The Withdrawal 1

My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight,
My body is God’s happy living tool,
My spirit a vast Sun of deathless light.
[Sri Aurobindo]

They say that Sri Aurobindo passed away on 5th December 1950. Even, it is said that it was His withdrawal. Did He really pass away, away from us, from the Humanity and the World? Did He pass into ignominy and ignorance and Darkness, into Death? Did He really withdraw Himself from the Mankind, from His Work of the Supramental Manifestation and Transformation?
In 1956, one of my teachers, son of one who closely knew Sri Aurobindo and remained in the Ashram, asked me the question: why did He die? At that time, I could not explain the matter or meet the challenge thrown to me. But the question lived in me and forced me to find the answer in course of time.

Majority of the people, now and then, took it and believed and knew it as a great withdrawal of a great Person, of a great Divine Person, who endeavored to cause descent of the Supermind and Manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness and Force. Indeed, the very event was beyond human words. Sri Aurobindo’s “Withdrawal” was a necessity for the Supramental Descent on earth.

Prior to that, Sri Aurobindo was ill. His illness continued and it caused a deep concern in the Ashram. Dr Nirodbaran and Dr Sanyal looked after his treatment. The illness prolonged. The Mother told Dr Sanyal: “He is fully conscious within, but he is losing concern in himself.” Champaklal, however, asked Sri Aurobindo : “Are you not using your Force?” The Master replied : “No.” Dr Nirodbaran asked then: “if you don’t use you Force, how is the disease to be cured?” The reply was: “Can’t explain, you won’t understand.”

The reply, if possible for us, to the human question about the Withdrawal would have also been—“You won’t understand.”

As K D Sethna puts it, Sri Aurobindo was both a Pilgrim of Day and also of Night. He went to the Highest height of Consciousness and, as well, he went to the lowest of the planes of Darkness and Inconscience, in order to kindle the Light there and accelerate the Transformation of the Earth and the mankind. He had to combat with Death, so that in due course, in the Next Evolution, Death comes to an end.

I made an assignation with the Night;
In the abyss was fixed our rendezvous:
In my breast carrying God’s deathless light
I came her dark and dangerous heart to woo.
I left the glory of the illumined Mind
And the calm rapture of the divinised soul
And travelled through a vastness dim and blind
To the grey shore where her ignorant waters roll.
I walk by the chill wave through the dull slime
And still that weary journeying knows no end;
Lost is the lustrous godhead beyond Time,
There comes no voice of the celestial Friend,

And yet I know my footprints’ track shall be
A pathway towards Immortality.

[A Pilgrim of Night : Sri Aurobindo]


The Mother wrote on 9th December, which is for the mankind the mantra of rejuvenation and of starting anew from the stupefaction that resulted from His “Withdrawal”:

“To THEE who hast been the material envelope of our Master,to THEE our infinite gratitude. Before THEE who hast done so much for us, who hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much, before THEE who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us,before THEE we bow down and implore that we may never forget, even for a moment, all we owe to THEE.”

As everybody knows, this has been inscribed on the Samadhi. This inscription has been addressed to “the material envelope” of Sri Aurobindo, but not to Sri Aurobindo himself.
Sri Aurobindo is a Being and a Consciousness and a Force that cannot die. His coming to earth was, and is, a Hope for the Earth and the Mankind, a Promise by the Supreme for the conquest of Ignorance and Darkness and Death on earth, a Dream to be fulfilled.

Sri Aurobindo did never leave us. His Presence is always with us here on earth. His “Withdrawal” was simply the act of leaving the body. The Mother wrote on 7th December 1950:
“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.”

The Mother has even said that "Sri Aurobindo has come to announce to the world the beauty of the future that will be realized. He has come to bring not a hope but the certainty of the splendour towards which the world is moving. The world is not an unfortunate accident: it is a miracle moving towards its expression."

Thus, Sri Aurobindo is not only a Hope, He stands for a certitude — the certainty that through further Evolution and Progress, there will come the conquest of Ignorance and Darkness and Death. He embraced Death, so that Death and Darkness and Ignorance shall be conquered on earth. The Dream which Sri Aurobindo has bought for us is positively a Future Reality.

He dies that the world may be new-born and live.
[Savitri]

He is a turning point in the Evolution, in the Next Evolution. With his Descent on earth, the New Evolution has begun. He came to earth and is here to change the Earth and bring in Joy and Life and Light and conquer Death. He made a supreme sacrifice and left His Body, so that the Way is open to conquer Ignorance and Darkness and Death on earth.

He who has found his identity with God
Pays with his body’s death his soul’s vast light.
His knowledge immortal triumphs by his death.

[Savitri]

Sri Aurobindo’s sacrifice has been sufficiently and greatly fruitful, as The Mother continued His Work, which is also Her Work, and then there was the Supramental Descent on earth on the 29th February 1956. And then began the Supramental Manifestation on earth. The Mother walked into the New Body on 17-11-1973. [Ref: The Transition— The Seventeenth November, by Barin Chaki]. There has been some progress, in the meantime, in the transition from Man to Superman. The Mother has said on 15 April 1972 :
The transition from man to the supramental being is accomplished through the overman. There may be a few overman - there are - who will actually make that transition. [Mother’s Agenda]


Barin Chaki
8-12-2007

Reference: The Withdrawal by Barin Chaki

Written on 5th December 2007
and revised on 7th and 8th .

