The Ascent

Sri Aurobindo said in His poem Evolution :

O thou who climbest mind from the dull stone
Turn to the miracled summits still unwon.

The first half of Evolution has been before us , the human beings — we have grown, step by step from Matter, which is described by Sri Aurobindo as “dull stone” — we have maneuvered to become the humans through the prolonged and difficult course of Evolution — from the stone to the human. That is the story of the Advent of Man, amidst the stone and the plants and the animals.

And now, there are the new summits before us, which are still unwon — the summits of consciousness and existence : we shall have to face and conquer the new summits beyond the human existence and the human consciousness. We need to conquer the new heights of Consciousness, beyond all our limitations, all our present imperfections and inacapacities, all our ignorance and darkness, and we need to have the miraculous capacities to transform ourselves for the New Creation, for the Advent of the New Man, the Superman, the Supramental Being.

That is the Truth — either we will have to achieve it or we will have to lose the struggle of existence and be doomed to the Abyss. That is what The Mother has said to us :

Men, countries, continents,
The choice is imperative — Truth or Abyss.

OOOOO

In spite of all the imperfections and ignorance and darkness in Man, in spite of all the prevalence and the pull and push of the animal nature in Man, since the early beginning of his civilization, he has an opening and an asking for the Divine, for the Supreme. He has always tried to have contact with some higher consciousness and force, however crude and incomplete the attempts for the contact may be. This tendency in him might have given rise to many a superstition, but it has also given rise to some great religions, which have led men to live some nobler and higher lives.

But in the religions, there were and are attempts by the incomplete and imperfect mind to suitably wrap up with ignorance and darkness the highest contact and the highest sentiments and emotions and ideas and thoughts within us. It was the lesser men, living in limitations and imperfections, who started managing the religions and the rules thereof and the do’s and the don’ts. Men have been seeking to go to heaven, or to go for Niravana or Moksha, making the human existence, as it were, a meaningless, purposeless, aimless play of the Supreme.

In the name of the religions, now the humanity is divided. Hatred and cruelty and division are now in force in place of Love and humanism and oneness. The Divine is far away, and the Divine Life is a distant impossiblity.

In the plane of Mind, thus, we are now in a fix. We shall have to go beyond it to find the true meaning and use and purpose of the human life and existence and also of the Mind itself.

And we should remember what The Mother has told: The Age of religion is over. Keeping aside the religious conflicts and debates, we shall have to go beyond the mental limitations and ascend the higher ranges of consciousness.

OOOOO

We need 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 are made, we shall to have to discover and know the truth in us, the Psychic Being.
That is the Task that we shall have to undertake, because, that is the Truth. The Spirit, involved in the Stone, has become Man, and now has to evolve further and manifest Itself.

The Mother has prayed before the Supreme, for all of us :

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.

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 from that stage, began the return journey of the Supreme — from Matter to the Supreme Consciousness again. And Man has come into existence, in course of the Evolution in the return journey of the Supreme Consciousness. That is the Play of the Supreme, which is also His Work.

OOOOO

But in Evolution, the One willed to become the Many and has become so.
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, or the atman in Sanskrit, which 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.

Sri Aurobindo has used the word ‘the psychic being’ in expressing the active aspect of the ‘soul’ in Man. The psychic being is evoled only in the human being, as it has to participate and lead in the next evolution beyond Mind. Sri Aurobindo says :

The soul … … is something that comes down into birth and passes through death – although it does not itself die, for it is immortal – from one state to another, from the earth plane to other planes and back again to the earth-existence. It goes on with this progression from life to life through an evolution which leads it up to the human state and evolves through it all a being of itself which we call the psychic being that supports the evolution and develops a physical, a vital, a mental human consciousness as its instruments of world-experience and of a disguised, imperfect, but growing self-expression. All this it does from behind a veil showing something of its divine self only in so far as the imperfection of the instrumental being will allow it. But a time comes when it is able to prepare to come out from behind the veil, to take command and turn all the instrumental nature towards a divine fulfilment. This is the beginning of the true spiritual life. The soul is able now to make itself ready for a higher evolution of manifested consciousness than the mental human. [Letters on Yoga — Sri Aurobindo]
OOOOO

The Divine has began His return March from the Stone and has reached the stage of the Human. And now the human being has to collaborate with the Divine to manifest the Divine in Many as the Supramental Race.

Now, ignorance, darkness, diseases and Death shall be conquered, as they belong to the falsehood. That is the Divine Will.

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, as we are deeply engrossed with our lowest emotions, passions, pre-occupations and occupations, as we are thoroughly involved with our fears and distrust and gross indulgence. Even if we got some Light of Faith and of Ideas and Thought, we bring in Darkness though the quarrels of religions, old and new, through the political labyrinths which mutilate and imprison the Ideas and the Thoughts. 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.
OOOOO

Sri Aurobindo has also summarised beautifully how the Ascent, the Next Evoultion will lead Man to the Transformation.

