The Task before us is to change the world — from the imperfect mental world to the Supramental World of Perfection, the New World.But why? And how? Why: Some fifty thousand to more than a million years back, the early human beings started their journey on earth, definitely with hopes for Joy and Bliss, for satisfaction and fulfilment, for conquering diseases and Death, with inquisition and thirst for knowledge in their eyes and their fresh undisturbed intelligence. They marched onwards and created civilizations and cultures, created Arts and Literature and Poetry and Music, created the Society and all the social norms and rules and paraphernalia. Even they tried to solve all the problems and difficulties of life. But in their attempts for doing so, they now find themselves in a world, which they have almost completely spoiled. Now, men and women and their world are ruled and conquered by darkness and ignorance, by sorrows and sufferings, by chaos and disorder, by battles and warfare and destructions, genocides and mass-murders, by incurable mental and physical ailments and diseases and untimely deaths, in spite of all their wisdom and knowledge, all their feasts and festivals and parties and merry-makings, all the assortments and arrangements of enjoyment and pleasure, in spite of all their prosperities and riches, in spite of all their medical and scientific researches and discoveries and preparations, in spite of all religions and worships, in spite of all their peace talks and preaching of Ahimsa or non-violence, in spite of all their civilizations and progresses. Mankind has lost all their hopes and aspirations, all their spontaneous inborn simplicity and clarity and peace. OOOOO So, we have to change the world. And how? We will change the world, never by preaching this and that religion. They are already fighting against each other for centuries. I do not mean to attack any religion; Persons who represented the Supreme Consciousness initiated them all. But we have added so much of falsehood, doubts, hatred, clashes and even bloodsheds into them, that they can seldom lead us to our Goal. We will bring the change never by political changes and revolutions, by change of Governments or creating League of Nations or commonwealths or UNOs, however noble and lofty may be the Ideas behind. We will make the change, never by changing external activities or habits of society or of life, not by keeping or shaving beards or hairs, not by changing dresses, not by changing political parties or social groups, or by changing religions. Never can we reach the Goal by trying to change others in a prototype, as the Communists tried and failed, or by trying to criticize others or by trying to find faults with others, NOT by declaring that we alone are the conveyors of Truth, and others are of Untruth. I will come to the issue of Truth or Untruth later. We are to change ourselves, first. Each of us is to change himself or herself.. If we prescribe to find the Ego and hunt it, and we really then go after the Ego, we will NEVER find it. Within there is Darkness, and the Ego is reigning there. While going after Ego, we will be lost in the Darkness. We shall follow the Light. We shall seek and find the Light within. OOOOO We are all moving towards the New Horizon, towards the New World, the New Creation — all human beings are so moving, knowingly or unknowingly. Some are marching ahead, some are moving slowly, some are loitering and gossipping and some are sleeping in Tamas, but all are on the Way. Sri Aurobindo has said : When we have passed beyond humanity, then we shall be the Man. In the New Horizing, the Supramental Sun has been arising, and it is now the Pre-Dawn time. And we are listening to the dawn chorus chanting. The voices of the Aspirants are being heard throughout the world. As Sri Aurobindo has said, Man is a transitional being. When the earth was inhabited only by the animals, Man came into being, ushering in the next step on Earth, the step of Mind and Reason. The Earth itself is a process of Evolution; Matter — which involves the Sachchidananda, the Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, the Original Supreme Consciousness — formed this Earth, amid all the stars and the Sun and the planets, and it began evolving for the Manifestation of the Supreme Consciousness, step by step. Man emerged, the Neanderthal Man grew into the civilized Man of the twentyfirst century and still the Evolution has continued.. The marching ahead continues and it shall continue till Man grows into a Superman, and then into the Supramental Being — and the Evolution shall continue even beyond. Satprem, while writing an Introduction to Mother's Agenda, has spoken of the New Man, of the Supramental Being: This AGENDA ... One day, another species among men will pore over this fabulous document as over the tumultuous drama that must have surrounded the birth of the first man among the hostile hordes of a great, delirious Paleozoic. A first man is the dangerous contradiction of a certain simian logic, a threat to the established order that so genteelly ran about amid the high, indefeasible ferns - and to begin with, it does not even know that it is a man. It wonders, indeed, what it is. Even to itself it is strange, distressing. It does not even know how to climb trees any longer in its usual way - and it is terribly disturbing for all those who still climb trees in the old, millennial way. Perhaps it is even a heresy. Unless it is some cerebral disorder? A first man in his little clearing had to have a great deal of courage. Even this little clearing was no longer so sure. A first man is a perpetual question. What am I, then, in the midst of all that? And where is my law? What is the law? And what if there were no more laws? ... It is terrifying. Mathematics - out of order. Astronomy and biology, too, are beginning to respond to mysterious influences. A tiny point huddled in the center of the world's great clearing. But what is all this, what if I were 'mad'? And then, claws all around, a lot of claws against this uncommon creature. A first man ... is very much alone. He is quite unbearable for the pre-human 'reason.' And the surrounding tribes growled like red monkies in the twilight of Guiana. One day, we were like this first man in the great, stridulant night of the Oyapock. Our heart was beating with the rediscovery of a very ancient mystery - suddenly, it was absolutely new to be a man amidst the diorite cascades and the pretty red and black coral snakes slithering beneath the leaves. It was even more extraordinary to be a man than our old confirmed tribes, with their infallible equations and imprescriptible biologies, could ever have dreamed. It was an absolutely uncertain 'quantum' that delightfully eluded whatever one thought of it, including perhaps what even the scholars thought of it. It flowed otherwise, it felt otherwise. It lived in a kind of flawless continuity with the sap of the giant balata trees, the cry of the macaws and the scintillating water of a little fountain. It 'understood' in a very different way. To understand was to be in everything. Just a quiver, and one was in the skin of a little iguana in distress. The skin of the world was very vast. To be a man after rediscovering a million years was mysteriously like being something still other than man, a strange, unfinished possibility that could also be all kinds of other things. It was not in the dictionary, it was fluid and boundless - it had become a man through habit, but in truth, it was formidably virgin, as if all the old laws belonged to laggard barbarians. Then other moons began whirring through the skies to the cry of macaws at sunset, another rhythm was born that was strangely in tune with the rhythm of all, making one single flow of the