Vol: 18, No: 59
January-2017
The Descent
Edited by S.A. Maa Krishna,
Sri Matriniketan Ashram Sri Aurobindo Centre,
Managed by The Mother’s International Centre Trust,
Regd.No-146/24.11.97. Vill: Ramachandrapur, PO: Kukudakhandi-761100,
Via: Brahmapur, Dist: Ganjam, State: Odisha, India
www.srimatriniketanashram.org
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The Mother’s Manifestation
(The January-2017 issue of The Descent related with the Post Script of
the forthcoming book The Mother’s Manifestation is offered at the Lotus Feet
of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo on occasion of New Year, 01.01.2017.)
The Mother was able to experience each country and soil as Her home
and gathered together all clans and people as Her children to control, regulate
and govern the whole Spiritual destiny of mankind. She had reconciled the
Buddhist Nirvana, Monist dissolution of individual Self in the Supreme Self
and Tantric Siddhis and had gone beyond them ‘which is not yet expressed in
this material world so as to transform life here.’ For this reason one can regard
Her as Para-Shakti, the Power and Personality of ascending Purushottama
Consciousness of the Gita to become one with the Supreme; as Anandamaya
Consciousness of the Taittiriya Upanishad She has descended down to
embrace earth and as Savitri, She is original and ancient Mother of the Vedas
preoccupied to stay the wheels of earth’s doom. Her Consciousness is that
which rests on the One and acts in the All and is capable of penetrating upon
the finite things, phenomena and forms to produce infinite harmony, freedom
and perfection.
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The Post Script
Integral Yoga proposes the developing Soul to concentrate, contemplate,
meditate and adore the One or the highest embodied Consciousness to the
exclusion of the Many, representing distorted consciousness and asks
developed Souls to reconcile them. It further defines Purusha, Ishwara,
Brahman and Sat as static Consciousness in ascending order and Chit, Maya,
Shakti and Prakriti as dynamic Consciousness in descending order. A right
play of Purusha with Prakriti in Ignorance makes one fit to ascend in
Consciousness to be a part of the play of Ishwara with Shakti in Knowledge.
This Spiritual Consciousness if further established through right play of
Ishwara with Shakti and makes one fit to further ascend in Consciousness to be
part of play of Brahman with Maya in comprehensive Knowledge. This
established play in the Supramental plane makes one fit to ascend into Ananda
plane and be a part of the play of indeterminable Sat with Chit. Earth life is
accepted as playfield of the Divine Playmate where Consciousness is revealed
through right play of Purusha with Prakriti and Consciousness is veiled
through their wrong play. The Mother’s Manifestation is conscious play of the
indeterminable and unmanifest Sat and Chit leading the creation towards new
Creation, Action and Ananda. This Play will further continue in three
intermediate planes for equal manifestation of Divine in Purusha and Prakriti,
Ishwara and Shakti and Brahman and Maya. They are further fragmented as
Inconscient Self and Inconscient Sheath, Subconscient Self and Subconscient
Sheath, true physical and subtle physical, true vital and subtle vital, true mental
and subtle mental, Psychic Self and Psychic Sheath, Spiritual Self and Spiritual
Sheath, universal Self and universal Sheath, Supramental Self and Supramental
Sheath and Bliss Self and Bliss Sheath. A play and union of the respective Self
with respective sheath calls down the Divine energy to material plane and the
Divine life becomes practicable.
If it is the responsibility of the developed Soul to reconcile the Supreme
Consciousness revealed in Spirit with the Supreme Consciousness veiled and
distorted in Matter then he will have to go through series of success and failure,
succession of Spiritual rise of Consciousness and Spiritual fall of
Consciousness in all Life and all Time till the full Divinity is retained. If
developed Soul is an Avatara, as hinted in Savitri, then he would bear ‘million
wounds’1 in his secret heart. After established in the highest Consciousness of
Turiya, the everlasting Day, Savitri has to fight ‘million battles’2 on earth
through successive births and bodies. This indicates that after established in
supreme Consciousness, a developed Soul has to concentrate, contemplate and
meditate on the problem of Existence, adore and consecrate the Divine veiled
and concealed in the Multiplicity of creation and become a part of The
Mother’s world transformation action. The greatness of his fiery Spirit is
always subjected to supreme test by recalcitrant Matter.