Thoughts and Aphorisms 7

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms


6. Late, I learned that when reason died, then Wisdom was born;
before that liberation, I had only knowledge.
7. What men call knowledge, is the reasoned acceptance of false
appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. Reason divides,
fixes details & contrasts them; Wisdom unifies, marries contrasts in a
single harmony.

(Thoughts and Aphorisms: Sri Aurobindo)

(Continued from 22-09-2007 )

In Thoughts and Aphorisms Sri Aurobindo has used the term ‘knowledge’ in a limited sense — knowledge arrived at by use of reason and the senses. It is not used to mean direct knowledge
by identity, spontaneous knowledge by intuition. It is a movement from darkness and ignorance towards the Light and Truth and understanding, but it is indeed half-knowledge, a reasoned
acceptance of the appearances which are really false. Thus what we, the human beings, generally call knowledge is not really knowledge but some false appearances which Reason has
accepted as true and real, but is not truly so. We observe whatever is or happens around us or within us and then try to classify and interpret by using logic that is somewhat superficial and is not enlightened in a true sense. We may think that whatever we see, touch or feel, by using our senses, is true, but that is not so. Because we see, touch or feel them, they appear to us through
the media of senses, and that is the reason why they are only appearances, conditioned by the senses and interpreted by Reason through some strenuous way. The senses are the veils, and Reason sees and knows through the veils and interprets by groping.

The Mother says: “Wisdom looks behind the veil of false appearances and sees the reality behind it.”

The Mother says again: “And Sri Aurobindo emphasizes that when one defines something through the superficial, outer knowledge, it is always in opposition to something else; it is always by means of a contrast that one explains what one sees, feels or touches— and one does not understand.” If we superficially see, touch or feel something and do not understand it, we are not then led to a true Knowledge, we are then at this side of the veil.

But generally, ordinarily, we cannot reach what Sri Aurobindo calls Wisdom. Appearances will always be there before us, until we go beyond the senses and Reason, until we surpass the limits of the ordinary mind, until we cross over the nature-borne ignorance. Remaining bound by Reason and the observation through senses, we cannot have the Wisdom through Intuition and Identity. We need a New Experience — of surpassing the limits of the ordinary consciousness. Till that moment, "when we want to understand something you continue to look, to observe, to touch, to taste and feel, because you believe there are no means of observation."
[On Thoughts and Aphorisms by The Mother]


And through these means you can only know whatever is there in the outer world or whatever is concerned and connected with the outer world. You cannot be aware of the Higher Consciousness or of the higher planes of existence through these present means of observation.
You shall have to use at best the logical means of deduction and induction — and continue to grope in the darkness. We shall have to surpass the ordinary mind, the mind of rational
observation. We shall have to pass behind the veil of Ignorance and Darkness and sensory appearances. And for that we shall have to go WITHIN. That is the first step, The Mother says.

[Continued]

Barin Chaki
25-11-2007

Written on 20-09-2007.

Thoughts and Aphorisms 6A

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms

6. Late, I learned that when reason died, then Wisdom was born; before that liberation, I had only knowledge.
7. What men call knowledge is the reasoned acceptance of false appearances. Wisdom looks behind the veil and sees. Reason divides, fixes details & contrasts them; Wisdom unifies, marries contrasts in a single harmony.

(Thoughts and Aphorisms: Sri Aurobindo)

(Continued from 12-07-2007 )

We have seen that as said by Sri Aurobindo, Reason had to die for Wisdom to be born. And The Mother has said that Reason must no longer be the summit and the master. Reason’s death gives us liberation, a freedom, which can give us Wisdom.

However, in surpassing Reason, in abandoning Reason, we have to be very cautious and conscious.

The Mother says : “…do not be in a hurry to abandon reason in the conviction that you will attain to Wisdom, because you must be ready for Wisdom; otherwise, by abandoning Reason you run a great risk of falling into unreason, which is rather dangerous.”

Those, who imagine that they can make progress in sadhana without sufficient and rigorous self-control, have been warned by The Master and The Mother. Their false belief of self-sufficiency will lead them to “a dangerous imbalance” and all passions and desires which are suppressed, repressed, hidden or secret in our darkness, will come out in the open. And we will have the erroneous belief we are freed and liberated from “ordinary conventions and ordinary reason.”
You can attain liberation and freedom, The Mother says, only when you rise and ascend to an altitude, a height above the human passions and desires. We shall have to rise above our selfish attitudes and desires and impulses and passions. This can be done a rigorous self-mastery, resulting into an ascension into the higher levels of Mind and consciousness, above our ordinary mind. You can be free and liberated only when you attained to a higher selfless consciousness, above all passions and desires and impulses.

But those, who are very reasonable and believe firmly in the ordinary social laws of morality, cannot say they are really wise, for, The Mother says, their wisdom is an illusion and it lacks the profundity of Truth. Truth is far above ordinary social and moral laws.

However, one cannot ordinarily break or ignore these social and moral laws or rules or conventions, or despise them. For doing that, we must be above them.

The Mother says :
“One who would break the law must be above the law. One who would ignore conventions must be above conventions. One who would despise all rules must be above all rules.”

