The Avatar Final with Gupta Ji on 22.01.2013.Pmd

THE AVATAR – SRI AUROBINDO or

... SAMBHAWAMI YUGE-YUGE Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 2 3

THE AVATAR – SRI AUROBINDO

or ... SAMBHAWAMI YUGE-YUGE

Dwarika Prasad Gupta

Foreword By Georges Van Vrekhem

Introduction By Dr. Alok Pandey

SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY RAJASTHAN STATE COMMITTEE JAIPUR Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 4

First Edition: 2012 © Dwarika Prasad Gupta Published by: Sri Aurobindo Society Rajasthan State Committee Jaipur, Rajasthan Price : Rs. 300/-

Our acknowledgement to Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry for permission to use extracts from the Works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Type set & Cover design: Hemlata Subodh Printed at : Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Puducherry Printed in India 5

Contents

Acknowledgement ... 8 Foreword by Georges Van Vrekhem ... 9 Preface ... 11 Introduction by Dr. Alok Pandey ... 17

Chapters 1. The Wonder that was India ... 25

2. What is Avatar ? What is the Purpose and Work of an Avatar ... 49 3. The Avatar of the Gita ... 69 4. Early Avatars ... 117 5. Buddha Avatar ... 150 6. Kalki: The Avatar — Sri Aurobindo ... 161 7. The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo ... 247 8. The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo ... 289 Conclusion ... 345 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 6

Acknowledgement First of all, I owe my deep gratitude to Amal Kiran (K.D. Sethna), a legendary figure in the annals of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, who endorsed my views on Avatarhood of Sri Aurobindo identifying him with Kalki, the last of the ten Avatars of Hindu mythology, that form the basis of this book. I also express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Alok Pandey, who kindly wrote the Introduction of this book. I am equally indebted to Georges Van Vrekhem from Auroville, the distinguished author of the internationally famous book 'Beyond Man' for writing the Foreword confirming my faith in the dual Avatarhood of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the Two-in-One. Further, I owe my immense and deep gratitude to Shri Amod Kumar, the Chairman of the Rajasthan State Com- mittee of Sri Aurobindo Society as also Shri Lakshmi Narayan for their magnanimous help, guidance and yeoman's service, but for that this book would have never seen the light of day . I am also grateful to Ashalata Dash for her kind help to establish contact with Amal Kiran for his blessings and a message to "let it circulate more and more." I am obliged to my children Bhagawat and Vinita for their affectionate persuasion as also for creating necessary conditions enabling me to attempt this work. I can't forget to thank Mrs. Chetna Verma for taking pains to improve the language of the text by her editorial touch. Lastly, I express my sincere thanks to Hemlata and Subodh for painstakingly and patiently doing the typesetting and cover design inspite of many revisions and sometimes even slow pace from my side. Author 7

Foreword

The followers of Sri Aurobindo consider him to have been an Avatar, and many of them accept the Mother as an incarnation of Mahashakti, the Great Mother. This raises the question: If Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were Avatars, or an Avatar, what or which Avatars or Avatar were they? Strange to say, more than sixty years after Sri Aurobindo left his body this question has remained unanswered. There can be no doubt that Sri Aurobindo and the Mother — the Two-in-One — were the Kalki Avatar. The crucial importance of their mission and realisation for the evolution in general and humanity in particular, to progress from the lower to the higher hemisphere of existence, and thereby to lay the foundations of the supramental world in Matter, is the typical task of Shri Kalki. Two elements have prevented from seeing or accepting this. The first is the description of the Kalki Avatar in the Puranas, when even the concept of Supermind was unknown. The second element is that the supramental being will be without or beyond the difference of the genders, which in the present evolutionary context necessitated the Avatar of the Supermind still to consist of an apparently male and female being, but intimately united in the Two-in-One. Having come to this rather evident conclusion and having made it public, I was glad to find support for it from an authority like Amal Kiran, a.k.a K.D. Sethna. In one of his books he had already mooted the opinion that Sri Aurobindo was the Kalki Avatar. On a letter in which Dwarika Prasad Gupta summarised the arguments elaborated in the present book, Amal Kiran wrote in the Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 8 year 2000: "You are quite right", and "Sri Aurobindo is definitely Kalki, the last all-fulfilling human Avatar", signing both statements with his name. (He wrote "human" because, once the work intended by Shri Kalki is accomplished, a new kind of evolution, super-human, will have started.) I write these words for the book by D.P. Gupta with pleasure because it will contribute to a better appreciation of the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and of their real Identity.

Georges Van Vrekhem (The author of the famous book 'Beyond Man')1 12.02.2012

Auroville- 605101, Tamilnadu, India

1. Georges Van Vrekhem, a Belgian Fleming, has been living in Auroville since 1978. His seminal book Beyond Man – The Life and Works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, widely appreciated world over, has meanwhile been published in six languages. He also wrote The Mother – The Story of Her Life and Hitler and His God, a historical study of background of the Hitler phenomenon and its relevance for the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. 9

PREFACE

Sri Aurobindo is already widely known world over as a multifaceted genius, an original new age evolutionist- thinker and philosopher, the greatest seer and mystic of the modern times, a prophetic poet with a futuristic style and substance adding a new dimension of spiritual sense to the modern continental Poetry and above all, an explorer of a new plane of consciousness higher than the mind, the Supramental. But having gone thoroughly through his writings and revelations one feels that he is still something greater, something much more. He bewilders and stuns his rational readers by his sharp logical analysis leading them through many lanes and corridors to a vast clearing of synthesis, where all apparent opposites happily meet in a harmonious unison and all rationality is inundated in the sea of suprarationality. His extraordinary approach even to the most trivial things, core-deep comprehension of problems here in life and there after life, far-reaching vision, his adventure into infinite consciousness, his explanations into the secrets of Spirit and Matter, all these are so much beyond the ordinary human compass that these can be done only by some extraterrestrial being, by some supernatural power, a divine power. The Mother, who was his divine collaborator, was first to recognise and declare him as an Avatar of the Supreme Divine in the human mould, “a decisive action direct from the Supreme,” followed later by their devotees and followers.

In the critical studies of Sri Aurobindo’s life and works most authors have highlighted his sui generis intellectual Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 10 acumen of a thinker and philosopher, poetic genius, his aspect of seer and yogi and his vision of divine life on earth; the aspect of his Avatarhood remains veiled or side-lined. But the present work is meant to highlight his Avatarhood, his Divine personality as the main aspect of his life; all other aspects, spiritual or intellectual, are bound to accrue from his divinity.

But if he is an Avatar, does he fall in line with the ten Avatars as described by Hindu mythology? Or is he an Ansha Avatar like Ramakrishna, Chaitanya or Christ? I was keen to know. I therefore wrote to a senior sadhak and leading spokesman of Sri Aurobindo, Shri Amal Kiran (Shri K.D.Sethna) about a decade ago with a request to kindly clarify and throw light on this. My letter is reproduced here:

Shri Amal Kiran Editor, ‘ The Mother India’ Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry

Sir, You have been not only an associate of Sri Aurobindo for a long time but also dived deep into his philosophy and yoga and poetry under his guidance. You are the best enlightened mind to kindly comment on my view and faith as stated below:

Sri Aurobindo has explained quite at length the principle of Avatarhood in his ‘Essays on the Gita,’ besides, in many 11 of his letters written to his disciples on the topic. In the light of these, I feel, he himself falls in line with the chain of ten Avatars filling the gap of the last one — Kalki, on the basis of the following main points:

1. Sri Aurobindo came to announce the next step in the evolutionary process with exhaustive details of a new life — the life divine, substantiating with his personal experience. According to him this is what an Avatar descends for.

2. A new Avatar comes at the time of an evolutionary crisis when man’s all expressed energies give in and he does not know where to go further. Sri Aurobindo also has come on the earth, when she is on the brink of total deluge.

3. Kalki is supposed to come in the end of ghor Kaliyuga or dark age. This is the end of Kaliyuga according to prophesies of many saints and Sri Aurobindo’s himself. He is very much on time with us.

4. Kalki is supposed to come on a white horse which is a figurative expression for purity. Sri Aurobindo has used ‘white’ word quite often in his epic Savitri and purity is the buzz word of his Sadhana. The Supermind may stand for the irresistable sword of Kalki.

5. Kalki means tomorrow. Sri Aurobindo too talks of the next step in the evolution, the man of tomorrow. 6. The Kalki Avatar is the last in the chain of ten Avatars. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 12

But why last? Because the next superior being succeeding the present man will be the superman, embodying the divine mind and divine power in himself with the capacity to manifest still higher powers of the Divine. The Superman will be a moving god on the earth. Hence no need of another Avatar. This scheme must have been envisaged by early seers. That is why they did not see any Avatar after the Kalki.

7. Kalki is supposed to destroy the Asuras for good. This fits only in the scheme of the Integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo, as he has come to transform them. The greatest Asura — Death is transformed in Savitri. Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is meant to bring about, ultimately, the divine life upon earth, without disease, old age and death, the tabernacles of Asuras.

8. Besides, both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have given indirect hints on several occasions of their avatarhood in their writings and talks while replying direct questions of disciples on this.

9. Sri Aurobindo’s symbol itself is self-explanatory: The lotus in the centre, the symbol of an Avatar is none other than ‘Aravind’ himself.

To me, no other spiritual figure fulfills the attributes of Kalki except Sri Aurobindo. I shall be grateful if you kindly enlighten me on the matter with your personal views. 13

With kind regards, Affectionately Dwarika Prasad

After reading my letter he wrote his kind remarks on the letter itself which is given below: You are quite right. Amal Sri Aurobindo is definitely Kalki, the last all-fulfilling Human Avatar. Amal

I felt very happy and satisfied to read his wonderful remarks and I wished, if some enlightened and worthy soul could write exclusively on the aspect of Sri Aurobindo’s Avatarhood, highlighting his Avataric works and great tapasya, who, in the Mother’s words, “hast worked, struggled, suffered, hoped, endured so much”, ... “who hast willed all, attempted all, prepared, achieved all for us,” and not a critical and intellectual study of his humanity which he put on to come closer to us in order to Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 14 chart out and show a new path to us, a new Dharma to follow when we are totally at a loss and unable to escape from our own self-created ruin. The inspiring remarks of Shri Amal Kiran and loving and insistent persuasion of my son Bhagawat to develop my points into a larger frame-work, were the main source of encouragement to attempt this work, which is still nothing more than a babyish babbling. But in spite of all that, without the Grace of the Mother and the Master and their constant guidance, it was impossible for me to write a single line about them, for neither I have had the art of penmanship nor the genuine competence of language and learning. I therefore with all my heart and head prostrate to the Divine Master and the Divine Mother in gratitude and offer this humble attempt to their divine lotus-feet.

04 April 2010 Dwarika Prasad

Introduction

Sri Aurobindo’s multi-faceted genius has attracted and will continue to attract many a scholar, philosopher and thinker. Students of poetry and philosophy, history and humanities, social sciences and psychology, education and literature continue to find in his writings fresh inspiration and penetrating insight into the complexities and profundities of human life as well as a deeper understanding of the world-march. Now where does one find such a complete and comprehensive vision and synthesis of human nature and world-nature? The breath- taking vision that unfolds through his writings that run into 36 volumes of nearly 500 pages each is simply stupendous. Not only in its sheer mass, but the style and substance, the depth, the wideness, the range of subject from the Vedas to the future poetry, the luminosity and the sonority of his rhythmic speech capture and recreate for the reader something of the first delight of creation, like the primal sound and the first Word that stirs in the heart of all existence. His writings are indeed of a mantric nature. But Sri Aurobindo is not only a seer of Truth and a giver of Light to the world in all its aspects and movements, the Jagadguru; He is also a dynamic force and action. He was the prime mover of Indian Independence struggle, announcing the ideal of Purna Swaraj for the first time, lay- ing down the lines of action as well as awakening the need for an organized action towards the freedom struggle. Later, he also put his Force completely behind the Allied Powers against Germany and other Axis Powers in the second Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 18

World War. Finally, as the prophet of the Life Divine and the poet of a Future Dawn, Savitri, he worked silently in Pondicherry, his chosen seat of Tapasya, to prepare for the ushering of a greater spiritual Age for earth and man. Such an extraordinary and wonderful personality has naturally attracted many a seeker and scholar alike. Much has been written and will continue to be written on Sri Aurobindo, — his life, his poetry, his role in the freedom struggle, his views on a united India and a united world, his vision of a future age and the Life Divine, his central theme of an evolutionary transformation, his work as the Guide and Master of the Integral Yoga and of course his greatest gift to earth and men, — Savitri. Each of these is a complex and fascinating subject whose study is richly re- warding though, given the very nature of the issues, not an easy one. The themes are not only complex but many of the Ideas that have been sown by Sri Aurobindo in the human soil through the written word are rather new and indicate a departure from the conventional lines of thought to which the human mind has been so far accustomed, and in which it finds itself comfortably or uneasily en- trenched and cocooned. But there is another approach that one can take, another route, — direct, spontaneous, simple, — so to say, cutting through all the complex layers of the mind and the difficulties that “words” generate, one can go straight through the heart. Then, with the luminous eye of “faith” or the surer vision of the soul, we can see the Mystery of Mysteries, — the Being or the Person who hides behind the persona of a many-sided divinely human personality 19 Introduction of the Avatara. The Gita, indeed calls it, the deepest or the highest of secrets, — rahasyam hyetad uttamam1. It is a secret because the mind is baffled by the very thought and conception of the Formless, the Infinite, the Eternal, the Transcendent Absolute assuming a finite form and name, descending into the ambiguous fields of Time, subjecting himself to causality and conditions of the mysterious earthly play. Yet, seen from another angle, is this not in a way already a fact of creation? Is not creation itself an act of the Divine limiting and concealing Himself behind the mask of His myriad forces and millions of processes that work out the perpetual phenomenal play. Nay, even nearer still, are we, the struggling ego-bound individuals ourselves, not a portion of the Eternal Divine, mamaivânsa, descended here unhappy and sublime ? While all these can be valid support for the conception of an Avatara, literally meaning the (Divine) Descent, the word has a still deeper sense than the above-noted Vedantic conception. The Avatara is a special descent, other than the general descent of the Divine Consciousness into creation or in the individual Jiva supporting his upward evolution. The human evolving towards his inherent, latent or potential divinity does not become an Avatara when he so arrives at the fullness of his destined spiritual evolution. He still is the Jivakoti, of Sri Ramakrishna. But the Avatara does not need to evolve for He is the Perfect One, the Divine Consciousness, yet He descends into the play to carry on the burden of human evolution, setting before man the divinely human example, opening for earth the path towards the next great evolutionary ascent, leading the march of mankind out of a state of collective crisis through a hidden door now 1. ®ú½þºªÉ¨ÉÂ ½ÂþªÉäiÉnÂù =kÉ¨É¨ÉÂ Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 20 opened by Him, into a freer, larger, happier world and Age. This is a collective work for earth and men. It is not the great but temporary work of a spiritual Master in a limited human circle, a work that ends with the lifetime of the Master or the discontinuation of his spiritual lineage. The Avatara is more of a spiritual legacy that the earth inherits as a gift from the Divine. His is not an ignorant bondage of the Jiva to the Prakriti, not even the conscious return of a Jivanmukta, a spiritual Master who comes to help; but a conscious embodiment, a deliberate act of taking up the burden of terrestrial nature. Even if not a single being recognized the Avatara, He would still do the work He comes to do. And when He departs from the field of our muddy and limited vision, He leaves His fragrance in the earth atmosphere, a seal and stamp of the Godhead upon earthly life, a signature of hope, tathâstu, in the dim heart of fallen things. Not only this, something of Him remains in the earth; as a Godhead presiding over the next cycle of evolution that He comes to initiate; as a Force moving men and events towards the far-off foreseen event now brought near by His divine touch; as a Presence and a Power in the heart of an awakened humanity heeding to His call; as a sacred Influence moulding all things to a diviner shape.

* Blessed are they who hear the call and leap out of the limited frames of life fixed in mechanical grooves of past habit. The Avatara is the reconnoitrer and the forerunner of the future. It needs great inner courage and faith to follow the call and walk in His footsteps along the path carved out by His blazing life. It is not given to everyone to 21 Introduction recognise the Divine Avatara behind the human embodiment, especially during the Avatara’s lifetime. First of all, the Avatara keeps Himself hidden behind the veils, often pushing men and events from within while looking human, even helpless at times, on the surface and outside. Just as no amount of study of the waves can tell us the depth and width of the ocean, so also no amount of analysis of the data of outer life can reveal to us the measure of the Divinity that an Avatara consciously conceals, revealing only that much which is necessary for work. It is rather the nature of His work that hints and suggests or points towards the Avatara hidden in the human guise. This work, as revealed to us in the Gita is a fourfold one, — to uplift and restore Dharma out from the clutch and grip of Adharma; to relieve, rescue and liberate the good; to destroy the forces of darkness, disorders and the doers of evil deeds, and, finally, the establishment of a new and divine way of being, the spirit of Time, Yuga-dharma. Revealing the secret of the Avatara, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo help us with their luminous words: If you rise high enough, you find yourself at the heart of all things. And what is manifest in this heart can manifest in all things. That is the great secret, the secret of the divine incarnation in an individual form, because in the normal course of things what manifests at the centre is realised in the external form only with the awakening and the response of the will in the individual form. Whereas if the central Will is represented constantly and permanently in an individual being, this individual being can serve as an intermediary between this Will and all beings, and will for them. Everything this individual being perceives and offers in his consciousness to the supreme Will is Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 22

answered as if it came from each individual being. And if for any reason the individual elements have a more or less conscious and voluntary relation with that representative being, their relation increases the efficacy, the effectiveness of the representative individual; and thus the supreme Action can act in Matter in a much more concrete and permanent manner. That is the reason for these descents of consciousness — which we may describe as “polarised”, for they always come to earth with a definite purpose and for a special realisation, with a mission — a mission which is decided upon, determined before the incarnation. These are the great stages of the supreme incarnations on earth. 1 Who else but the Avatara can reveal to us with such clarity and detail, this highest of secrets? Yet, so far no one has attempted to bring out fully this aspect of Sri Aurobindo. The reason is partly in a certain tendency of the modern mind to shy away from issues and ideas that may appear to the unchaste as simply a matter of personal belief. But as we shall see through the pages of this book, an Avatara is neither merely a matter of belief nor an intellectual conception. He is a spiritual and material fact like our solid earth and the drifting universe. But partly the reason for this reticence also lies in the fact that unlike many modern New Age Gurus, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo discouraged all propaganda that goes behind the making of a religious cult or a spiritual sect. Yet, there is a third position one can take that is neither sectarian or propa- gandist, nor a shying away from certain truths simply because they are too vast and profound to be grasped by the crude physical mind of man. After all, the Gita does declare it boldly. And who can say that the Gita is merely a 1. CWM Vol. 10, p. 73-74 23 Introduction religious scripture written for a select group of “Hindus”? It is, like the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bible, a universal scripture meant for all. So too the doctrine of Avatarahood is a truth that is universally applicable and men can surely benefit from it. After all, stated simply, it means that the Divine does not govern this world in absentia, seated above; nor is He impervious and indifferent to our suffering and pain. Rather He descends into the earthly play, and in its critical and crucial moments assumes the burden and the difficulty of the human race to steer it through the crisis and lead it towards a greater and happier Age. We are, in short, not abandoned. This gives a new hope and enthusi- asm for the terrestrial task; a new ideal and example for the world to follow. I am sure Shri Dwarika Prasad Gupta’s efforts to bring out this side of Sri Aurobindo — the Supra- mental Avatara, will inspire many to take the lead and follow the Divine example. It is a labour of love and an offering of gratitude from the author of the book. But it is written in a form suited to the modern intellect, thus satis- fying both, — the head and the heart. Let us invoke the spirit of Savitri to put its seal of sanction upon it.;

Touching the moment with eternity. This transfiguration is earth’s due to heaven: A mutual debt binds man to the Supreme: His nature we must put on as he put ours; We are sons of God and must be even as he: His human portion, we must grow divine. Our life is a paradox with God for key.1