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When Sri Aurobindo arrived in Indian soil on 6th February, 1893, after
fourteen year study in England, Divine gave Him the first blow as His father
left earthly body before His arrival and His ailing mother was unable to
recognise Him. Thus He was deprived from parental love and care of whole of
His childhood beginning from the age of seven. Divine rewarded Him with
Spiritual experience of deep silence and peace or vast calm descended upon
Him as He first touched Indian soil at the Appolo Sea Port, Bombay. Divine
gave Him the second blow by sending Him to Alipore jail through violation of
British law on 5th May, 1908 and rewarded Him with comprehensive and
integral Spiritual experience of ‘Vasudevah Sarvamiti,’17 of realisation all this
existence as Brahman and attainment of cosmic Consciousness. The third
blow came to him in the form of demise of His spouse, Mrinalini Devi, an
emanation of Divine Mother on 17th December, 1918, about whom He hinted in
the epic Savitri, and she gave way for the arrival of the Divine Mother’s
incarnation in the physical embodiment of The Mother on 24th April, 1920. The
fourth and last blow Divine gave Him on 24th November, 1938 in the form of
breaking of His right leg while walking and contemplating in His room through
a hostile attack and by this blow the Divine reminded Him to complete and
wind up the Avatara’s work He began in the subtle and causal world and He
took twelve more years to complete these inner work whose external
manifestation was the completion of revision of the book The Synthesis of Yoga
and The Life Divine and also He forced His way towards the completion of His
major work of epic Savitri, which is a continuation of His unending Spiritual
adventure extending over last fifty years, right from His stay at Baroda.
Through above events we glimpse little about how an Avatara suffers for
humanity, for its redemption and transformation.
Those who want to collaborate in this movement of Consciousness are
represented in ascending order.
A moderate developing nature of a Devotee is at once a seeking after
truth, light and knowledge, a struggle and war against lower desire driven own
Nature and the surrounding world, a constant production, adaptation and skill
applied to the gross material life and a life dedicated for part self-giving and
partial service to the Divine. A devotee’s life is fulfilled with his new birth of
Ashramite.
An ‘ideal Ascetic Ashramite’6 through the path of renunciation of desire
and ego should neither be attached to the Divine work, na mam karmani
limpanti,7 nor attached to initiation of ordinary work, sarvarambhaparityagi,8
nor attached to his home or home state, aniketa,9 nor attached to any Shastra or
written truth, sabdabrahmatibartate,10 nor attached towards His devotees,
madbhakta sanga barjitah,11 nor attached to the sect, community16 and
limitation of religious activities, sarvadharman paritejya,12 but attached alone
to the Divine, Majyasakta,13 who is All, with the knowledge of All Life and All
Time, veda sarvani.14 All his thought, impulses, feelings are to be referred
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constantly to the Divine for His approval or disapproval. He will do all action
by uniting with the Divine, yogasthah kuru karmani.15
An Ashramite can step into a Sadhaka if he can reconcile the
dispensable Psycho-physical methods of the developing Souls with the
indispensable Psychic and Spiritual methods of developed Souls. He realises
Divine in the One and does not succeed immediately to realise Him in the
Many; he finds Divine in the unmanifest Absolute and rejects Him in the
myriad manifestation of lower nature; finds Divine more pure in Impersonal
than in Personal, more complete in Nirguna than in Saguna; satisfyingly
established in the silent and passive Brahman and not so satisfyingly
established in the dynamic Brahman. He is closer to realisation of Vedantic
object of Supreme Self and not convenient enough with the Tantric objective of
multiple perfections, siddhis.
A Sadhaka can successfully step into status of Child if his will, intellect,
buddhi and emotion dwell constantly upon the master idea of surrender for a
long period by renouncing the egoistic sense of desire and attachment. A point
is reached where all his thoughts, feelings, actions and impulses begin to flow
from the Divine Mother and change them from some Divine seed to the flower
of world tree till there will be no division between his mutable this life and Her
eternal all life. He realises the equal Divine Presence in the Unmanifest and the
Manifest, in the Impersonal and the Personal, in Nirguna and Saguna, in the
timeless Silence and the time possessing joy of Activity, in the Purusha and
Prakriti and becomes the growing vessel of the Mother’s Infinite
Consciousness.