world, and there we went, lightly, as if the body had never had any weight other than that of our human thought; and the stars were so near, even the giant airplanes roaring overhead seemed vain artifices beneath smiling galaxies. A man was the overwhelming Possible. He was even the great discoverer of the Possible. Never had this precarious invention had any other aim through millions of species than to discover that which surpassed his own species, perhaps the means to change his species - a light and lawless species. After rediscovering a million years in the great, rhythmic night, a man was still something to be invented. It was the invention of himself, where all was not yet said and done. [Mother's Agenda, Vol.1] OOOOO However, as we find, Man is, mainly and in majority, still far away from the Divine Possibility : Man is greatly involved in egoism, in Tamas, in vital and mental limitations and obstructions. Sometimes, even if and even when Man delves in and professes higher thinking and spirituality and a further evolution beyond humanity, he is still living and moving with a predominantly active lower nature. The human beings are more or less engrossed in limited or partial ideas, mental opinions, preferences, ignorant habits and mental constructions centered around lower vital nature, which has enslaved him with pride, arrogance, enmity, hostility, jealousy, envy, greed, cravings, passions,selfishness, egoism. Man is still living with ignorance, doubt, stupidity, falsehood, laziness, and Tamas.. If somewhere there is an endeavour for growing or creating something noble and great and aspiring for a higher possibility, forming a collectivity for moving forward, then it may also be found that from several corners attacks are creeping in, overtly or covertly, vehemently or stealthily, from the lower nature full of darkness and ignorance. Ego becomes the main force in Man, along with all narrowness, all crookedness, all poisonous divisions, tending to pull down all that great and noble in Man. The change, as some may think, is not at all easy. The change I am speaking of is not easy. Had it been easy, it would not have delayed by 50,000 years. All the religions, all the lofty social endeavours, including the French revolution or the Marxist revolution in Russia, have failed to change the human nature from what it is practically and what it should be. That is because the matter is very very difficult. Why difficult? Because we are insincere, egoistic, driven intolerance and hatred and animal enmity and anger, and above all we fail to know and understand Truth in its entirety. The change needs a sincere and an undefeated ceaseless sadhana. OOOOO O thou who climbest to man from the dull stone, Face now the miracle summits still unwon. [ Evolution : Sri Aurobindo ] Thus said Sri Aurobindo to us, to the beings who have maneuvered and become the humans through the long and prolonged difficult course of Evolution — from the stone to the human. That was the story of the Creation of Man. And now we will have to face and conquer the new summits beyond Man, beyond human being and the human consciousness. We shall have to conquer the new heights of Consciousness and have the miraculous capacities to transform ourselves for the New Creation, for the Advent of the New Man, the Superman, the Supramental Being. We shall have to ascend the heights of the higher ranges of Mind — of the Higher Mind, the Illumined Mind, the Intuitive Mind , the Overmind — the ascend the heights of the Gnosis, the Supramental Consciousness. And before all these Ascents to be made, we shall to have to discover and know the truth in us, the Psychic Being. That is the Task before us. For, that is the Truth. The Spirit, involved in the Stone that has become Man, has to evolve further and manifest Itself. The Mother has prayed before the Supreme : Lord, we are upon earth to accomplish Thy work of transformation. It is our sole will, our sole preoccupation. Grant that it may be also our sole occupation and that all our actions may help us towards this single goal. This Evolution is the Work of the Divine, the Supreme. The Supreme, the Existence Consciousness Bliss has become the Stone, the principle of Matter through Involution. And thence the return March of the Supreme — from Matter to the Supreme Consciousness again. And Man has come into being in course of Evolution in the return March. But in Evolution, the One willed to become the Many. OOOOO "It is the Will of the Supreme that created the Manifestation. In words, it may be said that he thought : "Ekoham, bahu syama." [ I am alone, and shall become many.] When the Existence-Consciousness became many, countless many, and each of the many is a Soul. "A soul, or the atman in Sanskrit, is a part and portion of the Supreme Consciousness, the Divine — a part who is one with the Whole, who can be the Whole also, who can unite with the Whole. [ Excerpts quoted from The Psychic Being : The New Horizon — Barindranath Chaki] OOOOO The Divine began His return March and has reached the stage of the Human. Now the Human has to collaborate with the Divine to manifest the Divine in Many as the Supramental Race. Ignorance and Darkness and diseases and Death have to conquered, as those belong to the falsehood. That is the Will of the Divine. The Mother had prayed : The hour has come when a choice has to be made, radical and definitive. Lord, give us the strength to reject falsehood and emerge in Thy truth, pure and worthy of Thy victory…. As ordinary human beings, we are leading ourselves to the Abyss, through our lowest emotions, passions, pre-occupations and occupations, through our fears and distrust and gross indulgence. Often we close our eyes to the Light, often we shut up our inner windows when we hear the Call. We lend ourselves to be controlled and managed by the Asura. The Mother has further said: The Asura is the force of falsehood, antidivine, which reigns as sovereign over the physical world; his influence is felt everywhere, it is in everything in Matter. But the time has now come when the separation, the purification, can be made, the falsehood, the Asuric influence, rejected and there can be an exclusive living in the Divine Truth.. On the 1st January 1967, The Mother gave us the Message : Men, countries, continents! The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss. The Mother has further said: The message is only for those who are still asleep and quite satisfied with their sleep. We find that still the majority of the humankind is asleep, asleep in darkness and ignorance with all satisfaction. The Truth is that we shall have to aspire and endeavour for the Ascent, we shall have to prepare ourselves and be ready for the Next Step, we shall have to stop remaining satisfied with our present state of being immersed in gross indulgence and inner blindness and blocked consciousness, of being involved with hatred and jealousy and greed and violence, of being conquered by darkness and ignorance and death. If we accept the Truth, we are opening the gates of great possibilities. The Mother says : This wonderful world of delight waiting at our gates for our call, to come down upon earth… We shall have to accept this Truth. Otherwise the Abyss is sure. To stop remaining the grossly animal man, immersed in darkness and narrowness and hatred and violence, that is what is desired. Our pre-occupation and occupation should be The Next Step, the New Evolution. Barin Chaki 22-01-2010 [Revised from some of my previous writings published elsewhere] Please visit |
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Task before us
Friday, January 01, 2010
The Luminous Future
More than seventy-five years back, The Mother gave us a Call: "Leaving the past far behind us, let us run towards a luminous future."
