Gaia Community: Barin's Blog

In the Light of Sri Aurobindo

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:47:49 -0000

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
Mŗtyormaa<mŗtamgamaya.

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 29^th 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

[ This article is simulaneosly published in Aspiration, All choice and in my Blog in Sulekha.]

ASPIRATION

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:36:12 -0000

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 29^th 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 29^th 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 friends and readers are invited to join the new Social Network.

This has also been published in the blog All Choice and in Sulekha.]

On Thoughts and Aphorisms 3

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:35:17 -0000

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.

(Previously published in All choice and barin chaki's blog in Sulekha.)

Barin Chaki
25-04-2008

Sri Aurobindo 6

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:15:09 -0000

Confusions and Explanations I

During a discussion on Sri Aurobindo, a friend of mine stated that in order to solve the present evolutionary problems faced by the mankind, one should go back to Nature. Going back to Nature is the solution, instead of trying to transcend and transform the mental-vital-physical being of Man.

She quoted me from Sri Aurobindo : What Sri Aurobindo represents II and then said:

The present evolutionary crisis is the result of an inequality between the limited faculties of man - physical, vital, mental and spiritual - and the technical and economical means at his disposal. Without a total and all-comprehensive inner change man can no longer manage and control the gigantic development of the outer life. The overwhelming importance of the collectivity, of the State is only a substitution of the collective ego in place of the individual ego. Humankind can survive only by a radical transformation of human nature.

[ Sri Aurobindo : What Sri Aurobindo represents II ]

"I think an aspect of this is that humanity can best survive by returning to our true human nature, namely a pre-separation from GOD identity. It lies within each man and woman to do this, even right now, without further evolution or transformation, should the will simply become engaged and decide to release to the Wild Divine."

My friend had thus raised a deep-rooted and fundamental question of utmost importance. She thought that by going back to our "true" nature, bereft of the conception of God and stopping further evolution and transformation, humanity can best survive, and this can be attempted by individuals even now.

Should we then go back to the caves! Let us then withdraw ourselves from all our scientific, medical, intellectual, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual advancements and turn to our "true" aboriginal nature, as some people may still be doing in Andaman Nicobars, or in Taiwan or somewhere in South Africa, or even South America! Or, if nobody is found now-a-days, let us go back to the era of the Neanderthals! Let us forget God! Let us forget evolution and transformation!

Let us then go back to our cave, where we might be dwelling some fifty thousand years back, or even earlier. Let us then live a wild life, along with our wild animal neighbors, dressed in leaves and eating raw fruits etc only!

Would we be saved then? Would I no more require any education, any philosophy, any music, any art, any search for beauty, for truth, for goodness? Or should we no more need any medicine, any books, any food or dress which civilization or culture taught us to use? Would we not then contact anyone else anywhere through internet , or anyone over telephone, or even through post and telegraph, or be informed of the world news or the news of my country?

Let us forget everything for a while. But what shall we do with our inner Fire, our inner Urge, our inner Intensity to surpass all my limitations, all our animal wildness that makes us slaves, our unquenched eagerness to surpass all darkness and ignorance, and our askesis to receive the Help of any higher Power in our difficulties, in our sufferings and in the matters of death and diseases?

Can any human - who is nothing if he is separated from the Infinite Consciousness, who is an insect if he or she is pre-separated from God, the Eternal and Supreme Consciousness - can any human being survive if he or she is reduced to an wild animal, or to a natural helpless insect, after his Journey towards Fulfillment and Victory for fifty millennia or more?

And if we become separated from the Divine, will the Divine separate ourselves from Him? Are we independent enough to do that? In our being and in our composition, is it possible? Is God our imagination or our creation, so that we can stop Him from being, or do away with Him from our life?

Can we stop Evolution? Can we choose to do away with the necessity of Transformation?

If we stop Evolution, Evolution will stop us, the human beings! If we stop Transformation, we will be discarded by the Force transforming us!

Can we forget the Mother,Mira Alfassa, who gave us the following message on the 1^st January 1967:

Men, countries, continents!

The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss.

Let us always remember that the choice is imperative. And that is the Destiny of this Earth. We have to live for the Future, to reach this Goal. We cannot pre-separate God, for He is in us, and we are in Him. In our true identity, we are one with the Divine, parts of the Divine. We cannot stop Evolution, as we are evolved beings and we are being evolved always. We are never stationary. We have to be transformed or be surpassed and thrown away, like the gigantic dinosaurs!

And what is our true nature?

Is it the Wild Divine? The Wild Divine is the Truth for the wild animal world, it was a temporary phase of the manifestation of Truth in the evolutionary world for a period of time.

Our true nature is leading us from the semi-animal existence to the Divine Becoming. That is the Truth.