A Child can successfully step into status of integral Yogi if he can
reconcile the mutually antagonist Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yoga to intensify
the Soul in mind and rises beyond it to the Divine oneness. He will reconcile
Vedantic, Tantric and Buddhist objective of absolute Self, Siddhis and Nirvana
respectively to arrive at the highest ascending Sachchidananda Consciousness
and dynamise the highest descending Sachchidananda Consciousness.
The benefit of integral Karma Yoga is that it reconciles the opposition
between Spiritual life and the world and one need not abandon the world in
order to possess the Divine. Sri Prapatti cultivated the hard soil of earth’s
Subconscience which was complemented by Sri Babaji Maharaj’s perfection
of Divine Work and both of them contributed in extension of inner and outer
kingdom, Swarajya and Samrajya of integral Yoga.
The benefit of integral Jnana Yoga is that it brings stability in constant
union with the Divine, multiplies immensely the power of concentration,
dynamises waking trance and opens the passage of willed death of traditional
Yoga and non-willed death of integral Yoga. Sri Anilbaran Roy and Sri
Satprem worked out indivisible Brahma-Nirvana of traditional Yoga and
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indivisible Truth Consciousness of integral Yoga respectively in seclusion and
deep silence.
The benefit of integral Bhakti Yoga is that it brings joy to Divine action
and ecstasy to adventure of new Consciousness and paves the passage open
towards the discovery of Bliss Self beyond Supramental Self. Sri Dilip Kumar
Roy is hounded by indivisible Krishna Consciousness of traditional Bhakti
Yoga and Sri Champaklal extended his exceeding faith, devotion and service to
the Divine Master which later culminated in diffusive Spiritual manifestation.
As integral Bhakti Yogi he had developed more capacity to bear earth’s
suffering.
The benefit of integral Tantra Yoga is the realisation of kinetic Divine to
resolve all problems of existence. Sri K. Anurakta’s perfection in consecrated
bhakti has also established him in Occultism and in doing well being of all
creatures.
The benefit of integral Hatha Yoga is to equip the annamaya Purusha
with power, freedom, purity and light. It maintains improved eternal
youthfulness of physical body, ensures immense power of health and greater
power of longevity. Pranab Da’s perfection in Karma Yoga is extended
towards perfection of physical education which is felt indispensable foundation
of all higher Spiritual pursuit.
Integral Yoga is primarily swift Spiritual evolution5 meant for few
developed Souls and secondarily slow collective evolution of Nature meant for
large number of developing Souls; its method is primarily Psychic, Spiritual
and Supramental and secondarily Psycho-physical; its centre of action is
primarily through direct Divine contact from a Divine Centre and secondarily
through indirect or intermittent Divine Contact from a moderate Spiritual
Centre. This Yoga is primarily ‘Yoga of Self-perfection’ of developed Souls
and secondarily Karma, Jnana and Bhakti Yoga of developing and developed
Souls. Out of these triple paths, integral Yoga is primarily Karma Yoga and
secondarily the subordinate action of Jnana and Bhakti Yoga. Integration
comes by reconciliation of triple Yoga and practice of the fourth ‘Yoga of Selfperfection.’ The Consciousness in which an integral Yogi is established is
primarily waking trance or entry into multiple subtle bodies/koshas in waking
state and secondarily dream trance, sleep trance and absolute trance of Turiya,
‘to which few can attain and from which not all can return’4 to the body.
So an integral Yogi is at once a Devotee, whose adoration of the
Creator, the fundamental Being, will be incomplete without adoration of Him
‘wherever He manifests (as effectual Becoming) or wherever even he hides his
godhead—in man and object and every creature;’3 as developing Soul he is
follower of all those who are ahead of him in cognition; as developed Soul he
is a teacher of all those who are behind him in consciousness; as Slave of all
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mankind he is fit to become its nameless master and continually engaged in
doing of good of all creatures; as Monotheist and Polytheist he has to know
Divine entirely in His single and myriad Form; as universal Man he is one and
in sympathy with fellow human brothers and accepts them as his own self in
many minds, lives and bodies; as Vedantist he realises the Divine as Creator
Father and Master of this existence and liberates humanity; as Occultist he is
both left hand Tantric representing the way of Divine Love and right hand
Tantric representing the way of Divine Knowledge; realises Divine as Creatrix
Mother of universe and he emerges as centre of world transformation; as
Ashramite he has regard and absolute obedience towards all Ashram rules
formulated by the Mother and enjoys Spiritual protection; as Sadhaka of
integral Yoga, all outer norm supports the discovery of Her subtler norm in
higher planes of Consciousness and the protection sheath is sealed against any
hostile intrusion; as consecrated Child he is one and indivisible portion of Her
supreme Consciousness and as integral Yogi he calls down large Divine
descent for earth and men. He can liberate men from the one-sided growth,
exclusive pursuit and ‘maimed achievement’18 of modern Science, popular
Religion and traditional Yoga and lead them towards many-sided all-inclusive
growth, integral concentration and total perfection.