21-02-2011 Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry

1. Savitri CWSA 33: p.67 25

Chapter 1

The Wonder that was India

Our country — India — is one of the most ancient races of the world. She has a distinct and a great civilization unique in its character. She was, no doubt, under the shadow of obscurity and oblivion for a brief span of time during which not only she suffered at the hands of alien masters but also she was badly misunderstood and criticized by many Western critics. But the night has passed and a new dawn shines on her countenance. Slowly and slowly she is revealing herself to the world at large through those who are living souls with subtle visions. A well known Western scholar and writer on Tantric philosophy, Sir John Woodroffe not only pooh-poohed and pulled his sleeves against the European critics of the rich heritage of Indian culture but gone farther to say that its destruction, as threatened by the attack of European modernism, would be the destruction of the whole mankind. Woodroffe’s was one of the finest intellects of the Western world in his time who recognised and admired the genius of India in myriad aspects of life, viz. philosophy, religion, poetry, painting, sculpture, astronomy, mathematics, Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharat and Ramayan. Her rise in his view was sine qua non for the progress of the entire humanity. Along with him stand a galaxy of finest minds of Europe like Julian Huxlay, Romand Rolland, Sister Nivedita, Dr. Jyotirpriya, Dr. Annie Besant, Madame Blavatsky and Col. Alcot Andrews who are all charmed by the sweet fragrance of Indian vision and knowledge of things and its depths and subtleties, and the finest flowers of human culture like the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Ramayana and the Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 26

Mahabharata. Remarked Will Durant in his book on India much before her independence : “Nothing should more deeply shame the modern student than the recency and inadequacy of his acquaintance with India. Here is a vast peninsula of nearly two million square miles, two-thirds as large as the United States and twenty times the size of her master, Great Britain, 32 crore souls, more than in all North and South America combined or one-fifth of the population of the earth, an impressive continuity of development and civilization from Mohenjo-daro 2900 B.C. or earlier to Gandhi, Raman and Tagore; faiths compassing every stage from barbarous idolatry to the most subtle and spiritual pantheism; philosophers playing a thousand variations on one monistic theme from the Upanishads, eight centuries before Christ to Shankara, eight centuries after him; scientists developing astronomy three thousands years ago and winning Nobel Prizes in our own time; a democratic constitution of untraceable antiquity in the villages, and wise and beneficent rulers like Ashoka and Akbar in the capitals, minstrels singing great epics almost as old as Homer, and poets holding world audiences today; artists raising gigantic temples for Hindu Gods from Tibet to Ceylon and from Combodia to Java, or carving perfect palaces by the score for Moghal kings and queens — this is India that patient scholarship is now opening up, like a new intellectual continent to that Western mind which only yesterday thought civilization an exclusively European thing.”1 And now more than sixty years after the political freedom, broken though, the dawn of Indian renaissance yawns much clearer on the horizon of history. Its sublimity and subtlety and rhythmic depths in arts, music, dance

1. The Story of Civilization, Vol.I, p.391 27 The Wonder that was India are contagiously charming the human psyche in every nook and corner of the globe. There is a rousing curiosity to know the Himalyan mystics and their secrets of Yoga and to hear the songs of streams of Ganga and Sindhu. As if spell-bound by a new wave, flocks and flocks of Westerners of all age- groups are thronging the hermitages and ashrams of Indian saints and yogis in search of inner peace and the true meaning of life and existence disenchanted by their blind materialism and self-indulgence of life. And they have even discovered a new sense and sweetness in names of Indian people and places. “In no other country are the place names so fascinating,” remarked an Italian, who could pronounce with surprising accuracy ‘Bhubaneshwar,’ ‘Brindavan,’ ‘Amritsar’, ‘Bhadrachalam’ and ‘Srinager’ to Manoj Das, who refers to him in his editorial ‘On the tides of Time’ of the Monthly ‘Heritage’ of May ’87. The warmth in which Swami Vivekanand was received by American people at Chicago and the way the theosophical movement swept like wild fire the European mind, we can say that a new psychic flame was born on the dark desert of the West. The growing appetite for Indian arts and antiques, Indian music and dance, and yoga and spirituality are the testimonies of the puissance and power of their urge. The finest flowers of France - the Richards - a well- known writer and poet - Paul Richard and Mirra Richard who joined a great mystic Sri Aurobindo were more than Indians and dedicated their lives to promote the spiritual ideals of the land for human progress. Mirra Richard later came to be known as co-founding guru and guide and the adorable ‘Mother’ of Sri Aurobindo Ashram (at Pondicherry, India) which served as a window for the synthetic knowledge of ancient India to the continental Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 28 world. A great many seekers of the Western world have since joined the Ashram fascinated by the spiritual ideals, abandoning and denying the dominance of the rationalistic and utilitarian culture of their land, finding its inadequacy and impotence in search of real raison d'etre of their existence on the earth. Pavitra and Satprem were among those who by their personal examples have changed the silhouette of thought-patterns of the social and intellectual fabrics of the continental world. An outstanding Scientist from the University of California Dr. Fritjof Capra’s finding of parallels between some of the fundamental aspects of modern Physics and Indian mysticism in his book — Tao of Physics — are indeed most striking. He is himself surprised to note that what is known as the latest of the modern Physics today was realised by the Indian Tantrics some ten thousand years ago. What the modern Physicists are revealing as their striking marvels now, were experienced by direct identification of the ancient seers and expressed in mantras and symbols as early as the first dawn of civilization beyond the gaze of modern history. The dance of Siva, he reveals, is nothing but the dancing universe — the ceaseless flow of energy going through an infinite variety of patterns that melt into one another. Similarly the theory of antiparticle was first known to the Indian Tantric Yogis as the principle of Maya dating back thousands of years in the prehistoric era. Buddhists have conceived, says D. T. Suzuki, an object as an event and not as a thing or substance. What Buddhists have realised through their mystical experience of Nature some 2500 years ago has now been discovered through the experiments and mathematical theories of modern Science. Brahma Sutra — a magnum opus of mystic experiences of ancient rishis of India is now being referred as a reference 29 The Wonder that was India book for inventions and experiments in the field of modern Physics by German scientists. The Indian mysticism is resurrecting indeed. But this wisdom is not the monopoly of India. It was the essence of all ancient civilizations that sprang and flourished on earth — the Chinese, the Japanese, the Greek, the Babylonian; but whereas the life-streams of all others were parched, the stream of Indian civilization is incessantly flowing with ever fresh blood of living experiences of a train of seers from its early dawn in the Vedic period until yesterday — the time of Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Raman Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo. It is the only living culture on the earth. India was no doubt in stupor, in spiritual coma, for a brief span and she hung between life and death with a thin cord in the beginning of the century. When she was facing a fatal blizzard — a tornado of European materialism at the time, had warned Sri Aurobindo: “India is indeed awaking and defending herself, but not sufficiently and not with the whole-heartedness, the clear sight and the firm resolution which can alone save her from the peril. Today it is close; let her choose, — for the choice is imperatively before her, to live or to perish.”2 India is still waging a cultural war as against the blind materialism and the culture of utilitarian commerce. “Either India will be rationalised”, expressed Sri Aurobindo his apprehension with hope, “and industrialised out of all recognition and she will be no longer India or else she will be the leader in a new world-phase, aid by her example and cultural infiltration the new tendencies of the West and spiritualise the human race. That is the one radical and poignant question at issue. Will the spiritual motive which India represents prevail on Europe and create there new forms congenial to the West, or will European

2. The Foundations of Indian Culture, SABCL 14:7 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 30 rationalism and commercialism put an end for ever to the Indian type of culture?”3 The present crisis of the world, the threat to very survival of the humanity is the gift of the prevalent rational culture of the civilized world which had come with a promise to sail our ship to the shore of a paradise. But, instead, it has landed us on the brink of a holocaust. But still we cling to the sinking ship. Although the political consciousness of the world is not so far drawn to the potential of Indian culture, yet there is a marked curiosity among the men, women and children world over to know more and more of Indian culture. But what is Indian culture ? Indian culture is as vast as the infinite sky, embracing in its bosom an endless panorama of brilliant suns and moons, galaxies and constellations and mysteries of Voids and Black Holes. It comprises infinite ways to see and experience the Infinite and its myriad manifestations, all contrary to one another. It is most exciting and thrilling on one side and the most baffling and stupefying to the intellect and the rational mind on the other, which is duped by the masks veiling the Truth behind. India is the most ancient and unique land on earth and her uniqueness lies mainly in her spirituality, God-love, mysticism and the knowledge of the Spirit, the ultimate truth of Existence. “India has been preeminently the land of the Dharma and the Shastra. She searched for the inner truth and law of each human or cosmic activity, its dharma; that found, she laboured to cast into elaborate form and detailed law of arrangement its application in fact and rule of life. Her first period was luminous with the discovery of the Spirit; her second completed the discovery of the Dharma; her third elaborated into detail the first simpler

3. Ibid : 11 31 The Wonder that was India formulation of the Shastra; but none was exclusive, the three elements are always present.4 Spirituality is indeed the master-key of the Indian mind; the sense of the Infinite is native to it. The richness of her spirituality also has a unique character. Her knowledge was so vast and limitless and so all-embracing that all kinds of creed, dogma, system, religion flourished here without any conflict and found an amicable place in her immensity from the dawn of her civilization and culture. Although her genius can be seen in many fields of life, yet “Its real key-note is the tendency of spiritual realisation, not cast at all into any white monotone, but many-faceted, many-coloured, as supple in its adaptability as it is intense in its highest pitches. The note of spirituality is dominant, initial, constant, always recurrent; it is the support of all the rest. The first age of India's greatness was a spiritual age when she sought passionately for the truth of existence through the intuitive mind and through an inner experience and interpretation both of the psychic and the physical existence. The stamp put on her by that beginning she has never lost, but rather always enriched it with fresh spiritual experience and discovery at each step of the national life. Even in her hour of decline it was the one thing she could never lose.”5 She followed no limited creed or a time-made or human- founded religion or dharma in a limited sense. She followed the eternal law – Sanatana Dharma, beyond Time and Space. It is so antique, so ancient that history cannot trace it. It was not founded by any individual prophet, messenger,

4. The Renaissance in India by Sri Aurobindo: CWSA 20:9-10 5. Ibid p.13 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 32

Avatar or Vibhuti, as if it was given by God himself, by the Eternal, by the Infinite, true to all times; that is why it is called the Eternal Law – the Sanatan Dharma. It is so universal that it is applicable to any part of the world, any civilization and culture. “Her traces are found in the sands of Mesopotamia, her religions conquer China and Japan and spread westward as far as Palestine and Alexandria, and the figures of the Upanishads and the sayings of the Buddhists are reechoed on the lips of Christ.”6 We find such a great and wonderful synthesis in her spiritual knowledge that nothing can escape from the comprehensive and integral scope of her spiritual knowledge. She has followed the doctrine of Formless and Impersonal Brahman, Nirakar, Nirgun on one hand and worshipped the same Supreme Existence as the Personal Divine, as the highest Being in the form of Shiva, Vishnu, and the Divine Mother. There are Shaivites, Vaishnavites, and Shaktas all living together without any friction or contradiction. There are bhaktas of Rama, Krishna, Buddha who are the Avatars of the highest Godhead, Vishnu. There are Jnanis, there are Karmayogins, there are ascetics, tapasvis, and what not; all of them follow their inner nature to attain to their truth, the self of all selves according to their disposition and nature and development of their being. Gita says: ;s ;Fkk eka izi|Urs rkaLrFkSo HktkE;ge~ * Eke oRekZuqorZUrs euq";k% ikFkZ loZ'k% ** ;r% izo`fÙkHkwZrkuka ;su loZfena rre~ * LodeZ.kk reH;P;Z flf/na foUnfr ekuo%7 ** I accept men to my love according to how they approach

6. Ibid p.8 7. Gita IV-11 & XVIII-46 33 The Wonder that was India me. He from whom all beings originate and by whom all this is pervaded, by worshipping Him by his own work, a man attains perfection. All possible approaches, paths, methods and systems to attain the highest truth of existence and life have flourished on this land side by side without any difficulties. Even the most mundane, the lowest human nature, which is seemingly just opposite to the reality of Existence or the truth of the Divine could be made a means and a dynamic means to ascend the absolute height according to Tantra, for according to Ishopanishad this manifestation, this world, this universe, the creation is nothing but the Lord himself, his own emanation, his own body, the expansion of the Timeless in Time. The life here was such a great synthesis that there was nothing left outside of it, according to the Indian perception.

bZ'kkokL;fena lo± ;fRdap txR;ka VÉMÉiÉÂ 8

All this is for habitation by the Lord, whatsoever is individual universe of movement in the universal motion. It is for this reason that India has maintained incomparable tolerance with the alien religions which were not born on her soil, but came with the foreign invaders in later times such as mainly Islam and Christianity which too flourished here without any opposition or resistance. The bedrocks of spiritual culture and knowledge of ancient India were mainly the Vedas, the Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata. The four Vedas are: Rik, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. The Rik Veda, first among them, is a collection of hymns for use at sacrifices prevalent those days, but at once hidden behind them was an esoteric sense 8. Ishopanishad : 1st sloka Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 34 of truth of Existence clothed in words and symbols. According to Sri Aurobindo : “In its esoteric as well as its exoteric significance, it is the Book of Works, of the inner and outer sacrifice; it is the spirit's hymn of battle and victory as it discovers and climbs to planes of thought and experience inaccessible to the natural or animal man, man's praise of the divine Light, Power and Grace at work in the mortal.”9 Upanishads, which are mainly eleven, as a whole, are called Veda-anta or the end portion of the Vedas and are the overt expressions of the mysterious and symbolic speech of the Vedas, which was not within the comprehension of non-initiates or the common men. Of all the Upanishads, “Isha Upanishad is the gospel of a divine life in the world and a statement of the conditions under which it is possible, and the spirit of its living”, writes Sri Aurobindo in one of the commentaries of Isha Upanishad. Sri Aurobindo had a special interest in this Upanishad and commented on it a number of times. This is the smallest Upanishad containing only 18 verses on which Sri Aurobindo's commentaries run into about six hundred pages. It is this Upanishad in which he found the secret of the life divine on earth, which is the main theme of his philosophy and because of this that he towers over all the thinkers, philosophers and even Avatars. These two spiritual texts highly rich in contents were meant only for the advanced seekers and initiates, beyond the reach of the general masses. But the two great epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata “contain an early heroic story and a transmutation of many primitive elements, their form belongs to a period of highly developed intellectual, ethical and social culture, is enriched with a body of mature thought 9. Sri Aurobindo "On the Veda" (1956) p.12 35 The Wonder that was India and uplifted by a ripe nobility and refined gravity of ethical tone and therefore these poems are quite different from primitive edda and saga and greater in breadth of view and substance and height of motive – I do not speak now of aesthetic quality and poetic perfection – than the Homeric poems, while at the same time there is still an early breath, a direct and straightforward vigour, a freshness and greatness and pulse of life, a simplicity of strength and beauty that makes of them quite another kind than the elaborately constructed literary epics of Virgil or Milton, Firdausi or Kalidasa…. “The work of these epics was to popularise high philosophic and ethical idea and cultural practice; it was to throw out prominently and with a seizing relief and effect in a frame of great poetry and on a background of poetic story and around significant personalities that became to the people abiding national memories and representative figures all that was best in the soul and thought or true to the life or real to the creative imagination and ideal mind or characteristic and illuminative of the social, ethical, political and religious culture of India. All these things were brought together and disposed with artistic power and a telling effect in a poetic body given to traditions half legendary, half historic but cherished henceforth as deepest and most living truth and as a part of their religion by the people. Thus framed the Mahabharata and Ramayana, whether in the original Sanskrit or rewritten in the regional tongues, brought to the masses by Kathakas, — rhapsodists, reciters and exegetes, — became and remained one of the chief instruments of popular education and culture, moulded the thought, character, aesthetic and religious Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 36 mind of the people and gave even to the illiterate some sufficient tincture of philosophy, ethics, social and political ideas, aesthetic emotion, poetry, fiction and romance”.10 These two epics in fact became popular as Dharmashastras, as holy books and the impact of these epics on the mind of the people was so great that they have been described as the Bible of the Indian People. The stories of these two epics move round the two legendary Divine heroes – Rama and Krishna who are revered and worshipped as Avatars of the Supreme Godhead – Vishnu, according to the Vishnu Purana. Again, the concept of Avatarhood is another very unique characteristic of Indian Culture. Through the lives of Avatars, the light seeps down to the lowest stratum of the collectivity in a very natural way, for, living ideals and the practical guidance are available before the humanity in the form of the life of Avatars, who come down among us to show the right path. That is why the evolution of collective consciousness has always gone up faster through the descents of Avatars than through any other means. Divine has been coming down among us to lead the evolution as a protagonist, a precursor, a forerunner whenever there was a crisis, major blockage or opposition in the march of evolution of consciousness. Avatars come down to our level to raise our consciousness to some degree towards their own height. Lord Krishna himself has declared this truth to Arjuna when the battle of Kurukshetra was just to begin and Arjuna, invaded by pity, a sense of sorrow and sin, abandoned his weapons and refused to fight : 10. The Foundations of Indian Culture, SABCL 14:286 37 The Wonder that was India

;nk;nkfg /keZL; XykfuHkZofr Hkkjr * vH;qRFkkue/keZL; rnkRekua l`tkE;ge~ ** ifj=kk.kk; lk/kwuka fouk'kk; p nq"d`rke~ * /keZ laLFkkiukFkkZ; laHkokfe ;qxs & ;qxs11 **

“Whenever there is a fading of the Dharma and the uprising of unrighteousness, O Bharata, then I loose myself forth into birth. For the deliverance of the good, for the destruction of the evil-doers, for the enthroning of the Right, the Dharma, I am born from age to age.” But is the upholding of Dharma the only object of the descent of the Avatar? Sri Aurobindo, who is himself the supramental Avatar, goes deeper into the Rahasyam Uttamam of the intent of Avatarhood and unveils a new aspect of it : "For there are two aspects of the divine birth; one is a descent, the birth of God in humanity, the Godhead manifesting itself in human form and nature, the eternal Avatar; the other is an ascent, the birth of man into the Godhead, man rising into the divine nature and consciousness, madbhâvam âgatah; it is the being born anew in a second birth of the soul. It is that new birth which Avatarhood and the upholding of the Dharma are intended to serve." 12 There have been many descents of the Supreme Being, whenever there were crises in the evolution of earth's consciousness, but according to our Shastras, mainly Vishnu Purana, ten Avatars are supposed to be the main or popular ones. We shall briefly take account of nine past Avatars and focus on the Kalki Avatar – the Avatar of Tomorrow 11. Gita IV : 7-8 12. "Bhagawad Gita" edited by P.P. Khetan 1992: p.99 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 38 whom we have identified with Sri Aurobindo, the greatest of all thinkers and yogis, the prophet of Life Divine on the earth and the Master of a new comprehensive yoga – Purna or Integral Yoga. The story of Avatars begins from the beginnings of this creation itself. The first Avatar of the Lord takes place in the form of Matsya – a fish when he descended to save the seed of life from a great deluge, a Mahapralaya. It should be noted that life first springs in water out of inert matter which is the first appearance of involved consciousness. The second Avatar came down in the form of a tortoise – the Kachchapa on whose base or back was placed the Mandrachal mountain as a Mathani to churn the Ocean. Who else can perform this feat except the Divine? The tortoise can survive both in water as well as on land. The third Avatar came down as a boar – the Varaha Avatar – the first life to survive on land, independent of water and the third step in the evolutionary process of life on earth. The Lord as Varaha Avatar brought out the earth submerged in the water after the Deluge. The next was half animal-half man – the Narasimha Avatar who burst out of a dead pillar and delivered his beloved bhakta Prahlad from the clutches of his demon father Hiranya Kashyap. The next in the series was a dwarf man not fully developed – the Vamana Avatar “… the human portion of the traditional sequence – the Divine incarnation in the primitive human stage. Then Parasurama – Rama of the axe, the Divine in the kinetic or vitalistic phase of humanity; then Rama, son of Dasaratha, the Divine as the mental man, the embodiment of Dharma, the perfect moral consciousness,” who for the first time introduced and 39 The Wonder that was India established a culture of ideals in human psychological make- up and conduct. He was not only a sui generis warrior, which was the need of the hour, but also an ideal son, an ideal king, an ideal husband and lover, an ideal brother, friend and what not. He was the first progenitor and founder of a model society and kingdom – Ram Rajya — textured with the warp and woof of love and harmony. He is rightly called the Maryada Purushottama, pinnacle of a high moral character. He brought down the Divine light in the human mind and man began to think in terms of a model man in every field in that higher light. For the first time human mind was enlightened by the descent of this Avatar. A great milestone in the march of evolutionary progress of life was indeed achieved. It is noteworthy how the Supreme Godhead is making a progressive series of incarnations and gradually leading the evolution further and further towards his self-fulfilment in Time. And again Krishna, the Divine 'Overman' who brings down the Divine light to the deeper region of man, the cavern of his heart. He comes as the apostle of divine love and beauty and bliss and charms everyone with his enchanting divine flute and compels the human heart to wake up to divine emotion and love and ananda. For the first time divine light enters into the dark region of human heart and it begins to throb with bhakhi for the Divine. Before Krishna's advent bhakti was unknown to man and all divine knowledge was attained till then by intuition or the discipline of Sankhya or by tapas. The bliss of bhakti or devotion and love for the Lord was unknown to the human heart. It was dark and gloomy. It was untouched by the Divine light. For the first time the common folks of humanity tasted the nectar of Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 40 bhakti through the love of gopis of Brindavan for Krishna. And it reached its consummation through Arjuna – who represents the intelligent humanity when he at last surrenders himself to the Lord of Gita and accepts the secret of secrets of bhakti uttered by the Lord himself :

eUeuk Hko en~HkDrks e|kth eka ueLdq# * ekesoS";fl lR;a rs izfrtkus fiz;kssùfl es ** loZ /keZkUifjR;T; ekesda 'kj.ka ozt * vga Rok loZikisH;ks eks{kf;";kfe ek 'kqp%13 **