The luminous future was not only a dream, not only a hope : though the words created some aspiring dreams in some people and had arisen some hopes, some inspired hopes in some people. It was a direction given by The Mother to the human race. We were asked to transcend our past and run towards the luminous certitude in Future.
The Future of the earth will certainly be luminous — whether we believe it or not, whether we understand it or not, it is a certainty. The future of mankind is surely to be of a great spiritual, or rather, integral possibility. Beyond his imperfections, his present failures and follies, his succumbing to lust, anger, greed, hatred, jealousy and envy, to ignorance and hatred and darkness, to divisions and narrowness and mutual confronts and bloody warfare, to destructions and inimical activities, to diseases and death — beyond all these shortcomings, beyond all the records of his violent and ignorant history, he has to rise to a Divine possibility. As Man — the evolving Man — rose out of the Ape, the New Man will arise out of the half-conscious, half-inspired, imperfect animal man, fulfilling all the Hopes and Dreams Man has within him throughout the past millennia. The New Man, to be specific with the Words used by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, the Gnostic Man or the Superman, the Supramental Race will rise out of the present Man with the half-conscious nature.
Then shall the embodied being live as one
In spite of all our heavy and dark and ignorant past, of our animal origin and animal past, we have in us the Blessings of a Mind and, above all, the blessings of the psychic being within each of us — the human beings. The human mind, with its central power of reason, may not reach Perfection or even a Perfect Conclusion by itself — but definitely it has raised us from the aboriginal stage of existence to the present stage of civilization, when the World is becoming One, when the mankind is becoming One, when we have far-reaching gems and treasures of philosophy and science and logic, of arts and culture and civilization. Mind has helped us to search and try — but we are not yet able to reach the Final Truth by the present state of our Mind.
The psychic being is within us — as revealed to us by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Previous Seers and Teachers and Philosophers have told us of the Soul — the Sankhya philosophy of India has spoken of the plurality of the Souls. But the Realization of the Soul or of Brahman, the Ultimate Existence that is the Source and the Origin, has prompted us to lead to Moksha or to Nirvana or to the distant Heaven. The Goal was to go back to the Origin, a non-cooperation with the Creative Force of the Supernature, which is now preparing to create the higher beings out of the human beings through Evolution.
But Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have said that Time has already come, when the Goal will be the Transformation of the Earth — along the Transformation of the human race. No more of Moksha, no more of Nirvana, no more of going back to the joyous Heaven: the Earth will be transformed.
The Mother and Sri Aurobindo came to change this Earth of darkness and death into an Abode of the Divine Life.
To raise the world to God in deathless Light,
The psychic being has to be unveiled by the Seeker — in order to seek the Light of the Supramental Consciousness and Force, which will change the human mind into the Mind of Light. And as some of us know, The Mother has already brought down the Supermind on the 29th day of February 1956. That is, indeed, one of the greatest Work done for the humankind, for the fulfillment of the Aim of the Supernature, for the fulfillment of the Will of the Supreme Divine.
Nature shall live to manifest secret God,
The Goal is now before us. The Way is open before us. The Help from the Supramental is now always ready. The Blessings of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo are always there — and the conditions are made ready. Only we shall have to march, taking our individual initiative.
Then shall the embodied being live as one
But are we sincere? Are we ready? The Mother once asked the mankind : Are you ready? Again, She forewarned us: The Choice is imperative: Truth or Abyss.
We shall have to reach the Luminous Future — otherwise, the consequence for us, the humans, will be the Abyss — the destructive Darkness.
Let us not be hopeless. Let us fear that the Abyss is a certainty. That will be the possibility only when the mankind will refuse the Supramental hope and possibility. Sri Aurobindo has assured us in Savitri that some seekers will receive the Glory of the Supramental possibilities.
Some shall be made the glory's receptacles
A few persons will certainly walk along the Path of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and reach the Light of the Supramental Sun.
A few can climb to an unperishing sun,
Let us have the flame of Hope burning ever in us, for Sri Aurobindo has told us :
Even if the struggling world is left outside
Barindranath Chaki
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Thoughts and Aphorisms 27
27. God is a great and cruel Torturer because He loves. You do not understand this, because you have not seen and played with Krishna.
[Sri Aurobindo: Thoughts and Aphorisms]
According to Sri Aurobindo, The Divine has three aspects: Transcendental, Universal and Individual. The Original Supreme, beyond all Manifestation, is the Transcendental aspect of the Divine. Pure Existence — to be more exact, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss i.e. Sat-Chit- Ananda — is the Transcendental aspect. It is Existence by Itself and stands alone, though really It is beyond all manifestation and also includes all that is manifested.
In the Individual aspect, the Transcendental Divine links Himself with the Universal Manifestation. The Individual is the link between the Transcendental and the Universal.
All that is manifested is the expression and creation of the Universal aspect of the Divine. The Divine is immanently present in each particle, each atom the Universe manifested. The entire Manifestation is the Divine.
He sleeps in the atom and the burning star, [Savitri: Bk XI, Co I]
OOOOO
Krishna is the Immanent Divine, as said by The Mother. The entire Creation is His play, the play of the Eternal Divine, who is the Player along with all His playmates. He Himself is the Play, which is full of Joy and Love. He is the Expression of Ananda and Love of the Supreme. So, anyone who knows Krishna is His playmate and is one with Him. Krishna is the Symbol of the aspect of the Supreme Divine that stands for Joy and Love. Anyone who realizes the Divine, who reaches Truth beyond Mind, shall and can also realize that that he or she is a playmate of the Supreme Player.
To find and realize Krishna is to realize within us That which is always residing within us as the Inner Divine. To play with Krishna is to realize the Self. When one realizes the Divine, one finds oneself as a playmate of the Divine and one finds also that the world is only a play, a game — a Leela — of the Divine.