OM TAT SAT
References:1: “A million wounds gape in his secret heart.” Savitri-446,
2: “Are there not still million fights to wage?” Savitri-687, “A line from Savitri
constantly haunts or assails me—it is when the Lord proposes that she come
live a blissful life above, and she replies, “No, there are still too many battles
to wage on earth.” That went deep into me, and it returns each time difficulties
arise, as if to say, “Don’t complain.” And there are plenty!...” The Mother, 17th
February,1962,
3: CWSA-23/The Synthesis of Yoga-159-160,
4: CWSA/23/The Synthesis of Yoga-395,
5: “It is by the pursuit of the eternal and not by living bound in the slow
collective evolution of Nature that we can best assure even that evolutionary,
collective, altruistic aim our modern thought and idealism have set before us.”
CWSA/23/The Synthesis of Yoga-359,
6: “...there are a good third who are here only because they are comfortable:
you work if you want to, you don’t work if you don’t want to, you always eat,
you always have shelter and clothes, and, ultimately, you sort of do as you
please (you pretend to obey, that’s all). And if you are denied a convenience,
you start grumbling—Yoga is simply out of picture! It is a hundred thousand
miles away from their consciousness (their mouths are full of words, but it is
only lip service). Sometimes you have a little scruple in order to appear to be
doing some work. And some have grown very old or come here because they
have become unfit for life outside...so we cannot send them away! (It was
wrong to accept them—I must say I have little to do with that acceptance: I will
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say no, and ninety-nine times out of hundred, they (Secretaries) will pretend
they heard yes, but any way... that is life.) So I cannot send them away. But I
am going to make life ascetic for them: one won’t be here to be comfortable
anymore—then for what?” The Mother’s Agenda-5/36,
7: The Gita-4.14,
8: The Gita-14.25, 12.16,
9: “Take advantage of the circumstances to get rid of all attachment to the
members of your family. You must learn that you have no more brothers, sister,
father, mother, except Sri Aurobindo and myself, and you must feel free and
unconcerned whatever happens to them. We are your whole family, your
protection, your all in all.” The Mother’s Centenary Edition/14/305, “He is
equal to praise and blame, who is silent, content with whatever comes, with no
attachment of home, firm in mind, full of devotion, is dear to Me.” The Gita12.19,
10: The Gita-6.44,
11: The Gita-11.55,
12: The Gita-18.66,
13: The Gita-7-1,
14: The Gita-4.5,
15: The Gita-2.48,
16: “Therefore attachment and desire must be utterly cast out; there is
nothing in the world to which we must be attached, not wealth nor poverty, nor
joy nor suffering, nor life nor death, nor greatness nor littleness, nor vice nor
virtue, nor friend, nor wife, nor children, nor country, nor our work and
mission, nor heaven nor earth, nor all that is within them or beyond them. And
this does not mean that there is nothing at all that we shall love, nothing in
which we shall take delight; for attachment is egoism in love and not love
itself, desire is limitation and insecurity in a hunger for pleasure and
satisfaction and not the seeking after the divine delight in things.” CWSA23/The Synthesis of Yoga-329-30,
17: The Gita-7.19,
18: A Yoga of works, a union with the Divine in our will and acts---and not
only in knowledge and feeling---is then an indispensable, an inexpressibly
important element of an integral Yoga. The conversion of our thought and
feeling without a corresponding conversion of the spirit and body of our works
would be a maimed achievement.” CWSA-23/The Synthesis of Yoga-91-92.
THE DESCENT
Edited and Published by S. A. Maa Krishna, Sri Matriniketan Ashram, for
The Mother’s International Centre Trust, Regd. No.-146/24.11.97, AtRamachandrapur, PO-Kukudakhandi-761100, Via-Brahmapur, Dist.Ganjam, Odisha, India. E-mail: [email protected],
www.srimatriniketanashram.org
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