And our aim and motive should not be a personal, egoistic freedom and liberation, for satisfaction of our desires and ambition, for the sake of glorifying and aggrandizing our egoistic personality. One should not have a feeling of superiority, with contempt for others. One need not think that one is above the people and above law.

The Mother says : “Be on your guard, when you feel yourself superior and look down on others ironically…”

Sri Aurobindo speaks of a true Wisdom, where there is nothing higher or lower, where there is no egoistic superiority. There is hierarchy of consciousness, of nearness and surrender to the Supreme.

Ordinary human consciousness, ordinary human reason, ordinary human knowledge cannot understand this hierarchy. For understanding this, ego has to disappear. When the true Wisdom ushers in, ego disappears, as the soul is awakened.

The Mother says :
"Only the awakened soul recognizes the awakened soul, and then the sense of superiority disappears completely."

For this to happen, what is required of us is a total surrender to the Divine, the Supreme — as is said by The Master and The Mother.

[Continued]
Barin Chaki
23-09-2007

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms 6

Thoughts and Aphorisms 6

6. Late, I learned that when reason died, then Wisdom was born; before that liberation, I had only knowledge.

(Thoughts and Aphorisms: Sri Aurobindo)

Earlier, we have seen that Sri Aurobindo has spoken of two allied powers in Man: Knowledge and Wisdom. And also, Sri Aurobindo has said that Knowledge is arrived through a distorted medium — the mind that arrives at the conclusion by groping. Wisdom is seen through the Divine Vision in the awakened person, when the person goes beyond the ordinary mental consciousness, beyond mind, and even the higher mind, towards the Overmind, and finally to the Supermind.

In this connection, it may be said that by Knowledge, Sri Aurobindo means ordinary knowledge, not Knowledge by identity. In this regard, The Mother says: “As for the knowledge of which Sri Aurobindo speaks here, it is ordinary knowledge, it is Knowledge by identity; it is knowledge that can be acquired by the intellect through thought, through ordinary means.”

Reason liberates us from the sensory perceptions and limited sensory knowledge. Reason has saved us and saves us from ignorance and superstitions. But we have seen earlier that Inspiration and Intuition, true Intuition, can give us Wisdom, which cannot be attained by Reason. Reason has its limits too. We have seen also that Sri Aurobindo has said that Inspiration exceeds reason, as reason exceeds the knowledge given by the senses.

In this regard, The Mother says: Reason must no longer be the summit and the master.

This does not mean that we should discard Reason. Reason need not disappear. Reason had and has its use and usefulness for Man and his progress and advancement. For a very long time Reason has helped us, has been indispensable for us, has remained the master. Otherwise, in the words of The Mother, one would have been “the plaything of one’s impulses, one’s fancies, and one’s more or less disordered imaginings” and one would have been also far away “not merely from wisdom but also from the knowledge needed for conducting oneself acceptably.” Reason should continue to serve its utility and purpose and to fulfill its legitimate role in the human progress. But when we have successfully managed to control ourselves and our existence, with the help of reason, we shall have then to surpass reason, not by discarding and trampling it, but by using it as a stepping stone for a higher consciousness, for Wisdom. We will then be successful in liberating ourselves from our ordinary life, ordinary mind and life, ordinary thought and vision of things. When the question of further evolution of the human race towards the supramental race comes, reason has to yield the summit to Inspiration, to the genuine Intuition, to the higher consciousness, ranging from the higher mind to the Overmind and then to Supermind.

And this higher evolution does not depend upon our choice. The Evolution will come and is on the process, as the Supermind has already descended and is working. This is the Truth.

As we know, The Mother has said —

The choice is imperative: Truth or Abyss.

If we do not accept the Truth, we will have to accept Abyss — fall and destruction. The Supernature will seek to bring in the supramental race by other means, by direct intervention. This is what The Master and The Mother have told us.

OOOO

We have seen that as said by Sri Aurobindo, Reason had to die for Wisdom to be born.
And The Mother has said that Reason must no longer be the summit and the master.
Reason’s death gives us liberation, a freedom, which can give us Wisdom.

However, in surpassing Reason, in abandoning Reason, we have to be very cautious and conscious.
The Mother says : “…do not be in a hurry to abandon reason in the conviction that you will attain to Wisdom, because you must be ready for Wisdom; otherwise, by abandoning Reason you run a great risk of falling into unreason, which is rather dangerous.”

Those, who imagine that they can make progress in sadhana without sufficient and rigorous self-control, have been warned by The Master and The Mother. Their false belief of self-sufficiency will lead them to “a dangerous imbalance” and all passions and desires which are suppressed, repressed, hidden or secret in our darkness, will come out in the open. And we will have the erroneous belief we are freed and liberated from “ordinary conventions and ordinary reason.”

You can attain liberation and freedom, The Mother says, only when you rise and ascend to an altitude, a height above the human passions and desires. We shall have to rise above our selfish attitudes and desires and impulses and passions. This can be done a rigorous self-mastery, resulting into an ascension into the higher levels of Mind and consciousness, above our ordinary mind. You can be free and liberated only when you attained to a higher selfless consciousness, above all passions and desires and impulses.