On earth, people find sufferings, woes, sorrows, pain and torture. So long as we limit ourselves with the ordinary consciousness, with the utterly limited observation and interest and attention, we find sufferings, we undergo pain and torture and sorrows. In our everyday life, we find this. Because of our ego, our attachments, our self-centered understanding and preferences, because of our limited involvements and limited scope, we face sorrows and unhappiness and failure, we undergo difficulties and sufferings. We then call the Divine the Torturer.
That is all because we live in Falsehood, because we live with a half-conscious existence. Hence, whatever may seem to our ordinary sense and understanding to be torture and a cruelty, that gets changed when one realizes the Divine; the pain and torture and cruelty are no more there — and there is only Joy, unlimited Joy, and then there is only the Love of the Divine, the unlimited Love. The question of cruelty and torture are no more there.
Even after the Divine Realization, one may transform or change one's external mode of consciousness and may keep in a part of his being and consciousness the ordinary perception and sense and understanding of the creation and the happenings. As long as one continues to live in and dwell with the ordinary consciousness, one may continue to find experience whatever may seem to be the cruelty and the torture.
But whenever one goes beyond Mind into the Higher Consciousness, one finds Joy and Love — for, one then sees the Goal and the Luminous Future and the Result intended by the Divine. And the Future and the Result and the Goal is one of Joy and Love — the elements of sufferings and sorrows ands pain are no more there, not to be there anymore. The New World of the Luminous Future is one of Joy and Bliss, of endless Ananda, of victory and success in journey towards the New Supramental Becoming.
We should then become playmates of the Divine. Life will then have a different meaning for us and give us Joy and Happiness and fulfillment and the real Progress. The Divine will no more appear to us to be a Torturer. We will find then the Divine of Joy and Love.
The Known released him from its limiting chain; [Savitri: Bk XI, Co I]
The Mother has given us a Ray of Hope: "But a day will come when this apparent suffering will no longer be required to stimulate the advance and when progress can be more and more in harmony and delight."
Barindranath Chaki 29-12-2009 —
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Saturday, December 26, 2009
Thoughts and Aphorisms 26
26. Sir Philip Sidney said of the criminal led out to be hanged, "There, but for the grace of God, goes Sir Philip Sidney." Wiser, had he said, "There, by the grace of God, goes Sir Philip Sidney." [Sri Aurobindo: Thoughts and Aphorisms]
Sir Philip Sidney was a successful statesman and a poet, and yet he was a man of humility. He was famous for his humble nature. Once, when he saw a criminal when he was going to be hanged, he expressed: "There, but for the Grace of God, goes Sir Philips Sydney." As The Mother has interpreted, Sir Philip Sidney had expressed that he could have been at the place of the criminal to be hanged, but for the Grace of God, that did not so happen. What Sri Aurobindo states here, according to The Mother, is that Sir Philip Sidney would have been wiser, if he would have then said that by the Grace of God, he could have been the said criminal.
Sri Aurobindo is expressing here that whatever happens, it happens by the Grace of God. The Grace of God is behind all happenings, whether it seems to be beneficial or catastrophic. If some happening seems to be catastrophic, it will be then creating some opportunity in future which will prove to be beneficial; for, the World is marching ahead towards a Great Future, a luminous Future, which will definitely be an expression of Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Joy, of satyam-shivam-sundaram, of Ananda.
The Mother has inspired us: "Leaving the past far behind us, let us run towards a luminous future."
The Mother has further said: "For it is only our shortsightedness, our too limited perception and our misguided sensations that, for us, change into suffering what is a possibility and an opportunity for progress."
Some happening may appear to us to be cause of sufferings, but that may create for us some hope and possibility some opportunity for the better and greater Future, for progress towards the luminous Future towards the New World, the New Creation.
OOOOO
The humankind, which is evolving, is moving towards a Luminous Future, as The Mother says. And in the Luminous Future, the Supramental Consciousness shall reign over this Earth.
Nature shall live to manifest secret God,
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother came upon this Earth in order to lead us all to the next step of Evolution — from Man to Superman. To manifest the Supramental Consciousness and Force upon earth is the Divine Will and the purpose of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother — the Dual Power. The mortal human being will be transformed into the superman —into the supramental being.
The incarnate dual Power shall open God's door,
Sri Aurobindo has expressed the purpose of Their coming as follows: To raise the world to God in deathless Light,
According to Sri Aurobindo, Earth is the chosen place of mightiest souls;
And Sri Aurobindo has also given us the call : Ascend, O soul, into thy timeless self;
Barindranath Chaki 26-12-2009 Please visit |
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Thoughts and Aphorisms 25
Thoughts and Aphorisms 25 25. When I see others suffer, I feel that I am unfortunate, but the wisdom that is not mine, sees the good that is coming and approves. [Sri Aurobindo: Thoughts and Aphorisms] When others are suffering, one may feel that one is unfortunate, because one has to see and experience others' sufferings. That may be the example of a kind heart, where there is sympathy and feeling for others. But it does not have the touch of a Higher Wisdom. It is the Wisdom of the Supreme, which a person will have after he goes beyond Ignorance and has the Divine Realization. When one has this Wisdom, one can see the Past, the Present and the Future, as one is in touch with the Supreme Consciousness. And in that Wisdom, one finds that all that happens is for the Good, as the world is marching ahead towards Perfection. In this connection, The Mother has said that because of our shortsightedness, limited perceptions and misguided sensations, whatever is a possibility and an opportunity for progress gets changed into suffering. And when we cooperate with whatever is happening, there is no more of suffering. OOOOO Why do the humans suffer? Because, they have forgotten and lost their Divine origin. They have, individually and collectively, lost their contact and connection with the Supreme Consciousness, of which they are portions. They have lost their higher Consciousness and their capacities and capabilities, their Joy and Omniscience and Omnipotence. Indeed, they have a great Fall. Their happiness and joy are enslaved to the calls and needs of the flesh and the senses and the vital instincts and pulls — bereft of their conscious origin. They have succumbed to a life of division, difficulties, diseases and Death. They live by and following the dictates of "The Force that works by the light of Ignorance." [Savitri Bk II, Co IV] If we look at the ordinary human behaviour, we find that the human being lives mainly with his body — a body that perishes. A body that knew not its own soul within, There lived and longed, had wrath and joy and grief; A mind was