Become My-minded, My lover and adorer, a sacrificer to Me, bow thyself to Me; to Me thou shalt come, this is My pledge and promise to thee, for dear art thou to Me. Abandon all Dharmas and take refuge in Me alone. I will deliver thee from all sin and evil, do not grieve. Bhakti gave a new dimension and a sweet and sublime character to human life. This is how evolution marched on towards greater and greater perfection. Divine light was brought down to the mind by the descent of Rama Avatar. And man's heart was illumined by the touch of divine love and beauty of Krishna Avatar. But yet the all was not done, all the intent of Nature and Spirit was not worked out. With the development of mental faculty sprang a new offshoot of intellect, which began to question everything, reason out and rationalize all that was revealed by and founded on intuition and faith through seers and sages of Vedas and Upanishads. The first principle of Vedic knowledge is Sat, Being, Pure Existence, Reality. This creation has a fundamental reality, forever the same, eternal,

13. Gita XVIII : 65-66 41 The Wonder that was India changeless behind the constant flux of ever-changing appearance. Everything may pass away but the changeless THAT abides forever. This is the Vedic truth. There is a faculty or a plane of consciousness which does not accept any truth blindly, merely on faith or intuition unless it stands to reason or logic. Scepticism too can be a means or an instrument to reach the right knowledge, the truth- knowledge. The age of reason had to come for the integral perfection of the manifestation. Even this faculty must taste the supreme bliss and ananda. Divine must pass through this ordeal of scepticism of the Rationalist or there is no Divine. Divine can deny himself to prove his existence. How can anyone deny a thing unless it is there? Else there is nothing to deny. To do this formidable task, therefore, Lord comes down as Buddha Avatar, who looked at things from the other side of the Existence, from below, from the world's suffering, a rational, analytical or scientific approach to things. Whereas Vedic rishis experienced that Existence was born of Delight and moved from delight to delight and culminates in the Supreme Delight, for Buddha misery and sorrow were the hall-marks of the creation. For Buddha there was no God and no Vedas. He advised his followers to discover and find out their own truth, not to depend on the knowledge of the past, of purve pitarah. He found that man suffered because of his own desire. So, he did a very severe penance in order to find ways and means to eradicate desire from man's consciousness, urged by a deep compassion for the humanity. And he reached a region of permanent poise, which was a great Nothing, a limitless Void or Nihil or Asat free from all problems. This was too an aspect of the Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 42

Infinite, Nirgun Brahman, silent qualityless Eternal, Non- Being. Sri Aurobindo too experienced this void as described in his great epic Savitri : In that absolute stillness bare and formidable There was glimpsed an all-negating Void Supreme That claimed its mystic Nihil's sovereign right To cancel Nature and deny the soul. Even the nude sense of self grew pale and thin: Impersonal, signless, featureless, void of forms A blank pure consciousness had replaced the mind.14

Although Buddha opened a new gateway to get rid of human suffering, disease and death by trekking through an unchartered route of hard askesis of an ascetic life, it was not in tune with the totality of life practised by Vedic culture, for Buddhism idolized the monastic life, which subsequently drew the best of the talents of the nation, the cream, the able-bodied and able-minded to its ascetic fold in the form of Bikkhus and the rest of the society was left with ignorant folks comprised of women, sick and old men. According to Sri Aurobindo this was a negative approach to the Supreme and this imbalance will be set right by Kalki by bringing the Transcendent's power and thereby setting up a new earth order, a terrestrial heaven, the next goal of manifestation, the consummation of the present cycle, which is at once the intention and will of the Divine and the scheme of the Nature. It should be marked that Sri Aurobindo sets a greater goal before the humanity, the goal of divine life on the earth negating all suffering, even death, which is reflected in the following lines:

14. Savitri, CWSA 34:545 43 The Wonder that was India

O Sun-Word, thou shalt raise the earth-soul to Light And bring down God into the lives of men; Earth shall be my work-chamber and my house, My garden of life to plant a seed divine. When all thy work in human time is done The mind of earth shall be a home of light, The life of earth a tree growing towards heaven, The body of earth a tabernacle of God.15

Although Buddha's path was world-negating, yet his contribution of 'man's rationality and man's humanity' was a great Avataric work which has not only unveiled a new face of the Absolute, but also made the life of earth more profound and more perfect, without which search of the aspiring soul for the ultimate truth would have remained incomplete. The last fort of the Inconscient, the tabernacle of all falsehood, our physical sheath was yet to be conquered, the most formidable work of enlightening the fathomless pit of darkness, the 'unlit temple of Night' that is our body, was yet to be accomplished before the earth could claim the heavenly light. Although the light has touched the mind, although the light has seeped into the heart, yet nothing has changed to the divine satisfaction. True, nothing is really changed unless all is changed. If we have a dispassionate look at the man's world, we find it very distressing and disappointing and shocked to see what a mess he has made of it. On the top of it with so much of imperfection in his nature with which he has made a hell of this world, he claims to be the crown of the

15. Ibid : 699 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 44 creation. He has at last virtually reached a colossal land's end of his path, his great doom. From the animal stage to a modern man, humanity, no doubt, has come a pretty long way. He has mastered the outer Nature to a great extent, measured the distance and size of stars, mapped out the universe and fathomed the depth of oceans. Out of the secrets of Nature he has fabricated innumerable objects for his comfort, but his own soul is unknown to him. Man was never so entangled in such an intricate impasse before as today. At such a point of crisis has come to his rescue not only a great Thinker and Kavi – who is seer and creator at once in the Vedic sense, but also a harbinger of a greater Force of Divine – rather the greatest - the Supramental power which alone can deliver humanity from the present entanglement. It is Sri Aurobindo who has given us the vision of Life Divine, a new hope and also a new Shastra of his Integral Yoga to realise this hope into reality. It is he who tells us that man is only a transitional being, not the last product of the Nature's factory. Man has to excel himself and join hands with Nature in moulding and transforming him into a super humanity in order to survive or he must be ready to be extinct. He unfolds the plan of Nature : “The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God? For if evolution is the progressive manifestation by Nature of that which slept or worked in her, involved, it is also the overt realisation of that which she secretly is. We cannot, then, 45 The Wonder that was India bid her pause at a given stage of her evolution, nor have we the right to condemn with the religionist as perverse and presumptuous or with the rationalist as a disease or hallucination any intention she may evince or effort she may make to go beyond. If it be true that Spirit is involved in Matter and apparent Nature is secret God, then the manifestation of the divine in himself and the realisation of God within and without are the highest and most legitimate aim possible to man upon earth”.16 We can aptly think that after the attainment of either the Buddhistic Nirvana or the Nirvana of Upanishads – the release or liberation of the soul from the bondage of Nature which is promised by the Lord himself in Gita,17 what else is left to be attained, or what new has to be sought after. We can jolly well bask in the sun-shine of the past spiritual glories and realisation and follow the beaten tracks of our forefathers, purve pitarah. But let us not forget, every new Avatar comes with a new agenda, to set a higher goal and scale a new height of consciousness, to lead the humanity to the next milestone. Sri Aurobindo speaks of a life divine on earth, supramentalisation of human species, advent of a new race of superman either by transformation of the present humanity or by direct descent of a new man. Moksha is too early to rejoice. Let's listen to him : “O soul, it is too early to rejoice ! Thou hast reached the boundless silence of the Self, Thou hast leaped into a glad divine abyss; But where hast thou thrown Self's mission and Self's power? On what dead bank on the Eternal's road? One was within thee who was self and world, 16. The Life Divine CWSA 21, p. 6 17. +½Æþ i´ÉÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ {ÉÉ{Éä¨ªÉÉä ¨ÉÉäIÉÊªÉ¹ªÉÉÊ¨É ¨ÉÉ ¶ÉÖSÉ: Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 46

What hast thou done for his purpose in the stars? Escape brings not the victory and the crown! Something thou camest to do from the Unknown, But nothing is finished and the world goes on Because only half God's cosmic work is done. Only the everlasting No has neared And stared into thy eyes and killed thy heart: But where is the Lover's everlasting Yes, And immortality in the secret heart, The voice that chants to the creator Fire, The symbolled OM, the great assenting Word, The bridge between the rapture and the calm, The passion and the beauty of the Bride, The chamber where the glorious enemies kiss, The smile that saves, the golden peak of things? That too is Truth at the mystic fount of Life.18

Sri Aurobindo clearly sets a very high goal of divine life on earth which, he has already said is the next possibility in man waiting to manifest and the hour is now. About the Buddhistic Nirvana he has pointed out that it is not the last word of God. A high and blank negation is not all, A huge extinction is not God's last word, Life's ultimate sense, the close of being's course, The meaning of this great mysterious world.19

In the progressive march of evolution Infinity will unfold infinitely. Even the Vedantic Moksha is only the radiant step towards the infinite manifestation in human time.

18. Savitri, CWSA 33:310-11 19. Ibid p.311 47 The Wonder that was India

To free the self is but one radiant pace; Here to fulfil himself was God's desire.20

According to Vishnu Purana and Bhavishya Purana, the appearance of the last Avatar — Kalki — will take place towards the end of Kaliyuga – the dark age when the world will face the worst predicament and mankind will be just about to collapse. He will then not only save humanity but also usher in a new age, a golden age of a new cycle. Sri Aurobindo appears before us in an hour of transition and not only speaks to us to transcend ourselves into new humanity — the humanity of tomorrow — but also he brings down the mightiest power of the Supreme Lord — the Supermind — which has the conqueror's sword — the unfailing power of total transformation of mankind, the transformation of mind, life and even the body. Thus we find that Sri Aurobindo has not only a clear vision of a new world surpassing the present one, but also has the necessary force and will of the Supreme with him. He and his executrix power whom we adore as the Mother, both are already working out on the subtle physical plane the advent of the new world, which is very clear in a message of the Mother given a few years back when she was present among us in her physical body :

The world is preparing for a big change. Will you help ? This collaboration, our consent is a must on our part without which work may be delayed or work may be risky. In case of a critical surgery, a patient not only must give his consent, but fully co-operate with the doctor and allow him do his duty; else there is a danger to the patient's life. Similarly the 20. Ibid p.312 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 48 readiness to change ourselves is the necessary condition for our transformation into a new being, a new species or a new race. The Mother, Sri Aurobindo's collaborator and his creative power, was first to identify him as the Supramental Incarnation, the Avatar of the Supreme to have come down to prepare the future humanity. After her, it is K.D.Sethna, the only living21 centurian disciple and a great authoritative spokesman of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy and yoga, who identifies Kalki Avatar with Sri Aurobindo. In the coming pages we shall try to establish the Avatarhood of Sri Aurobindo as Kalki on the basis of materials from his life and works, inner as well as outer, which is the main purpose of this thesis. His many-faceted genius has been already universally recognized, no doubt, but yet he is too new and recent to be accepted as the supreme Divine Avatar, especially by the intelligentia of East or West, for, the rational temperament all over is the same, albeit he is the champion and forerunner in every field and the divinity behind his human mask gleams brilliantly wherever he has shown his presence even for a short while. His life and work have been covered by many brilliant biographers but most of them have highlighted his genius as of an extraordinary human personality only, whereas first and foremost, he must be adored as an Avatar, for he alone fulfils all the attributes of the Divine Incarnation among the plethora of great leaders of men and nations in the modern age. It is then only we shall have the devotion and will to follow him in our thoughts, feelings and actions and become like him: ¨Éx¨ÉxÉÉ ¦É´É ¦ÉnÂù ¦ÉHòÉä, which is the very raison d'être of the descent of an Avatar, to uplift humanity to his divine level and make the earth like his heaven.

21. Since deceased. 49

Chapter 2

What is Avatar ? What is the purpose and work of an Avatar?

;nk ;nk fg /keZL; XykfuHkZofr Hkkjr * vH;qRFkkue/keZL; rnkRekua l`tkE;ge~ ** ifj=kk.kk; lk/kwuka fouk'kk; p nq"Ñrke~ * /keZ laLFkkiukFkkZ; lEHkokfe ;qxs ;qxs 1 ** vukfnRokfUuxqZ.kRokRijekRek;eO;; % * 'kjhjLFkksùfi dkSUrs; u djksfr u fyI;rs 2 **

Coercing my godhead I have come down Here on the sordid earth, Ignorant, labouring, human grown Twixt the gates of death and birth.3

The word Avatar is commonly used in Indian parlance and every native Indian, educated or not educated, every peasant or labourer, rich or poor understands its meaning and concept very clearly. The word Avatar literally means coming down, descent of a higher power or consciousness into a form or a body. The Avatar is a religious as well as spiritual reality especially in Indian context, for, here there is little difference between these two terms. India's religion is Sanatan Dharma, an eternal law, not Hindu religion as

1. Gita IV-7/8 2. Ibid XIII-31 3. Collected Poems by Sri Aurobindo CWSA 2 : 534 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 50 understood in general, for, this word has no root in our Indian scriptures and perhaps it was used by foreign invaders to identify our land being associated with Indus river in Punjab. In fact, India's religion is basically spiritual and universal and very little credal and ritualistic, for, one is free to link oneself with the Supreme Godhead with or without any set religious belief, by following inner disciplines. The popular concept of ten Avatars, which is typically an Indian concept and reality, rather, made its meaning still clearer and tangible to everyone, no matter he/she hails from any part of this country and speaks any tongue. The word Avatar is common to all languages of India since it is originally derived from Sanskrit which is the mother of all Indian languages. The English equivalent 'Incarnation' is not the exact substitute of Avatar, although it is often used in that sense, for, it sometimes may not express the subtle shades and connotations of Avatar. Only in Indian context the Supreme Divine has been coming down and taking a body from time to time to lead the evolution of terrestrial life on the upward journey of progress; such supreme descents are popularly known as Avatars. There have been many such Avatars, important ones are twenty four, out of them ten Avatars are main and popular ones for the present evolutionary cycle. The final Avatar of these ten is known as Kalki, meaning thereby the Avatar of tomorrow or the Avatar of Kaliyuga, the Dark Age, the age of Ignorance, that is the present age which we are passing through. It is very surprising that these ten Avatars take account of the creation right from its very beginnings for, the first one was the Matsya Avatar in the form of a Fish which 51 What is Avatar ? was also the first living creature in the creation. The second was the Kachchhap Avatar in the form of a Tortoise which can survive in water and on land as well, a more evolved living being. The third was the Varaha Avatar in the form of a Boar, capable to survive on land independent of water. The fourth was Nrisimha Avatar in the form of half animal- half man, a pre-stage of human existence. Then the Vamana Avatar in the form of a Dwarf - not a fully developed man; succeeding him was Parashurama Avatar the violent axeman followed by Rama Avatar, quiet and humble but the greatest warrior of his times and the role model of highest standard of character in all possible human relationships. The eighth one was the Krishna Avatar, the great new Law-giver and reconciler, the Avatar of the Gita and the Divine Superman. Then the Divine comes as an Apostle of Non-violence and peace, the Buddha Avatar, the Avatar of Absolute Silent Brahman. The final Avatar, the Kalki comes between the end of Kaliyuga and the dawn of the New Satyuga, the Golden Age as the Harbinger of a terrestrial heaven, a new earth-order, who has been identified with Sri Aurobindo, the Master of the Integral Yoga and the visionary of Life Divine on earth, of whom we shall discuss in length in the forthcoming pages. The series of successive Avatars, one after the other, and the parallel landmarks of evolutionary process in Nature are so striking. This procession of Avatars, Sri Aurobindo therefore calls a parable of Evolution. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 52

What is Avatar ?

Then what is Avatar or Divine Incarnation? The 'Avatar' is a Sanskrit word which means “a descent, a coming down of the Divine below the line which divides the divine from the human world or status” 4, according to Sri Aurobindo. He further simplifies it, “An incarnation is the Divine consciousness and Being manifesting through the body.”5 As we all know, our life is not a cake-walk. It is full of strife and struggle. It is like a nightmare. It is a catastrophe. It becomes further complicated and tangled when our personal interests and selfish nature clash with those of others. We become the prey to our own destructive nature – hatred, jealousy, violence, ill will, killing and carnage. Our petty individual clashes often end in demoniac world wars. The constructive progress of man is marred by his own destructive nature. Why does it happen? Why can't we live in peace, love and harmony with our neighbours and neighbouring cities and countries? And put all our energy and dynamism to progress happily and rapidly in all our faculties and fields? But we don't. This is our problem. In the final analysis we find that we are helplessly forced to act according to our ego, our surface nature, which is not our true self or the true person. Here is the need of someone who could guide us how to get rid of the slavery to nature and become her master and how to live in love and harmony with everyone around without any impediment, and grow and progress smoothly and rapidly. All theologies and religions accept that there is a supreme reality above all our realities of the Life and the Universe. 4. Avatarhood (AIM) p.67 5. Ibid p.2 53 What is Avatar ?

That supreme reality is infinite, eternal and absolute. It is that reality we call God, Allah or Brahman. It is self-existent, self-aware and self-delighted.It is omniscient and omnipresent and omnipotent. It is this supreme power that has created or manifested this phenomenal universe and the world in which we live. This power is at once impersonal and also a personal Being. The One, who has created us and this universe, the One who has given us life and also its nature, only he will be concerned with our problem, our predicament and its solution. He then comes among us, lives like us, behaves like us and takes upon Himself our pains and problems and quietly suggests and solves those problems setting ideal examples for us. Externally He appears as ordinary as we are, but from behind the veil of ordinary personality there gleams His divinity, its power and puissant nature. Him we call the Avatar or the Vibhuti. The following poem 'A God's Labour' by Sri Aurobindo vividly depicts the work of an Avatar of the Immortal Spirit descended into the mortal humanity:

Coercing my godhead I have come down Here on the sordid earth, Ignorant, labouring, human grown, Twixt the gates of death and birth.