And for us: Truth or abyss!

We cannot go back to Nature.

We have to march towards the New Horizon, towards the New World !

I again say:

Humankind can survive only by a radical transformation of human nature.

OOOOO

Words may very often create confusions, mainly for the reason that a word may have various meanings and usages. During a discussion, a particular word may thus create confusion. However confusion cannot be the intention and aim of the discussion.

When there is a discussion on Sri Aurobindo and am interpreting His teaching, His philosophy and spirituality and yoga, it is always, without fail, without any deviation, that the words are used by me as per the definitions and meanings given by Him. If other meanings and definitions and senses are intended, obviously there will be confusion.

Therefore, the solution to avoid any confusion is to adhere to the meaning and definition given by Sri Aurobindo, when the discussion is about His Teaching. When there will be discussion on the Buddha, we should adhere faithfully to the meaning of the words intended by Him. When we discuss Jesus, we must adhere to His intentions. When we discuss Ken Wilber, we should mean by a particular word what he means. It is desirable to clarify this matter.

If during a discussion on Sri Aurobindo, I, or someone else, give another meaning or usage to a particular word, confusion may be created. When an attempt to clear the confusion is made, one should understand this and should NOT continue to hold the different meaning or usage as against the intention in the original discussion. Then only we will understand properly.

Sri Aurobindo has defined every word of importance, including Nature. He has also spoken of Supernature and Higher Nature. About the present state of Nature, which created Man from Matter and Life, let us see what Sri Aurobindo from the Life Divine :

"The transition to Supermind through Overmind is a passage from Nature, as we know it, into Supernature. It is by that very fact impossible for any effort of the mere Mind to achieve; our unaided personal aspiration and endeavour cannot reach it: our effort belongs to the inferior power of Nature; a power of the Ignorance cannot achieve by its own strength or characteristic or available methods what is beyond its own domain of Nature. All the previous ascensions have been effectuated by a secret Consciousness-Force operating first in Inconscience and then in the Ignorance: it has worked by an emergence of its involved powers to the surface, powers concealed behind the veil and superior to the past formulations of Nature, but even so there is needed a pressure of the same superior powers already formulated in their full natural force on their own planes; these superior planes create their own foundation in our subliminal parts and from there are able to influence the evolutionary process on the surface. Overmind and Supermind are also involved and occult in earth-Nature, but they have no formations on the accessible levels of our subliminal inner consciousness; there is as yet no Overmind being or organized Overmind nature, no supramental being or organized Supermind nature acting either on our surface or in our normal subliminal parts: for these greater powers of consciousness are superconscient to the level of our ignorance. In order that the involved principles of Overmind and Supermind should emerge from their veiled secrecy, the being and powers of the Superconscience must descend into us and uplift us and formulate themselves in our being and powers; this descent is a sine qua non of the transition and transformation.

It is conceivable indeed that, without the descent, by a secret pressure from above, by a long evolution, our terrestrial Nature might succeed in entering into a close contact with the higher now superconscient planes and a formation of subliminal Overmind might take place behind the veil; as a result a slow emergence of the consciousness proper to these higher planes might awake on our surface. It is conceivable that in this way there might appear a race of mental beings thinking and acting not by the intellect or reasoning and reflecting intelligence, or not mainly by it, but by an intuitive mentality which would be the first step of an ascending change; this might be followed by an overmentalisation which would carry us to the borders beyond which lies the Supermind or divine Gnosis. But this process would inevitably be a long and toilsome endeavour of Nature. There is a possibility too that what would be achieved might only be an imperfect superior metallization; the new higher elements might strongly dominate the consciousness, but they would be still subjected to a modification of their action by the principle of an inferior mentality: there would be a greater expanded and illuminating knowledge, a cognition of a higher order; but it would still undergo a mixture subjecting it to the law of the Ignorance, as Mind undergoes limitation by the law of Life and Matter.For a real transformation there must be a direct and unveiled intervention from above; there would be necessary too a total submission and surrender of the lower consciousness, a cessation of its insistence, a will in it for its separate law of action to be completely annulled by transformation and lose all rights over our being. If these two conditions can be achieved even now by a conscious call and will in the spirit and a participation of our whole manifested and inner being in its change and elevation, the evolution, the transformation can take place by a comparatively swift conscious change; the supramental Consciousness-Force from above and the evolving Consciousness-Force from behind the veil acting on the awakened awareness and will of the mental human being would accomplish by their united power the momentous transition. There would be no farther need of a slow evolution counting many millenniums for each step, the halting and difficult evolution operated by Nature in the past in the unconscious creatures of the Ignorance." [Sri Aurobindo : The Life Divine]

From a perusal of the above passages, it is clear if we go back to Nature, we will then go back to Ignorance : the further progress and evolution from Man to Superman will be halted and thwarted. It is seen that Sri Aurobindo views the evolution from Matter to Animals or Plants (i.e., various life-forms) and from Life to Mind and Man has been a "halting and difficult evolution operated by Nature in the past in the unconscious creatures of the Ignorance." And even now, our effort "belongs to the inferior power of Nature; a power of the Ignorance cannot achieve by its own strength or characteristic or available methods what is beyond its own domain of Nature"

I hope the role of Nature is now clearly understood. It cannot lead us ahead in a proper and swift manner, unless there are the Descents of the Higher Powers and Forces in Nature. And this is possible - but how?

