A SUBJECTIVE REFLECTION
The three sessions with James Anderson unfolded as a gradual and deep inward journey into the mystery of Mother's Grace. Rather than being three separate sessions, they seemed to form one continuous movement — from calling the Mother and opening to Her Grace, to developing faith, trust and receptivity, and finally to opening the physical being and its very cells to the Divine.
James reminded everyone that one could only catch glimpses of the Divine Grace. No human faculty could fully comprehend its vastness or precision. The Mother had beautifully expressed this mystery:
“No matter how far… how great your faith and trust in the Divine Grace. No matter how great your capacity to see it at work, in all circumstances, at every moment, at every point in life, you will never succeed in understanding the marvelous intensity of its action. and the precision. The acceptitude with which this action is accomplished.”
She had further said: “As soon as you are in contact with it, she says. There is not a second in time, not a point in space. Which does not show you, dazzlingly This perpetual work of the grace. This constant intervention of the grace.”James emphasised that even a moment of contact with Grace could transform the direction of one’s life.
The atmosphere throughout was one of quietness, contemplation and inward turning. The practices were simple, yet they invited a progressively deeper awareness of the Mother’s Presence. The repeated movement towards the breath, silence, invocation and offering created a sense that the spiritual journey was not something separate from ordinary life, but something that could gradually permeate every moment.
The First Movement — Calling and Opening
The first session brought the participants to the simplicity of calling the Mother. Sri Aurobindo’s words, “But if one cannot do these other things successfully, then call and still call,” gave the practice a beautiful simplicity and reassurance.
The participants were guided to observe the natural breath and become aware of the silent spaces between inhalation and exhalation. In those spaces, the inward repetition of “Maa” became an invocation, filled with aspiration, love, consciousness and surrender.
A deeper understanding of Grace also began to emerge. Grace was not something that appeared only at particular moments; it was constantly at work. What often prevented its action from being received were the resistances within — the restless mind, doubt, judgment, narrowness and lack of receptivity.
Sincerity therefore became the first essential movement. Everything could be brought before the inner fire without concealment — the fears, weaknesses, limitations and shadows — and offered to the Mother.
The next movement was humility, openness and receptivity. The Mother had explained that to receive Grace, one first had to recognize one’s need for it. Humility revealed the limitations of the individual being, while receptivity became the active expression of that humility.
The journey therefore required a movement away from the mind’s limitations and towards the deeper truth of the soul. James reiterated the Mother’s words that that calling the Grace was not enough; one also had to receive it. This required self-giving and self-surrender — a willingness to offer all that one had, was and did to the Divine.
The image of the still lake receiving drops of water beautifully expressed this state. The more still and open the lake became, the more it could receive. The image suggested the gradual descent of higher consciousness into the being. The Grace was experienced inwardly as a silent descent — first gently, then with increasing intensity — filling the consciousness with light, force and peace. The first session therefore left a strong sense that opening to Grace required sincerity, humility, receptivity, quietness and trust.
The Third Movement — Faith, Trust and Receptivity
The second session deepened this opening by turning towards faith and trust. If the first session had focused on calling and opening, the second explored the art of receiving. Faith, he explained, that often had to be consciously cultivated because doubt, conditioning and the scepticism of the modern world could gradually weaken it.The Mother’s words: “Trust. Indeed. Trust in the truth. Trust in the grace. Trust in the divine knowledge.”
Doubt, hesitation, anxiety and fear did not have to become obstacles in themselves; they too could be offered to the Mother along with the ego’s constant demand for material proof. The practice was to offer continuously and ask the Mother to strengthen, purify and enlarge one’s faith.
The Vital:
The vital was not something to be suppressed or rejected but offered to the Mother. The vital was indispensable because it carried energy, dynamism and the power to act. The aim was to bring it into collaboration with the Divine and obtain its consent for transformation. Its energies, desires, emotions and reactions could become material for transformation when brought consciously into the light and offered to the Mother.
He coined the Mother’s word and compared the vital to “a spirited horse” that initially required control, but explained that once it consented to transformation, the journey could become much smoother. Every movement of the vital—whether considered good or bad — had to be brought into the light of consciousness and offered to the Mother.
