to transmit to her disciples the vibrations and spiritual qualities carried by each flower.

REVIEW

In this collection of conversations between the author and the Mother, she reveals the ways in which she used flowers to transmit to her disciples the spiritual qualities carried by each flower and shows how to harmoniously communicate with this subtle world. She also speaks more generally of Nature, unmasking the universal forces behind its workings and movements. The book begins with a brief personal note from the author, alerting us to the meaning of his title:

O adorable Nature. How charming and wonderful is your creation … Yet none has been able to understand, none has been able to unravel the heart of your mystery … we must launch ourselves into a newer and more daring exploration, the discovery of that which awaits us—behind the appearances, in the throb of Nature, beyond the vastnesses of space, in the secret heart of things and in the depths of our being.

The Secrets of Nature

Each chapter or section does indeed lead the reader towards new perceptions and truths, latent in the heart of things, beyond the surface.  As if in answer to the author’s note, the Mother’s words, in the opening pages, ring clear and true:

If you want to know the secrets of universal Nature, you must be able to open yourselves upwards; or else, if you want to know the plants, the flowers and the animals and the message they announce to the world, you must learn to open your consciousness towards them and wait with patience to receive all they transmit constantly.

To know how to communicate with Nature or else to receive the vibrations which she transmits, this is another way of finding the Truth of existence, and also the Beauty, the Peace and the Harmony which uphold all the worlds and the terrestrial existence.

If one can communicate with Nature, one learns quite a few secrets of life, which can be very useful.…

To communicate is to find an understanding in the Joy of Harmony which presides over all existence and to vibrate by its consciousness. This is something worth finding. It is a work for a lifetime.

And the Mother encourages her disciple thus:

Don’t you know that you have to participate in this marvellous quest of the transformation in which I have launched myself? Wake up and do something.

To do the minimum,—that is what I ask of you, but it should be sincere and consistent. And then I shall do what is necessary… it is in proportion of your effort that the Grace answers.

Aspiration

In the chapter “Aspiration in the Depths of the Atoms” we are led into the realm of Matter, to the very atoms where, she said: “at certain moments one hears a faint voice, one perceives a quiver in the earth, one feels a vibration of the divinity that awakes and a profound aspiration for the light surging up from the depths of the atoms.… In the very depths of the nucleus of these atoms I have kindled a flame that awakens with a quiver, like a palpitation, in this inert mass of inconscience.”

And she adds, with respect to the earth: “The earth invokes the Supreme to extend his reign everywhere in the world and remembers with gratitude in an adoration and an ecstasy the felicity of the memory of these footprints that I have left behind on the earth.… all that constitutes this universe implores for a new birth to blossom in the joy of participating in the New Consciousness.”

We often come across similar references to the touch of her feet on the ground. For example: “Wherever I have placed my feet on the earth, it has been blessed and has become receptive to my force.”  This reminds me of what the very old-time gardener, my beloved friend Jyotin-da, told me. He was present when the Mother visited the Lake Estate. And when she was advised to take a shortcut across a small stretch of the land, she looked down at the tiny country flowers studding the ground. “Where shall I place my feet?” she asked with her typical good humour and respect.

Communicating in Silence

Regarding flowers and their spiritual gifts, which is the substance of nearly the entire book, there is a mine of treasures for one accustomed to relating to them. “You know, if one knows how to communicate in silence with flowers, then one receives their message.” And she shows the attitude needed to begin with: “Be like a flower. One must try to become like a flower – open, frank, equal, generous and gentle,” adding that “they possess a power and a very subtle and deep influence.”

This is not, however, the kind of book one reads from page to page. That would be like trying to read through a dictionary. For a seeker, this book is a source of inspiration since one is absorbing the presence of the Mother as she encourages and guides, even teasingly scolds the sadhak for his ignorance or lack of faith.

I find one can learn a lot here. For example, when in difficulty one spontaneously calls, even aloud: “Ma! Ma! Ma!” Here one comes to know that this is but the first step. She assures us of her constant help, it is true, but to be in conscious contact with it, one has to enter within the heart, reside there, I believe, and feel this constant sustaining Divine Presence in silence and with a candid trust.

Perfection

It is revealing to note that each new flower that came to her was the occasion for a new step forward or, shall we say, for the manifestation of her unfolding materialisation for the earth. When she named the Shrimp flowers (Beloperoneguttata and Justiciabrandegeeana) Thirst for Perfection, she then commented:

It is not the need for perfection but the need of perfection. It is not that which falls short of perfection, as in every work there is room for more perfection. I do not mean the striving for perfection but it is the inner urge, the heart’s desire of perfection. It is this need of Perfection which is one of the four Powers of the Mother—that of Mahasaraswati.

The New Year message of 1962, given just a few months after this conversation took place, is also relevant: “We thirst for perfection. Not this human perfection which is a perfection of the ego and bars the way to the divine perfection. But that one perfection which has the power to manifest upon earth the Eternal Truth” [CWM 15:173].

Divine Grace

The Mother goes further, adding her own sense of this word, in the prayer found on page 26: “The perfections of today are no longer sufficient for me. I want to be able to understand and realise the perfections of tomorrow. Give me the consciousness that I am nothing, in order to be able to become something.” And elsewhere, I recall reading: “You serve me as best you can, but your best of tomorrow must be better than your best of today” [CWM 16:179].