Let us see what Sri Aurobindo has said in His book ‘The Mother' :

"There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction, the great and difficult thing that is the aim of our endeavour; a fixed and unfailing aspiration that calls from below and a supreme Grace that from above, that answers.

But the supreme Grace will act only in the conditions of the Light and the Truth; it will not act in conditions laid down upon it by the Falsehood and the Ignorance. For if it were to yield to the demands of the Falsehood, it would defeat its own purpose.

These are the conditions of the Light and the Truth, the sole conditions under which the very highest supramental Force descending from above and opening from below that can victoriously handle the physical Nature and annihilate its difficulties ...

There must be a total and sincere surrender; there must be an exclusive self-opening to the divine Power; there must be a constant and integral choice of the Truth that is descending; a constant and integral rejection of the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the earth-Nature." [Sri Aurobindo: The Mother]

Here, too, we find that Sri Aurobindo has referred to the fact that the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances still rule the earth-Nature.

Can we then go back to the Nature, the earth-Nature, which still ruled by the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances?

OOOOO

Then, there is confusion regarding the words Reason and Intuition.

When Sri Aurobindo wrote the book The Life Divine, He had already reached the threshold of the Supramental Consciousness, far above the plane of the Intuitive Mind, far above Intuition. He interpreted rationally in His philosophical treatise The Life Divine all His Wisdom and Knowledge that He reached directly by Identification, not only by Intuition. He did not discard Reason. To discard Reason and accept Intuition would have been against His approach of Integration. Can we and should we discard Reason which had been a help to us for millennia for surpassing the surrounding darkness? Reason may not be the highest means of Knowledge. But till the coming of Intuition, it has to be there. Only, it has to be transformed and widened and illumined as far as possible. It is an instrument, and its proper use is in our hands.

And all that appears to us as Intuition is not intuition. There are many false signals also. And the old earth-Nature, in its animal kingdom, worked with instincts. And often the humans work with impulses. All these have to be searched and scrutinized, for they appear to many people as Intuitions. And there are the Anti-Divine Forces, who intimations and we may often think that they are Intuitions. The Mother has many times cautioned us against all these.

These clarifications are added here, in order to ensure that those who read about Sri Aurobindo in my Blog or anywhere else are not misled by the words for their various meanings and usages.

Barin

Written on 20-09-2007

Posted in Zaadz on 20-12-2007.

The Withdrawal 1

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:33:50 -0000

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 7^th 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 29^th 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 5^th December 2007

and revised on 7^th and 8^th .

The Transition - The Seventeenth November

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 03:08:27 -0000

Thirty-three years back, on the Seventeenth Day of November, 1973, Mira Alfassa, The Mother in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga, left Her physical body and walked and entered into the then newly formed Supramental Body. The World knew and told that She has passed away.

She wanted to walk into Her new supramental body along with Her old body. But that did not and could not happen. The cooperation that She deserved from the fellow human beings was not received. Someone who was close to Her on that day, did not render the needed assistance and She had to lie on Her bed, as She was medically ill. Her instructions were ignored and unheard. Her entreaties were not listened to or cared for. Someone failed to become a true representative of the aspiring mankind.

OOOOO

Medically, The Mother was ill. It was told that She was sick. Though, according to The Mother and Her followers Satprem and Sujata, She was really at the concluding stage of preparing and entering into a New Body, the Supramental Body. Many others heard of it - some believed it. Some could not believe it - some did not believe it.

The Mother had told Sujata of the New Body on 24-03-1972 :

For the first time, early this morning, I saw myself: my body. I don't know whether it's the supramental body or ... (what shall I say?) a transitional body, but I had a completely new body, in the sense that it was sexless: it was neither woman nor man.

It was very white. But that could be because I have white skin, I don't know.

It was very slender (gesture). Really lovely, a truly harmonious form.

That's the first time.

I hadn't the least idea, the faintest notion what it would look like, nothing, and I saw - I WAS like that, I had become like that. I thought Satprem should know, so he can note it down.