there that met the objective world As if a stranger or enemy at its door: Its thoughts were kneaded by the shocks of sense; It captured not the spirit in the form, It entered not the heart of what it saw; It looked not for the power behind the act, It studied not the hidden motive in things Nor strove to find the meaning of it all. Beings were there who wore a human form; Absorbed they lived in the passion of the scene, But knew not who they were or why they lived: Content to breathe, to feel, to sense, to act, Life had for them no aim save Nature's joy And the stimulus and delight of outer things; Identified with the spirit's outward shell, They worked for the body's wants, they craved no more. [Savitri Bk II, Co IV] Though Mind is there in Man, he does not even has the proper use of it. He lives mainly by the vital impulses and the physical needs and the cravings. The human being is defined as a rational animal — but the animal nature is more prominent in him than the mental being. An animal in the instinctive herd Pushed by life impulses, forced by common needs, Each in his own kind saw his ego's glass; All served the aim and action of the pack. Those like himself, by blood or custom kin, To him were parts of his life, his adjunct selves, His personal nebula's constituent stars, Satellite companions of his solar I. A master of his life's environment, A leader of a huddled human mass Herding for safety on a dangerous earth, He gathered them round him as if minor Powers To make a common front against the world, Or, weak and sole on an indifferent earth, As a fortress for his undefended heart, Or else to heal his body's loneliness. [Savitri Bk II, Co IV] Thus we find that Man lives mainly with the ignorant vital nature, confined to the flesh and the senses and the desires, making the least and limited use of mind and having almost no concern with the Soul within, with the psychic being. OOOOO Suffering will not be there, if we rise beyond the body and the senses and the unbridled vital nature. Man has to be conscious beyond the Life and and beyond the the Mind. He must understand what he is and what the World is moving towards. He must find the Soul within — he must unveil the Psychic Being within himself. And it is the Psychic Consciousness that will lead him on the true Way. Man has to understand the higher Goal he has to live for; he should be conscious of the Higher Evolutionary progress that the World is to make. Man must understand what he really is and what is his Task. Thus man in his little house made of earth's dust Grew towards an unseen heaven of thought and dream Looking into the vast vistas of his mind On a small globe dotting infinity. At last climbing a long and narrow stair He stood alone on the high roof of things And saw the light of a spiritual sun. Aspiring he transcends his earthly self; He stands in the largeness of his soul new-born, Redeemed from encirclement by mortal things And moves in a pure free spiritual realm As in the rare breath of a stratosphere; A last end of far lines of divinity, He mounts by a frail thread to his high source; He reaches his fount of immortality, He calls the Godhead into his mortal life. [Savitri Bk VII, Co II] To put an end to the Darkness and the Ignorance and the sufferings, the human being has to mould his / her life and existence with the Psychic Presence. Earth must transform herself and equal Heaven Or Heaven descend into earth's mortal state. But for such vast spiritual change to be, Out of the mystic cavern in man's heart The heavenly Psyche must put off her veil And step into common nature's crowded rooms And stand uncovered in that nature's front And rule its thoughts and fill the body and life. [Savitri Bk VII, Co II] Let us have a Hope that we shall change ourselves and change this World of ours, too. A Will, a hope immense now seized his heart, And to discern the superhuman's form He raised his eyes to unseen spiritual heights, Aspiring to bring down a greater world. The glory he had glimpsed must be his home. ******** The Ideal must be Nature's common truth, The body illumined with the indwelling God, The heart and mind feel one with all that is, A conscious soul live in a conscious world. [Savitri, Bk I, Co V] Let us, thus, start living with this grand and sublime Hope. Barindranath Chaki 12-12-2009 [Simultaneously published in Selecta, All choice and ASPIRATION] Please visit |
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Sri Aurobindo is with us
To the ordinary human understanding and sight, Sri Aurobindo is said to have passed away on the 5th day of December 1950. Several persons have described this as the passing away of The Master— an Event that seemed to bring huge shadows of sorrows on the followers of The Master and The Mother. People in huge numbers paid their last respects to Him, till the 9th day of December 1950.
To men in general, it was only, or mainly, a departure, a passing away, as billions and billions of humans have passed away since the beginning of the human race.
However, indeed, it was a sacrifice — a sacrifice of the physical being of The Master, a sacrifice made by Himself, so that the Supramental Consciousness and Force may descend to the physical plane. The Supermind descended and the consequence was the Sacrifice of the physical being of Sri Aurobindo, mainly due to the lack of receptivity of the earth and the people.
The Mother said on 8th December 1950: The lack of receptivity of the earth and men is mostly responsible for the decision Sri Aurobindo has taken regarding his body. But one thing is certain: what has happened on the physical plane affects in no way the truth of his teaching. All that he has said is perfectly true and remains so. Time and the course of events will prove it abundantly.
The Mother has again said 29th December 1950: Our Lord has sacrificed himself totally for us … … He was not compelled to leave his body, he chose to do so for reasons so sublime that they are beyond the reach of human mentality … … And when we cannot understand, the only thing is to keep a respectful silence.
The Mother has also told that Sri Aurobindo is always present on earth for the progress and advancement of the Evolution — from Man to the Supramental Being.
On the 7th day of December 1950, She said: Lord, this morning Thou hast given me the assurance that Thou wouldst stay with us until Thy work is achieved, not only as a consciousness which guides and illumines but also as a dynamic Presence in action. In unmistaken terms Thou hast promised that all of Thyself would remain here and not leave the earth atmosphere until earth is transformed. Grant that we may be worthy of this Presence and henceforth everything in us be concentrated to the fulfilment of Thy sublime work.
Again on 18th January 1951, She said: We stand in the Presence of Him who has sacrificed His physical life in order to help more fully His Work of Transformation.
He is always with us, aware of what we are, of all our thoughts, of all our feelings and all our actions.
OOOOO
On His leaving of His Physical body, the Supramental Consciousness descended in the physical being of The Mother — and then began the preparation for the Descent of the Supramental Consciousness on earth, which actually took place on 29th February 1956.
The purpose for which Sri Aurobindo came to Pondicherry was the Descent of the Supramental Consciousness on earth and make Supermind a part of the earthly nature, as Life and Mind are parts of nature on earth. Nature is evolutionary and as Life and Mind have manifested through an evolutionary process, so will Supermind manifest on earth. And that is the Work of Sri Aurobindo — a Total Transformation.