Regarding the subject of the Grace, symbolised by the double white hibiscus (H. mutabilis) that changes colour to pink during the day and is poetically named the lotus of the earth (shalapoddo in Bengali), she said: “you are not aware … of the Grace that is showered constantly on all of you.… You have no idea what it is, the phenomenon, the Grace that works around all of you to protect you, to fill you with energy, to sustain all of you, with its wings spread out like a mantle of compassion.… Be humble in order to become even more receptive and admit His Presence.” Her commentary for this flower (not quoted in the book) adds something more: “Thy goodness is infinite. We bow before Thee in gratitude.” The divine humility of the Mother is touching.

Agni

Another very special hibiscus is the salmon-coloured Agni. It is also a double flower, a bit smaller than the Divine Grace, of light to deeper salmon. The Mother said that to kindle agni one must concentrate in the heart, not the mind.  In her comment on this flower (not quoted in the book) she said: “The flame of purification which ought to precede all contact with the invisible worlds.”  To the author she explained:

It is not enough to open oneself and remain calm. Neither is it enough to make a hole in the head, so that the force and the light can enter into you and envelop you. It helps a little, but it is not the end.… To do this work, one must know how to give, give everything, everything that you have.…  You have to give your thoughts, your desires, your actions, your sensations, your possessions, your being, all that you have, all that you are.… You know this action of pranam, the pranam which one does in India, completely stretched the body flat on the ground? It is a bit like this, the movement of giving oneself completely.

Although I feel that the Mother has, with nine-score flowers, given the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo to us in unspoken words, I would like to mention three that the Mother insists on here: first of all, Aspiration (from the parijata tree,  Nyctanthesarbor-tristis) and Transformation (from the Indian cork tree, Millingtoniahor-tensis). Note how significant it is that both trees let their blossoms fall abundantly to earth, leaving no flowers on the parijata tree and only a few on the other. It is believed that the first was brought by Sri Krishna from Heaven to the Earth (to Satyabhama, rather). The second tree is associated with rain and its flowers are the most sought after by aspiring sadhaks who like to collect them. Now, besides these two, she is particular in talking about the rose, the Queen of Flowers, whose meaning as expressed by the Mother is Love for the Divine. However, she insists on Surrender, the significance she gave to the country rose (the gulab of attar). It is the first step in the Integral Yoga, and the final one too.

Early on in the book, the Mother explains in detail the meaning of her signature. It is “the Bird of Peace Descending upon Earth.” She makes a sketch of a bird in flight swooping down, and beneath it her usual signature. “This is a graphic representation.… It has its wings tilted towards the earth.”

Now I will explain to you how this bird corresponds to the signature. Look, first, this is the tail of the bird. Here are the two tips of the tail, and I extend it as the wing which is shown like a curved line.… So, with these two tips of the tail and one wing, it is one part of the bird. And this is the other wing. They are large wings. And these are the eyes, which are represented here by two points. And here is the head. One sees the bird appearing from far, that is why one sees only the eyes that shine and not all the details of the figure. It has very large wings and is inclined like this to one side; that is why the body is hidden.… And from far one sees only its two eyes and the beak and all that; because it is only the eyes that shine—the eyes reflect the soul. They are important, the eyes.

I have made a symbolic drawing which represents the bird … descending towards the earth. It is still far, but one day it will alight upon the earth. Then, there will be Peace.

We are constantly reminded that the truth of things lies behind surface appearances, and that we must look within and from within. Besides the subject of the Mother’s giving of flowers, which occupies most of the conversations, there are also details of Nature’s violent actions, such as cyclones, storms and floods. Regarding a cyclone that hit Pondicherry on 1 May 1966, the Mother wrote clearly: “This cyclone was simply a push from the Earth-Nature to wake up some of her somnolent human children to the necessity of making a progress based on Sri Aurobindo’s saying ‘Materially you are nothing, spiritually you are everything.”

The Mother also speaks of the trees in the Ashram courtyard, the Eucalyptus tree and the Service tree, and for the latter especially, she had always a deep feeling and sympathy. Then, about the fear of snakes, she explains: “You know, this mutual fear between man and animal is due to man’s mistake—because he did not give to the animals what belonged to them.… all my children who are not afraid of a serpent or any other animal have always my protection.”

It is well known, I believe, that both the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were fond of cats. In one chapter on the perseverance of cats, we learn how a mother cat patiently teaches her kittens:

 [C]ats … train their young ones, hours after hours, doing the same movements— be it jumping from one wall to the other or teaching the kittens to defend themselves … it is worth watching. To show how it is to be done, the cats repeat the same movements a thousand times.… What a conscientious work! My God! And over that, without getting angry, or without getting discouraged—they repeat the same thing with a resolute obstinacy, so that the young ones learn the rudimentary things which are indispensable in life.

Do not these words seem familiar? For the Mother tells us too, when trying to change ourselves, be it a lesser or greater habit or defect, that the same resolute obstinacy is required.

Although this is a record of the sadhak’s personal and intimate conversations with the Mother, it is a most useful guide and source of inspiration for all who aspire for constant progress and unending perfection. It is filled with Ashram messages, coloured pictures of the many flowers named by her, and innumerable photographs of her many activities as she moved among us.

I would like to conclude with a message in French, simply to remind us that all these conversations were originally conducted in French. These simple words full of power and truth were written by the Mother under the painting of a single rose with two buds offered to her by the author:

Quand la terre entière fera sa soumission, la vie sera transformée.

Permets que mon effort total collabore à cette réalisation.

(When the whole world surrenders itself, life will be transformed.

Grant that my entire effort collaborates for this realisation.)

—Richard Pearson

Richard arrived in India from England to join his father in 1946 at the age of eleven. He studied at the SAICE where he teaches Natural History and is a captain of gymnastics. He is the editor of the book Flowers and Their Messages.

Reviewed in December 2019