Earth was a cradle for the arriving god
And man but a half-dark half-luminous sign
Of the transition of the veiled Divine
From Matter’s sleep and the tormented load
Of ignorant life and death to the Spirit’s light.
Mind liberated swam Light's ocean vast,
And life escaped from its grey tortured line;
I saw Matter illumining its parent Night.
[Evolution : Sri Aurobindo]

The Supramental Being is the arriving God, the Divine, and the human being is the sign, the evolved reality, that is the instrument of the Divine. In Man, there is only a partial Light. He is not fully illumined. The arriving God, which is the veiled Divine, is there to bring a Transition from the Matter in sleep to the Light of the Spirit. When Mind will then be liberated — it will then swim the vast ocean of The Spirit, the Divine Consciousness. Life will also be freed from all the torture it has been tolerating all along. And even Matter will illumine its darkness.
This is in short the Message of Hope for Man, when he ascends.

OOOOO

About the message “Truth or 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 mankind is asleep, asleep in darkness and ignorance with all satisfaction. Man is yet in an imprisonment of the ignorant senses and blind and limited and blocked thoughts and ideas, without any aspiration, any hope, any light, without any vision, any seeking, satisfied with the animal indulgences and the limited ego and death and darkness and division.
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 Ascent, 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 Aspiration should be for the Ascent.

Barin Chaki
25-11-2008

Choice by the Infinite

Sri Aurobindo has said : He who chooses the infinite has been chosen by the infinite.

Thus, whosoever has chosen the Infinite, is certainly and already chosen by the Infinite. We need not bother, whether he is really chosen or not. Unless the Infinite chooses, we cannot choose Him. Thus, we shall have to prepare ourselves, so that He chooses us.

In this matter, pride may come in, deceit may come in, and we may later on develop movements contrary to the choice of the Divine — we must have to cross over those temptations and features of darkness and inconscience. When one crosses the limits in the influence of the anti-Divine forces, one may face then the Divine wrath.

And such is the story of the Mother Durga and the Asura named Mahisha.
Let us ever remember what Sri Aurobindo has told:

All insincerity of nature, once thy defence against the eye of the Master and the light of the ideal, becomes now a gap in thy armour and invites the blow. Even if thou conquer for the moment, it is the worse for thee, for the blow shall come afterwards and cast thee down in the midst of thy triumph.

But when one is pure and sincere, in spite all the difficulties and upheavals, there is the Hope — one shall return. Sri Aurobindo has promised us, He has given us the Hope:

But being pure cast aside all fear; for the hour is often terrible, a fire and a whirlwind and a tempest, a treading of the winepress of the wrath of God; but he who can stand up in it on the truth of his purpose is he who shall stand; even though he fall, he shall rise again, even though he seem to pass on the wings of the wind, he shall return.

Barin
6-10-2008
Mahasaptami

In Silence

In Silence alone, there is progress, the spiritual progress, or rather an integral progress. Integral silence is the source of true force and concentration and attention. We need, for a true growth in an integral spirituality, as much silence as possible— not only mental, but also vital and physical silence. Silence in the mind, silence in the vital being — the plane of all emotions and passions and feelings, even higher and subtle feelings — and in the physical, in the body and in the entire outer circumstances: this is what we need for a true progress.

The first step of the Integral Transformation is the Psychic Transformation. For the psychic transformation or the psychic change, we must realize and unveil the psychic being. And in order to unveil the Psychic Being, the true and central being in us, we shall have to go within: to the inner cave. That is the most essential journey we shall have to undertake. In order to go within and discover the psychic being, a regular aspiring practice of Meditation and an utmost concentration in our works, which should always be consecrated to the Divine, to the Divine Mother.

The Mother said to Huta :

The best way to hasten this change is the habit of going within.

Thus, we shall have to go within — the surest and the most practical way to find and bring out the Divine from within. After the inner discovery, we shall have to change our entire being, in all its parts. Without going within, nothing can be done.

In Meditation and in the consecration of the works, the greatest necessity is Silence — external silence, mental silence and vital silence. The Mother has advised us to control our speech always and to keep our surroundings as much silent and undisturbed as possible. This has to grow as a conscious habit in us.

Then what is required is a vital silence: there ought to be a conquest over all the tumults and waves. We have bring a gradual silence over the vital being’s “desires, demands, cravings, sensations, passions, selfishness, pride, arrogance, lust, greed, jealousy, envy” and hostility, so that we may develop “a calm, large, strong and consecrated vital being”. [Quotations are from The Mother by Sri Aurobindo.] Such a vital being is to be obtained in order to have a true mental silence, and this too needs a sincere practice. Let us find what Sri Aurobindo has said in this connection:

In moments when the inner lamps are lit
And the life's cherished guests are left outside,
Our spirit sits alone and speaks to its gulfs.
[Savitri, Pt I, Bk 1, Co 4]

In order that our spirit, our psychic finds itself and sits alone and has a communion with the Vast, not only our inner lamps are to be lit, but also our life’s cherished guests, the elements and forces of the vital nature, should be left outside.

Our aspiration must be integral, consisting of all parts of our being. And we must be sincere, in order to achieve a true progress. How to be sincere? The Mother has said to Huta:
To be sincere, all the parts of the being must be united in their aspiration for the Divine, not that one part wants and the others refuse or revolt. [White Roses]

Therefore, if we try to be silent in the mind, but there are disturbances in the atmosphere externally, or in the body or in the vital nature, or even if the mental activities are divided, no silence will come.