The Descent of Supermind had a requirement that there shall be an Ascent to the Supramental Plane. Only after the Ascent, the Task of the Supramental Descent was taken by The Master. Even in 1938, Supermind used to descend in the physical being of The Master. But It was not settled then in His physical Mind or in His physical being.
When Supermind descends into a human being, It creates a Mind of Light, a Pure Mind reflecting and radiating the Light and Consciousness and Force, as stated and explained by Sri Aurobindo in The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth.
The Mother said that "as soon as Sri Aurobindo withdrew from His body, what He called the Mind of Light got realized here." And the Mind of Light manifested in The Mother.
As soon as the Supramental Consciousness descended on Him, Sri Aurobindo left His body with a view to concentrate on His Work: The Supramental Manifestation on earth. The Work of the Supramental Manifestation intensified with the so-called passing away of Sri Aurobindo. And Sri Aurobindo's physical Withdrawal was greatly successful when on the 29th February 1956, The Mother caused an uninterrupted flow of the Supramental Consciousness and Force upon earth.
The Work of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo is going on, led by Them.
The Mother has said on 15 April 1972 : The transition from man to the supramental being is accomplished through the superman. There may be a few superman - there are - who will actually make that transition. [Mother's Agenda, vol. 13]
The Mother differentiated between the Supramental Being and the Superman. The Supramental Being will have a Supramental Body.
Barindranath Chaki 05-12-2009 Please visit |
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Beyond Man
Bengali singer Nochiketa sang a song : Manushgulō satyikaarer maanush hobe kobe ? Recently I happened to listen to it, though I heard it earlier also. The line quoted here means: When will the human beings be truly human? But it was seemingly a coincidence that I came across an essay by Arhata Osho, a friend of mine, bearing the title "Monkeys to Humanoids" which I have also published in my Blog The New Platform. Arhata says that human beings as yet have not become any different from the monkeys — in spite of the so-called progress made by science and technology or in spite of the civilized processes provided by religion and politics. Summarlily, I agree with him and also with the singer Nochiketa or the song writer Pritom. The question arises: Should we for ever be humanoids? Should humans continue monkeying always? The reply is — NO. But what is the Solution? How are we to progress ahead? We must transcend beyond the present stage, or we shall have to be surpassed by the Supernature. The coming of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother on earth amid us all the human beings was with the Divine Promise and Hope that we shall transcend ourselves. However, to fulfill the promise, we shall have to co-operate with this Evolutionary Purpose, which is also the Truth that we should know and understand. The Mother said Man is the creation of yesterday. Sri Aurobindo came to announce the creation of tomorrow: the coming of the supramental being. She further told us: Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to announce the manifestation of the supramental world and not merely did he announce this manifestation but embodied also in part the supramental force and showed by example what one must do to prepare oneself for manifesting it. The best thing we can do is to study all that he has told us and endeavor to follow his example and prepare ourselves for the new manifestation. OOOOO The human life is limited by Tamas — by ignorance, inertia, inconscience, falsehood, darkness, divisions, diseases and death. This has been so, since the beginning of Man's appearance on the earthly scene, since the Homo Neanderthal stepped on earth. However, he has been progressing and growing in spite of all his limitations. He lives with a Hope, with a Consciousness that has been facing and conquering ignorance and darkness, diseases and death, facing and conquering all his difficulties, problems and shortcomings. He has grown through the forest civilization to the civilizations of the Vedas, of the pyramids and the sphinx, of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, of Babylon , and has progressed from those moments to the One World civilization of the twenty-first century. It is also seen that Man has lived from the very beginning with some Faith and Belief in the Highest Consciousness and Force, That has been his Source and also his Help and Guide in his fighting against all his difficulties, trials and problems, in his progress and advancement. And this way he has grown with his culture and civilization, his science and philosophy, his search of truth, beauty and goodness, of satyam-shivam-sundaram, his search of and becoming in spirituality. Man, the mental being, is, according to Sri Aurobindo, a transitional being. The human history is a story of a constant change and growth. Whatever he is, is a temporary phase, because his arrival on earth is a promise of a better, higher and much more conscious existence on earth. There will be the advent of a being who will conquer ignorance and darkness and inertia, conquer all his divisions and mental barriers, conquer the so-called fate and uncertainties, conquer diseases and death. The present limitations will be broken, and man will progress towards The New Creation, walking on The New Way. He shall have to proceed ahead towards The New Race, failing which, he will have to face the Abyss. The Task before Man is to evolve into a higher being with a divinity manifested. This is the New Light given to us by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. We ought to believe in human progress and evolution in order to make a progressive march towards The New World, towards a world of a Higher Consciousness and Force and Joy. Man has the inborn capacity to outgrow and master all his imperfections and darkness, and he ought to grow accordingly into a creative, constructive and divinized higher being. The human society should also grow accordingly and conquer all darkness within and without, surpassing all the artificial barriers — racial, religious, linguistic, political and others. Sri Aurobindo has given us the Hope: Nature shall live to manifest secret God, The Spirit shall take up the human play, The earthly life become the life divine. And thus said The Mother : Man is the creation of Yesterday. Sri Aurobindo came to announce the creation of tomorrow: the coming of the supramental being. This is our Task ahead, our true Goal: to prepare ourselves, to build ourselves for the advent of the New World , for our march towards the New Race, the New Humanity. OOOOO The Mother declared : A new world is born, The things that were promised are fulfilled. If we aspire and endeavour, if we live with the hope and the dream, surpassing our social divisions and differences based on castes, creeds, races, languages, states, religions and political ideas, and if we also accompany other aspirants, then we will proceed ahead in our march towards The New World, towards The New Race. Let us forget all our differences, all our divisions, and march ahead following The New Light. Sri Aurobindo has told that a time will come, when a mightier race, a supramental race, shall inhabit this earth — as early as we aspire and endeavour and be worthy of. We shall have to transmute and transform ourselves, so that we will grow into and cause the emergence of The New Race. Sri Aurobindo has said: Then shall the embodied being live