I have been digging deep and long Mid a horror of filth and mire A bed for the golden river's song, A home for the deathless fire. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 54

What is the difference between an Avatar and a Vibhuti? Sri Aurobindo explains: “The Avatar is necessary when a special work is to be done and in crises of the evolution. The Avatar is a special manifestation while for the rest of the time it is the Divine working within the ordinary human limits as a Vibhuti”6. A Vibhuti is supposed to have some power of the Divine which enables him to act with great force in the world. The Avatar manifests in humanity in the event of a great crisis in the history when a great material change needs to be effected and for which a great divine Force is needed; but when only intellectual and practical changes or modifications of the general consciousness are required, then those can be brought about by certain exceptional individuals, who are called Vibhutis. But can we say that since the universe and all existence is the manifestation of the Supreme Being as He is the only existence as Vedanta says: Ishavasyamidam sarvam yatkincha jagatyam jagat, every soul or every human being is a descent of the infinite into finiteness of name and form? No, because in the ordinary human birth consciousness is shrouded partly or wholly by ignorance of self in the finite. It is not a conscious birth of the Divine. It is the spark of the Divine, the soul which descends into the nature and gradually develops out of ignorance into self-knowledge. “In the ordinary human birth the Nature-aspect of the universal Divine assuming humanity prevails; in the incarnation the God-aspect of the same phenomenon takes its place. In the one he allows the human nature to take possession of his partial being and to dominate it; in the other he takes possession of his partial type of being and its nature and 6. Avatarhood (AIM) p.8 55 What is Avatar ? divinely dominates it. Not by evolution or ascent like the ordinary man, the Gita seems to tell us, not by a growing into the divine birth, but by a direct descent into the stuff of humanity and a taking up of its moulds.” 7 In the Gita this is more directly expressed by Lord Incarnate Sri Krishna himself when he says, “Whenever there is the fading of Dharma and the uprising of unrighteousness, then I loose myself forth into birth tadatmanam srijamyaham.”8 Therefore an Avatar is a direct manifestation of the Supreme Godhead. About the Avatar Sri Aurobindo elaborates more precisely: “But when the divine Consciousness and Power taking upon itself the human form and the human mode of action, possesses it not only by powers and magnitudes, by degrees and outward faces of itself but out of its eternal self-knowledge, when the Unborn knows itself and acts in the frame of the mental being and the appearance of birth, that is the height of the conditioned manifestation; it is the full and conscious descent of the Godhead, it is the Avatara.”9 An Avatar although is the direct manifestation of the Supreme Godhead, the Infinite and Eternal, yet he reveals only those powers and capacities that are needed at the time he comes, according to the measure of crises of either events or consciousness which necessitates the divine intervention and also according to the capacity of the moulds, so far evolved to receive and assimilate. He does not come as a magician or conjurer to display his supernatural feats of his divine glories. He comes as an example of an ideal human, he even takes on human sorrow and suffering to show how with fortitude one can bear it 7. Essays on the Gita CWSA 19:159 8. Ibid p.146 9. Ibid p.14 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 56 as also change the difficulty into opportunity for further progress. Rama, Ramakrishna and Christ are the best examples of this. But how can the formless, the Infinite take the finite form? How can the Timeless and Unborn be born in Time? Is it possible? There is a school of thought which can raise this doubt even in India. The modern rationalist in the West will of course outright set aside this idea as a dogma or a superstition. Even the Vedas do not foster the concept of Saguna Brahman, or the Avatar of the personal God, although the Upanishad and the Gita both agree that there is nothing in the existence which is not the Divine or “Every creature is the disguised Narayana.”10 bZ'oj% loZHkwrkuka äís'ksùtqZu fr"Bfr *

But the Gita in particular, which is closer to our life, for, it deals with the practical problem of Man, the actual crisis of within and without, in the life of an individual as well as in the collectivity, in the nation, gives us such an authentic knowledge which is appealing to both head and heart of man. The greatest thing about the Gita is that its knowledge is spoken directly by the Lord of the Universe, the Eternal and the Unborn Lord Sri Krishna himself, not revealed or heard or experienced by sages and seers living in the forests far from the clamour and commotion of life. And yet, among the followers of the Gita some sceptic minds can claim that Gita itself contradicts the possibility of physical Avatarhood when it declares that “In him, take refuge in every way of thy being and by his grace thou shalt come to the supreme peace and the eternal status.”11 10. Ibid p.151 57 What is Avatar ?

Here “In him” means “In the Lord, who is seated in the heart of all existences (Ishwarah Sarvabhutanam). When the Lord is already seated in every heart to lead and guide the soul in the evolution, the external divine birth seems redundant and may not be necessary. Sri Aurobindo, who is himself an eternal Avatar in the modern times dispels the doubt: “No doubt, too, the inner descent of the Godhead to raise the human soul into himself is the main thing, — it is the inner Christ, Krishna or Buddha that matters. But just as the outer life is of immense importance for the inner development, so the external Avatarhood is of no mean importance for this great spiritual manifestation. The consummation in the mental and physical symbol assists the growth of the inner reality; afterwards the inner reality expresses itself with greater power in a more perfect symbolisation of itself through the outer life. Between these two, spiritual reality and mental and physical expression, acting and returning upon each other constantly the manifestation of the Divine in humanity has elected to move always in the cycles of its concealment and its revelation.” 12 Sri Aurobindo himself raises this question in the Essays on the Gita and answers it too: “This secret working of the Lord hidden in the heart from the egoistic nature– consciousness through which he works, is God's universal method with creatures. Why then should we suppose that in any form he comes forward into the frontal, the phenomenal consciousness for a more direct and consciously divine action? Obviously, if at all, then to break the veil between himself and humanity which man limited in his own nature could never lift.” 13 The Gita is in many ways the most unique and reliable 11. Ibid p.541 12. Ibid p.167 13. Ibid pp.153-154 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 58 book of knowledge and spiritual reality. First, this is the only knowledge which comes directly from the mouth of the Lord, Second, it is not a result of askesis or spiritual sadhana practised in a peaceful hermitage away from the struggles and tumult of life, rather it comes out in a natural way out of a peculiar and dreadful circumstance in the life of a great hero of his times, in a monstrous battlefield unlike other spiritual treasures. Third, it is not an independent work by itself but only an episode in a great ancient and immortal epic history – Mahabharata. Fourth, it is a timeless and eternal cosmic drama enacted in Time by two cosmic players Nara and Narayana. And last but not the least, it is a great synthesis of all knowledge of yoga and a summation of all previous scriptures, in a nutshell and its message is applicable in all ages and countries. Therefore, the Gita is the self-evident document of Avatarhood and if the Gita confirms the Divine example, then there should not be any scope of scepticism or doubt about it.

Purpose And Work Of An Avatar Then what is the purpose of an Avatar? And what is the work of an Avatar? The purpose and work of an Avatar are symbolically cited in general by the Avatar of the Gita himself: Ikfj=kk.kk; lk/kwuka fouk'kk; p nq"Ñrke~ *

/keZ laLFkkiukFkkZ; laHkokfe ;qxs&;qxs 14 **

The Avatar in the Gita says that whenever there is fading of Dharma and uprising of unrighteousness, He, the Lord of the universe, the Supreme Godhead incarnates in a

14. Gita IV-8 59 What is Avatar ? human body to restore the Dharma, to deliver the good and destroy the wicked. The unrighteousness and injustice of the wicked Kauravas, of course, had become so unbearable for the good-natured and truthful Pandavas that Divine was compelled to take a human body to set right the imbalance. The same principle was applicable when the Lord comes as Rama to destroy unrighteous Ravana and protect the good and holy men, the seekers, the saints and sages. This is the general purpose of Divine descent and the work of Avatar which mainly refers to the outward action. These outward actions indicate that those were the times of crisis and it was beyond the capacity of men to control the situation by themselves. On such occasions the Divine descends as an Avatar with his necessary divine power to face the crisis. But is it all for which the Avatar takes the Divine birth? If it is that much then Buddha and Christ should be out of the ambit of an Avatar for they did not destroy the evil doers and deliver the good and the pious. Instead they brought to all a new message and concept of higher and purer mode of living, points out Sri Aurobindo. It will not be inapt to remind the readers that Sri Aurobindo had totally identified himself with Sri Krishna of the Gita, became one with him and his consciousness, “who is the transcendent Godhead, Paramatma, Parabrahman, Purushottama, the Cosmic Deity, the Master of the Universe, Vasudeva, who is all, the Immanent in the heart of all creatures or the Godhead who was incarnate at Brindavan and Dwaraka and Kurukshetra and who was the guide of my Yoga and with whom I realised identity. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 60

All that is not to me something philosophical or mental but a matter of daily and hourly realisation and intimate to the stuff of my consciousness.”15 Not only this, we all know that Sri Aurobindo realised in 1926 the Overmind or the Krishna-consciousness in his physical also when a great spiritual impediment in the way of supramental realisation was overcome. It is because of this height of realisation he goes much deeper than the previous scholarly interpreters to find out the true kernel of the Gita's teachings hidden behind the words as well as behind the outer events. He says that Avatar does not come only to interfere in the outer events, but he has a deeper purpose to serve. “Always we see in the history of the divine incarnation the double work and inevitably, because the Avatar takes up the workings of God in human life, the way of the divine Will and Wisdom in the world, and that always fulfils itself externally as well as internally, by inner progress in the soul and by an outer change in the life. “The Avatar may descend as a great spiritual teacher and saviour, the Christ, the Buddha, but always his work leads, after he has finished his earthly manifestation, to a profound and powerful change not only in the ethical, but in the social and outward life and ideals of the race. He may, on the other hand, descend as an incarnation of the divine life, the divine personality and power in its characteristic action, for a mission ostensibly social, ethical and political, as is represented in the story of Rama or Krishna; but always then this descent becomes in the soul of the race a permanent power for the inner living and the spiritual rebirth. ... 15. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p.458 61 What is Avatar ?

“Avatarhood is a fact of divine life and consciousness which may realise itself in an outward action, but must persist, when that action is over and has done its work, in a spiritual influence; or may realise itself in a spiritual influence and teaching, but must then have its permanent effect, even when the new religion or discipline is exhausted, in the thought, temperament and outward life of mankind.”16 He could also see through the double purpose of the divine birth in the human, an intrinsic object hidden behind the outer action of the Avatar – ParitrDnDya sDdhunDm vinDshDya cha dushkritDm, dharma sansthDpanDrthDya sambhavDmi yugé-yugé – that is the birth of man out of the Godhead, “man rising into the divine nature and consciousness”, which is the kernel and the real object of Avatarhood and yet as he rightly says, it can be missed by cursory readers and the pedantic commentators as well. “If there were not the rising of man into the Godhead to be helped by the descent of God into humanity, Avatarhood for the sake of the Dharma would be an otiose phenomenon, since mere Right, mere justice or standards of virtue can always be upheld by the divine omnipotence through its ordinary means, by great men or great movements, by the life and work of sages and kings and religious teachers, without any actual incarnation. The Avatar comes as the manifestation of the divine nature in the human nature, the apocalypse of its Christhood, Krishnahood, Buddhahood, in order that the human nature may, by moulding its principle, thought, feeling, action, being on the lines of that Christhood, Krishnahood, Buddhahood, transfigure itself into the divine.The Law, the Dharma, which the Avatar establishes, is given for that purpose 16. Essays on the Gita CWSA 19:170-171 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 62 chiefly; the Christ, Krishna, Buddha stands in its centre as the gate, he makes through himself the way men shall follow. That is why each Incarnation holds before men his own example and declares of himself that he is the way and the gate; he declares too the oneness of his humanity with the divine being, declares that the Son of Man and the Father above from whom he has descended are one, that Krishna in the human body, mD nuIim tanum DIritam, and the supreme Lord and Friend of all creatures are but two revelations of the same divine Purushottama, revealed there in his own being, revealed here in the type of humanity.”17 “The Avatar comes to reveal the divine nature in man above this lower nature and to show what are the divine works, free, unegoistic, disinterested, impersonal, universal, full of the divine light, the divine power and the divine love. He comes as the divine personality which shall fill the consciousness of the human being and replace the limited egoistic personality, so that it shall be liberated out of ego into infinity and universality, out of birth into immortality. He comes as the divine power and love which calls men to itself so that they may take refuge in that and no longer in the insufficiency of their human wills and the strife of their human fear, wrath and passion and liberated from all this unquiet and suffering may live in the calm and bliss of the Divine.”18 The human nature is uplifted to the divine nature and Man's soul gains full efflorescence into the divinity. As the Gita says: tUe deZ p es fnO;esoa ;ks osfÙk rÙor% * R;DRok nsga iqutZUe uSfr ekesfr lksùtqZu ** 17. Ibid pp. 148-149 18. Ibid pp. 175-176 63 What is Avatar ?

´ÉÒiÉ®úÉMÉ¦ÉªÉGòÉävÉÉ ¨Éx¨ÉªÉÉ ¨ÉÉ¨ÉÖ{ÉÉÊ¸ÉiÉÉ:* ¤É½þ´ÉÉä YÉÉxÉiÉ{ÉºÉÉ {ÉÚiÉÉ ¨ÉnÂù¦ÉÉ´É¨ÉÂ +ÉMÉiÉÉ:19**

Sri Aurobindo in his epic 'Savitri' also has expressed the same spirit.

The Absolute, the Perfect, the Immune, One who is in us as our secret self, Our mask of imperfection has assumed, He has made this tenement of flesh his own, His image in the human measure cast That to his divine measure we might rise, Then in a figure of divinity The Maker shall recast us and impose A plan of godhead on the mortal's mould Lifting our finite minds to his infinite, Touching the moment with eternity. This transfiguration is earth’s due to heaven: A mutual debt binds man to the Supreme: His nature we must put on as he put ours; We are sons of God and must be even as he: His human portion, we must grow divine. 20

Even the Dharma which Sri Krishna wanted to establish as an Avatar was not confined to the conventional meaning behind the word. Sri Aurobindo, who had attained to Krishna Consciousness, again reveals the enlarged and full intent what was truly meant by restoration of Dharma. “Dharma in the Indian conception”, says Sri Aurobindo, “is not merely the good, the right, morality and justice, 19. Gita IV - 9-10 20. Savitri CWSA 33:67 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 64 ethics; it is the whole government of all the relations of man with other beings, with Nature, with God, considered from the point of view of a divine principle working itself out in forms and laws of action, forms of the inner and the outer life, orderings of relations of every kind in the world... “... Dharma is all that helps us to grow into the divine purity, largeness, light, freedom, power, strength, joy, love, good, unity, beauty and against it stands its shadow and denial, all that resists its growth and has not undergone its law, all that has not yielded up and does not will to yield up its secret of divine values, but presents a front of perversion and contradiction, of impurity, narrowness, bondage, darkness, weakness, vileness, discord and suffering and division, and the hideous and the crude, all that man has to leave behind in his progress. This is the adharma, not dharma, which strives with and seeks to overcome the dharma, to draw backward and downward, the reactionary force which makes for evil, ignorance and darkness. Between the two there is perpetual battle and struggle, oscillation of victory and defeat in which sometimes the upward and sometimes the downward forces prevail. This has been typified in the Vedic image of the struggle between the divine and the Titanic powers, the sons of the Light and the undivided Infinity and the children of the Darkness and Division, .... “It is these things that condition and determine the work of the Avatar.”21 As Sri Aurobindo says, there are three necessary elements of the Avataric work, Dharma being the first of them. The Avatar gives a new Dharma, a new law of self- discipline, a new rule of action which enables the follower 21. Essays on the Gita CWSA 19: 171-173 65 What is Avatar ? to reveal the divine nature in his life. The second element is companionship or union or the Sangha of those who are united around the teaching of the Avatar. The last element is the Avatar himself. In the Gita the Avatar gives the new Dharma of triune path, which sums up all previous teachings of scriptures including the essence of Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas. It is a great synthesis of Yoga of Works, Knowledge and Love. Earlier to the Gita the path of works was limited to the rites of Vedic Sacrifice and even that was not open to all Varnas. But in the Gita the Sacrifice is widened and universalised; all works, if offered selflessly to the Lord, become sacred, a Sacrifice, Yajna to the Lord. It is no more sectarian, it is catholic, applicable to all times and all men.

deZ.;sokf/kdkjLrs ek Qys"kq dnkpu A

ek deZQygsrqHkwZekZ rs laxksùLRodeZf.k AA 22

The works must be done as an offering, as a Sacrifice to Lord without motive, without claiming its fruits and yet there should be no slackness to activity.

;ksxLFk dq# dekZf.k laxa R;DRok /ku×t; A

fl)~;fl)~;ks% leks HkwRok leRoa ;ksx mP;rs AA 23

By works done without attachment, with perfect equality with all beings, with all that we see and experience, we become one with the Divine, for, the Divine too is equal to all things and to all beings. The external Vedic rite is replaced here by the inner oblation, our aspiration towards 22. Gita II - 47 23. Ibid II - 48 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 66 the source of its energies. The Lord goes on saying that by doing works free from attachment one can attain to perfection like King Janaka and others. He even gives his own example saying that he does not need to work in all the three worlds nor has he to gain anything by works; yet he is engaged in works so that people do not sink into inertia and destruction. And then the seeker has to know that his true self is not the actual doer, it is only the sakshi and anumanta, it is the modes of Nature which do the works through the instrumentality of his ego in every individual. Once one experiences this truth, the soul is free from the sense of action and hence from the bondage of works even while doing the action. This is the true spirit of the path of the works. And the sacrifice of works must be substantiated and enlightened by the sacrifice of knowledge of God, the Eternal, the Infinite who is one in all his several principles, his innumerable visages, forces, forms, his million universal faces everywhere, timelessly and in Time. And both the sacrifices of works and knowledge must be fulfilled in the sacrifice of devotion, the way of Bhakti, love and adoration to the Lord: Whatever is offered with love and devotion, 'Patram, pushpam, phalam, toyam yo me bhaktyâ prayachchhati' to the Lord, is acceptable to him. Not only outer objects and activities but even our thoughts, feelings, aspirations also can be made a means of sacrifice with love and devotion to the Lord of the souls and the world. “First, by the renunciation of desire”, sums up Sri Aurobindo, “and a perfect equality works have to be done as a sacrifice by man as the doer, a sacrifice to a diety who is the supreme and only Self though by him not yet realised 67 What is Avatar ? in his own being. This is the initial step. Secondly, not only the desire of the fruit, but the claim to be the doer of works has to be renounced in the realisation of the Self as the equal, the inactive, the immutable principle and of all works as simply the operation of universal Force, of the Nature- Soul, Prakriti, the unequal, active, mutable power. Lastly the supreme Self has to be seen as the supreme Purusha governing this Prakriti, of whom the soul in Nature is a partial manifestation, by whom all works are directed, in a perfect transcendence, through Nature. To Him love and adoration and the sacrifice of works have to be offered; the whole being has to be surrendered to Him and the whole consciousness raised up to dwell in this divine consciousness so that the human soul may share in His divine transcendence of Nature and of His works and act in a perfect spiritual liberty. “The first step is Karmayoga, the selfless sacrifice of works, and here the Gita's insistence is on action. The second is Jnanayoga, the self-realisation and knowledge of the true nature of the self and the world; and here the insistence is on knowledge; but the sacrifice of works continues and the path of Works becomes one with but does not disappear into the path of Knowledge. The last step is Bhaktiyoga, adoration and seeking of the supreme Self as the Divine Being, and here the insistence is on devotion; but the knowledge is not subordinated, only raised, vitalised and fulfilled, and still the sacrifice of works continues; the double path becomes the triune way of knowledge, works and devotion. And the fruit of the sacrifice, the one fruit still placed before the seeker, is attained, union with the divine Being and oneness with Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 68 the supreme divine Nature.”24 Here we see that the triune way, the Dharma placed by the Avatar of the Gita, the Purushottama who is above His creation, all the Purushas, Mutable and Immutable, culminates in Bhakti Yoga the sacrifice of Love and devotion. And the highest pinnacle of Bhakti Yoga is reached in the supreme word, the secret of secrets when the Lord reveals his last mantra of the highest attainment, the most secret message of the Ishwara as follows : eUeuk Hko en~HkDrks e|kth eke ueLdq# A ekeSoS";fl lR;a rs izfrtkus fiz;ksùfl es AA loZ /kekZUifjR;T; ekesda 'kj.k ozt A vga Rok loZikisH;ks eks{kf;";kfe ek 'kqp% 25 AA

"Become My minded, devoted to Me, to Me do sacrifice and adoration; infallibly, thou shalt come to Me, for dear to Me art thou. Abandoning all laws of conduct seek refuge in Me alone. I will release thee from all sin; do not grieve.”26 The second element of Avataric work is companionship, the Sangha of Buddhism, the Bhaktas, the community of followers, Arjunas. Here the Sangha is the whole humanity. Lord is addressing this Dharma to the whole mankind, the Arjuna of collective humanity. The third element is the Avatar himself, here in the Gita who is Sri Krishna, the embodiment of the supreme Lord, Purushottama, Brahman, Sachchidananda, the Eternal, the Infinite or the unknowable That of the Upanishads, who has promised to come down in the times of crises in human progress of evolution from age to age, sambhavami yuge - yuge.