When in meditation or contemplation, one has to provide peace and silence in the atmosphere. And then, one has to try to go within, by keeping all the ‘life’s cherished guests’ outside. This needs a preparation from beforehand, which may take some, which may differ from person to person. And then comes the real work of silencing the mind. When we sit a meditation, ideas and images will come. We should let them pass. Let them pass away. We should better try to concentrate with a small mantra, say ‘Ma’ or ‘Mother’. Or even we repeat the word ‘peace, peace’. We may remember The Mother or even both of Them.

And we should see that there is the minimum action —as little as possible — in the mind. We should pray for Silence, peacefully, without any pressure or anxiety or negative thought or emotion. And gradually, Silence comes.

How does Silence come? One thing : be silent, in all parts of your existence. The Mother helps. The Mother comes in Silence, along with Silence.

OOOOO

One has to distinguish between a calm mind and a silent mind. We may be able to pacify and calm our mind and stop its ordinary activities, but in a silent mind, ideas should not enter and disturb. The Mother says that to completely silence the mind is not an easy task. In this connection, The Mother has said :
You should not confuse a calm mind with a silent mind. You can calm your mind and stop its ordinary activity, but it may still be open to ideas coming from outside and that too disturbs the calm. And for the mind to be completely silent, you must not only stop its own activity but shut out all that comes from other minds. This is not easy.

In course of Sadhana and due to the graceful interference from The Mother and The Master, or from the Divine, one may come in active contact with the consciousness beyond normal mind, ranging from the higher mind to the intuition. When the mind so receives any such experience in the silence of the mind, one has to receive it — one should not then stop the higher interference. One should have to know and realize the difference.

The Mother has said:
Moreover, you must learn to distinguish between a phenomenon of consciousness and a mental phenomenon. One can be conscious of an experience in such a way that this consciousness is not formulated into a thought or thoughts. This is very important if the mind is to remain absolutely quiet and silent.

Often, Silence is much more powerful than words. The Descent of Peace, of the Divine Presence, happens in silence, “not by beat of drums”, in the words of The Mother. Very often, the children of The Mother, throughout the world, received Her Blessings in silence — without any written word. I have personally experienced this several times.

Let us find what She says in this regard:
Always I answer your letters but rarely I have time to put my answer on paper. You are capable of receiving these answers directly, but for that you must learn to keep your mind silent − this is the true meditation − the brain blank, immobile and turned upward. This is the necessary condition to receive the answers. If you can hand over the care of your existence and your development to the Supreme Consciousness, then peace will enter your heart and your problems will be solved.

Thus, we may receive The Mother’s response and answers directly in our consciousness, if we have Silence established within us.



Barin Chaki
25-09-2008

[This is also published in ASPIRATION in my Blog, and also here in my Blog Allchoice and in my Blog in Sulekha.]

The Deepest Need

In each of us, the human beings, including me, the deepest need is one: Ananda, Joy, satisfaction, removal of the dissatisfactions and sorrows and difficulties and problems. It cannot be expressed correctly in one word. But the sense is that: Ananda. Every human seeks that and searches only that in the human life. Indeed, that is what is sought by the animals, too, as it seems.

And we never really get this Ananda. And the asking for Ananda gets involved with several other deep questions: Who am I? What is my true being? Why am I here? Why am I suffering? What is the meaning of my existence, everyone else’s existence? Why there are sorrows and sufferings? Why don’t I find any Joy, any Ananda? Why there is death? Why there are diseases? Why there are divisions, difficulties, dissatisfactions? And why there is all this Creation? Is it a Creation? Is there any One who has created all these things and all these sorrows and sufferings and all this yearning for Joy and Bliss and Ananda? And there grow numerous such questions within us, within each of us, within me.

And we start searching for the answers, along with our initial search for Joy and Bliss and Ananda. We seek within and also, we seek without. And our search begins instantly, without waiting for anyone else. We want to know.

We, in our search, find that we, the humans, are ignorant and in darkness. That is the first self-knowledge. I don’t know and I want to know. And the search grows intense. We want to know the meaning of our existence and the aim and goal of our life, which is short and uncertain, threatened by death. And we philosophize, and we dream and create arts and poetry and discover music, and also we find ‘religions’ to solve the problems. And also, we grow with sciences, techniques, mathematics, and civilizations!

And to meet the answer to the inner query, we come to discover God, come to the Seers who express the Veda, we come to Shri Krishna, the Buddha, to Jesus, to other spiritual leaders, to Plato or Aristotle or other philosophers, or in frustration of not finding any truth, and we turn Atheists!

And more or less, all of them, taught us to finally leave this earth, this Creation, and have a Nirvana, or a Moksha, or go to the Heaven! No place here, you will perish here, everything is transitory. Whether the Buddha or Shankara, your only solace is a Beyond, beyond the Creation. You shall have to return to the Origin! Go back! If any Creator is there, if any creation is here, go back to Him. Or, you shall have to go to the Heavenly Father and His Heavenly Abode.