I don't know if I'll remember, that's why I am telling you. Because today is Friday and I won't see him till tomorrow. This way, I am sure I won't forget. You'll tell him, won't you?

Sujata: Yes, Mother.

The next day, the 25^th March 1972, Satprem had asked The Mother about the new Body:

Sujata told me about the experience you had the other day, that vision you had of your body, the transitional body.

The Mother replied:

Yes, I WAS like that. It was me; I didn't look at myself in a mirror, I saw myself like this (Mother bends her head to look at her body), I was ... I just was like that.

That's the first time. It was around four in the morning, I think. And perfectly natural - I mean, I didn't look in a mirror, it felt perfectly natural......

The Mother revealed Her Agenda and Her Work before Satprem and Sujata, and they were told by Her of Her programme of creation and preparation of the New Body as a very important step in the Supramental Manifestation.

OOOOO

K D Sethna has said:

We are aware that the Supramental Body was already with Her, waiting to fuse with the human form She had worn for our sake. We are aware also that the lengthy struggle she recently went through was only the Yogic endeavour of the human form to open completely to the Supramental Body. Perhaps this form did enough and its exalted agony was needed no more to enable the Supramental Body to manifest. Perhaps that Body having assimilated the achievement of the other and thereby gained sufficient density for its subtle-physical substance, can now materialize itself on its own in a not too distant future.

OOOOO

What M P Pandit said is highly relevant :

A new body was under formation, the supramental body, in which She was to take Her embodiment as the end-result of the transformation of this body. The body was being prepared. She gave in "Notes on the Way" descriptions of this body, described how it looked. And about a year ago, She told someone, "I am trying to fuse this material body into that body but I have not been able to get the clue." She said, "Nobody on earth has tried this, the secret is not given to me. On that point, She said, there was no help from above. She was searching.

Thereafter ......... one day it flashed to me that as soon as that luminous body was ready, the Mother would just walk into it without dying, "without dying" means not necessarily keeping the body, but without the gap in consciousness; keeping up the continuity of the personality, She would just cross in to that luminous body. It just flashed, and the way it came I thought it was more than just an idea: I noted it down in my diary. I looked up it the other day, it was dated the 24^th of July 1973. I did not think it wise to speak of it to people except in my closest circle, which I did... ...

Then on the morning of 17^th November at about nine o'clock, a particular friend of mine - he has a certain grounding in occult experience, occult knowledge, and normally when we meet we exchange notes - told me, "I have seen the Mother's body of light." I got interested. "The new body is full of light but it is not dense enough to function is earth conditions. It is there, and as I was looking at it I got the feeling that the Mother would enter this body the moment it became dense enough to stand and function in the earth atmosphere, seen or unseen. But there is no question of revival of the material body." And he added, "Those who are capable of seeing the Mother's halo, aura, they will be able to see that luminous body." It confirmed what I had perceived some four month's earlier; I told him as much.

That evening at 7-25 p.m., as you all know, the Mother withdrew from her body. They say the cause was heart failure, but let me tell you the heart failure was not the cause, the heart failure was the result of her withdrawal. She had decided, the moment things were ready she walked into that body.

She has not passed away, She has just changed her body. Not changed in the manner of the Gita - soul changing bodies - consciously ; keeping the full personality she has gone into that body. And, as it was revealed to me...., she will function in that body, work through those instruments who are open to her, expedite the remaining work - the working out of the consequences - but her activity will not be confined to the Ashram or to Auroville; for her the whole world is her Ashram.... "

OOOOO

A divine possibility failed due to the non-co-operation and disobedience of Man. The negative force and will prevailed for the time being and the Destiny of Mankind and the Evolution had to have a different Course. When the Old Form could not walk into the Supramental Body, a New Course was taken by divine possibility - the New Body must not have failed and must have assimilated the essence of the Old Form.

The Mother, in Her subtle body, walked into the New Body. That was the triumph of which the mankind did not know. She is continuing Her work of the Supramental Manifestation and Transformation through those instruments who are open to Her and to Her Action or Her Will, throughout the world, and it is not limited to the Ashram or to Auroville. Her work is now for the entire world and for the entire humanity

Barin Chaki

17-11-2007

Written on 17-11-2007,

Revised from 18-11-2007

To 20-11-2007

Published on 25-11-2007

Beyond Death

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:12:31 -0000

Man is mortal¶, but for the time being. The Earth is a field of Evolution and, according to Sri Aurobindo, Man is a transitional being. Not always was there Life's manifestation on earth, nor was there always the display and Manifestation of Mind here on earth. However Life and Mind have manifested themselves on earth. These are the parts of the Divine Manifestation. Man has come into being here to manifest the Divine.