24. Essays on the Gita CWSA 19: 37-38 25. Gita XVIII pp. 65-66 26. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p. XXII 69

Chapter 3

The Avatar of the Gita

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Among all the ten recognized and accepted Avatars, we find only the Avatar of the Gita divulging the secret of his Avatarhood, but albeit in the battlefield, in total secrecy in a personal and private conversation with Arjuna. It was perhaps because of very critical situation that the Avatar was obliged to speak out the secret of secrets, that is, his being the embodiment of the Supreme Godhead. Arjuna was a close friend of the Avatar and also a close relation of his. But he was not aware of Krishna's divine birth. This is a great secret in fact and no Avatar reveals his divinity even to his close friends and kins. He comes down on earth incognito in a human birth and puts on the ignorant human nature, so that he can live like a normal man, takes upon himself the difficulties and problems and pains and sufferings like any common man and presents the solution to the riddle of life by his personal example, so that the humanity through the example before it can rise to the status of the Avatar. If Avatars disclose their identity, their lila will be spoiled, for, humanity will tend to think that only Avatars could achieve difficult things because of their being Divine and it will not strive to rise above humanity, whereas the Divine comes as man to lead him to his own height. Dasharath did not know that his son Rama was an Avatar of Vishnu, the Supreme Godhead. But Vasishtha and 1. Gita IV-6 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 70

Vishwamitra had fully known not only of his Avatarhood, but also the mission for which he had to come down. Seers and sages always had the knowledge of the divine plan by their inner vision. If Sri Krishna were not to disclose his divine identity and give his secret and supreme knowledge of the Existence, its purpose, its goal and how to attain it, Arjuna would have not fought the battle, and subsequently the scenario would have been totally different. The purpose of the Avatarhood would have been vain and the Asuric Forces represented by Kauravas would have had clean sweep in the battle. It is in this circumstance that the Divine Avatar was obliged to reveal his secret to Arjuna in order to persuade him to fight, for, he was the chosen instrument for the mission of the Avatar and also a Vibhuti, the eternal comrade of Purushottama, Nara-Narayana. He had a mission to fulfil and so it had to be done. When we look at the chain of ten successive Avatars more deeply, we find that they represent the natural and gradual steps of evolution of consciousness in Nature. Before Sri Krishna appears on the scene, humanity had already learnt the lesson of ideals in the mind, the ideals of sattvic mental culture had settled in the consciousness of the masses, the earth nature had accepted it, the primitive mind had been touched by the Light. But the heart, the lower region, the region of vitality and kinetic energy was still crude, full of darkness. We can say, mental faculty had tasted the nectar of the divine Light and the Intelligence begun to understand the meaning of life more clearly but the general conduct was on decline, for the pattern of behaviour, conduct and character is always decided by the 71 The Avatar of the Gita dictates of the vital, the faculty of the force, the life impulse – hatred and jealousy, passion and desire inspite of disapproval of the thinking ideal mind; it rather makes the mind its accomplice in its decision and action. Thousands of years had elapsed since the descent of Ram Avatar. It was the time for the Light to come down in the dark region of life and heart which must be enlightened and uplifted. The Divine must come down to pull the evolution up. It was the time for the next and new Avatar to bring down new elements in the manifestation towards its perfection.Asuric Forces were already gathering around to halt the car of juggernaut of evolution. A massive concentration of darkness opposing the Light was then at Mathura. The Divine decided to burst up like a blaze of light right in its citadel.

Human Birth of the Lord The unborn Lord took the human birth as Sri Krishna in the darkest hour of the midnight of Ashtami tithi of the dark half of Bhadrapad symbolising the sovereignty of Falsehood at its pinnacle. Sri Krishna not only demolished all the fortifications of Kansa, the titan king of Mathura by killing him, but also added a new element in the manifestation – Bhakti, love and adoration to the Lord, divine emotion which was missing as a natural trait in the nature of humanity. Sri Krishna was not only the embodiment of Divine Knowledge and Power but also the idol of divine beauty and charm, divine ananda and joy, and divine love and adoration. There was such a magic spell in his divine beauty that whosoever, men or women, young or old, human or Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 72 animal, saw him was captivated and fell in love with him. His sweet nature and innocent traits further enslaved everyone to him. His divine power and protective strength compelled all around to surrender their heart and head and all what they had and what they were. And above all this, the divine music of his flute — who could escape from the intoxication of the spell of divine love and ananda it produced ! Brindavan lost its everything but gained its soul. And thus Bhakti was born in the human heart and nature, which was the prelude to the Yoga of the Gita, the triune path, which again, was a new landmark in the march of human evolution, as Sri Krishna would reveal later to Arjuna in the battle-field of Kurukshetra.

Birth of Love and Bhakti The Bal-lila of Sri Krishna in Brindavan created a new wave of Indian religious tradition, rather hewed a new cult, a new devotional religion, a new path to the Divine which was easier and shortcut, for there was earlier only meditation, arduous tapasya and puja and sacrifice to know and realise the truth of God. It was a great milestone in the course of evolution of the consciousness of humanity. It may be noted that Bhakti was introduced to humanity through the simple-hearted gopis and gopas of Brindavan whose hearts were pure and transparent. As we grow in our mind and intelligence, our heart gets veiled by ignorance due to our divisive ego-sense and we become incapable to feel and see the divinity in things and beings. But since Bhakti was already injected in the earth-nature, thousands of years before, we can now see it today efflorescing even in the spiritual deserts of the West in the form of Krishna 73 The Avatar of the Gita

Consciousness Movement. Love is the lever to raise up the soul from the animality or half animal-half man stage. It is the love which not only lifts us up from the lower level but also widens us in the larger orbit. "Love is the greatest gravitational power, bridges the gulf between Matter and Consciousness, heals the dimensional divides between the physical, cellular and psychological and in that healing transforms the deterministic and fatalistic nature of egoistic man." 2 Love binds and also liberates. Love is the ultimate Unity. “Love is a passion”, says Sri Aurobindo, "and it seeks for two things, eternity and intensity, and in the relation of the Lover and Beloved the seeking for eternity and for intensity is instictive and self-born. Love is a seeking for mutual possession, and it is here that the demand for mutual possession becomes absolute. Passing beyond desire of possession which means a difference, it is a seeking for oneness, and it is here that the idea of oneness, of two souls merging into each other and becoming one finds the acme of its longing and the utterness of its satisfaction. Love, too, is a yearning for beauty, and it is here that the yearning is eternally satisfied in the vision and the touch and the joy of the All-beautiful. Love is a child and a seeker of Delight, and it is here that it finds the highest possible ecstasy both of the heart-consciousness and of every fibre of the being. Moreover, this relation is that which as between human being and human being, demands the most and, even while reaching the greatest intensities, is still the least satisfied, because only in the Divine can it find its real and its utter satisfaction. Therefore it is here most that the turning of human emotion Godwards finds its full meaning and

2. An Evolutionary Agenda for the third millennium p.68 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 74 discovers all the truth of which love is the human symbol, all its essential instincts divinised, raised, satisfied in the bliss from which our life was born and towards which by oneness it returns in the Ananda of the divine existence where love is absolute, eternal and unalloyed.”3 This was the first Avataric work of Sri Krishna that he did while he was still a child as a darling friend of gopis and gopas and all others young or old in Vraja, in his foster mother's house, playing pranks, wandering with his wonderous magic flute in his hand, through fields, groves and plains charming the hearts of all. When he played his flute, gopas forgot to tend their kine, gopis left their chores, cattle stopped grazing, suckling calves left sucking milk, birds no longer sang their own notes and even the ripples of the river calmed down to listen to his music; such was the spell of the magic of his flute. This was the Love, a new Dharma, a new law for which he had descended, dharma samsthâpanarthâya, and along with this he kept doing away with all the host of evil-incarnates, Vinâshâya cha dushkritam, sent by their Titan King Kansa to thwart the divine work. This divine love reached its acme when Krishna did Raslila with the gopis, wherein each gopi found her own Krishna, partaking of dance with her. This is the history no doubt yet it is an allegory of a spiritual truth. Gopis are the pure souls and Raslila is nothing but the festivity and delight of the union of the human soul with the Supreme Divine soul which is the goal of the birth of the human soul. It is also said that rishis of yore who had attained impersonal union with the Immutable but known not the joy of union with the personal God were born as gopis of 3. Synthesis of Yoga CWSA 24: 569-570 75 The Avatar of the Gita

Brindavan to experience the delight and bliss of union with the Supreme Divine person. The Divine is infinite and has infinite ways to express himself. It is a great mystery and unsolvable maze for the mind and its reasoning. The Divine can be known and experienced only by identity, by becoming Divine, becoming Tat, Tadrupa or by Sâdrishya or Sâyujya and not by mental analysis and reasoning. The path of love or the path of emotional relationship, the self-giving to the Divine is not found only in Indian religion. Every religion has its esoteric or inner spiritual discipline. When the call of the Lord comes, the awakened human soul must leave all human relations to unite with the Lord. “He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; or he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ... And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake, shall receive a hundred-fold and shall inherit everlasting life”, says Jesus of Nazarath.4 So also we find Sufi mystics of Islam faith although having deviated from the mainstream, follow the path of lover and beloved relationship with their Allah, for, the passionate seeker of God whose soul is pure, ripe and ready, finds this path more as a shortcut because of its intensity than the normal exoteric path of external rituals. The path of love and bhakti has no fixed external rituals except the burning passion of the heart to meet the Divine lover. Having played the first act of his Avataric Lila and sown the seed of love and devotion and adoration to the Divine in the fecund soil of Vraja, Divine Krishna still in his teens moved to Mathura where he played the second act of his

4. Matt. 10.37 & 19.29 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 76 divine drama, along with Balaram, where we do find him not only as a mighty warrior but also the idol of a model statecraft. He did away with Kansa and founded the Kingdom of truth and righteousness, re-enthroning the noble king Ugrasen, the father of Kansa under his care and protection. To avenge the death of his son-in-law Jarasandh attacked Mathura not once but seventeen times and was each time repelled. When he attacked for the eighteenth time Sri Krishna left Mathura and shifted to Dwaraka thus ensuring the safety of thousands of the innocent lives on both sides who were otherwise being killed everytime in the fight just for the egoistic satisfaction of the Asura. After the home was set right at Mathura, the Avatar's gaze turned to the greater focal point where the great divine battle, devâsur sangrâm between the devas and asuras was to be waged on human ground and its war clouds were already beginning to hover on the sky of Hastinapur empire, where, on one side were Pandavas, human representatives of Gods, the Truth, the Dharma, the good and the righteousness, Divine values and virtues and, on the other were Kauravas, incarnations of evils and falsehood and unrighteousness who were bent upon eradicating all purity and goodness, all truth and right from the land. There we can see how the Avatar plays a model statesman and shows a high standard of political acumen within the human parameters, guarding always the Pandavas against the cunning intrigues of the evil-minded Kauravas and leading all of them towards the great finale, the consummation, the epoch-making message of the Gita, which will serve as the only Mantra of release and liberation later in Kaliyuga, the last phase of the cycle which will follow thereafter. 77 The Avatar of the Gita

Why will it be the only Mantra, because, first, this contains the quintessence of all previous scriptures including Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas summed up by the Lord himself and secondly the men of Kaliyuga will lack the capacity, force and tejas to restore and follow the lost ancient Knowledge and Shastras. It was not that he was waiting for the crucial hour of the battle to give his message. He tried to mediate between the opposing forces and did his best and demanded even the minimum as the emissary of treaty on behalf of the Pandavas, but the sons of Darkness were too blind and heedless to the Divine's words. At last approached the fateful hour of the appointed event which will declare the end of one epoch and the dawn of the next and the last in the cycle. It was the divine war against the undivine forces led by the Divine himself, for, it was he who held the reins of the war in his own hands as the charioteer of Arjuna. Sri Krishna was openly on the side of Pandavas, yet Duryodhana had the audacity to approach Sri Krishna to help his side : Sri Krishna did not disappoint him and offered his entire army to him. Indeed, even the enemies of the Divine are instruments of his work. But he himself will side with Arjuna although he will not participate in the battle — this was his promise. If he were to participate, who could have faced the Divine? Were not all already dead and passed into the mouth of Death as shown later to Arjuna in his Supreme divine form, the Viswa rupa of his Supreme Cosmic Being?

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As the many torrents of rivers race towards the ocean, so are these heroes of the world of men entering into Thy many mouths of flame. As the moths enter into the kindled flame with increasing speed to perish, so are these people entering with increasing speed into thy mouths to perish. Arjuna was confident that his victory was assured for yatah Krishnah tatah vijayah. But lo! As the moment Arjuna saw Bhishma and Drona on the enemy side whom he was supposed to kill for gaining victory and kingdom, he became nervous and emotional. Must he kill his god-like revered pitamah and his guru? His conscience, his judicious inner being refused to undertake the terrible and monstrous and cruel and inhuman task of killing his reverend elders and his own kins just for material gain and comfort. He decided not to participate in the battle and forgo his right to the kingdom.

The Message of the Gita Sri Krishna, the human Divine seized upon this opportunity to give the world through Arjuna the immortal message of the Gita, a new path of life, a new way of integral living, a confluence of three currents, Love and Karma and Knowledge, never before revealed or taught or practised. In the name of Karma as kartavyam was the Vedic rite, the sacrifice, ritual offering to the gods through Agni. All other Karmas were bondage. To the path of Knowledge Karma was an obstruction, a bondage, hence rejected and

5. Gita XI -28-29 79 The Avatar of the Gita renounced. Love, Beauty, Charm, Adoration, Self-giving as a divine path were out of decency and decorum, outside the boundaries of maryâda, propriety of conduct. So Bhakti was nowhere, for Bhakti based its stand only on love and beauty. But it was in the air, it had just been freshly brought down to the earth of Vraja in the hearts of gopis of Brindavan, in the hearts of Radha and Rukmini and Satyabhama and other spouses of the Divine. Puja was there, archana and prayers were there in our religious and spiritual traditions, but Love and Beauty and Self-giving, Surrender to the lover was yet foreign to the hitherto established spiritual moulds. The new Avatar always gives a new mould to humanity, since evolution keeps marching ahead and old moulds become obsolete, unable to contain new elements needed to evolve further. The mould of ideals set by Rama was no longer considered the highest ideal for the next evolutionary step. Rama was advised to go for another marriage after Sita was exiled as required for the completion of Ashwamedha Yajna, but he refused as it was against the ideal of the time. But Sri Krishna, the same Divine Being gave another mould which could accommodate a larger principle, a diviner element and a more sublime truth of Love which pushed the evolution nearer to the divine goal. Man has been given head and intelligence to enjoy the Divine knowledge through its instrumentality, heart and feeling to taste the Divine Bliss through love and beauty. This was the last Avataric work that Krishna had to do at this hour, for which he left his infinity and eternity and consented to descend in the finite form and time, so that the human soul could ascend his height and reach nearer Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 80 to the Divine perfection in all parts of his being — mind, heart, life and body and become one with the Supreme in all his movements — thinking, feeling, willing and acting. This goal of Supreme Liberation was set to be presented to the humanity through Arjuna, the human representative of the Divine, Nara-Narayana by the Avatar of the Gita, which demands total surrender of all the parts of the being to the Supreme — ‘Let nothing of myself be left behind in our union mystic and unutterable’. Gita is a gospel of practical life. Life is to be faced by all of us whether we face it with pleasure or with pain, with a smile or with tears, but face we must. But better to master it, be the master of life and not its slave. Nor should we shirk or escape from it. Gita teaches us to become the master of life, the lord of life. Therefore when Arjuna refuses to fight and kill his revered elders like Bhishma Pitamah and Dronacharya and other close relations just for the sake of his enjoyment, Krishna persuades Arjuna to fight on many grounds. First he suggests a practical solution. Arjuna must fight because it is the dharma, swabhava, nature of the fighting clan to fight at the hour of necessity, to protect the good, the right, the just, to uphold the ideal of the Kshatriya, to uphold the glorious tradition of the Aryan heroes, shirking from which he will fall into blasphemy and inglorious ditch, akirtikaram. Krishna first strives to evoke his heroic spirit and gives him a sharp rebuke :

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Whence has come to thee this dejection, O Arjuna, in this hour 81 The Avatar of the Gita of difficulty and peril ? It is not cherished by Aryan men; it leads neither to heaven nor to glory.6 C±Éè¤ªÉÆ ¨ÉÉ º¨É MÉ¨É: {ÉÉlÉÇ xÉèiÉiÉÂ i´ÉÊªÉ ={É{ÉtiÉä * IÉÖpÆù ¾þnùªÉnùÉè¤ÉÇ±ªÉÆ iªÉCi´ÉÉ =ÊkÉ¹`ö {É®ÆúiÉ{É **

Yield not to impotence, O Partha; it is not worthy of thee. Shake off this paltry faint heartedness and arise O Parantapa.7 But Arjuna is not like the pure and simple hearted gopis and gopas that he will immediately accept Krishna’s words. He is a prince with a sharp and intelligent mind well- educated and well brought-up in an ideal and rich Aryan tradition and culture. He has already had some preconceived notions and concepts of things. He knows the significance of respect and honour given to elders and gurus. But this is the truth of the old mould. There is a higher truth and higher value which transcends and breaks all the past moulds and values. In the march of evolution we always have to pass over the old things and go ahead and meet new ones. That is progress. Arjuna is not easily convinced. He questions like a rational man. How can he kill his own clan and kinsmen for his selfish motive? His heart revolts, although in his mind he knows it will be cowardice to run from the battle. He has knowledge of so many things. He thinks something else and feels something else. He is bewildered and unable to decide for himself what exactly he must do. So he asks Krishna to guide and enlighten him : Ê¶É¹ªÉºiÉä%½Æþ ¶ÉÉÊvÉ ¨ÉÉÆ i´ÉÉÆ |É{ÉzÉ¨ÉÂ “ I am thy disciple and seek refuge in thee; enlighten me.” Then Krishna takes another stand, a more subtle, appealing to his intelligence and philosophical and sensitive mind. He says, an

6. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p.17 7. Ibid : 17 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 82 enlightened one does not mourn either for the living or for the dead, for it is the body which is dead, the soul is not killed and remains the same and is born again and again in a new body. The soul can neither be slain, nor burnt, nor drowned nor evaporated. It is eternal and all pervading- nitya, sarvagatah, sanâtanah.8 xÉèxÉÆ ÊUôxnùÎxiÉ ¶ÉºjÉÉÊhÉ xÉèxÉÆ nù½þÊiÉ {ÉÉ´ÉEò: * xÉ SÉèxÉÆ C±ÉänùªÉxiªÉÉ{ÉÉä xÉ ¶ÉÉä¹ÉªÉÊiÉ ¨ÉÉ¯ûiÉ: ** 9

Having answered thus to Arjuna’s fear and sin of killing his own kinsmen for his own enjoyments — º´ÉVÉxÉÆ Ê½þ EòlÉÆ ½þi´ÉÉ ºÉÖÊJÉxÉ: ºªÉÉ¨É ¨ÉÉvÉ´É — Krishna comes back to his old plea again, telling him to fight for right as a dharma of the Kshatriya, for if he does not follow his dharma, the law of his swabhava, then he will be commiting sin of negligence of his natural duty. And if he fights as his duty — Kartavyam Karma — he does not lose anything. Even if he is killed in the battle he will get not only glorious death but enjoy the heaven there; and if he is victorious, he will enjoy the earth here; in either case he is not a loser. But Arjuna’s grief and sorrow, his melancholy and dejection is soul-deep. It is not merely emotional and mental sorrow. It is much deeper and demands a deeper solution. He is not a coward and weak. He is the greatest hero of his time as also possesses an enlightened mind. He is not a man to be moved so easily. He also has a sensitive and loving heart. He represents the highest character and nobility of the Aryan race which is known for might and courage and fearlessness, but also for compassion, love and tenderness. He was really touched to his deepest core for

8. Ibid p.27 9. Gita II - 23 83 The Avatar of the Gita the first time by imagining the horror of war and its slaughter and massacre — a devil’s drama of heartless act. The Divine knows it and he is himself not satisfied with the solution he has given so far. Even if Arjuna is satisfied at the moment and he fights with a stoic feeling of mental equality, and later in the middle of the formidable fight when he faces still harder realities of battle, crying and moaning of wounded and dying people, dead bodies and limbs of his dear and near ones besmeared with blood all around, his heart would shrink again and sink in deeper depression and that will be the worst condition. The Divine therefore wanted to give a perfect solution to the problem and that would be not less than the highest, the most perfect, the spiritual solution. Arjuna must fight with the highest knowledge of his self and the self of all, he must know the complete truth of his being and the beings of the universe. He must know not only the secret of life and death in the manifest world, but the secret of immortal and eternal life of the unmanifest too. He must come up to his divine level. He must not fight as the ego, but as the free soul — above the ego and his lower nature as the instrument of God, nothing less than this. That is why he begins to initiate him in the spiritual solution; the Divine soul gives the divine answer to the human soul Arjuna’s problem, which makes the whole of Gita’s gospel.