Sciences have discovered a lot things and have advanced the standards of the human life, and have even tried to go to the origin of things, but the scientists are yet to reach anywhere in solution.

Indian philosophy has gave us a lot of wisdom regarding Existence and the Creation — it has given us the Idea of the Sat-Chit-Ananda, Existence- Consciousness- Bliss, Who is the Origin of all that is, Who is all that is. And also Indian Philosophy has given us the Idea of the Soul, the Atman, the Purusha, that we are individually — we, the human beings, the living beings!

But none has given us the satisfaction in full! If I am to go to Nirvana or Moksha, if we are to return to Heaven, then why I am here? Why should the Creator send me here, or send us here? Why this creation is there at all, if this all untrue, if this is Maya, if this is a vale of sufferings and tears, of darkness and sufferings! Why this earth, and this Universe, if they have no meaning, no worth, no aim? And what is this existence of mine, of ours, if it is a meaningless transient falsehood. If the soul is true, how and why should it come to this earth, this Universe? If it is a portion of Satchidananda, then why the soul suffer in darkness and sorrows and death.

Is there any answer? Is there any Light solving the situation, the question? Can anyone liberate me, and you all, from this condition which seems to be a dungeon.

The answer is : Sri Aurobindo.
The answer is : The Supramental Manifestation.
The answer is : The Supramental Transformation.
The answer is : The New World.


Sri Aurobindo has given me the answer. He is the Hope of Man. He is the Light. He is the assurance that our deepest need will be and ought to be fulfilled. Joy will be here! Truth will triumph! Death and sufferings will be conquered.

And we see the New Horizon, and we shall march onwards there!

[Continued]

Barindranath Chaki
18-09-2008

[This is published originally in ASPIRATION in answering a question by Devabrata Ghosh (Babul), and is to be published in Sulekha .]

In the Light of Sri Aurobindo

This is a great opportunity today, on the birthday anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, on the august day of the fifteenth August, to remember Him and to renew our Aspiration and our Hope for the New Way, for the New Consciousness and Being, for the Progress and Transformation towards the New Man, the New Race.

Sri Aurobindo is the Person, who has given the most hopeful meaning of the human existence, of the Creation. He has given us the greatest Hope, the greatest Dream, of Joy and Bliss and the Widest Consciousness and of an eternal, immortal existence. He was not satisfied with Moksha or Nirvana, nor did He ask us to be so satisfied. We will be transformed into an immortal Race, a new Race, who will not live in Darkness or in Ignorance or in Transience and Death.

He, the Avatar of the Supreme, granted with His signature of Tathastu [So be it] to the Vedic prayer of a few millennia:

Asato maa sadgamaya
Tamaso maa jyotirgamaya
Mŗtyormaamŗtamgamaya.

Lead me from non-existence to Existence,
Lead me from Darkness to Light,
Lead me from Death to Immortality.

Sri Aurobindo said : So be it, and it is becoming So. He showed us the Way, the New Way, transcending and surpassing Moksha and Nirvaana. You need not leave the World, the Manifestation — for everything is He, the All-Existence. The Creation, the Manifestation, is His Will — can anyone go beyond His Will? For, in everyone, He is manifest and He is hidden.
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother [Mira Alfassa] have assured us of Their help on the Way. Has not He told us so in the following words?

And yet I know my footprints' track shall be
A pathway towards Immortality.
[The Pilgrim of the Night]

He has asked us to go within and find the Inner Being, the Inner Divine, the Psychic Being. He has told us to find also the deep-routed falsehood hiding in us and solve the riddle of existence.

I saw that a falsehood was planted deep
At the very root of things
Where the grey Sphinx guards God’s riddle sleep
On the Dragon’s outspread wings.
[God’s Labour: Sri Aurobindo]

In order to conquer all Darkness for the progress and evolution of a New Race, Sri Aurobindo, in His unique Sadhana, had entered the worlds of Darkness and unconsciousness to bring the required Transformation.

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.
[The Pilgrim of the Night]

He has asked us to find the secrets within and proceed towards the New Becoming. To show us the Way, Sri Aurobindo had to find out the Way himself, for it was an untrodden way, a New Way. He had to work hard, undertaking an untried spiritual research.

He who would bring the heavens here
Must descend himself into clay
And the burden of earthly nature bear
And tread the dolorous way.
[God’s Labour: Sri Aurobindo]

And what did He tell us to do?

A voice cried, "Go where none have gone!
Dig deeper, deeper yet
Till thou reach the grim foundation stone
And knock at the keyless gate."
[God’s Labour: Sri Aurobindo]

Sri Aurobindo was Himself an Adventure of Consciousness, as Satprem called Him. In the language of His own epic poem Savitri, He was a ‘Voyager upon uncharted routes, fronting the danger of the Unknown and adventuring across enormous realms.’

A big change will come on earth — I strongly believe, it has already started coming, since the 29th February 1956, when the Supramental Consciousness descended on earth, as declared by The Mother.

Sri Aurobindo has said :
Often a lustrous inner dawn shall come
Lighting the chambers of the slumbering mind;
A sudden bliss shall run through every limb
And Nature with a mightier Presence fill.
Thus shall the earth open to divinity
And common natures feel the wide uplift,
Illumine common acts with the Spirit's ray
And meet the deity in common things.
Nature shall live to manifest secret God,
The Spirit shall take up the human play,
This earthly life become the life divine.