James stressed that the vital was extremely impressionable and susceptible to contagion, constantly absorbing suggestions and vibrations from its surroundings. The psychic being helped discern these influences and place them correctly.
The Fire of Aspiration and Purification
James guided the group to become conscious of the inner fire of aspiration in the heart and to offer every vital movement into it.
The understanding that even difficulties could become the fuel for progress. The fuel for transformation. The fuel for purification offered a new perspective on inner struggles. What appeared to be an obstacle could, when consciously offered, become part of the process of growth.
James emphasised that the vital needed to be transformed, not suppressed. It had to remain open to the Divine Force while its movements were progressively purified. The two essential conditions for this opening were sincerity and constant aspiration The Mother had said: “Nothing true and permanent can be achieved without peace.” And: “Peace comes from absolute trust in the Grace and its decisions.”
The session also brought out the beautiful relationship between aspiration and receptivity. Aspiration was compared to a flame rising towards the Divine, while receptivity was like a vase remaining open to receive what descended. Both movements were necessary. The aspiration called down the Force, while the inner stillness allowed that Force to enter and transform the consciousness.
This gave a deeper balance: one did not merely aspire intensely, nor did one simply wait passively. One called, aspired and at the same time became quiet enough to receive.
The Third Movement — The Awakening of the Body
The third session carried the journey into the physical consciousness. The body itself became an instrument of spiritual work.
Through awareness of the breath throughout the body, the participants were invited to experience the physical being in a new way. The Mother’s name was brought into the rhythm of breathing, and attention was directed towards the possibility of Her Presence reaching even the cells.
The Mother’s words, “The body harbours invaluable and unknown treasures. In all its cells. There is an intensity of life, of aspiration, of the will to progress, which one does not usually even realize,”
The Mother has also said: “The body in its natural state likes equilibrium, likes harmony. It is the other parts of the being which spoil everything.”
The body was not merely something to be controlled by the mind. It possessed its own consciousness and its own hidden aspiration. This deeper aspiration was beautifully expressed in the prayer: “I pray to you, to awaken my body's aspiration towards you.”
The prayer became an invitation for the body itself to turn towards the Divine and awaken to an aspiration that already lay hidden within its cells.
This movement continued through the invocation:
Ma… Teach the body to collaborate.
Ma… Make this body a true instrument for Your work.
Ma… Help the body open to the divine consciousness.
Ma… Awaken its aspiration. Turn each cell towards Thee.
These words gave a concrete expression to the idea of physical transformation. The body was not merely something to be disciplined from outside; it was being invited to awaken from within and consciously collaborate with the Divine.
The Mother’s statement, “This is what the body is now learning. To replace the mental regime of intelligence by the spiritual government of consciousness.’
The body, too, was being invited to surrender — to become conscious, receptive and capable of collaboration with the Divine.
“There are a thousand experiences of the physical body. We say… Oh… This beatific state is an impossibility. It is this stupidity which delays everything. It is as though it were the cells… The cells of the body, they’re accustomed to fight, and suffer. And… and are unable to accept that things could be like that. The cells themselves need to be converted. Turn to the divine. Turn to her grace.”
The practice became an invitation for the cells to aspire for the Divine.
James also emphasised the importance of physical culture — not merely as physical exercise, but as a means of infusing consciousness into the cells. Through conscious development of strength, agility, resistance and plasticity, consciousness could be introduced into the physical substance, making the body increasingly homogeneous and receptive.
The Opening of the Body
James described the Mother’s experience of moments when the Divine Force entered and penetrated the cells of the body. There could be intense vibrations throughout the body, accompanied by an unusual strength, force and clarity of consciousness. Such an experience indicated an opening of the body to the Divine influence.
He emphasised that, Sri Aurobindo had instructed that the entry into the body was through the heart centre. The psychic being was indirectly linked with the body through aspiration and the Mother’s Grace. Thus, the opening of the psychic being through the heart was intimately connected with the wider opening of the body to the Divine.
The body, James reminded us, could remember. Once touched by Divine consciousness, its remembrance could be more stable than that of the mind and vital.
He then quoted Sri Aurobindo:
“To do his yoga. We must already have found the Divine. And united with Him. Then the consciousness descends through all the states of being, down to the most material. Bringing the divine force with it. So that the Force can transform the whole being. And finally divinize the physical body.”