As has been said, Man is a ‘transitional being' and he is not a final form of existence in the evolutionary show of the Divine Manifestation. He is a mental living being - in him, in his material body, life and mind have expressed themselves, as needed by Evolution. But Evolution has to make long, very long journey, and whatever is a dream for Man today, even the fairy-tale of immortality, will become physically true in him tomorrow or the next time.

In Science and even in our commonsense, we have not seen beyond the mortal imperfect Man. Is then man the final word in Evolution, in the entire Manifestation? It cannot be so. How can something so incomplete, so imperfect, so ignorant and incapable, and so much enslaved to Death such as man be the last thing in the Divine Manifestation, in the Divine Creation?

In spite of his incompleteness and imperfection, in spite of all his sorrows and sufferings and in spite of the overshadowing Death, Man is a Dreamer and is inspired by his Hopes! They are the Divine's Blessings for him. But will the Dreams and Hopes of Mankind always fail? Will not his Dream of surpassing and conquering Death ever become true? He has to know himself, surpass himself and strive towards Perfection and towards conquering Death.

Out of man, the superman will emerge, as Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have said. That is the goal of this Manifestation. That is purpose and goal of the Supernature, or else men would not have evolved beyond the Homo Sapiens, nor would have been there any progress in human consciousness today on earth. Man will surpass the limits of mind and reason, scale newer and higher heights of Consciousness and ascend to Gnosis, the Supramental Consciousness, and bring in the supramental race on the earth scene. Man will conquer his mortality. This is the Truth Sri Aurobindo has brought for us. We live for this Goal, this Truth, according to Sri Aurobindo.

In Man and on earth, the Descent of the Supramental Consciousness is The New to come. Conquest of Death is the New Task and Goal before Man.

Let us find what Sri Aurobindo has said:

A mightier race shall inhabit the mortal man's world.
On Nature's luminous tops, on the Spirit's ground,
The superman shall reign king of life,
Make earth almost the mate and peer of heaven
And lead toward God and truth man's ignorant earth
And lift towards godhead his mortality.
[Sri Aurobindo: Savitri]

Sri Aurobindo has further said:
Man is a transitional being; he is not final....The Step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in earth's evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner Spirit and the logic of Nature's process.[The Hour of God, page 7]

The Mother has said:

The deathless state is what can be envisaged for the human physical body in the future: it is constant rebirth. Instead of again tumbling backwards and falling apart due to a lack of plasticity and incapacity to adapt to the universal movement, the body is undone 'futurewards,' as it were.

There is one element that remains fixed: for each type of atom, the inner organization of the elements is different, which is what creates the difference in their substance. So perhaps similarly, each individual has a different, particular way of organizing the cells of his body, and it is this particular way that persists through all the outer changes. All the rest is undone and redone, but undone in a forward thrust towards the new instead of collapsing backwards into death, and redone in a constant aspiration to follow the progressive movement of the divine Truth. [25-11-1959]

Sri Aurobindo said:

Even there shall come as a high crown of all

The End of Death, the death of Ignorance.

[Savitri]

He has further said:

And yet I know my footprints' track shall be

A pathway to Immortality.

[Last Poems, Sri Aurobindo]

Thus, it is seen that the human mortality is NOT a final and absolute truth. The end of Death shall come on earth. And definitely, it will be possible only when the Supramental will descend on earth - and The Mother had declared that the Supramental descended on earth on the 29^th February 1956. And the Supramental is definitely a NEW CONSCIOUSNESS to descend and manifest on earth.

Barin Chaki

15-11-2007

¶ My friend in Orkut truth-struggler has written the following:

Man is mortal and the Divine is immortal. In the mortal human being, there is the Divine Immortal Spirit. In the field of the heart, there is a Kalpatharu (wish-fulfilling tree). The tree is surrounded by bushes and briars. When these are removed, the tree will become visible. This wish-fulfilling tree is within each person, but it is encompassed by the bad qualities in man. When these qualities are eliminated, the celestial tree will be rcognised. This is the Sadhana (spiritual exercise) that each of them has to perform. This is not the quest for something new. It is to experience what is yours. The entire cosmos is within you.

This message was sent by truth struggler. To see truth's profile click :

http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=4530517659795040812

Barin Chaki

15-11-2007

Satprem is remembered

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:50:08 -0000

Satprem is remembered TODAY, the 30^th October 2007, on his birthday anniversary. He was a rare person, who dedicated his life and existence, for the Future, for the mankind, for the future mankind, following The Words of The Mother, on the Way towards Supermanhood from the present manhood, on the Way transforming the mankind into the New Race, the race of the Supermen, the race of the Supramental Beings. After departure of The Mother, he left Sri Aurobindo Ashram, published Mother's Agenda, and wrote a number of books of immortal value, which shed Light on the New Way.