Of the Mission for which Sri Aurobindo and The Mother descended on earth, one can have a clear Idea from what Savitri has stated :

My soul and his indissolubly linked
In the one task for which our lives were born
To raise the world to God in deathless Light.
To bring God down to the world on earth
We came to change the earthly life to life divine.

Thus, They came to change the earthly life.

And with the Divine words that came from Sri Aurobindo, an attempt has been made for remembering and adoring Him on His birthday, the birthday of the Hope of Mankind, also for remembering and adoring The Mother.

Barin Chaki
15-08-2008

ASPIRATION

Sri Aurobindo has said: Man is a transitional being.
Man is an evolutionary being, who has emerged as the Neanderthal man from the Ape, and now, he is on the Way to the Higher Evolution.

This earth is a field of Evolution — Evolution of the Spirit that has become Matter and is involved in Matter. All living beings including the humans have emerged out of this Evolution. But Man is not the final result of Evolution. He is in the initial stage of the Manifestation of Consciousness — in a rudimentary stage. He is an imperfect and incomplete being.

As we all know, everyone of us wants to have a life that must be happy and joyous, creative and prosperous, and it should be as long as possible. We all think that we should have all knowledge and wisdom. We all want enough force and strength and power. We always hope and dream of success and victory. We always hope of Light and Joy and Consciousness and Power. That is our Hope, our Dream.

But that has not been the reality we live in. In short, our existence as human beings is quite miserable and full of sorrows and frustration, full of falls and failure, full of ignorance and inconscience, and also captive of darkness, defeat, division, disease and death!

But should we stop there? Can we put an end to our invincible hope, our golden and happy dreams, our joyous expectations?

Should we not be more progressive, more adventurous and warrior-like, more struggling, more hopeful and endeavouring? Should we not kindle the Fire of our ASPIRATION to dispel all darkness around us?

OOOOO

As Sri Aurobindo said, the time has already reached when evolution has to surpass man. As we have already seen, Man is not the perfect being, not the complete being. But he has the aspiration and the hope and the dream for becoming perfect, for becoming complete, for conquering darkness and division and death. The aim of Evolution is to manifest the Divine, the Source of this Manifestation, the Supreme Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (in Sanskrit, Sat-Chit-Ananda or Sachchidananda).

The Superman shall emerge and manifest out of Man. Man should prepare and transform himself for the Advent of the Superman. He has to grow and become the Superman. That is the only purpose of Man's appearance - the coming of the Superman, the Manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness - and the purpose has now to be fulfilled. Man shall do that by surpassing himself. If Man fails to collaborate with this new task of evolution, the evolutionary forces will surpass him, go beyond him, push him aside, and find out a new and different means to manifest the New Man, the Superman.

Has not The Mother warned us in the message that follows? —
Men, countries, continents!
The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss.

The Divine Consciousness descends and becomes ready to answer the Call and the Aspiration of the human being, to lift him up to Light and Force and Joy and Love, but Man fails, though he has given the Call. The Divine gives us Light, shows us the Way, but we cover the Light with the Shades of Darkness and create hurdles on the Way by creating walls and barricades of Ignorance and Egoism. Often, we love Darkness and Ignorance and thus we ignore Light and Truth and Wisdom. We are not yet really prepared, as it seems.

As The Mother has declared, the Supramental Consciousness has descended on earth on the 29th day of February 1956. It is actively present here and now on earth.

I am quoting the oft-quoted message of the Mother from MOTHER’S AGENDA Vol.1:
FIRST SUPRAMENTAL MANIFESTATION
(During the common meditation on Wednesday
The 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.

OOOOO

The Time now is ready for THE HUMAN BEING to grow into THE SUPRAMENTAL BEING. The Hour of God that descended on earth with the coming of Sri Aurobindo still continues and will continue till the Work is done and the Supramental Beings emerge on earth.
Now, the most needed POWER in us is ASPIRATION, a fixed and unfailing ASPIRATION.

Barindranath Chaki
01-08-2008

[ This article has been published in the newly formed Social Network ASPIRATION ( http://newreflexions.ning.com ). Interested readers are invited to join the new Social Network.]

Thoughts and Aphorisms 11B

11. Immortality is not the survival of the mental personality after death, though that also is true, but the waking possession of the unborn and deathless Self of which body is only an instrument and a shadow.
(Thoughts and Aphorisms: Sri Aurobindo)

[Continued from the previous discussion]

The Person behind each appearance that is named a human being is the unborn and the deathless Self. We have seen in the previous discussions that The Supreme Being Himself has manifested as the Universe, as the Cosmic Reality, revealing His Universal aspect, and has also manifested as the Individual Beings in His Universal aspect. And He is the Transcendental Being, above and beyond all Manifestation — besides the Universal and Individual Aspects.

The deathless Self or the Soul is the individual aspect of Manifestation and is termed the atman in Sanskrit. It 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. The Soul is originally and can become, through Realization, One with the Supreme Consciousness. It is, in reality, One with the Supreme and with Universe. But ordinarily, the human does not know this, has not realized this. It is thus, in truth, immortal and eternal, beyond Death.