But those, who are very reasonable and believe firmly in the ordinary social laws of morality, cannot say they are really wise, for, The Mother says, their wisdom is an illusion and it lacks the profundity of Truth. Truth is far above ordinary social and moral laws.

However, one cannot ordinarily break or ignore these social and moral laws or rules or conventions, or despise them. For doing that, we must be above them.

The Mother says :

“One who would break the law must be above the law. One who would ignore conventions must be above conventions. One who would despise all rules must be above all rules.”

And our aim and motive should not be a personal, egoistic freedom and liberation, for satisfaction of our desires and ambition, for the sake of glorifying and aggrandizing our egoistic personality. One should not have a feeling of superiority, with contempt for others. One need not think that one is above the people and above law.

The Mother says : “Be on your guard, when you feel yourself superior and look down on others ironically…”

Sri Aurobindo speaks of a true Wisdom, where there is nothing higher or lower, where there is no egoistic superiority. There is hierarchy of consciousness, of nearness and surrender to the Supreme.

Ordinary human consciousness, ordinary human reason, ordinary human knowledge cannot understand this hierarchy. For understanding this, ego has to disappear. When the true Wisdom ushers in, ego disappears, as the soul is awakened.

The Mother says :
"Only the awakened soul recognizes the awakened soul, and then the sense of superiority disappears completely."

For this to happen, what is required of us is a total surrender to the Divine, the Supreme — as is said by The Master and The Mother.

[Continued]

Barin Chaki
12-07-2007

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms 5

5. If mankind could but see though in a glimpse of fleeting experience what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, they would leave all & never rest till they had gained these treasures. But the way is narrow, the doors are hard to force, and fear, distrust & scepticism are there, sentinels of Nature, to forbid the turning away of our feet from her ordinary pastures.

(Thoughts and Aphorisms : Sri Aurobindo)


This evolution of ours — the human evolution — is but an animal evolution. Man is defined as a rational animal, though mostly and most of the time, human beings are more or less found to be irrational or infra-rational.

Humans, or human beings, are bipedal apes belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for "wise man" or "knowing man") under the family Hominidae (known as the great apes). [Wikipedia Encyclopedia]

And Man appears to be bound to this animal evolution, to this half-animal, half-conscious being.. He is born, and then after spending some time, he dies. The Mother says : “And … in the final analysis, the destiny of each individual is the same : you are born, you live — more or less satisfactorily — and you die; then you wait for a certain length of time, and again you are born, you live — more or less satisfactorily — and again you die, and so on indefinitely, until you have enough of it.”

In spite of all agonies, woes and sufferings, all difficulties, disturbances, diseases and death, all shortcomings and imperfections, all divisions, strife, battles and wars, all hatred, cruelty and homicide, Man is glued to this sort of half-animal sorrowful existence, closing his eyes and brain and heart, his visions and understanding and knowledge, his aspirations and thoughts and unwilling to see or try beyond it.

Leaders of the humanity — though very few they are — have tried to inspire and lead humanity beyond the situation, but the progress of mankind is too slow to go beyond.

Nature — or rather Supernature — wants Man to transcend the situation, but she wants in a different way, in her own Way. Man has to transcend himself and progress ahead in the New Evolution, the Next Evolution. beyond this animal evolution.

OOOO

According to Sri Aurobindo, there are ‘infinite enjoyments’ — endless joys and Ananda, not sensuous dissipations or egoistic satisfactions, ‘perfect forces’, ‘luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge’ and wide calms of our being’ — wide and limitless peace and calm, which is inherent in our true existence, inner and higher existence — beyond our so-called normal existence.

Sri Aurobindo says that these treasures of Joy, Force, Light and Peace have not yet been conquered in the present animal evolution of the human beings.

But if any human being happens to have the glimpse of these treasures of enjoyments and forces and spontaneous knowledge and calm and peace, then they would forsake everything and never take rest, so that they attain these treasures.

In this regard, the Mother says, ‘… if you had a total vision, however brief, you would not be able to resist the temptation of making the effort to realize it. But in fact, the total vision is exceptional, and that is why Sri Aurobindo says to us : ' "If mankind only…" '

OOOO

The Way is narrow, says Sri Aurobindo. The door is very hard, very difficult to be opened. And there are the guards of Nature : fear, distrust and scepticism. If one conquers all these obstructions from Nature, then only the glimpse is possible and effective.

The Mother says that only then, those who are ready, who are undoubtedly meant for the Realization, will have the great glimpse of the total vision of what is there beyond this animal evolution of the human beings. But these three obstacles of fear, distrust and scepticism has to be conquered. Men are fearful of leaving this present ‘rut’ of the ‘animal evolution’ — mainly because he does not know anything better and safer than and anything beyond this ‘rut’, which is also so woeful and sorrowful to him.

The Mother asks : “The fear of what? Fear of coming out of the rut? Fear of being free? Fear of no longer being a prisoner?”

The Mother also speaks about the people questioning the invaluable treasures of the higher existence and evolution: “…then you become wary, you wonder if it is reasonable, if it is true, if all that is not an illusion, if you are not just imagining things, if there is really any substance to it………”

These obstacles of fear, distrust and skepticism, of fearful doubt and mistrust, rooted in the animal aspect of our being, stand in the way. Once conquered, there will be Infinite Joy and Force and Light and Peace.

