India - the Mother

July 9, 1917

(Mother is asked by Japanese friends for her impression of Japan during her stay there.)

... Accumulation of energy is perhaps the most distinctive and widespread characteristic in the Japanese.... If you have —as I have had—the privilege of coming into contact with true Japanese, those who keep intact the rectitude and bravery of the Samurais of old, then you can understand what Japan really is, you can grasp the secret of its strength....

[But you find] an atmosphere of tension and effort, mental and nervous tension, not of spiritual peace like what you can feel in India, for instance. In reality, nothing in Japan can be compared to the pure and divine atmosphere that permeates India and makes it a unique and so precious country, not even in the temples and sacred monasteries.... Outer calm, repose and silence are there, but not the blissful sense of the Infinite given by a life close to the One.

Words of Long Ago: Impressions of Japan

(In 1920, Mother returned from Japan to Pondicherry. When in 1926 Sri Aurobindo withdrew to concentrate on his sadhana, she took charge of the disciples who had gathered around him. Most of the following extracts are from conversations with disciples.)