The body is subject to death, but it is an evolutionary condition of the Being that is born and is subject to Transformation and change. In the urge of Manifestation as the Many, the Supreme, That is the Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, the sat-chit-ananda, has taken up the body, the physical being, besides the vital and the mental being. As discussed earlier, the physical, vital and mental beings are the masks taken up by the Soul from the planes of Matter, Life and Mind.
Generally, according to the old philosophical thought, the word Soul was regarded as eternal and ever-conscious, but was regarded as inactive and passive. It was regarded to be a witness that never interfered. However, in Man, there is an active part or aspect of the Soul, which is termed by Sri Aurobindo as the Psychic Being, which participates in the Evolution of Man, in the onward journey of the human being on the Path of Evolution into the higher beings, the supramental beings, towards the Manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness, the next phase of the Evolution. The Psychic is not present in any other living beings. The psychic being is not present even in an Asura or in a Devata, as both of them are non-evolutionary beings. To evolve beyond their present status, both an Asura and a Devata will have to take birth as a human being, as held by Sri Aurobindo.

OOOOO

Sri Aurobindo adopted the term “psychic being” for the word soul is vaguely used:
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.

Thus, in the human who is an evolutionary being, the Soul is to be understood as the psychic being.

We should have a clear understanding of the difference between the soul or, rather, the psychic being and the pure Atman, which is the self or the spirit. The pure self is unborn and does not pass through death or birth. It is not limited or affected or bound by body, mind or life, or even by Nature, and it is independent of them, though it supports them. However, it should also be remembered that the Spirit has become the Manifestation in Nature, from which have emerged and evolved the body and the life and the mind.

The soul or the psychic being participates in the process and procedure of birth and death, though it is neither born nor ever dead, as it is immortal and eternal. In the process, it moves from the earth plane to other planes and comes back again to earth-existence, as said by Sri Aurobindo. The soul moves with the evolutionary progression through several lives, from the existence of a cell to the stage of a human being, supporting the Evolution and development of the physical being, the vital being and the mental being in the human existence and consciousness. It continues its support of the further evolution beyond Mind. And all this is done behind the veil.

When the true spiritual life begins, it is no more behind the veil. Indeed, to begin the true spiritual life, the psychic being has to be unveiled. This is the first step in the process of Transformation — in the Way of the Triple Transformation. The psychic being, when unveiled, takes up the further evolution of the Individual, towards the higher Evolution of planes beyond Mind and of the Supramental Consciousness. It gradually brings a change unto the mental personality also, which is then immortalized. The mental personality then survives after death, for it accompanies the unveiled psychic being.

As Sri Aurobindo has said, in the due course of the Supramental Transformation, the physical body will be changed and it will no more have the necessity of a death, for it can then cure and create the necessary cells, and obviously it will then be different from what the present human body is.

The deathless Self will then transmute the mortal body as a perfect and deathless instrument, which will no more remain a shadow.

OOOOO

Whenever the psychic being takes a new birth, it aims at having a further progress on the Way, developing and perfecting the mental, vital and physical beings, its total personality, the basis of which should be a progressively perfecting body. Until and unless the physical principle in our personality is perfect and prepared to receive the new light, the new consciousness, the new life, the rebirth will be there, and the death will continue. Only an attainment of the physical immortality can this process of rebirth will come to an end for an individual or for a collectivity of individuals.

In this connection The Mother has said:
But usually, when one speaks of immortality, people think of physical immortality — it goes without saying that this has not yet been realised.
Sri Aurobindo says that it is possible and even that it will happen, but he lays down one condition: the body must be supramentalised, it must have some of the qualities of the supra mental being, which are qualities of plasticity and constant transformation. And when Sri Aurobindo writes that the body is “only an instrument and a shadow”, he is speaking of the body as it is now and will probably continue to be for a long time to come. It is only the instrument of the Self, a very inadequate expression of this Self, and a shadow — a shadow, some thing vague and obscure in comparison with the light and precision of the eternal Self. [Vol.10, Collective Works of The Mother]

Regarding the descent of the soul, or the psychic being, The Mother has said:
Its descent into the physical body is necessarily a descent into darkness, ignorance, unconsciousness; and for a very long time it must labour simply to bring a little consciousness into the material substance of the body, before it can make use of it for the experience it has come for. So, if we cultivate the body by a clear-sighted and rational method, at the same time we are helping the growth of the soul, its progress and enlightenment. [Vol.10, Collective Works of The Mother]

The Mother has further said that by physical culture, we can infuse consciousness into the cells of the body. And this is of a great importance, as by this the body can control and perfect itself, and it adds to the action of the psychic being that has entered the body.
Thus, that is the Way, stepping into which the humanity, or at least a willing portion of it, can progress towards the attainment of the deathless body, which shall no more be a shadow, but an expression of the Divine.

Barindranath Chaki
19-07-2008
[Simultaneously published today by me in Sulekha .]

