Sri Aurobindo and Avatar-hood

The Mother, Mira Alfassa, said thus of Sri Aurobindo :
What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world’s history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action, direct from the Supreme.

She further said:
Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the Supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and a new world: the supramental.
Let us prepare for it in all sincerity and eagerness.

There are other messages on Sri Aurobindo, given by the Mother during His birth centenary. One of the messages is as follows:
Man is the creation of yesterday.
Sri Aurobindo came to announce the creation of tomorrow : the coming of the supramental being.

Sri Aurobindo has said :
The Avatar is necessary when a special work is to be done and in crises of the evolution.

According Him, the Supreme has three aspects, the Transcendental, the Universal and the Individual. The Individual Person of the Supreme, the Lord, descends on earth, when there is the need of a special Work to be done here, in the matter of the Manifestation of the Divine, in the Progression of the Evolution.
And the Evolution aims at progressively more and more complete a Manifestation of the Divine on earth.

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A few persons have said that Sri Aurobindo was the ninth Avatar of Vishnu. And it is also further claimed by them that He has again been reborn in the year 1963 and is the Tenth Avatar of Vishnu.
These claims are not true.
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have never and nowhere stated that He was an Avatar of Vishnu. As The Mother has stated, Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the Supreme. Vishnu is an aspect of the Supreme, according to the Indian mythology.
Sri Aurobindo has written about the Ten Avatars and has given His view which is very much clear and reasonable and in accordance with His Teaching. According to Him, the Buddha was the ninth Avatar, as it is usually accepted. And Kalki is, as usual, the tenth Avatar.

Sri Aurobindo has said, in this connection:
Avatarhood would have little meaning if it were not connected with the evolution. The Hindu procession of the ten Avatars is itself, as it were, a parable of evolution. First the Fish Avatar, then the amphibious animal between land and water, then the land animal, then the Man-Lion Avatar, bridging man and animal, then man as dwarf, small and undeveloped and physical but containing in himself the godhead and taking possession of existence, then the rajasic, sattwic, nirguna Avatars, leading the human development from the vital rajasic to the sattwic mental man and again the overmental superman. Krishna, Buddha and Kalki depict the last three stages, the stages of the spiritual development – Krishna opens the possibility of overmind, Buddha tries to shoot beyond to the supreme liberation but that liberation is still negative, not returning upon earth to complete positively the evolution; Kalki is to correct this by bringing the Kingdom of the Divine upon earth, destroying the opposing Asura forces. The progression is striking and unmistakable.
As for the lives in between the Avatar lives, it must be remembered that Krishna speaks of many lives in the past, not only a few supreme ones, and secondly that while he speaks of himself as the Divine, in one passage he describes himself as a Vibhuti, vrishneenām vāsudevah. We may therefore fairly assume that in many lives he manifested as the Vibhuti veiling the fuller Divine Consciousness. If we admit that the object of Avatarhood is to lead the evolution, this is quite reasonable, the Divine appearing as Avatar in the great transitional stages and as Vibhutis to aid the lesser transitions. [Letters on Yoga]

And Sri Aurobindo has never described in the discussion above or elsewhere that He is one among the Ten Avatars as mentioned in the Indian mythology.

In the Ten Avatars, let us remember, the name of Krishna is not there, though Krishna’s elder brother Balarāma is enumerated there. Though, He is definitely an Avatar, whose words have created the Gita. Similarly, Sri Aurobindo need not be in the series of the Ten Avatars. Sri Aurobindo Himself admits Kalki, who is yet to come and is regarded as the Tenth Avatar.

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Sri Aurobindo’s Avatar-hood is of an extra-ordinary and final importance, as the purpose of his Advent on earth is the transformation of the humanity, the transcendence of the human race.
The sole aim of the Evolution, now, is to go beyond the human race. A new Race, the Supramental Race is now the Task and the Aim. The Supramental Consciousness, which has descended already on 29-2-1956, is now active and it is now the Divine Will.
And Sri Aurobindo is with us till His work is done. Has not the Mother said on 7th December 1950 that He will be with us till His Work, the Work of the Supramental Creation and Transformation, is done?

The Mother 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 unmistakable 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 marvellous Presence and that henceforth everything in us be concentrated on the one will to be more and more perfectly consecrated to the fulfilment of Thy sublime Work.

The Mother had further said on 21 December 1969 :
Sri Aurobindo is constantly in the subtle physical, very active there. I see him almost daily, and last night I spent many hours with him. If you become conscious in the subtle physical, you will surely meet him, it is what he called the true physical — it has nothing to with the psychic.

Sri Aurobindo has categorically told The Mother, as declared by Her, that he will return as the first supramental being in a supramental body. He is not to return as human being any more.

The Mother said on 11 April 1952:
When I asked Him ( December 8, 1950) to resuscitate his body, He clearly answered: “I left this body purposely. I will not take it back. I shall manifest again in the first supramental body built in the supramental way.”

Hence, we will exhibit our disbelief in The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, if we think and profess that He is reborn again in 1963, or at any other time, as a human being and as the tenth Avatar. The Mother has declared that She had spent time with Sri Aurobindo in the subtle physical on the 21st December 1969 and on many other days. She had never declared that He is born again as a human being or in a human body.

Mankind should, in all humility and with all reverence, wait for His return in the first supramental body built in the supramental way. The Time depends, greatly, on mankind; the humanity should be ready for the change.

Barindranath Chaki
27-6-2008

Comments in Sulekha:

scribblingpad: Why KRISHNA is not there?
Reply by barin chaki: Shrikrishnastu bhagavaan swayam — that is the answer.
komlet : Shi Barindranathji, I read it...........and has to re-read it..............thanks for being here and sharing pearls of wisdom with us.

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Comments from others:

From: Raaye <http://in.mc88.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kripatirtha97@yahoo.com>Date: 2008/6/28Subject: Sri Aurobindo/Barindranath Chaki/All ChoiceTo: "Tusar N. Mohapatra" <http://in.mc88.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com>Dear Tushar Babu, It may be read by you but there may be others whom this may help knowing Sri Aurobindo.

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Dear Barindranath,
How are you? I keep your nice discourse on Avatarhood-
Love,
Aju Mukhopadhyay
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