Nishkama Karma Arjuna is told that while fighting if he can rise above the feeling of grief and happiness, loss and gain, winning and losing the war, he would not incur sin. This is also Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 84 rising above the desire of fruits of action. One can be engaged in action, action of duty, yet it can be done without desiring for its fruits Nishkâma Karma. Eò¨ÉÇhªÉä´ÉÉÊvÉEòÉ®úºiÉä ¨ÉÉ ¡ò±Éä¹ÉÖ EònùÉSÉxÉ ¨ÉÉ Eò¨ÉÇ¡ò±É½äþiÉÖ¦ÉÚÇ¨ÉÉÇ iÉä ºÉÆMÉÉä%ºi´ÉEò¨ÉÇÊhÉ 10

Going still deeper, the Divine teacher reveals that the soul- the dweller in the body — the true self is simply witness, not the doer; action is done by the three modes of Nature - the maya of Trigunamayee Prakriti - sattva, rajas and tamas. Having thus abandoned the fruit of the action and even freed from the sense of oneself as the doer of work, one should indulge in works in a state of union or Yoga with the supreme Self, which ultimately makes us equal in failure and success; for the Supreme Power is equal to all things and by virtue of his equanimity it can act with an absolute wisdom according to the truth of each thing and of every creature. ªÉÉäMÉºlÉ EÖò¯û Eò¨ÉÉÇÊhÉ ºÉÆMÉÆ iªÉCi´ÉÉ vÉxÉÆVÉªÉ * ÊºÉrùªÉÊºÉrÂùªÉÉä: ºÉ¨ÉÉä ¦ÉÚi´ÉÉ ºÉ¨Éi´ÉÆ ªÉÉäMÉ =SªÉiÉä ** 11 This is how the sages whose intelligence is united with the Divine by doing nishkâma karma - renouncing the fruit of action are liberated from the bondage of birth and attain to peace of Brâhmi Sthiti, the great immersion of their souls into the infinite Existence. Such great self-mastering sages live in conscious and awakened state while all creatures remain unconscious in the night of ignorance. And the

10. Gita II - 47 11. Ibid II - 48 85 The Avatar of the Gita ignorance in which all creatures are awake is darkness to the sages who see. ªÉÉ ÊxÉ¶ÉÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ¦ÉÚiÉÉxÉÉÆ iÉºªÉÉÆ VÉÉMÉÌiÉ ºÉÆªÉ¨ÉÒ * ªÉºªÉÉÆ VÉÉOÉÊiÉ ¦ÉÚiÉÉÊxÉ ºÉÉ ÊxÉ¶ÉÉ {É¶ªÉiÉÉä ¨ÉÖxÉä: ** 12 Now the Divine is giving a very deeper reason for Arjuna to fight; the Yoga of works is here substantiated by the Yoga of knowledge and intelligence. Sri Krishna goes on explaining to Arjuna the importance of works in the Yoga, although one could attain to the Highest status by the Yoga of Intelligence alone. But works are very essential in the journey of life and body which cannot be effected without action. More over action is not done by the true self but by the Nature. The true self is only the witness and neutral, sâkshi and anumantâ; having attained to that status the self or the soul is not involved in the action of the Nature and becomes free from the sense of doing of the action and thus free from the desire, nishkâma even while doing action and enjoys the highest spiritual delight. It is not the works or action that one should abstain from, but from the attachment to the works and fruits of the works. If the works are offered to the Lord and if you do works without being involved in them and affected by them watching over the entire action as if done by the modes of Nature, then you cease to be the doer and subsequently you attain to the condition of actionlessness - Naishkarmya - which is the true meaning of being actionless. You enjoy the same peace and poise and serenity as that of a Jnani and yet you do not run away from the action. And Sri

12. Gita II - 69 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 86

Krishna, emphasising the significance of action in life, says that none can remain even for a moment without doing work, for everyone is helplessly forced to do action by the three qualities of Nature, because even the maintenance of the physical life cannot be effected without action.

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Sri Aurobindo beautifully explains the Lord’s stand of the attitude in works in the light of knowledge : “For knowledge does not mean renunciation of works, it means equality and non-attachment to desire and the objects of sense; and it means the poise of the intelligent will in the Soul free and high-uplifted above the lower instrumentation of Prakriti and controlling the works of the mind and the senses and body in the power of self-knowledge and the pure objectless self-delight of spiritual realisation... Buddhiyoga is fulfilled by Karma Yoga; the Yoga of the self- liberating intelligent will finds its full meaning by the Yoga of desireless works. Thus the Gita founds its teaching of the necessity of desireless works, nishkâma karma, and unites the subjective practice of the Sankhyas — rejecting their merely physical rule — with the practice of Yoga.” 14 Lord goes on convincing Arjuna to do his duty which however demoniac it may appear on the surface, giving many pleas. Arjuna is a hero and leader of his time. It is

13. Gita III - 5,8 14. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, pp. 65-66 87 The Avatar of the Gita his duty to act in a manner that peoples are held together and also are high standards of action maintained, for the peoples always follow their leaders. By giving his own example the Lord says that being the Supreme Lord of all the three worlds he is not to gain anything, yet he is always engaged in action. For if he does not work people will follow him and sink into inertia and death for which he will be responsible. xÉ ¨Éä {ÉÉlÉÉÇÎºiÉ EòiÉÇ´ªÉÆ ÊjÉ¹ÉÖ ±ÉÉäEäò¹ÉÖ ËEòSÉxÉ * xÉÉxÉ´ÉÉ{iÉ¨É´ÉÉ{iÉ´ªÉÆ ´ÉiÉÇ B´É SÉ Eò¨ÉÇÊhÉ **15

Then one should not act under the pressure of impulse of senses and desire, for the desire is the root of all sorrow and suffering. We must put an end to the cause of desire and follow the will of the soul which is the real motive power of the life. “But the real motive power of the life of the soul is will; desire is only a deformation of will in the dominant bodily life and physical mind. The essential turn of the soul to possession and enjoyment of the world consists in a will to delight, and the enjoyment of the satisfaction of craving is only a vital and physical degradation of the will to delight. It is essential that we should distinguish between pure will and desire, between the inner will to delight and the outer lust and craving of the mind and body,” explains Sri Aurobindo.16 Now the Lord openly declares that He is the Lord of all existences and he has come down as an Avatar in the human birth and the eternal knowledge which was being given to Arjuna by him now, had been handed over to the Sun-God, Vivasvan and from Him to Manu, the progenitor 15. Gita III - 22 16. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p.91 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 88 of men and so on and so forth, but it was lost to the world in the great gap of Time. It has been revived again for Arjuna by the embodied Divine. He also discloses the purpose and the work for which he descended on to the earth, which we have already covered in detail in the previous chapter. The Lord time and again emphasises the need to act desirelessly without attachment to work and its fruit as a sacrifice to the Supreme Lord Purushottama who is the Lord of Nature and the Lord of all existences, above both Kshara and Akshara Purushas. He also gives a new and broad, vast and comprehensive, all embracing definition of sacrifice, the vedic Yajna saying that there can be many forms of sacrifice or self-giving. Some can offer as sacrifice their material possessions, some their self-discipline, some their yoga and some their study and knowledge. “This world is not for him who doeth not sacrifice, how then any other world, O Best of the Kurus ?” 17

xÉÉªÉÆ ±ÉÉäEòÉä%ºiªÉªÉYÉºªÉ EÖòiÉÉä%xªÉ: EÖò¯ûºÉkÉ¨É *18

Not only that, the entire process of Yajna or sacrifice is nothing less than for the Divine or Brahman himself.

¥ÉÀÉ{ÉÇhÉÆ ¥ÉÀ ½þÊ´É¥ÉÇÀÉMxÉÉè ¥ÉÀhÉÉ ½ÖþiÉ¨ÉÂ ¥ÉÀè´É iÉäxÉ MÉxiÉ´ªÉÆ ¥ÉÀEò¨ÉÇºÉ¨ÉÉÊvÉxÉÉ 19

The action of giving Arpanam is Brahman. Havi - what is offered is Brahman, one who offers is Brahman and the

17. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p.131 18. Gita IV-31 19. Gita IV-24 89 The Avatar of the Gita fire into which it is offered is Brahman. And whatever is to be attained by Samadhi is also the Brahman - action. “The universal energy into which the action is poured is the Divine; the consecrated energy of the giving is the Divine; whatever is offered is only some form of the Divine; the giver of the offering is the Divine himself in man; the action, the work, the sacrifice is itself the Divine in movement, in activity; the goal to be reached by sacrifice is the Divine. For the man who has this knowledge and lives and acts in it, there can be no binding works, no personal and egoistically appropriated action; there is only the divine Purusha acting by the divine Prakriti in His own being, offering everything into the fire of His self-conscious cosmic energy, while the knowledge and the possession of His divine existence and consciousness by the soul unified with Him is the goal of all this God-directed movement and activity. To know that and to live and act in this unifying consciousness is to be free.” 20 And above all, Arjuna is warned, one must not have doubts, which must be cut asunder by knowledge because the soul of doubts is bound to be ruined - Sanshayâtmâ Vinashyati. This is how the Lord first tried to inspire Arjuna to fulfil his God-ordained duty by initiating him in the disciplines of Equality, Renunciation of all desire and its fruits, action done as a sacrifice to the Supreme Lord of our nature and of all nature and lastly in Faith - which was a kind of new reconciliation of Sankhya, the yoga of knowledge and Karmayoga, the yoga of works which to the ordinary mind looked different but in reality they were one. 20. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, pp 128-129 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 90

ºÉÉÆJªÉªÉÉäMÉÉè {ÉÞlÉM¤ÉÉ±ÉÉ: |É´ÉnùÎxiÉ xÉ {ÉÎhb÷iÉÉ: * BEò¨É{ªÉÉÎºlÉiÉ: ºÉ¨ªÉMÉÖ¦ÉªÉÉäÌ´ÉxnùiÉä ¡ò±É¨ÉÂ **

Children speak of Sankhya and Yoga as different, not the wise; if a man applies himself integrally to one, he gets the fruit of both. 21 Here it should be noted that traditionally two separate rather opposing disciplines are integrated together and by this integration both get fulfilled in each other. This was a new and unique approach given to Arjuna and this was done by the Lord and Master of the yoga and the Master of the creation itself. This is the uniqueness and the originality of the Gita. The yoga of the Gita is gradually moving to a greater synthesis in which towards the end another great discipline is going to merge; that we shall see later. Further, while the Lord continues his discourse, he enlarges the scope of the word Nirvana. Traditionally it meant extinction of the soul in the Brahman, which is timeless and immanent in the external universe and Absolute but silent and actionless. But this Nirvana is not compatible with action in the world. His later statement makes it clear that the Nirvana that he means is to have the self-knowledge and self-mastery delivered from desire and wrath and to live in Brahman. And still it is more clear when he says that he, who knows me i.e. Purushottama as the Enjoyer of sacrifice and Tapasya, the mighty Lord of all the worlds, the friend of all creatures, attains to the peace of Nirvana.

21. Ibid p.139 91 The Avatar of the Gita

¦ÉÉäHòÉ®ÆúªÉYÉ iÉ{ÉºÉÉÆ ºÉ´ÉÇ±ÉÉäEò¨É½äþ·É®ú¨ÉÂ * ºÉÖ¾nÆù ºÉ´ÉÇ¦ÉÚiÉÉxÉÉÆ YÉÉi´ÉÉ ¨ÉÉÆ ¶ÉÉÎxiÉ¨ÉÞSUôÊiÉ ** 22

“This Nirvana is clearly compatible with world consciousness and with action in the world. For the sages who possess it are conscious of and in intimate relation by works with the Divine in the mutable universe; they are occupied with the good of all creatures, Sarvabhutahite... This action in the world is not inconsistent with living in Brahman, it is rather its inevitable condition and outward result, because the Brahman in whom we find Nirvana, the spiritual consciousness in which we lose the separative ego-consciousness, is not only within us but within all these existences, exists not only above and apart from all these universal happenings, but pervades them, contains them and is extended in them.”23 But it is not all that easy to have instant self-knowledge, desirelessness, feeling of impersonality and bliss, freedom from the modes of Nature. Mind is so restless; so are the impulses of the vital nature. The Lord knows it. That is why he immediately brings in another system of yoga without naming it as a means of controlling the movements of the restless mind by prânayâma which, if practised seriously, can produce very quick results. He says: "Holding the body, head and neck erect, motionless, the vision drawn in and fixed between the eye-brows, not regarding the regions, the mind kept calm and free from fear and the vow of Brahamcharya observed, the whole controlled 22. Gita V - 29 23. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, pp 154-155 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 92 mentality turned to Me, he must sit firm in Yoga, wholly given up to Me. Thus always putting himself in yoga by control of his mind the yogin attains to the supreme peace of Nirvana which has its foundation in Me." 24 To know the Divine and live in the Divine and to attain to Union with the Divine is not possible unless mind, which is restless by nature, is withdrawn into tranquillity and fixed in the Self. The Divine Teacher time and again comes back to his previous points and keeps reminding Arjuna that it is necessary to be equal and undisturbed and quiet under all circumstances and do the works as offering or sacrifice to the Lord of existences without any personal desire for its fruits. Only such a divine worker is worthy of Nirvana or attains to the status of Brahman. The Divine Teacher wants to give his disciple in brief the entire knowledge of the Supreme and His manifestation — the essential knowledge, Jnanam and the comprehensive knowledge, Vijnanam by knowing which nothing is left to be known. He has already told him about the working of the divided and phenomenal Nature, trigunamayee maya. Now he says that there is a Supreme Divine Nature, Para Prakriti which upholds the phenomenal world and becomes the jiva, the individual soul in the world, that is his own aspect, his own infinite consciousness, that is why he says that he is the cause of the birth and the dissolution of the world and there is nothing else Supreme beyond him. His infinite consciousness - his Para Prakriti ‘manifests also as the essence of all quality’ of phenomenal Nature. 24. Ibid p.163 93 The Avatar of the Gita

He is taste in the Waters, and the light of Sun and Moon, Pranava in the Vedas, sound in ether and manhood in men. He is not only the essence of the entire phenomenal existence, but also the eternal seed of all existences created by the lower Nature.

¤ÉÒVÉÆ ¨ÉÉÆ ºÉ´ÉÇ¦ÉÚiÉÉxÉÉÆ Ê´ÉÊrù {ÉÉlÉÇ ºÉxÉÉiÉxÉ¨ÉÂ *25

Three Gunas “The lower nature of the three Gunas which creates so false a view of things and imparts to them an inferior character is a Maya, a power of illusion, by which it is not meant that it is all non-existent or deals with unrealities, but that it bewilders our knowledge, creates false values, envelops us in ego, mentality, sense, physicality, limited intelligence and there conceals from us the supreme truth of our existence. This illusive Maya hides from us the Divine that we are, the infinite and imperishable spirit... If we could see that, that Divine is the real truth of our existence, all else also would change to our vision, assume its character and our life and action acquire the divine values and move in the law of the divine nature.”26 Then how to get rid of the shackles of the lower nature? Sri Aurobindo again gives the clue : “The degraded powers and values of the inferior Prakriti derive from the absolute powers and values of the supreme Shakti and must go back to them to find their own source and truth and the essential law of their operation and movement. So too the soul or jiva involved here in the

25. Gita VII - 10 26. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p.193 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 94 shackled, poor and inferior play of the phenomenal qualities, if he would escape from it and be divine and perfect, must by resort to the pure action of his essential quality of Swabhava go back to that higher law of his own being in which he can discover the will, the power, dynamic principle, the highest working of his divine nature.27 We have seen till now how Arjuna, the chosen divine instrument and Vibhuti, is being led towards the perfect perfection for which only knowledge of self and his manifestation, equality, detachment from desire and its fruits, knowledge of the phenomenal and the Supreme Nature are not enough. He has understood the truth of works along with knowledge, the truth of action with spiritual reality; now he knows only in outlines immobile silence of the Immutable along with the secret of the eternal play of the pragmatic energy of Nature. But now something more is demanded of him by the Lord, without which knowledge and works are incomplete. The intelligence, the tool of knowledge may be subjected by dullness and drudgery and the body, the tool of the works may go mechanical if they are not supported by the lubricant of love and devotion or bhakti, because it is this sacrifice of love which gives the invincible force and passion to the knowledge and action. That is why the Lord wants him to offer all — knowledge and works and love and adoration to him who is the Lord of the existence, the supreme Being, Purushottama, who is even above the Immutable and says that among all his bhaktas or lovers - distressed ones (Arta), world seekers (Arthârthi), seekers of knowledge (Jijnâsu) 27. Ibid p. 188 95 The Avatar of the Gita and knowers (Jnâni), the last one — the knowers are dearest to him. Love, indeed, an all embracing devotion to the Divine and surrender to him gives a sure base, an absolute foundation to the knowledge and action and make them perfect and integral. Therefore the Lord, introducing love and bhakti just in passing, says to Arjuna : “At all times remember Me and fight;... without doubt thou shalt come to Me.”28 Now the Lord unveils the most secret knowledge, the king-knowledge-râjavidyâ, the king secret, râjaguhyam to Arjuna and says that if it is accepted by souls with faith, they return to Him, released from evil and deluded mind, devoid of faith and true consciousness who blinded by their ego become a prey to the Asuric nature and return a fruitless cycle of ordinary mortal living. “The supreme secret, is the mystery of the transcendent Godhead who is all and everywhere, yet so much greater and other than the universe and all its forms that nothing here contains him, nothing expresses him really, and no language which is borrowed from the appearances of things in space and time and their relations can suggest the truth of his unimaginable being. The consequent law of our perfection is an adoration by our whole nature and its self-surrender to its divine source and possessor.”29

¨ÉªÉÉ iÉiÉÊ¨ÉnÆù ºÉ´ÉÈ VÉMÉnù´ªÉHò¨ÉÚÌiÉxÉÉ * ¨ÉiºlÉÉÊxÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ¦ÉÚiÉÉÊxÉ xÉ SÉÉ½Æþ iÉä¹´É´ÉÎºlÉiÉ: **30

28. Ibid p.214 29. Ibid p.225 30. Gita IX-4 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 96

He goes on revealing his infinite divine nature that all existences are situated in the ineffable mystery of His being and His Self is the creater and support of all existences but He is not situated in them. And those who know this secret turn to Him, bow down before Him and ever in yoga they worship Him with adoration.The Lord, by telling about His ineffable glories to His beloved disciple, is not only preparing him to offer his inmost love and adoration to Him but also making him psychologically ready to experience the vision of the supreme mystery - His divine form and body - rupamaishwaram. “The vision of God brings infallibly the adoration and passionate seeking of the Divine — a passion for the Divine in his self-existent being but also for the Divine in ourselves and for the Divine in all that is.... True knowledge is to know with the inner being, and when the inner being is touched by the light, then it arises to embrace that which is seen, it yearns to possess, it struggles to shape that in itself and itself to it, it labours to become one with the glory of its vision.”31 He is Father and Mother and sustainer of this world and the Rik, Sama and Yajur Vedas. He is the path and the goal, the Lord and Witness-consciousness, the abode and the refuge and the friend of all, the origin, the foundation and the dissolution and seed imperishable of all. By taking refuge in Him even unripe souls who never aspired and made any effort for spiritual realisation also attain to the highest goal. Therefore “O Arjuna,” says the Lord, “become My minded, My lover and adorer, a

31. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, pp. 233-234 97 The Avatar of the Gita sacrificer to Me, bow thyself to Me, thus united with Me in the Self thou shalt come unto Me, having Me thy supreme goal.”32 We find that the emphasis is always on love, adoration, bhakti and surrender to the supreme Lord who has incarnated in Krishna, the supreme teacher of Arjuna and the world, who is also seated in the heart of everyone in the world. Arjuna has accepted and understood the knowledge that the divine Teacher imparted to him and he is taking joy in the revelation of that knowledge and his mind and heart seem to be released from the grief and gloom of his perplexity. He wants to hear more and more of the divine glory of the Lord. He has already known that all this phenomenal Nature and the world are the becoming of the sole Being of the Lord. He is equally present in the saint and the sinner, he has understood. But still he wants to hear more of the self-manifestations of his sovereign powers in the world. To satisfy the seeking of Arjuna, the Lord happily goes on enumerating his becomings so that no doubt is left in Arjuna’s mind to baffle him again. The Lord says, he is the Godhead Vishnu among the Adityas, Shiva among the Rudras, Indra among the Gods, Prahlad among the Daityas, Brihaspati among the priests, Skanda among the war-gods, Marichi among the Maruts, so on and so forth . Not only he is manifest as pre-eminent powers in Gods, but also in all things and beings. He is also the Himalaya among the immovables, uchchaishrava among the horses and airawata among the elephants. He is 32. Ibid p.254 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 98 kamadhenu among the cows and Vasuki among serpents, and Ashwattha among the plants and trees. He is even Death and the source of life. In a nutshell he is the beginning, the middle and the end of all things.