For those who are less acquainted with Satprem, it may be said that he was born in Paris in 1923. In course of his life, when he was twenty years old, he was arrested by Gestapo (of Germany during Hitler's regime) and spent about a year and a half in some concentration camps. He came out therefrom as an extremely shocked, upset and sad person. A spiritual destiny led him to Egypt and thence to India, where he took up a job in the French colonial government in Pondicherry. And he then knew Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Soon, he resigned and left for Guiana, Brazil, Africa etc.

He finally returned to India in 1953. On 3^rd March 1957, The Mother named him Satprem. His previous name was Bernard. Satprem was a close disciple and also a confidante of The Mother, and he stayed in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. Sometime after the Mother's Departure on 17^th November 1973, Satprem left the Ashram.

In 1982, Satprem withdrew completely to set out on a new venture, on a new adventure, uncertain and dangerous, of finding out the great passage in the next evolution, the evolution beyond Man. And specially, he undertook the task of exploring the cause of "death" and the ways and means of conquering "death" - Life has evolved since billions of years, but it is conquered by "death" - and it continues to be an enigma for Mind also. Evolution beyond Mind shall have to be an Evolution beyond "death" too.

Sri Aurobindo made a prophecy:
Even there shall come as a high crown of all

The end of Death, the death of Ignorance.

[Savitri]

We find the same prophecy and promise again in Savitri, as if The Mother is declaring :

My soul and his indissolubly linked

In the one task for which our life's were born

To raise the world to God in deathless Light,

To bring down to the world on earth we came,

To change the earthly life to life divine.

[Savitri]

In order to find out the secret of going beyond mankind, beyond death and ignorance, The Mother says, one has to plunge into the cells of the Body. The cells are the Roots. The secret of the Transformation lies there.

During the 1960s and 1970s, The Mother stated that the cells of Her body were becoming more and more conscious. She said that the transformation of the cells, of the "mind of the cells", is the secret means of crucial importance and significance for the physical transformation. She also said that the cells of Her body were progressively organizing themselves to a have a kind of mind of their own.

She regarded death as a state of mind of the cells which the cells accepted. If they could change their perspective, if they did not accept death as something inevitable, this would help the cells maintain themselves without any deterioration and linger their longevity.

She further said that one of the keys to physical transformation was to overcome the effect of the "physical mind" and the subconscient. This part of the nature has the habit of being resigned to defeat; it has negative and pessimistic attitude and tendencies; it grumbles and is filled with inertia. As a result, it reinforces illnesses, and it is a great obstruction to the transformation of the body. She declared that this was one of the great obstacles to the emergence of the new species, and She also tried to bring in the higher consciousness into the physical and sub-conscient aspect part of Her being.

The Mother said :

There is a consciousness in the cells: it is what we call the ‘body consciousness' and it is wholly bound up with the body. This consciousness has much difficulty in changing, because it is under the influence of the collective suggestion which absolutely opposed to the transformation. So one has to struggle with this collective suggestion, not only with the collective suggestion of the present, but with the collective suggestion of the earth consciousness as a whole, the terrestrial human consciousness which goes back to the earliest formation of man. That has to be overcome before the cells can be spontaneously aware of the Truth, of Eternity of matter.

What is more essential in an Integral Transformation is to transform the consciousness of the cells. Transformation of the mind and the vital being has been achieved through yogic discipline - there has been transformation of consciousness. As The Mother has said, at least quite a few persons have been aware of the Divine Presence or the Truth of their being. But they have not attained the Total Transformation, the Integral Transformation. Even the global consciousness of the physical has been transformed - but that is not adequate for going beyond human state of darkness and disease and death. There has to be a transformation of the consciousness of the cells.

The Mother has said:

Finally, there is the physical consciousness itself, the material consciousness, the body consciousness, and that is the one which has so far never been entirely transformed. The global, overall consciousness of the body has been transformed, that is, one can throw off the bondage of thoughts, of habits that one no longer considers inevitable. That can change, it has been changed. But what remains to be changed is the consciousness of the cells.

Satprem concentrated and worked on bringing this change in the consciousness of the cells in the physical body. That is the Way for integrally transforming the human being towards Supermanhood. That work is Satprem's contribution to the mankind, in which he is indeed unique and it is not yet known if any one else has trodden on this Way.

Satprem says:

And then you begin to wonder if it is not the body that holds the true secret - if it is not these first cells or that microorganism from a few billion years ago that hold what we have been seeking in vain with all our scientific or intellectual artifices, if it is not this first spasm of "life" enclosed in a bubble that knows or recognizes its Nectar, its air from beyond the graves, its life denser than all our lives, its breathing more powerful than all our oxygens - and that, finally, not only the way out of this grave, but the way to let another air in here which will bring our walls down.