Regarding conquering these obstacles, the Mother further says:
“But I repeat, it is not fine to sit one fine day, watch yourself be, and struggle with these things inside you once for and all. You have to do it and do it again and again and continue in a way which seems almost endless, to be sure that you have got rid of it all. In reality, you are perhaps never truly rid of it, but there comes a time when inside yourself, you are so different that you can no longer be touched by these things.”

Further She says that a time comes, “when the Light is so strong that all darkness vanishes.”

In order to conquer these obstacles, this is the endeavour, the tapasyā, the sādhanā that is needed. After the endeavour is successful, the door is open and we enter the new vistas, where we begin the New Evolution.

As Sri Aurobindo has said in ‘The Mother’ (Chapter—2), the Divine is the Sādhaka and the Sādhanā. But He also says : “But so long as the lower nature is active, the personal effort of the Sādhaka remains necessary.” And as we are more or less acquainted with it, He further says : “The personal effort required is a triple labour of aspiration, rejection and surrender.”

Insofar as rejection is concerned, we are required to reject not only mind’s ideas and other shortcomings thereof, or the vital nature’s desires and demands or other movements, but also we shall have to endeavour for the “rejection of the physical nature's stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obscurity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness, unwillingness to change, so that the true stability of Light, Power, Ananda may establish itself in a body growing always more divine…”

Thus, fear, distrust and scepticism have to go.

The Mother finally says :
“… I wish that you may all have these experiences yourselves. And for that faith, confidence, much humaneness and great goodwill are needed.

“Open, aspire, and … wait. It will surely come, the Grace is there.”


Barin Chaki
12-05-2007

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms 4

4. I am not a Jnani, for I have no knowledge except what God gives me for His work. How am I to know whether what I see be reason or folly? Nay, it is neither; for the thing seen is simply true & neither folly nor reason.

[Thoughts and Aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo]



Sri Aurobindo says here that He is not a Jnani, that He is not a follower of the path of Knowledge. He says that He is here on earth for the Work given to Him by the Divine. He knows what God gives Him to know. And What He knows here is neither the result of reason, nor is it folly or ignorance. He sees only Truth, above reason or ignorance.

The ignorant Mind seeks knowledge, through reason. When you are in Ignorance, you seek Light and Truth, but the first instrument you have with you is reason. You try to use reason to come out of darkness. But does reason lead you to Light and Truth, to Knowledge. Sri Aurobindo tells us that “reason trembles” and it cannot directly lead you to Truth.

The Mother says : “So … the knowledge, as it can be grasped by the human mind, is necessarily knowledge in ignorance, one could almost say a knowledge in ignorance.”

The Seeker of Knowledge will then have to transcend mind and seek direct Knowledge, though Intuition and then Identification.

But Sri Aurobindo was not the One who had to pass from Ignorance to Knowledge, from Darkness to Light. He came with a Divine Work, as an Avatar of the Supreme — to ascend the Supramental Consciousness, a level of consciousness far beyond Mind, a plane of existence and consciousness not realized or manifested till His incarnation, and to bring on earth the Knowledge and Wisdom of the supramental consciousness and force, and then to bring down the Supramental consciousness to the physical level. He was a Person who had the experience of Nirvana only in three days! It generally takes a whole life’s tapasyā to have this experience, even for the blessed few!

Sri Aurobindo was and is here on earth to bring in the Next Evolution — the Supramental Manifestation on earth. And He had all the Knowledge

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms 3

3. When I speak, the reason says, "This will I say"; but God takes the word out of my mouth
and the lips say something else at which reason trembles.
[Thoughts and Aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo]

Obviously, here Sri Aurobindo is speaking about himself. People, who are in limited consciousness, whose consciousness is mixed with “lower impulses, unreasonable emotions and the vital reactions,” cannot say that this will be applicable to them, as The Mother says.

Ordinarily, sometimes we use our reason calmly, in peace and quietude and some concentration, and reach a decision to say something. But when we start speaking, we are influenced by our lower impulses, irrational emotions and vital reactions, and we utter something that should not be said.

But what Sri Aurobindo says here, is just the opposite. In case of an ordinary person, lower impulses, excitement and passion take hold of the mouth which speaks something different and lower and contrary to what reason decided. But with regard to the phenomenon, of which Sri Aurobindo is speaking, an Inspiration comes from above, with a light and a knowledge, greater than the light and knowledge attained through reason. And it makes one speak something which is beyond reason, beyond what is known and decided by reason, something that is beyond the capacity of “the most enlightened reason”.

Sri Aurobindo says that “reason trembles.” Reason trembles, because the higher Truth that comes from a higher region is beyond its comprehension and expectation and acceptance.

The inspirations and revelations which come from above are always more advanced than whatever is understood and accepted by reason.

What man finds today to be reasonable may not have been accepted by reason in the past, as The Mother says. All revelations and inspirations, that come today to the Consciousness, higher and open, may seem today mysterious.

It may seem paradoxical, unexpected and revolutionary. And reason may tremble today. But in the Future, it will become a reasonable knowledge.

Truth is something which is ever progressive, moving, always being transformed and changed. Truth always leads us forward and reveals us to the relativity of all the manifestations in the world. The world is always progressing towards a higher Truth, a greater Truth.