Aju M speaks

From: aju mukhopadhyay <aju.mukhopadhyay@gmail.com>
To: "Tusar N. Mohapatra" <tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com>
Aju Mukhopadhyay speaks on the Comment by Anonymous on the demands for the independence of Auroville. [Date: 2008/7/17]: 444

Dear Tusar M,

ÕÕÕ RE the message by anonymous — what Barindranath has said stands good — it was not altogether good to say ignorant — it is certainly violation and it does not prove the knowledge of the other. Truth is that there are hundreds of differences raging in these organizations- all humans doing and raising — it is all right as Tusar proceeds — this is an intellectual forum and it will so deal with things — go inward and produce — a yogic way — let that be done but everyone has right to proceed in his ways.

Truly,
Aju M

›››››

From: aju mukhopadhyay <aju.mukhopadhyay@gmail.com>
To: "Tusar N. Mohapatra" <tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com>
Aju Mukhopadhyay speaks on the Comment by Anonymous on the demands for the independence of Auroville. [Date: 2008/7/15]: 444

Dear Tusar M and Friends,
Why not publish the id of the anonymous?
But a nice piece — it certainly carries weight. Though there are certain gaps — true that we should not deal with out and out politicians — if living within is the only goal why and who out of all will go out? commenting on the goings on of the organizations that the anonymous has made is also going out and could be contested! But it goes on— yes — less talk and more work — but who's working, How do you know?
The forum is to discuss — be it purified — come closer with straightforwardness.
Warmly to all
Aju Mukhopadhyay
›››››
Posted by me.
Barindranath Chaki
17-07-2008

A Comment on a Comment

I have repeatedly gone through the comment given by Anonymous on the post "Savitri Era Party demands independence of Auroville..." published by Tusar Mohapatra in Savitri Era. It created mixed reactions in me.

First of all, I wonder what made Anonymous to remain anonymous. It seems it is due to lack of courage. It would have been better and farer, if the writer would have given his name.

Secondly to say that Tusar is ignorant is too much of an attack on him. And as far as I know Tusar is not an ignorant person. Anonymous could have expressed what he wanted to convey, without calling Tusar ignorant. Whatever epithet Anonymous added to Mr. Nandivarman I am not going to question, as I don’t know anything about him.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville are two great symbols for all who love and follow The Mother and Sri Aurobindo throughout the World. The names are sacred, the places are sacred. They are creations of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Legally, they may be private institutions, but whenever there are reports of untoward events, followers and devotees are really hurt and aggrieved. Therefore, those who are in charge of the administration and management of these great institutions should be very careful, so that there is no scar or spot in the whiteness of the sacredness. It is natural that some of the followers and the devotees may react when they get some information of some event or incident touching the sacredness of these two symbols.

What Anonymous said could have been said in a better way, in a more polite way, without uttering the word ‘ignorant’. Anonymous, or for that matter anybody else, has every right to express himself, express his ideas and views, but without hurting the sentiments of others. We may differ from Tusar — but it can be expressed without any harshness. That much we may expect from one who advises and speaks about self-realization.

Personally, I feel that one may differ from Tusar about the issue whether Auroville should be free from the hands of the Government of India. It may be held that the involvement of the Government is better than the lack of involvement, which would eventually create anarchy and chaos in Auroville, as the Society in general is not yet free from the anti-social elements.

Regarding the Ashram, too, I feel that one should be impartial and let the Ashram and the Ashramites settle the matters of inner dispute, if any — until the things become uncontrollable and cross the limits! However, I hope and feel certainly that such a situation will never arise, as The Mother is there, along with the Presence of The Master. Very often, the human mind is too petty to understand and interfere and it creates quarrels and feuds!

I fully agree with Anonymous, when he says to live within and know one’s self. Indeed, that is the most important and the first task before each of us. Anonymous has rightly pointed this out. Indeed, our first task and goal should be to transform ourselves and to endeavour to realize the Truth that Sri Aurobindo and The Mother brought for us. It matters little whether one lives in the Ashram or in Auroville or in the world at large.

"One man's perfection still can save the world" — it is surely true. And each of us to aspire and strive for this Perfection!

However, to conclude, I may say that we cannot infringe upon the rights of anybody else in floating a party or in endeavoring to bring together the Aurobindonians [I prefer the word Aurobindonian to Aurobindian, the former term being used by K D Sethna and M P Pandit and some others]. If one has the urge, if one feels the Call, let him do it.

And it is of utmost importance that we should seek the Truth or the Self within, I fully agree, but that should not restrict us from attending the external world and solving its problems!

And let us collectively seek the Truth that The Mother and The Master have brought for us!

Barindranath Chaki
16-7-2008
OOOOO

[The concerned Comment :
From: Anonymous <http://in.mc88.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=noreply-comment@blogger.com>To: http://in.mc88.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=tusarnmohapatra@gmail.com
Anonymous has left a new comment on the post "Savitri Era Party demands independence of Auroville...":

It is sad, Mr. Tushar, that though you claim to be some sort of Sri Aurobindo devotee - notwithstanding your coming up with such pathetically shallow and immature notions such as 'Savitri Era Party' - you are now associated and being felicitated by Mr. Nandhivarman, who is part of the pseudo-rationalist tribe, and a known mud-slinger at the Ashram, and at the Mother and Sri Aurobindo themselves, and who does it purely for base political gains.