A new Life.

A new Earth.

A new Evolution - Evolution II.

[Satprem : Evolution II]

And Satprem lived and worked for this progressive journey beyond death and beyond Ignorance. He has definitely made a great deal of progressive exploration and advancement on the Way.

And the Work must go on till the goal is achieved. That is the greatest and the most important for the mankind - to go beyond mankind. The Work must continue and will continue.

That is why Satprem should be remembered, as a brilliant pioneer.

Barindranath Chaki

30-10-2007

On Thoughts and Aphorisms 2

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:01:55 -0000

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.

[Thoughts and Aphorisms : Sri Aurobindo]

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
26-09-2007

[Written by me on 02-03-2007 and published earlier in my blogs All Choice and barinchaki's blog in Sulekha.]

Passing Thoughts

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:55:47 -0000

Seven Haiku

I thought it to be a rosy rose, but it was a thorny bush.

From a distance, I saw an oasis, but I entered a desert.

The dawn was joyous and rosy, but soon dark clouds covered the sky.

In this forest of concrete masonry, you can't go beyond the masks.

The world only worships a hero, hence win or be lost for ever.

If you want to create the Dreamland, be ruthless on the attackers.

Don't be enchanted of a shining darkness, for you will lose your way.

Barin Chaki

25-9-2007

Simultaneously published today in Zaadz, Sulekha and The New Platform

On Thoughts and Aphorisms 1

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:48:40 -0000

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
23-09-2007

[Written by me on 20-02-2007 and published earlier in my blogs All Choice and barinchaki's blog in Sulekha.]

The Hope

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:07:05 -0000

The Hope

One hundred thirty-five years ago, on this day, the fifteenth of August, the Supreme answered the human call for several millennia:

Asato maa sad gamaya
Tamaso maa jyotirgamaya
MÅ—tyormaamÅ—tam gamaya.

From the unreal, lead me to the real;
from darkness, lead me to light;
from death, lead me to deathlessness.

The Answer is Sri Aurobindo.
And Sri Aurobindo’s answer to this prayer is: tathaastu.

One hundred thirty-five years ago, there was the beginning of a very Big Change on earth, in our World, the beginning of the Next Evolution, from Man to a new species, beyond this ignorant imperfect death-bound human beings, living with and in Darkness, within and without.
That was the beginning of a Fundamental Change on earth. The seed was sown on that day.
Sri Aurobindo’s birth on earth is the most positive Answer from the Supreme to the humanity that gropes in darkness. He is the Divine Will personified — for an Evolution from Man to Superman and beyond, towards the advent of the supramental beings.

OOOO

The Mother [Mira Alfassa] met Sri Aurobindo on 29th March 1914 for the first time.
She wrote on the next day :

It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance, He whom we saw yesterday is on earth ; his presence is enough to prove that a day will come when darkness shall be transformed into light, and Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth.

OOOO

The Mother gave us the following message, in 1972:
“Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to announce the manifestation of the supramental world and not merely did he announce this manifestation but embodied also in part the supramental force and showed by example what one must do to prepare oneself for manifesting it. The best thing we can do is to study all that he has told us and endeavour to follow his example and prepare ourselves for the new manifestation…”

The Mother also told us:
“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.”

On 15 August 1972, the Message given by The Mother.
“Sri Aurobindo’s message is an immortal Sunlight radiating over the future.”
And yet another: “Man is the creation of yesterday.”
“Sri Aurobindo came to announce the creation of tomorrow: the coming of the supramental being.”

OOOO

Sri Aurobindo is The Leader of the next evolution.
He was the first Person to know and declare that the humanity must go beyond itself, that Man has to evolve beyond himself towards supermanhood, and then towards becoming a supramental being. That is the Will of the Supreme, that is the design of Nature, rightly speaking, of Supernature.
While Matter is apparently Inconscient, evolution from Matter to Man is through Ignorance. Though Man has been evolved with more consciousness and knowledge in him in comparison with the Ape and other living beings, still he is half-conscious, half-fulfilled, with incomplete, insufficient and inconclusive knowledge, with more or less ineffective and superficial knowledge. Man has been evolved with Mind, is still being evolved with Mind, but what he carries with him as the Mind, is only a very small and miniature fragment the real principle of Mind. The humanity as a whole has not yet evolved or used or even become conscious of the higher and deeper ranges of Mind, which are touched and partly used only by a few. However, these few persons let us believe that transcendence of the present state is possible. Our endeavor for self-discovery and world-discovery is also only half-fulfilled, partial and inconclusive and insufficient. Our previous Leaders have led some, but the mass still gropes in darkness, and the followers have begun clashes, feuds and wars, and have the journey regressive and backward towards the primitive state of mind, though dressed and decorated with ornaments of modern superficialities.