The Supramental Manifestation is now the highest Truth, but still now this is not understood by the humanity. The ordinary human reason trembles before this highest Truth. But time will come and is sure to come when the majority of the human race shall understand accept It.

As Sri Aurobindo and The Mother say, the Unmanifest will manifest tomorrow.

(Simultaneously published in barin chaki's blog in Sulekha.)

Barin Chaki
23-03-2007

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms 2

2. Inspiration is a slender river of brightness leaping from a vast and eternal knowledge; it exceeds reason more perfectly than reason exceeds the knowledge of the senses.

Before going into the discussion, let us see what the Mother has told regarding words and their use and meaning, especially when used by Sri Aurobindo, and definitely by the Mother herself.

She says:
“There are dictionary definitions, which are the ordinary explanations of the words as they are commonly understood. These do not make you think. What Sri Aurobindo says, however, is said in order to break up the usual conception, to bring you in touch with a deeper truth.” (The Mother)
Let us see what the dictionary meaning of the word Inspiration is.

(Free Dictionary):

inspiration
1.
a. Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
b. The condition of being so stimulated.
2. An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.
3. Something, such as a sudden creative act or idea, that is inspired.
4. The quality of inspiring or exalting: a painting full of inspiration....
5. The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.

There are other dictionaries, which may be referred to. But more or less the same meanings are conveyed.

Let us see what Sri Aurobindo says here. According to Him, Inspiration is a slender river of brightness leaping from a vast and eternal knowledge.

Last week, we have discussed about Knowledge in Aphorism number 1. We have seen that Knowledge is not and different from and lesser than Wisdom. But that is one use of the word by Sri Aurobindo. Here, in the present aphorism the word Knowledge has a different meaning.

In the first aphorism, he was speaking of knowledge as sought by the ordinary human consciousness, through mental effort and development, through reason ; but here, in the present aphorism, He is speaking of “the essential Knowledge, the Supramental divine knowledge, Knowledge by identity.” (The Mother)

The Supramental divine knowledge is vast and immense, beyond the reach of the ordinary human mind. Only the rare people have been able to touch It so far. What comes to us as Inspiration, as Sri Aurobindo says, is ‘a slender river of brightness’ from this vast immense knowledge. It is a slender river, a tiny little stream. Or Inspiration may come to you as a few driops of light falling from the Supramental vastness, which gives you an impression that “you have reached infinite domains and risen very high above the ordinary human condition.” (The Mother)

Inspiration comes to us generally through the psychic being, the psychic consciousness, the psychic opening. That is the minimum range of consciousness required. Later on, when we transcend the ordinary mental plane and reach the higher planes of the Higher Mind, the Intuitive Mind and Overmind, and then from Overmind to Supermind, we can then receive Inspirations directly.

The Mother says, “Reason is certainly at the apex of the human mental activity.” But if we want the true Knowledge and Wisdom, we shall have to cross the borders of the ordinary mind, by unveiling the psychic being and ascending through the superconscient planes from the higher mind to Overmind and then to the Supramental Light and Consciousness. The only we can hope for reaching the real and true Aim and Purpose of the human life — the transformation of the human consciousness and being into the Supramental consciousness and being.

Thus, Man has to transform himself. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have spoken of the Triple Transformation: psychic, spiritual, and then supramental.
In the first phase of this transformation, the psychic being has to come forward and take the lead of the whole being and its transformation. The psychic is the active aspect of the soul. The soul is generally inactive in the animals, and they do not have any psychic being. It is only the human being who has the psychic being, as Sri Aurobindo says.

For explaining the term “psychic being” Sri Aurobindo has stated as follows:

“The word soul is very vaguely used in English- as it often refers to the whole non-physical consciousness including even the vital with all its desires and passions. That is why the word psychic being has to be used so as to distinguish this divine portion from the instrumental parts of the nature.”

For the unveiling of the psychic being and for turning towards the Divine Consciousness, Man has to follow integrally the three ways of knowledge, of the heart or of love, and of the will or of action, seeking Truth, Beauty and Goodness [in Sanskrit satyam, sundaram and shivam].
These three ways of Knowledge, Love and Action, followed concurrently and in a combined manner, have a most powerful effect.

To transform himself and to receive the Inspiration, the Mother has shown us the best Way :
“When one opens oneself to the supramental regions, one puts oneself in the right state for receiving constant inspirations. Until then the best method is to silence the mind as much as possible, to turn it upwards and to remain in a state of silent and attentive receptivity. The more one is able to establish a silent and pefect calm in the mind, the more one becomes capable of receiving inspirations.” (The Mother)

Silence is therefore the golden Way.
In the second part of the Aphorism, it is said that reason is higher than the knowledge of the senses, but Inspiration is still higher. Inspiration belongs to realm of Light, the growing Light, whereas senses belong to Darkness and Ignorance, and reason seeks to go out of Darkness and Ignorance.

Barin Chaki
02-03-2007

Discussions on Thoughts and Aphorisms

Around 1913, Sri Aurobindo wrote 552 aphorisms in a notebook. In 1915 - 1916 he published ten of them in the monthly review Arya. They form part of Thoughts and Glimpses. Of the 542 aphorisms, two are classed as additional aphorisms. The remaining 540 aphorisms form the book Thoughts and Aphorisms. The aphorisms were written in nine groups, three of them are headed as Jnana, three as Karma and three as Bhakti.

