The Mother

Right Use of Darshan and Pranam

Physical means [like Darshan and touch in the Pranam] can be and are used in the approach to divine love and worship; they

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have not been allowed merely as a concession to human weakness, nor is it the fact that in the psychic way there is no place for such things. On the contrary, they are one means of approaching the Divine and receiving the Light and materialising the psychic contact, and so long as it is done in the right spirit and they are used for the true purpose they have their place. It is only if they are misused or the approach is not right because tainted by indifference and inertia, or revolt or hostility, or some gross desire, that they are out of place and can have a contrary effect―as the Mother has always warned people and has assigned it as the reason why she does not like lightly to open them to everyone.

No one should look upon the Pranam either as a formal routine or an obligatory ceremony or think himself under any compulsion to come there. The object of the Pranam is not that Sadhaks should offer a formal or ritual daily homage to the Mother, but that the Sadhaks may receive along with the Mother's blessings whatever spiritual help or influence they are in a condition to receive or assimilate. It is important to maintain a quiet and collected atmosphere for that purpose.

If you attach any value to the Darshan it is better to be recueilli. If her coming is only one incident of the day's routine like taking dinner, then of course it does not matter.

Recueilli means drawn back, quiet and collected in oneself.

24-7-1933

The best way for Darshan is to keep oneself very collected and quiet and open to receive whatever the Mother gives.

12-2-1937

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