OOOO

This earth is a field of Evolution, and from the scientific viewpoint, now man is at the apex of Evolution. But as we know, Man is not perfect. He lives with ignorance, incapacity, imbalance, disharmony, chaos, disorder, aimlessness, unhappiness, sufferings, diseases and death. However, that is only an aspect of the Truth. Inborn with him is a longing for happiness, joy, for light and knowledge. And always with him there is Hope. Without hope, he cannot be. Hope is an eternal companion of man. The humanity has to evolve into a race of supramental beings, or else he will be replaced by a race of higher beings, in order to give effect to the evolutionary progress: this is the necessity of Evolution. This is what the Mother [Mira Alfassa] has said :
Men, countries, continents!
The choice is imperative:
Truth or the abyss.
A beautiful, joyous, harmonious and luminous Future of divine perfection is waiting for Man as his evolutionary possibility and goal. This is our evolutionary Future. Man cannot continue for ever as he is and has been till now. He has to proceed ahead from the present situation, taking the opportunity given by The New Consciousness and Force that has descended. Or else, the evolutionary forces of Nature - Supernature -will surpass him and choose some other means for fulfilment of the goal : ever-progressive manifestation of Consciousness.
That is our Future, preordained. We shall have to ascend, integrally.

OOOO

The most important and unique Work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother is leading the humanity and the earth the Next Evolution. They have told of a New and Higher Consciousness, the Supramental Consciousness, and of the Advent of this Higher Consciousness. The Supramental Consciousness is the Next plane of Consciousness that has to be evolved, for that is the Aim of Evolution. Evolution is the Manifestation of All that is ‘involved’ in Matter. And what is involved is nothing less than the Highest Principle of Existence, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, or in simple language, the Divine.Matter is apparently Inconscient, and evolution from Matter to till the appearance of Man is through Ignorance. Man has evolved with more consciousness and knowledge in him in comparison with the Ape and other living beings. Yet he is only partially conscious, partially fulfilled, with incomplete, insufficient and inconclusive knowledge, with more or less ineffective and superficial knowledge. Man has evolved with Mind, but what he carries with him as the Mind, is only a very small and miniature fragment the real principle of Mind. The humanity as a whole has not yet evolved or used or even become conscious of the higher and deeper ranges of Mind, which are touched and partly used only by a few. However, these few persons have led us to believe that transcendence of the present state is possible. Our endeavor for self-discovery and world-discovery is also only fulfilled in a partial and inconclusive and insufficient manner. Our previous spiritual Leaders have led some, but the mass of the humankind is still groping in darkness. And the followers are busy with clashes, feuds and wars, and have made the situation regressive and backward towards the primitive state of mind, though ornamented with modern superficialities. Man lives with Ignorance in all walks of his life and existence, with an incomplete and imperfect mental consciousness that Nature has bestowed on him. He is ignorant and in dark about the results of his actions or about the certainty of his thoughts, of his future achievements, about his own survival, about his purpose on earth or even about his destiny. The human history is made of stories of our repeated bloodsheds in wars, battles and massacres. And we have divided and sub-divided and further subdivided our earth into smaller and smaller regions and fought against each other. Hatred is our way, and not Love. We are moving backwards to a regression. We are not conscious that there is a higher aim and meaning for our life and existence. We live with our narrow egoistic choices and selfish activities. We fail to know beyond our nose and most often, we shut up our eyes, outer and inner.

OOOO

On this birthday of Sri Aurobindo, let us remember Him and The Mother and also let us remember about our possible participation in the great Work of Transformation, so that the Next Future ushers in. Let us have faith in the Promise and march forward:
To eternal light and knowledge meant to rise,
Up from man’s bare beginning is our climb ;
Out of earth’s heavy smallness we must break,
We must search our nature with spiritual fire :
An insect crawl precludes our glorious flight;
Our human state cradles the future god,
Our mortal frailty an immortal force.
[Savitri]

Sri Aurobindo has also told us that man has to and will transcend himself progressively and march forward towards the advent of a ‘mightier race’ — the race of the supermen, and then of the supramental beings.

This Hope, this Dream inspired within us by Sri Aurobindo, may become as the very Inspiration of our life.

Let us remember what Sri Aurobindo has said:

A mightier race shall inhabit the mortal man’s world.
On Nature’s luminous tops, on the Spirit’s ground,
The superman shall reign king of life,
Make earth almost the mate and peer of heaven
And lead toward God and truth man’s ignorant earth
And lift towards godhead his mortality.
[Savitri]

OOOOOOO

Barindranath Chaki

15-08-2007

Posted simultaneously in The New Vision , Zaadz and Sulekha