The Mother has written commentaries on Thoughts and Aphorisms. Hence any other attempt by any other person may seem unnecessary. Yet it appears a necessary step to bring these enlightened and enlightening thoughts to discussion, so that the Light may touch us.

Hence, we begin these discussions.

1. There are two allied powers in man; knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is so much of the truth seen in a distorted medium as the mind arrives at by groping, wisdom what the eye of divine vision sees in the spirit. (Sri Aurobindo)

Both Knowledge and Wisdom are allied powers in Man, and both are fighting Ignorance. However Knowledge belongs to Mind, and Wisdom belongs to Spirit, or the Divine Consciousness. Man and Mind is in ignorance, surrounded by Darkness and Ignorance. But the evolutionary spirit in Man, in Mind, questions the manifested existence around, wants to know the Reality, know Truth. But Mind gropes in darkness, advances through senses and the Reason. Mind wants to know and obtains knowledge through a great effort. But it is not complete, not final, and is rather distorted, due to the medium through which this knowledge is obtained.
The mental consciousness is the distorted medium, though it may be an essential medium for Man for raising himself from darkness and ignorance. We know that mind gropes through darkness, in order to know. We commit mistakes and by the method of trial and error and experiments come a workable knowledge.

The Mother says : “... this is not the true knowledge, but only a mental aspect of knowledge; whereas Wisdom does not at all belong to the mind, which is altogether incapable of obtaining it, because, in fact, it doesn’t even know what it is.”

Wisdom, thus, does not belong to the ordinary mental plane. It belongs to the Spirit. Wisdom comes with the spiritual consciousness.

When Man unveils his psychic being, and then advances through the different layers of the Superconscient planes — from the Higher Mind to the Overmind — and when Man touches and ascends the Supramental Plane, Wisdom grows in him, and guides him.
But we should always remember that Knowledge and Wisdom are allied powers, both necessary for him in his journey of life.

Barin Chaki
20-02-2007

Auroentreprises

All things shall change in God's transfiguring hour

The spiritual journey of Man has a revolutionary and evolutionary turning since Sri Aurobindo. He and Mira Alfassa, known as known as The Mother, have given to Spirituality a totally new turn and meaning, a completely new purpose and value.

A true spirituality does not any more mean fleeing from the world and life. We need not go to the forest, forsaking the social life and ‘renouncing’ everything, and become a recluse or a monk or a sannyāsin, after you attain the fiftieth year of your life and then strive to attain nirvāna or moksha and be free from the cycle of birth and rebirth for ever. Thereby by doing so, we allow the world and creation to go on, as it is going on now, in spite of the attainment of nirvāna or moksha by several yogis, seekers, saints. The world continues to remain as it was, in ignorance and darkness, in suffering and struggle and death. After nirvāna or moksha, we still allow the Divine, the Supreme, to incarnate in human form several times, but we will regard the coming back as a bondage of ignorance.

As the principle of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, the Divine, is Truth, then this Creation, which is but a Manifestation of the Divine, cannot be false. When we are a part of the Manifestation, there is no reason why should we withdraw ourselves from the Manifestation. Here on earth, the Divine is manifesting Himself — through Evolution — from Matter to Mind, and then onwards towards the supramental race in a supramental world. This is Evolution. As Mind has evolved and is evolving, the principle of Supermind will also descend on earth and be evolved.

Evolution aims at ultimately manifesting That which is the Source of this Manifestation, the Supreme Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (in Sanskrit and other Indian languages, Sat-Chit-Ananda or Sachchidananda), the Divine. This principle of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss is involved in Matter. That has become Matter. What is involved in Matter, is being evolved.

The aim of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is not the attainment of nirvāna or moksha, not a freedom from the world and the cycles of birth and rebirth. The aim is not spiritual selfishness. The aim is not to say that others may continue to suffering, but we will leave this whirlpool.

However, we know that the mankind, along with this earth, is at present in a great turmoil and chaos and disharmony. There is unrest, struggle, warfare and violence everywhere.

Yet, man has the inborn capacity to conquer and master and transform all his imperfections and all darkness and ignorance around him, to grow into a creative, constructive, perfect and divinized higher being. The human society may also grow accordingly, conquering all darkness within and without, surpassing all racial, religious, linguistic, political and other artificial barriers, divisions and differences.

Sri Aurobindo and The Mother do not speak of the Realisation of the Divine, of the Soul or the Psychic being, but also of an integral transformation of the entire human personality — his mind, and life and body, also of his ascent to the several planes of the Superconscient and to the Supermind.

Sri Aurobindo and The Mother aims at the total transformation of the human existence and the world. They want to change the world, the human lot. They know the bright and joyous future that the Divine has designed for this earth. They told us : don’t leave this world, change this; don’t give up yourself, transform yourself.

This is the Truth. We must participate in this Truth. We must cooperate with the Divine. We must march onwards, by transforming ourselves, towards becoming the supramental race in a supramental world. That is the only Way now left for us, for the human beings.