The Internet is a powerful tool, but in the hands of the ignorant, such as yourselves, and the perverse, such as Mr. Nandivarman, it is easily misused. The 2 of you provide excellent examples of this. Hopefully, your readers will have the discernment to separate the chaff from the wheat - though the wheat is so rare to come by!

A piece of advice to you, to other Aurobindonians, and to myself: Discover the Divine within; the changes outside will follow. The less we encourage this mental and vital fret, the better for our collective growth and progress. For till we don't find Her within, our shrill cries from either bank of the river of phenomenal reality are equally foolish.

As to your occasional unsolicited comments and advice such as how Auroville should be autonomous, and how the Ashram should be better managed, refer once again to the above para. If you still feel the overwhelming urge to 'act' however, get down from your fibre-optic tower and see the deeper ground Reality of things.

It is my conviction - and I am hardly alone - that the Ashram and Auroville are shaping up beautifully, in the hands of individuals who are committed and dedicated even if imperfect, and who work more than they talk, and talk even less than they type. Of course there are wayward individuals everywhere, and all organisations have their share of them too, but the Hand that has guided so far, continues to guide, and slowly, ever so slowly but surely, those who have the eyes to see recognize that these centres of the Divine's concrete Presence and Work, grow onward towards the Light.

It is pointless to reply to your friend Mr. Nandhivarman; his motives are in question. The greater tragedy is when professed devotees like yourself are pulled into their devious game, and do not have the wisdom to realise that our only work is within ourselves, and our only genuine concern the kingdom within ourselves. May we grow wide, as the Vedas say.

V

P.S.: If you tell us that you are indeed conscious of that deeper reality within yourself, and that you are truly inwardly realised and convinced that it is necessary to set up 'systems', create a 'Savitri Era Party', 'save' the Aurobindonian community from impending doom and destruction wrecked by the wretched administrators you seem to conjure - well, sound the bugle, and perhaps we shall be inspired to join you. But at present you hardly come across as one who has the Knowledge or the Call. I can imagine there is much which can be changed for the better, in Auroville, in the Ashram, in India, in the world; but where does that change begin? Nay, Their workings are far more complex, intricate, and mysterious, and "One man's perfection still can save the world…" Posted by Anonymous to Savitri Era at 5:05 PM, July 07, 2008 ]

OOOOO
Posted in All Choice by Barindranath Chaki

******

From Devabrata ~

I fully agree with the spirit of Barindranath Chaki in relation of Sri Aurobindo and Auroville. There may be thousand and one lapses in these two esteemed institutions -but what ever it may be -it must be mended or corrected by the inmates of these institutions. Otherwise-the very purpose of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother will be defeated. Who are we to judge the situations there when we believe that The Mother is working still -and as per the Mother -Sri Aurobindo would not leave this world till the work is done?

With all reverence to Satprem I must say that it all started with him after he made public his personal opinions on the Ashramite open to the people. In spite of the Mother's repeated advice not to make public her political uttering -Satprem did not comply. His harsh comments on the Ashramites and his comparison of the Ashram with that of Vatican opened the gate of all this. Even after reading Agenda-some people -I know them-asked me the eligibility and the attainment of Nolini Kanta Gupta. It happened all for Satprem. He was much loved by the Mother (as The Mother loved all people of this world)-but this fact should not give him licence to vilify the Ashram. I knew many highly elevated Ashramites (they were hidden yogis) much after Satprem had left the Ashram-and I personally got sheltered by their spiritual power. I know still some persons -who are extremely dedicated sadhakas. Some Tamil groups and politicians are always keen to denigrate the Ashram. Thank you with all sincerity for writing this.

Regards.

Devabrata
9:27 PM
16-07-2008

My view:

Satprem was a great person, a great Follower of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, a great Worker of The Mother. He has a great lot of lofty contributions to the Cause of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. And he was an Ashramite, a close devotee of The Mother. He has a lot of contributions for others, and his leaving the Ashram or his criticisms of the Ashram, if any, are not any part of his great and lofty contributions! One can now forget it. And it has nothing to do with the present acitivities of Nandiverman or other critics.

Barindranath Chaki
24-07-2008

From Mamata Dash

On 'The Day of Victory'

Dear Mr. Chaki
We are back in Bangalore now. After staying here for a few days we will go back to Pondicherry.
I went through your article "The Victory Day'
About Satya Sai baba being the godhead who descended on 24th November 1926.. it has never been stated by the Mother or Sr. Aurobindo. So it can never be true. Do you remember one thing? In Agenda in which volume I do not remember now, Satprem has asked about Satya Sai Baba to the Mother. It is offered as 'S:
Satprem asked: Is he from the vital? She replied "yes'
I asked Michel or Patrice about this whether S menas Satya Sai baba. They said Yes it is about him.
So in case Satya Sai baba being the overmental godhead, She must have told it to Satprem at that time.
I have met Satya Sai baba, I sensed that he is never a fraud he has some power, I felt some vibration of godhead also. But Mother said he is from the vital. So I can not tell anything about it.
Good wishes, Mamata

Mamata Dash