In order for a meeting of ten people to commence punctually, all ten of them should turn up on time. One man's presence does not depend upon another man. No man can hold himself responsible for another man's punctuality. The heads of the departments, especially Ministers, hold themselves responsible for what their department does. It is called constitutional responsibility. When Lal Bahadur Sastri was Railway Minister, a train derailed and fell into a river. He took upon himself the responsibility and resigned.
In the life of the Spirit, a similar phenomenon exists. In a work done by several people, if there is a devotee - one who invokes the Spirit or the Mother - he assumes such a responsibility. He need not be the head of the group. It is enough he is a member. Suppose a dozen people go on a tour of which a devotee too is a member. The devotee is of higher consciousness than others. Therefore, all that he does will find a reflection in his own work. The perfection of his work will exercise a control over their work. The Mother said that until the Ashram outgrew the strength of 150 members, She held all the sadhaks in Her control. She said they could not think without Her permission or knowledge. It was so because She identified Herself with them so totally. Also, it was possible for Her to do so because they submitted to Her happily, surrendered their life, work, wealth and soul to Her. It was a spiritual union, called communion. It is best seen when a work that went wrong is corrected.
Someone applied for a visa to Canada to attend a conference. Another person escorted him. He had to go for an interview in Delhi at the Canadian embassy. The visa was refused. Both returned. There were a few people intimately connected with the procurement of the visa. One of them understood that he could take that responsibility and he decided to discover any defect on his own part. He did discover a hesitation on his part and tried his best to remove it. It got removed. That evening, an industrialist holding a five year visa visited them. On hearing what happened, he was sorry that such a genuine case had gone wrong. He knew the Deputy Chief of the Canadian Mission. He asked the applicant to reappear. This time the visa was sanctioned. He who invokes the Spirit holds the consciousness of all others he relates to. It is Consciousness Responsibility.