Sri Aurobindo has said that the time has come when man must surpass himself. Man is not perfect. He is not complete. But he has the aspiration and dream for attaining perfection and completeness.

Out of Man, the Superman shall manifest. Man has to become the basis for the advent of the Superman. He has to become the Superman. The purpose of the appearance of man must now be fulfilled. 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.

If we do not accept the Truth, if we do not try to change ourselves and the World, if we choose to continue with Old World of ignorance and darkness, of suffering and struggle and death, then result of our choice will be the Abyss.

The Mother has told us :

Men, countries, continents!
The choice is imperative:
Truth or the abyss.

OOOO

This march onwards towards the Supramental Manifestation on earth is not only an Idea or Ideal only. This is not an abstract ‘spiritual’ teaching. It is a practical Truth, a practical necessity.

The Ascent to Supermind and the Descent of the Supramental Consciousness on earth makes the Evolution from Man to Superman possible.

Sri Aurobindo said:

The supramental change is the thing decreed and inevitable in the evolution of the earth-consciousness; for its upward ascent is not ended and mind is not its last summit. But the change may arrive, take form and endure, there is needed the call from below with a will to recognise and not deny the Light when it comes, and there is needed the sanction of the Supreme from above.

Supermind is out of reach of the common ordinary mind. But when Man reaches the higher regions of mind, namely the Higher Mind, the Illumined Mind, the Intuitive Mind, and then the Overmind, as defined by Sri Aurobindo, he can have the glimpses and the touch of Supermind. It may be very difficult, even appear to be impossible. But when the Supramental Consciousness is present on earth, things should be now easier, much easier.

Now the Supermind is actively present on earth. Let me quote the oft-quoted message of the Mother from Mother’s Agenda Vol.1:

First Supramental Manifestation

(During the common meditation on WednesdayThe 29th February 1956)

This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was present amongst you. I had the form of a living gold, bigger than the universe, and I was facing a huge and massive golden door, which separated the world from the Divine.
As I looked at the door, I knew and willed in a single movement of consciousness, that ‘the time has come’, and lifting with both hands a mighty golden hammer I struck one blow on the door and the door was shattered to pieces.
And then the supramental Light and Force and Consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow.

The Mother has said in this connection:

The Manifestation of the Supramental upon earth is no more a promise but a living fact, a reality. It is at work here, and one day will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obliged to recognise it.

OOOO

The Mother had a Dream which is materializing as Auroville.

In Her “The Dream” The Mother has written :

There should be somewhere upon earth a place … where all human beings of goodwill, sincere in their aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world, obeying one single authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord, harmony, where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his suffering and misery, to surmount his weakness and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the spirit and the care for progress would get precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions, the seeking for pleasures and material enjoyments….In brief, it would be a place where the relations among human beings, usually based almost exclusively upon competition and strife, would be replaced by relations of emulation for doing better, for collaboration, relations of real brotherhood.

OOOO

The Mother formed and gave approval to Auroentreprises on 1971, with Her Blessings for it, to be registered in Orissa.

Auroentreprises is an endeavour to realize progressively the Ideal of the perfect man in a perfect society as visioned by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

Auroentreprises aims to create a commercially integrated spiritual society with a view to promote a progressive universal harmony.

Auroentreprises may not be a second Auroville. But it will be somewhat similar, as it will be a project in Orissa for local development and for the Future of Mankind. The Dream of The Mother is also the Inspiration for Auroentreprises.

Auroentreprises will form a nucleus township somewhere in Orissa, and it will be named Auronagar. The process for selection and acquisition of land for the purpose has already began and, hopefully, it will be soon finalized.

It is hoped that the followers of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo throughout the world, and all other persons open to Truth and the Divine, will support this project of Auroentreprises wholeheartedly.

Barin Chaki

On Savitri

Savitri 1

Savitri is a Mantra. It is a Revelation. It can be said that it is a Mantra and a Revelation not from any Plane of the Mind — from the beginning to the end, Savitri bears the Touch of the Supramental Consciousness. Even if some lines are from the plane of the Illumined Mind or even the Overmind, it always bears the Touch of the Supermind. That is why, It is unique, new, uncomparable. There is nothing on earth which is comparable to Savitri, excepting perhaps The Life Divine.

One particular line from Savitri has been the endless source of courage, strength, inspiration, hope, Love, Blessings and Protection to me in my personal life for more than four decades. The line is well known, but it was and is to me a very very powerful Mantra that could make me stand against all odds and difficulties and problems, even enemies — agents of the Anti-Divine forces!

The line is :
All can be done if the God-touch is there.

If you have a true and living aspiration, that is the proof the that the Divine has touched you from within. That is the God-touch. If you have that within you, you can surmount the mountains of all difficulties, all problems of whatever magnitude.

Sri K R Srinivasa Iyengar has written in his magnum opus Sri Aurobindo:
"All over Savitri are scattered lines that seem to be charged with this drive of powerand grace of Grace:

He found the occult cave, the mystic door
Near to the well of vision in the soul,
And entered where the Wings of Glory brood..."

According to the Mother, Savitri is "prophetic vision of the world's history, including the announcement of the earth's future."

Barin Chaki

[This is adapted from what is published by me in the thread SAVITRI in the community In Search of The Mother in orkut.]