as one Who is a thought, a will of the Divine, A mask or robe of his divinity, An instrument and partner of his Force, A point or line drawn in the infinite, A manifest of the Imperishable. The supermind shall be his nature's fount, The Eternal's truth shall mould his thoughts and acts, The Eternal's truth shall be his light and guide. All then shall change, a magic order come Overtopping this mechanical universe. A mightier race shall inhabit the mortal' mortal's world. OOOOO The mankind, along with the earth, is now in a great turmoil and chaos and disharmony. Everywhere, there is unrest and struggle and warfare and violence. In our journey as human beings so far, we have committed enormous mistakes and errors and follies. We, the human beings, have seen tremendous cruelties and massacres, we have engrossed ourselves in ignorance and dissipation, and as a consequence, we have most of the time found ourselves in darkness, with lots of sufferings and chaos and obscurity. The animal in Man has been very prominent and very much overpowering. The Real Man in him seems to be defeated and cornered and hidden. But there have always been some hope, some golden linings. Men have always tried to come out of this darkness, from this animal consciousness that they inherited from evolution. They have sought for Truth and Light and Love, for liberation from the bondage of death and diseases, of division and darkness. They have endeavored to bring joy and happiness amidst all sufferings and pains. And there has always been the golden ray of Hope for men. At least some men have always burned the incense of Aspiration for progress, for all that is True, Good and Beautiful, all that is Divine, all that is from the Supreme. There has been some progress, some Hope, in spite of all regressive movements. And there has always been some Descent from the Supreme Consciousness and Being amid this humanity living in darkness. Hence, having collected all that is golden in our harvest so far, since the beginning of the human journey, we should march towards the New World . It is not that we will leave this world and go elsewhere to find another planet in search of the New World . Nor should we become sannyasins or recluses. We need not retire into some forests or mountains. We will change this world. We can see that this world, as it is now, is in an extremely bad state of affairs. Falsehood, hatred, selfishness, corruption, greed, deception, violence, cruelty, inhumanity, and hunger for power - these appear to be the ruling forces now. All the noble Ideals or Ideas that prevailed on earth and inspired many of our noble ancients or our forefathers, have, as it were, become obsolete. Look at history and the present day earth: ideologically, and in consciousness, men seem to have become pygmies. To someone, men are hyenas; to some other, they may be humanoids very close to monkeys. OOOOO We have been seeing destructions and wars throughout this earth: In India, in USA , in Afghanistan and Iraq , and earlier, elsewhere. There are terrorists and suicide-bombers. Armies or the armed prople are attacking and destroying here and there. The entire human society is sitting on a heap of bombs - atomic or non-atomic. In relationships, we can seldom find beauty and love and fellow-feeling. In arts and culture, vulgarity has almost ruined beauty. As we have known, this earth is an evolutionary field. Evolution is the history of life's manifestation on earth. This has been well said by Darwin . According to him, man is the consequence of this earthly evolution. But he did not proceed beyond the appearance of Homo Neanderthal. He was silent about evolution after the appearance of Man on earth, or about the purpose why man was evolved at all. His view was a scientific truth, within the material viewpoint of Science. As Sri Aurobindo has said, the time has come when evolution must surpass man. Man is not the perfect being, not the complete being. But he has the aspiration and dream for becoming perfect, for becoming complete. Evolution aims at ultimately manifesting That which is the Source of this Manifestation, the Supreme Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (in Sanskrit and other Indian languages called Sat-Chit-Ananda or Sachchidananda), the Divine. Out of Man shall manifest the Superman. Man has to become the Base, the Instrument for the Advent of the Superman. He has to grow into the Superman, and according to The Mother, the Supermen shall further grow into the Supramental beings, the Supramental Race. The purpose of the appearance of man must now be fulfilled, and man's surpassing himself will do that. Man has to collaborate with the new evolution, or the evolutionary forces will ignore him and go beyond him and find out its own means. OOOOO Since the coming of Man on the earthly scene, in course of Evolution, he (or she) has never stopped growing in culture and civilization, in general. But he has stilled not moved an inch, with a few exceptions, individually, of course. Man is still a fierce, enraged, jealous, lustful, greedy animal. But he will have to go beyond himself — towards a glorious future. Philosophers are there — thinkers. They have taken human thought to superb heights. But men have shut them up into books in the libraries or in the showcases. Religions are there, initiated by some of the greatest spiritual leaders, who represented the Supreme Divine. But the religions were used by the humans to cut the throats of each others, in the most anti-Divine manner. There is no doubt that religions were of great help to the mankind. They have surely shown paths to the mankind towards Perfection and re-creation of the human nature. But they have not succeeded to help the general mankind to surpass its animal nature — there are ample of examples in our present-day daily life. Sri Aurobindo has said: All religions have saved a number of souls but none yet has been able to spiritualize mankind. For that there is needed not cult and creed, but a sustained and all-comprehending effort at spiritual self-evolution. [India's Rebirth] In the name of religion, the people fight each other, and they are taking themselves farther away form the Divine, from spirituality. Sri Aurobindo has said: The end of a stage of evolution is usually marked by a powerful recrudescence of all that has to go out of evolution. No doubt, Science and logic stand guard against falsehood, superstition and ignorance. But Science discovers and finds only a partial aspect of the Truth. Reason and logic are not the only bases of Truth. And the integral seeker of the complete Truth, a true student of Philosophy realizes this. Sri Aurobindo has said in 'Thoughts and Aphorisms': Late, I learned that when reason died, then Wisdom was born; before that liberation, I had only knowledge. What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind and sees. Reason divides, fixes details and contrasts them; Wisdom unifies, marries contrasts in a single harmony. In fact, the last thing or the last stage will never come, as evolution will go on eternally, forever. But man has to proceed forward ahead, surpassing his present stage of incompleteness, imperfection. He has to know himself, strive towards Perfection and surpass himself. As it has been said earlier, the Superman shall emerge out of Man. Man has to surpass all the limits of mind and reason, scale newer and newer heights of Consciousness and ascend to Gnosis, the Supramental Consciousness, and then shall emerge on earth the supramental race. This is the Truth Sri Aurobindo has brought for us. We shall have to live for this Goal, this Truth. The Mother gave us the following message on the 1st January 1967 : Men, countries, continents! The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss. Let us always remember that the choice is imperative. And that is the Destiny of this Earth. We have to live for the Future, to reach this Goal. The Mother told us also: Blessed are those who take a leap towards the Future. She advised us: Remain young. Never stop striving towards Perfection. Further, She also told us: Man is the creation of yesterday. Sri Aurobindo came to announce the creation of tomorrow: the coming of the supramental being. Let us, therefore, march on towards the New Horizon, find the New Light, find the New Goal and the New Way and live for this New World . The Mother wrote on 25 September 1914 , addressing the Divine Mother: The Lord has willed and Thou dost execute: A new Light shall break upon the earth. A new world shall be born, And the things that were promised shall be fulfilled. Again, much later, She wrote, as the Divine Mother personified: Lord, Thou hast willed and I execute: A new Light breaks upon the earth. A new world is born, And the things that were promised are fulfilled. And actually, the New World is born, and we will have to bring it out physically, materially, in the real possibility. OOOOO Man can live in either in search of pleasure and enjoyment, or otherwise for a definite purpose, which may bring him more fulfillments, more joy. The higher the purpose, the greater is the joy and fulfillment. The higher the Consciousness one aspires for, and the wider one's consciousness, the more purposeful one's life is, the greater is one's joy. Man may orient his endeavor, his way of life, towards limited personal happiness and satisfaction, or towards a greater and wider Joy and fulfillment, along with others, for others, maybe, with the entire mankind, for the entire mankind, for higher values of Truth, Light, Wisdom, Beauty, Creativity, Goodness, Love, Wideness, Harmony and Peace, Total Well-being. We may sleep in darkness or remain half-asleep in twilight, or otherwise be in joyous contemplation in moonlight or start discovering our world in sunlight. It is as we may choose. Sri Aurobindo says: Unhappy is the man or the nation which, when, the divine moment arrives, is found sleeping or unprepared to use it, because the lamp has not been kept trimmed for the welcome and the ears are sealed to the call. But thrice woe to them who are strong and ready, yet waste the force or misuse the moment; for them is irreparable loss or a great destruction. The divine moment continues. We may say that the moment that began with Sri Aurobindo continues till the accomplishment of his work: evolution of Man beyond himself into a higher Consciousness, leading to the Advent of the Supramental Consciousness. When the divine moment continues, should we go on sleeping? Should we continue in meaningless circles? Should we not try to contribute to the Great Work, though our portions of contributions may appear to be small, very small? Barindranath Chaki 24-11-2009 Written by me on the occasion of the Siddhidivas [24-11-2009] and simultaneously posted in All choice and ASPIRATION. Barindranath Chaki Please visit |
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sri Aurobindo and Avatarhood 1
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Thursday, October 08, 2009
Thoughts and Aphorisms 24
24. When I pine at misfortune and call it evil, or am jealous and disappointed, then I know that there is awake in me again the eternal fool. [Sri Aurobindo: Thoughts and Aphorisms]
When the consequence of some of our actions is not as expected, or when there is some setback, we consider it to be a misfortune. And also we call it an evil.
Further, often, as a reaction of the said misfortune, we find in ourselves jealousy and misfortune. When our interest is not felt or fulfilled, there is 'disappointment' in us and also often there is 'jealousy' in some of us, when others are found to be 'fortunate'.
These are all reactions of the vital being — the lower vital. And our judgment is then covered and influenced by the vital impulse. Often, however, it may so happen that what may seem to be a misfortune today, may later on be proved to be a bringer of good results. But the vital reactions use our intelligence and reduce us to be less intelligent, of a limited intelligence, of a dwarf ego — we become examples of 'the eternal fool'. We are then limited by Ignorance, and Inconscience and a half-conscious egoism.
The Mother says: "… whatever happens to us is always for our good, if we take the point of view of the spirit in the unfolding of time."
And Sri Aurobindo has said: But human mind clings to its ignorance And to its littleness the human heart And to its right to grief the earthly life. Only when Eternity takes Time by the hand, Only when infinity weds the finite's thought, Can man be free from himself and live with God.
[Sri Aurobindo: Savitri : Bk VII, Co IV]
Barindranath Chaki 08-10-2009
Barindranath Chaki 08-10-2009
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Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thoughts and Aphorisms 21-22-23
21. Forgiveness is praised by the Christian and the Vaishnava, but for me, I ask, "What have I to forgive and whom ?" 22. God struck me with a human hand; shall I say then, "I pardon Thee thy insolence, O God" ? 23. God gave me good in a blow. Shall I say, "I forgive thee, O Almighty One, the harm and the cruelty, but do it not again" ? [Sri Aurobindo: Thoughts and Aphorisms]
Forgiveness is a great virtue, it has been said. However, when there is the Supreme Realization, one has the identification with the Divine, sees Him everywhere and in each being. One finds that one is the same Divine as all others are. Then the question of forgiving the same Divine who is in each being does not arise. This is from the viewpoint of the Individual who realizes the Divine.
Insofar as the Supreme is concerned, in His viewpoint, all is the Divine, as nothing exists without Him and beyond Him, and all the actions are taken by Him, all works are done by Him. Then whom should He punish and whom should He forgive? The Supreme may forgive someone if the latter is different from and other than Him.
Often the Divine may give someone a blow through somebody else — in order to correct Himself in that person. Sri Aurobindo says that it would be a striking through a human hand. One who has the Realization finds this blow to be from the Divine, though through a human instrument. Should the Divine be forgiven, then?
Forgiveness is an idea that belongs to the divided world, the world of Thought when and where the Divine Identification is not yet realized. Persons are different and separate from each other and there is no realization of the inner oneness.
In this regard The Mother has said that if we are afraid of the consequences of some actions, then we must correct ourselves to the extent that the source of the erroneous action is no more left active in us. Then only the resultant reactions of the wrong actions may stop. If the mistake is the result of some ignorance, the ignorance must cease to be in us. Or, if the mistake is committed due to a bad will, then the bad will must leave us. The Mother says: "The regret will not do, it must be accompanied by a step forward."
Only an inner spiritual transformation can save us from the consequences of our bad actions. And then, what is the need of any Forgiveness? We are to unveil and know our inner being, our psychic being, and then have an inner Transformation to begin with. This is the need before each of us.
"A secret soul behind supporting all
Barindranath Chaki 30-09-2009
Barindranath Chaki 30-09-2009
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