¨ÉÞiªÉÖ: ºÉ´ÉÇ½þ®ú¶SÉÉ½þ¨ÉÖnÂù¦É´É¶SÉ ¦ÉÊ´É¹ªÉiÉÉ¨ÉÂ * EòÒÌiÉ: ¸ÉÒ´ÉÉÇCSÉ xÉÉ®úÒhÉÉÆ º¨ÉÞÊiÉ¨ÉævÉÉ vÉÞÊiÉ: IÉ¨ÉÉ **33

The Gita is a Book of complete and comprehensive knowledge of all manifest and unmanifest truth. This single Book of knowledge can deliver the entire humanity from its ignorance and lead to immortality, the eternal life. Now having heard from the Lord the highest spiritual secret of existence that all is He and all the infinite appearance is nothing but the Lord himself in disguise, Arjuna’s doubt and confusion, the cause of his refusal to act, have melted away. And yet this knowledge is not the subjective experience of his soul. The subjective experience is a very significant part of the total knowledge, without which the knowledge cannot be complete. Since the Gita is the Book of Jnana and Vijnana - the complete knowledge, the practical experience must follow the theoretical knowledge. That is why Arjuna is inspired to see and feel in action what he has heard till now. He therefore expresses his desire to see the Lord of all the Nature and universe in action as the True-Spirit and the Godhead in the cosmic form.

33. Gita X - 34 99 The Avatar of the Gita

Vishwarupa The Lord was preparing Arjuna, his chosen instrument, till now for this supreme hour for, he knew that without the subjective experience of the World-Spirit vision Arjuna’s ignorance would not be cleared completely and even an iota of doubt lurking in any part of his being might overturn the situation. And as Arjuna desired, the Lord obliged him to show his universal divine form. Since, Arjuna could not see the divine form with his physical eyes, the Lord blessed him with the eyes divine and said, “Behold, O Partha, my hundreds and thousands of divine forms, various in kind, various in shape and hue.” {É¶ªÉ ¨Éä {ÉÉlÉÇ °ü{ÉÉÊhÉ ¶ÉiÉ¶ÉÉä%lÉ ºÉ½þ»É¶É: * xÉÉxÉÉÊ´ÉvÉÉÊxÉ Ênù´ªÉÉÊxÉ xÉÉxÉÉ´ÉhÉÉÇEÞòiÉÒÊxÉ SÉ **34

And lo ! what Arjuna beheld was unbelievably a huge and tremendous form, without beginning and end, of destruction and fierceness with many mouths of burning fire, blazing forth the light of a thousand suns and devouring all the worlds including all the great warriors and heroes of both sides of the battle which was yet to be fought. Arjuna, overwhelmed by this astounding figure began to tremble and, unable to withstand, prayed to the Lord to assume his graceful divine face. Now Arjuna has experienced within his soul all that the Lord had told him so far about the supreme Divine, the highest Godhead and His workings, His manifestations, the power of His Nature - all the mutable, Immutable and the Purushottama. Arjuna’s heart and soul and all his being is satisfied and convinced that his charioteer is no ordinary human soul, 34. Gita XI - 5 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 100 but the supreme Godhead himself guiding not only his destiny, but the destiny of his whole creation. Arjuna therefore prays to Him offering his salutations to Him from every side : i´É¨ÉÉÊnùnäù´É: {ÉÖ¯û¹É: {ÉÖ®úÉhÉºi´É¨ÉºªÉ Ê´É·ÉºªÉ {É®Æú ÊxÉvÉÉxÉ¨ÉÂ * ´ÉäkÉÉ%ÊºÉ ´ÉätÆ SÉ {É®Æú SÉ vÉÉ¨É i´ÉªÉÉ iÉiÉÆ Ê´É·É¨ÉxÉxiÉ °ü{É **35

Thou art the original Godhead, ancient Soul and the supreme resting place of this world; Thou art the knower and that which is to be known and the highest status; O infinite in form, by Thee was extended the universe. Having shown to Arjuna his cosmic figure, the Blessed Lord resumes his gracious form and returns to his yoga of love and bhakti giving the highest significance to it and says that it is rare and difficult to see this cosmic figure of the Lord; even the gods ever long to have a vision of this Form. No shastra, no tapasya or sacrifice or charity can enable a man to see this Divine form, but only he who loves the Lord, adores the Lord alone in all things, can see and know and become one with the supreme Lord. “For to the soul,” explains Sri Aurobindo, “that wholly gives itself to him, God also gives himself altogether. Only the one who offers his whole nature, finds the Self. Only the one who can give everything, enjoys the Divine All everywhere. Only a supreme self-abandonment attains to the Supreme. Only the sublimation by sacrifice of all that we are, can enable us to embody the Highest and live here in the immanent consciousness of the transcendent Spirit..., the One who is at once our immanent Self, the environing 35. Gita XI - 38 101 The Avatar of the Gita constituent All, the Supreme Reality beyond this or any manifestation and, secretly, all these together, concealed everywhere, the immanent Transcendence.”36 Arjuna now not only loves and adores the supreme Lover but after having known him by his own inner experience as the supreme origin and end of all the manifestation, the Lord of the entire Universe, he has also surrendered to him. He has now become the bhakta of the Lord. But still he knows not the perfect way of bhakti. The Lord has not yet revealed the supreme word of love and surrender to him, which is consummation of the yoga of the Gita. Arjuna’s mind is even now left with some doubts. He has been told in passing about the Immutable Akshara Purusha, who is the Unmanifest, the Ineffable, the Omnipresent, the Immobile, the Intangible, Absolute, eternally silent and impersonal and actionless, who never puts on any form and enters into no relation with the universe, yet he is sought after by the seekers of knowledge. On the other hand he is also always being told to seek the supreme Lord himself, the Purushottama, who is none other than his human friend and lover and his charioteer. Arjuna wants to know who among the seekers of both have the greater knowledge of yoga. The blessed Lord now explains the clear distinction between the two aspects of the same supreme Godhead. The seekers of both the aspects of the Eternal Reality attain to Me, says the Lord, but in the words of Sri Aurobindo, “This negating knowledge approaches the Eternal by one side only of the truth and that side the most 36. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p.304 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 102 difficult to reach and follow for the embodied soul in Nature, duhkham dehavadbhir avâpyate; it proceeds by a highly specialised, even an unnecessarily arduous way, narrow and difficult to tread as a razor’s edge.” 37 On the contrary, in the way of the Gita, seeking after the Purushottama and meditating on him, we see and meet none else except Vasudeva at every point, in all forms and faces, in all circumstances and we arrive at once through all Nature to the Lord of Nature, and through all beings to the Soul of all beings. “But more powerful still is the giving up of the fruit of one’s works, because that immediately destroys all causes of disturbance and brings and preserves automatically an inner calm and peace, and calm and peace are the foundation on which all else becomes perfect and secure in possession by the tranquil spirit. Then the consciousness can be at ease, happily fix itself in the Divine and rise undisturbed to perfection. Then too knowledge, will and devotion can lift to their pinnacles from a firm soil of solid calm into the ether of Eternity. “What then will be the divine nature, what will be the greater state of consciousness and being of the Bhakta who has followed this way and turned to the adoration of the Eternal ? The Gita in a number of verses rings the changes on its first insistent demand, on equality, on desirelessness, on freedom of spirit. This is to be the base always, - and that was why so much stress was laid on it in the beginning. And in that equality Bhakti, the love and adoration of the Purushottama, must rear the spirit towards some greatest 37. Ibid p.308 103 The Avatar of the Gita highest perfection of which this calm equality will be the wide foundation.”38 Arjuna is interested to know more and more of the supreme power, His many aspects, His supreme nature and His manifestations in detail. Since the Lord does not linger long on the same point and immediately proceeds to another in order to remove Arjuna’s doubt and confusion, many things remain unclear in his mind. He wants to know clearly now about Prakriti and Purusha, about the distinction of Purushottama and the Immutable and Mutable Purushas - Kshara, Akshara and Uttama Purusha, whose references were already given in passing but they were not fully expressed. The entire range of the lower nature comprising the individual physical body and the universal body and their nature, mentality and action with their deformations - pleasure and pain, liking and disliking is the field - the Kshetra. And when the soul identified with Nature and thereby subjected to her mechanical working, takes the poise of a witness and stands apart and withdraws itself from the working of Nature in life, mind and body and thus becomes detached and free from it and later gradually takes the poise of the upholder and is identified with Active Brahman Purushottama, his joy of cosmic being, accepts its complete function as the Lord and controller of the action and active enjoyer, then it is the knower of the field. And if one knows the field - the Kshetra and the knower of the field - Kshetrajna, he knows the true knowledge.

38. Ibid p.313 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 104

“The Being seated in the hearts of all is the supreme Self, Paramatman, the supreme Soul, the mighty Lord of Nature, who watches her action, sanctions her operations, upholds all she does, commands her manifold creation, enjoys with his universal delight this play of her figures of his own being. This is the self-knowledge to which we have to accustom our mentality before we can truly know ourselves, as an eternal portion of the Eternal,”39 says Sri Aurobindo. The one who knows the working of the Nature with her qualities and the supreme Lord, the witness, the sanctioner, the sustainer and enjoyer, and supreme Self, he truly knows. Whatever is present in the existence, moving and unmoving all that is born from the union between the field and the knower of the field. The supreme Lord is seated equally in all beings, unperishing within the perishing. All actions are done by the Nature, the power of the Purusha and the Self is not the doer; whoever knows all this knowledge of the Nature and the Self, the field and the knower of the field, attains to the highest status of Brahman. “The spirit within,” sums up Sri Aurobindo, “when we turn to it, illumines the entire field of Nature with its own truth in all the splendour of its rays. In the light of that sun of knowledge the eye of knowledge opens in us and we live in that truth and no longer in the ignorance. Then we perceive that our limitation to our present mental and physical nature was an error of the darkness, then we are liberated from the law of the lower Prakriti, the law of 39. Ibid p.331 105 The Avatar of the Gita the mind and body, then we attain to the supreme nature of the spirit. That splendid and lofty change is the last, the divine and infinite becoming, the putting off of mortal nature, the putting on of an immortal existence.”40 Next, the Blessed Lord declares the highest knowledge of the Nature’s working knowing which the sages have attained to the highest perfection. It is in continuation of the knowledge of the field and of the knower of the field explained to Arjuna by the Lord. The Lord says that the soul, the eternal portion of the Supreme, trapped in the mesh of the three gunas or modes of universal Nature in the world, must rise above the gunas in order to get back to his self-knowledge of the eternal status of Brahman. Sattwa binds the soul in the body by attachment to happiness and knowledge. Rajas binds the soul by attachment to action and desire and its satisfaction. Tamas binds a man by attachment to inertia, indolence, incapacity, negligence and sleep. It is opposite to Sattwa and Rajas. These three qualities are present in every human being and none is completely free from any of them. By predominance of one or the other of the qualities can a man be said to be Sattwic or Rajastic or Tamasic in his nature. As long as we are bound by the three gunas of Nature, it is impossible to attain to highest perfection or the liberation of the soul in Brahamic status. In order to rise above the gunas, the embodied soul first must watch the actions of the Nature in oneself as a witness indifferently and impartially. First, it should be free from the lower Prakriti and not involved in its coils. All the gunas of Nature will have their rounds, 40. Ibid pp. 334-335 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 106 but the soul should stand unperturbed and untouched. This is the attainment of actionless peace of the Impersonality of Brahamic status - of Akshara Purusha. But there is a higher spiritual experience which is more perfect, attaining to which, the soul can rise above the gunas of lower Nature to the Active Brahman, Pravritti, and enjoy an absolute delight which is untouched by Sattwic, Rajasic and Tamasic characteristics. That is by dwelling in the being and power of the Purushottama.

Kshara and Akshara Brahman Now the Lord dwells on another great knowledge of the supreme Self. Apparently there are two powers — Kshara — the Mutable Self — the cosmic Nature in all existences — the active power in the manifestation, and the Akshara — the Immutable Self in relation to the elements and the action of cosmic Nature — the Kutastha, seated high.

uùÉÊ´É¨ÉÉè {ÉÖ¯û¹ÉÉè ±ÉÉäEäò IÉ®ú¶SÉÉIÉ®ú B´É SÉ * IÉ®ú: ºÉ´ÉÉÇÊhÉ ¦ÉÚiÉÉÊxÉ EÚò]õºlÉÉä%IÉ®ú =SªÉiÉä ** 41

The Kshara is active and the Akshara is inactive, watching the action of the Kshara as a silent witness, unperturbed, as symbolised in Upanishads by two birds perching on the same branch of a tree — one is eating the fruit of the tree and the other one simply watching it and itslef not indulging in it. The Akshara, beyond the soul manifest in Nature and bound up with its action, is the

41. Gita XV - 16 107 The Avatar of the Gita silent all-pervading, self-existent and Impersonal being, and actionless witnessing Self. These two poises of the Self are contrary to each other. But there is another, the Uttama Purusha, the supreme Self, beyond the Kshara and Akshara which reconciles the contradiction of the above two purushas. “He supports at once the spirit of mutable things that is all these existences, Ksharah sarvâni bhutâni, and the immutable spirit that stands above them in his imperturbable immobility of eternal silence and calm. And it is by the force of the Divine in them that the mind and heart and will of man are so powerfully drawn in different directions by these two spirits as if by opposing and incompatible attractions, one insistent to annul the other. But the Divine is neither wholly the Kshara, nor wholly the Akshara. He is greater than the immutable self and he is much greater than the Soul of mutable things. If he is capable of being both at once, it is because he is other than they, anyah, the Purushattama above all cosmos and yet extended in the world and extended in the Veda, in self- knowledge and in cosmic experience.”42

ªÉº¨ÉÉiIÉ®ú¨ÉiÉÒiÉÉä%½þ¨ÉIÉ®úÉnùÊ{É SÉÉäkÉ¨É: * +iÉÉä%Îº¨É ±ÉÉäEäò ´Éänäù SÉ |ÉÊlÉiÉ: {ÉÖ¯û¹ÉÉäkÉ¨É: **43

Since I am beyond the Kshara and greater and higher even than the Akshara, I am proclaimed as the Purushottama in the Veda and in the world. The principle of Purushottama here is so necessary and compatible without which the whole doctrine of Gita and

42. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan , 1992 p.364 43. Gita XV - 18 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 108 the Avatarhood and the Yoga of works and Bhakti would collapse and the soul of Kshara Purusha will disappear into the impersonality and everlasting peace of the Akshara Brahman, the Immutable Eternal. “The idea of the Purushottama has been prepared, alluded to, adumbrated, assumed even from the beginning, but it is only now in the fifteenth chapter that it is expressly stated and the distinction illuminated by a name. And it is instructive to see how it is immediately approached and developed. To ascend into the divine nature, we have been told, one must first fix oneself in a perfect spiritual equality and rise above the lower nature of the three Gunas. Thus transcending the lower Prakriti we fix ourselves in the impersonality, the imperturbable superiority to all action, the purity from all definition and limitation by quality which is one side of the manifested nature of the Purushottama, his manifestation as the eternity and unity of the self, the Akshara. But there is also an ineffable eternal multiplicity of the Purushottama, a highest, truest truth behind the primal mystery of soul manifestation. The Infinite has an eternal power, an unbeginning and unending action of his divine Nature, and in that action the miracle of soul personality emerges from a play of apparently impersonal forces, prakritir jivabhuta. This is possible because personality too is a character of the Divine and finds in the Infinite its highest spiritual truth and meaning. But the Person in the Infinite is not the egoistic, separative, oblivious personality of the lower Prakriti; it is something exalted, universal and transcendent, immortal and divine. That mystery of the supreme Person is the secret of love and devotion. The spiritual person, Purusha, the eternal soul in 109 The Avatar of the Gita us offers itself and all it has and is to the eternal Divine, the supreme Person and Godhead of whom it is a portion, amsha. The completeness of knowledge finds itself in this self-offering, this uplifting of our personal nature by love and adoration to the ineffable Master of our personality and its acts; the sacrifice of works receives by it its consummation and perfect sanction. It is then, through these things that the soul of man fulfils itself most completely in this other and dynamic secret, this other great and intimate aspect of the divine nature and possesses by that fulfilment the foundation of immortality, the supreme felicity and the eternal Dharma. And having so stated this double requisite, equality in the one self, adoration of the one Lord, at first separately as if they were two different ways of arriving at the Brahmic status, brahma-bhuyâya — one taking the form of quietistic sannyasa, the other a form of divine love and divine action, — the Gita proceeds now to unite the personal and the impersonal in the Purushottama and to difine their relations. For the object of the Gita is to get rid of exclusions and separative exaggerations and fuse these two sides of knowledge and spiritual experiences into a single and perfect way to the supreme perfection.”44 The Lord is unfolding secret after secret to Arjuna to equip him with supreme knowledge, so that he could know the immortal Dharma and fully elevated and transformed to the higher spiritual nature, act according to law proper to the infinite purity and power of a divine being. Arjuna has been given the knowledge of the three Gunas of the Nature and how to be above them, trigunâtita, and the knowledge of the three Purushas. Now he is being given

44. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, pp. 354-355 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 110 knowledge of the ancient distinction of Devas and Danavas, the Gods and the Titans. Our ancient seers saw two great cosmic powers or beings perpetually at war with each other behind the phenomenon of life and the world called Devas and Danavas. They are represented by two classes of human beings. Representing the powers of Devas are those who have a dominant force of sattwic nature turned towards God-knowledge, self-control, beneficence, selflessness, leading them to liberation and those, who have a dominant force of rajasic nature turned towards egoistic greatness, satisfaction of desire, the indulgence of their strong will and personality which they seek to impose on the world for their own vanity and its gratification, are representatives of Danavas or Asuras and their action leads them towards bondage. Men born with Deva-nature are truthful, pure of nature, straightforward, harmless, forgiving, compassionate, modest, selfless, peaceful and they promote the divine work in the world. Those born with the nature of Asuras are hypocrite, arrogant, conceited, ignorant, harsh and cruel, diabolic, devoid of purity, truth and right conduct. They are evil doers and haters of the Divine and stand in the way of the divine work. They take a long time to realise their ignorance and to turn towards light. The Lord assures Arjuna that he is born and endowed with Deva-nature and he need not “grieve with the thought that by acceptance of battle and slaughter he will be yielding to the impulses of the Asuras.” The knowledge of the Gita is approaching the secret of secrets, the greatest Dharma, the will of the Lord, to fulfil which all other dharmas must be abandoned. But before 111 The Avatar of the Gita that Arjuna’s heart and mind must become the channel- mind and heart of the Lord and his will replaced by the Divine will. Therefore Arjuna wants to be very clear on all the doubtful points and desires to know how is the act of faith related to the Gunas of the Nature, and whether the devotion behind the act can come under the categories of Sattwa, Rajas or Tamas. “Yes,” reveals the Lord, “Sattwic men offer sacrifice to the Gods, the Rajasic to the Yakshas and the Rakshasas, the Tamasic to the ghosts.” Not only the faith is governed by the principle of gunas, but also works and food are of three kinds — Sattwic, Rajasic and Tamasic. Even askesis or the discipline or tapa which are threefold — tapa of the body, speech and the mind, is also governed by the principle of three gunas. The tapa with no desire is Sattwic, the tapa performed for ostentation and with selfish motive is Rajasic and tapa done to hurt others is Tamasic. The sacrifice of giving gift too can be Sattwic, Rajasic and Tamasic according to the quality of faith behind it. Finally the Blessed Lord throws light on the distinction of Sannyasa and Tyaga in reply to the last question of Arjuna, before he concludes this supreme divine knowledge with the secret of secrets which is the consummation of the yoga of triple path of the Gita. “According to the shastras of ancient wisdom,” says the Lord, “Sannyasa is the giving up of those works which are prompted by desire and the abandonment of the fruits of all works is called Tyaga.” This implies that Tyaga is to give up not the works but the fruits of the works, one must do the Kartavyam Karma, pleasant or unpleasant without desire of fruits, which the Master within demands of us. “There has to be a renunciation of the false idea of ourselves Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 112 as the doer; for in reality it is the universal Shakti that works through our personality and our ego. The spiritual transference of all our works to the Master and his Shakti is the real Sannyasa in the teaching of the Gita.”45 Even knowledge too falls in the categories of gunas. The knowledge of the imperishable Being seen in all existences is Sattwic. The knowlege which sees the multiplicity of things only in their separateness in all these existences is Rajastic. The knowledge which clings to a part and claims to be the whole is the Tamasic knowledge. In between the Lord kept restating and reminding Arjuna that he must act according to his inborn swabhava, own law of works though in itself faulty, than an alien law well carried out, for one does not incur sin when one does the work regulated by one’s own self-nature. “If in thy egoism, thou thinkest, I will not fight, then vain is this thy resolve; thy nature shall appoint thee to thy work.” The Lord, briefly dwelling upon the significance of swadharmas based on individual inborn nature and varnashrama based on three gunas moves towards the supreme secret. SÉäiÉºÉÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ Eò¨ÉÉÇÊhÉ ¨ÉÊªÉ ºÉÆxªÉºªÉ ¨Éi{É®ú: * ¤ÉÖÊrùªÉÉäMÉ¨ÉÖ{ÉÉÊ¸ÉiªÉ ¨ÉÎSSÉkÉ: ºÉiÉiÉÆ ¦É´É **46 Devoting all thyself to Me, giving up in thy conscious mind all thy actions unto Me, resorting to Yoga of the will and intelligence, be always one in heart and consciousness with Me.47 And this Me, the Lord reveals, who is your comrade and charioteer and lover is also seated in the heart of all existences and turns them round and round as if mounted on a machine by his Mâyâ. It is in Him that you have to 45. Ibid p.399 46. Gita XIII-57 47. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, p.434 113 The Avatar of the Gita take refuge in every way of thy being and by His grace thou shall come to the supreme peace and the eternal status. And it seems that the Lord has spoken his last secret word, for in the end, like a good teacher, he advises him to reflect on his words and do as he feels like. <ÊiÉ iÉä YÉÉxÉ¨ÉÉJªÉÉiÉÆ MÉÖ½ÂþªÉÉnÂù MÉÖ½ÂþªÉiÉ®Æú ¨ÉªÉÉ * Ê´É¨ÉÞ¶ªÉèiÉnù¶Éä¹ÉähÉ ªÉlÉäSUôÊºÉ iÉlÉÉ EÖò¯û **48

Arjuna is the rare chosen human instrument who has to give physical effect to the divine will and divine plan of pushing humanity upward; so the Divine takes every care to ensure that his instrument will surely execute His will, and yet he has left it open to the instrument: yathechchhasi tatha kuru.

The Last Secret But the last secret he has yet to reveal - sarvaguhyatam bhuyah shrinu me paramam vachah, to ensure fully that his chosen and beloved soul no longer falls again in dejection and fear of sin of slaughter by inspiring him to surrender to the Lord and fight giving him the assurance that the Lord will deliver him from all sin and evil. The last, the closing supreme word of the Gita expressing the highest mystery is spoken in two brief, direct and simple slokas and these are left without farther comment to sink into the mind and reveal their own fullness of meaning in the soul’s experience. We feel as they are being uttered that it was this for which the soul of the disciple was being prepared all the time and the rest was only an enlightening and enabling discipline and doctrine.

48. Ibid Gita XVIII-63 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 114

¨Éx¨ÉxÉÉ ¦É´É ¨ÉnÂù¦ÉHòÉä ¨ÉtÉVÉÒ ¨ÉÉÆ xÉ¨ÉºEÖò¯û ¨ÉÉ¨Éä´Éè¹ªÉÊºÉ ºÉiªÉÆ iÉä |ÉÊiÉVÉÉxÉä Ê|ÉªÉÉä%ÊºÉ ¨Éä ºÉ´ÉÇ vÉ¨ÉÉÇx{ÉÊ®úiªÉVªÉ ¨ÉÉ¨ÉäEÆò ¶É®úhÉÆ µÉVÉ +½Æþ i´ÉÉ ºÉ´ÉÇ{ÉÉ{Éä¦ªÉÉä ¨ÉÉäIÉÊªÉ¹ÉÂªÉÉÊ¨É ¨ÉÉ ¶ÉÖSÉ:49 Become My-minded, my lover and adorer, a sacrificer to Me, bow thyself to Me; to Me thou shalt come. This is my pledge and promise to thee, for dear art thou to Me. Abandon all Dharmas and take refuge in Me alone. I will deliver thee from all sin and evil, do not grieve. “The Gita throughout has been insisting on a great and well-built discipline of Yoga, a large and clearly traced philosophical system, on the Swabhava and Swadharma, on the sattwic law of life as leading out of itself by a self- exceeding exaltation to a free spiritual Dharma of immortal existence utterly wide in its spaces and high-lifted beyond the limitation of even this highest Guna, on many rules and means and injunctions and conditions of perfection, and now suddenly it seems to break out of its own structure and says to the human soul, ‘Abandon all Dharmas, give thyself to the Divine alone, to the supreme Godhead above and around and within thee: that is all that thou needst, that is the truest and greatest way, that is the real deliverance.’ The master of the worlds in the form of the divine Charioteer and Teacher of Kurukshetra has revealed to man the magnificent realities of God and Self and Spirit and the nature of the complex world and the relation of man’s mind and life and heart and senses to the Spirit and the victorious means by which through his own spiritual self-discipline and effort he can rise out of mortality into immortality and out of his limited mental into his infinite spiritual existence. And now speaking as the Spirit and 49. Gita XVIII - 65-66 115 The Avatar of the Gita

Godhead in man and in all things he says to him, ‘All this personal effort and self discipline will not in the end be needed, all following and limitation of rule and Dharma can at last be thrown away as hampering encumtbrances if thou canst make a complete surrender to Me, depend alone on the Spirit and Godhead within thee and all things and trust to his sole guidance. Turn all thy mind to Me and fill it with thought of Me and My presence. Turn all thy heart to Me, make thy every action, whatever it be, a sacrifice and offering to Me. That done, leave Me to do My will with thy life and soul and action; do not be grieved or perplexed by My dealings with thy mind and heart and life and works or troubled because they do not seem to follow the laws and Dharmas man imposes on himself to guide his limited will and intelligence. My ways are the ways of a perfect wisdom and power and love that knows all things and combines all its movements in view of a perfect eventual result; for it is refining and weaving together the many threads of an integral perfection. I am here with thee in thy chariot of battle revealed as the Master of existence within and without thee and I repeat the absolute assurance, the infallible promise that I will lead thee to Myself through and beyond all sorrow and evil. Whatever difficulties and perplexities arise, be sure of this that I am leading thee to a complete divine life in the universal and an immortal existence in the transcendent Spirit.”50 The last two verses are the crown of the Gita’s yoga where the total emphasis is laid on surrender to the supreme Lord, the Purushottama, and this becomes the only Dharma of the seeker of Yoga. Only this Dharma, 50. Bhagavad Gita edited by P.P. Khetan 1992, pp.442-43 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 116 which is beyond all Dharmas of Swabhava or Nature, can deliver the soul instantly from the clutch of Gunas and lift to the Brahmic status, where Divine can work out his own will and new-shape the human material into a divinie substance fit for the divine life. Surrender is the crux, the decisive and essential point of not only the yoga of Bhakti and Love, but also of the whole of the Gita’s message. Surrender is the seed of transformation of man into Divine, of earthly mortal life into heavenly divine life, of life of ego and ignorance into the life of truth and light. 117

Chapter 4

Early Avatars

Matsya |É±ÉªÉ{ÉªÉÊºÉ vÉÉiÉÖ: ºÉÖ{iÉ¶ÉHäò¨ÉÖÇJÉä¦ªÉ: ¸ÉÖÊiÉMÉhÉ¨É{ÉxÉÒiÉÆ |ÉiªÉÖ{ÉÉnùkÉ ½þi´ÉÉ * ÊnùÊiÉVÉ¨ÉEòlÉªÉnÂù ªÉÉä ¥ÉÀ ºÉiªÉµÉiÉÉxÉÉÆ iÉ¨É½þ¨ÉÊJÉ±É½äþiÉÖÆ ÊVÉÀ¨ÉÒxÉÆ xÉiÉÉä%Îº¨É **1 It is a sheer miracle how the ancient Aryan seers and mystics maintained the record of cosmic history of birth and growth of universes, ministry of Gods, accounts of Events in terrestrial and extra-terrestrial worlds, on earth as well as in Heaven from the dawn of the first awakening Ray till the time to come upto the end of the cycle. The Divine descents or the Avatar of the formless and Imporsonal Absolute in form and as personal Godhead on the earth is one of them. It is indeed the prerogative and privilege of the soul of India, at least in the present creation or kalpa, to be able to trace the occult secrets of Divine workings, and chart out the plans of not only the cosmic Gods, but also the intention and will of the transcendental supreme Godhead and the supreme Nature with regard to the life on earth through the inner vision of her great seers and sages. It is still more miraculous to note how the entire body of super knowledge and wisdom is intact and being treasured in the ancient language of Sanskrit till today despite our fall in the gulf of our cultural decadence and darkness. Not only that, those records of vast spiritual knowledge which are stored in our scriptures are even so fresh in a few awakened souls of 1. Srimad Bhagawatam 8.24.61 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 118 our country, the saints and sages of the present times, for, this chain of holy and realised souls was never broken in India in spite of a prolonged night of darkness, her slavery and downfall of morals and values. In fact, it is they, those rare great souls, mahatmas, saints, bhaktas and spiritual gurus like Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda in Bengal, Tukaram, Jnaneshwar, Namdev in Maharastra, Tulsi, Kabir, Mirabai, Dayananda and the ten gurus of the Sikh religion, who sustained and saved the cultural and spiritual treasure of the race. The rest, the majority even the best minds, were blown off by the Western typhoons and whirlwinds of blind materialism and matter-of-fact approach towards life and world. The absolute Reality is infinite and hence its manifestation is also infinite. It is beyond the comprehension of the narrow and limited mind to understand the ways of the Absolute Reality. The infinite knowledge of the ways of the Supreme is like an ocean which has no shores and which is the confluence of innumerable streams of spiritual reality. One of the streams of which is the reality of Avatars — the descents of the Divine Light and Force on earth as and when she called the Grace in her distress and the Grace answered to the call. Our scriptures say that such descents are twenty-four when the supreme Divine descended to lead the march of evolution on the earth. These Avatars are as follows : 1. Sri Sanaka, 2. Varaha, 3. Narad, 4. Nara Narayan, 5. Kapil, 6. Dattatreya, 7. Yajna, 8. Rishabhadev, 9. Prithu, 10. Matsya, 11. Kurma, 12. Dhanvantari, 13. Mohini, 14. Nrisingh, 15. Vamana, 16. Hayagriva, 17. Sri Hari, 18. Parashuram, 19. Vyas, 20. Hans, 21. Rama, 22. Sri Krishna, 119 Early Avatars

23. Buddha, 24. Kalki. But out of these, ten Avatars are said to be direct actions of the Supreme in the major crises in the life of earth which are, we can say, important milestones in the upward journey of earth-evolution. They are Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Nrisingh, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. Those who are familiar with the religious and spiritual background of India know that the Supreme Being has been depicted by Puranas as the three fold powers : Brahma as the creator of the worlds, Vishnu as the preserver and Shiva as destroyer. This Trinity is none other than the one supreme Reality, Eternal and Infinite, the Brahman of Vedas and the Purushottama of the Gita.The story of Matsya Avatar accroding to Bhagavad Purana goes like this: At the end of his day (which is equivalent to one kalpa of the earth) when Brahma went to sleep followed by general destruction in all the worlds, the strong demon Hayagriva came near him and stole the Vedas which flowed from his lips. This occasioned the incarnation of God in the form of a fish, a matsya, because for the preservation of herds, Brahmanas, genii and virtuous men — of vedas, of law and of precious things, the Lord of the Universe assumes many bodily forms; but though he pervades, like the air, a variety of beings, yet he is himself unvaried since he has no qualities subject to change. When Hari, the preserver of the universe discovered this mischief of the Danava, he took the shape of a minute fish. Then a holy king, Satyavrata, ruled over the land. He was one day offering tarpan holding water in his palms after his bath in the river when suddenly he noticed a tiny fish moving in it. The king immediately dropped it back into the river lest it felt uneasy in the Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 120 shallow water in his palm. But strangely, he heard the fish address in a piteous voice, “O Benevolent Monarch, how canst thou, who showest affection to the weak and oppressed, leave me in the river water where I am too frail to defend myself from the giants of my own kind who will swallow me in no time? The king, having heard his suppliant appeal decided to protect him out of his benignity and took him home in his kamandalu and kept in a big jar full with water. But this fish outgrew the vase over night and addressed the king again, "I am very miserable in this narrow cell, O king, can you make for me a large mansion where I may breathe freely in the open?” The king was generous enough to keep him in a big pool, but not even an hour had passed that the fish covered the entire area of the pool and demanded again a larger space of a big and deep lake to enable him to swim at large. But when this vast bulk of water was also unable to match the fast- growing size of the fish, the king cast him into the sea where, he thought, would he feel definitely at home for he would not exceed beyond its shore. At last, the king was satisfied having provided the fish with a natural home appropriate to his bulk, wide enough to move freely. But "O great one,” the king heard again, “the ocean is too dangerous for me, for, the horned sharks, the monsters of the sea will never leave me alive to enjoy my freedom here.” Thus repeatedly deluded by the gentle words of the unusual fish, the king spoke to him: “Who art thou that beguilest me in that assumed shape? Never before have I seen or heard so prodigious an inhabitant of the waters who like thee filled up in a single day a lake a hundred Yojanas in circumference. Surely thou art Sri Hari who appears before 121 Early Avatars me and bears the form of natives of the deep in compassion to thy creatures. My salutations and praises to thee, O the Lord of the creation, preservation and destruction. Thou art the soul and only refuge of thy devotees who piously seek thee. All thy delusive descents in this world give existence to thy various beings. Yet I am anxious to know for what cause hast thou assumed this form? “The Lord of the universe, intending to preserve him from the sea of destruction caused by the depravity of the age, thus told him how he was to act : ‘In seven days from the present time, O thou tamer of enemies ! the three worlds will be plunged in an ocean of death; but, in the midst of the destroying waves, a large vessel sent by me for thy use shall stand before thee. Then thou shalt take all medicinal herbs, all the varieties of seeds, and accompanied by seven seers, encircled by pairs of brute animals, thou shalt enter the spacious ark, and continue in it secure from the flood, on one immense ocean without light, except the radiance of thy holy companions. When the ship shall be agitated by an impetuous wind, thou shalt fasten it with a large sea serpent Vasuki on my horn; for I will be near thee, drawing the vessel, with thee and thy attendants. I will remain on the ocean, O chief of men, until the night of Brahma shall be completely ended. Thou shalt then know my true greatness, rightly named the Supreme Godhead; by my favour all thy questions shall be answered, and thy mind abundantly instructed.’ “Hari, having thus directed the monarch, disappeared; and Satyavrata humbly waited for the time which the ruler of our senses had appointed. The pious king having scattered towards the east the pointed blades of the grass Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 122 kusha, and turning his face towards the north, sat meditating on the feet of the God who had borne the form of a fish. The sea, overwhelming its shores, deluged the whole earth, and it was soon perceived to be augmented by showers from immense clouds. He, still meditating on the command of Bhagavat, saw the vessel advancing, and entered it with the chiefs of Brahmins, having carried into it the medicinal plants, and conformed to the directions of Hari. The saints thus addessed him: ‘O king, meditate on Kesava, who will surely deliver us from this danger, and grant us prosperity.’ The God being invoked by the monarch, appeared again distinctly on the vast ocean in the form of a fish, blazing like gold, extending a million of yojanas, with one stupendous horn on which the king, as he had been before commanded by Hari, tied the ship with a cable made of a vast serpent, and, happy in his preservation, stood praising the destroyer of Madhu. When the monarch had finished his hymn, the primeval male, Bhagavat, who watched for his safety on the greater expanse of water, spake aloud to his own divine essence, pronouncing a sacred Purana (the ‘Matsya Purana’), which contained the rules of the Sankhya philosophy; but it was an infinite mystery to be concealed within the breast of Satyavrata who, sitting in the vessel with the saints, heard the principle of Soul, the Eternal Being, proclaimed by the preserving power. Then Hari, rising together with Brahma from the destructive deluge, which was now abated, slew the demon Hayagriva, and recovered the sacred knowledge — Vedas.”2 The king Satyavrata then, by the grace of the Lord, was invested with the office of Manu, the progenitor of men in the present Kalpa. 2. Hindu Mythology by W.J. Wilkins pp.140-41 123 Early Avatars

Kurma

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The story of early Avatars reads like a fairy tale. Yes, a fairy tale, but a tale that tells the truth. When you read the Puranas you consistently get the facts on the higher plane described in terms of the lower, that seems unintelligible and incomprehensible. Then you have what is called an allegory, that is, a reality which looks like a fancy down here, but is a deeper truth than the illusion of physical matter and is nearer to the reality of things than the things which you call objective and real. If you follow that line of thought at all, you will read the Puranas with more intelligence and certainly with more reverence than some of the modern Hindus are apt to show and you will begin to understand that when another vision is opened, one sees things differently from the way that one sees them on the physical plane. That which seems impossible on the physical is what is really seen when you pass beyond the physical limitations. It may be noted that all Vedic and Puranic Rishis described things as they saw on the higher planes or heard in their inner chambers. That is why Rishis are called seers, drashta who saw the truth and the Vedic knowledge is called Shruti. We have appearances described which seemed very strange in the lower world; we have facts asserted which raise very much of a challenge in modern days. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 124

When we read in Puranas of strange forms and marvellous appearances, when we read accounts of creatures that seem unlike anything that we have ever heard of or dreamed of, the modern mind with its somewhat narrow limitations, is apt to revolt against the accounts that are given. The modern mind, trained within the limits of the science of observation, is necessarily circumscribed within those limits, and those limits are of an exceedingly narrow description, when measured by the sight that goes back kalpa after kalpa and that knows that the mind of the Supreme is not limited to the manifestations of a few hundred thousands of years, but goes back million after million, hundreds of millions. The varieties of form, the enormous differences of types, the marvellous kinds of creatures which have come out of that creative imagination transcend in actuality all that man's mind can dream of. The very wildest images that man can make fall short of the realities that actually existed in the past kalpas through which the universe has gone. Moreover, apart from the geological and historial gaps in material space and time, there are gaps of subtler planes of consciousness far far above our physical and vital and mental consciousness, where things originate, realities take subtle forms and clash with each other and much later they are brought into play on the material ground. These occult and spiritual phenomena are beyond the reach of thinking mind, however intelligent it may be; only the stilled mind of yogis can have access to those mystic worlds and know the realities through their heightened consciousness by identity. It is because of this reason that when the western pundits with their reasoning and smattering minds 125 Early Avatars try to grasp the esoteric wisdom of the East, especially the weltanschauung of ancient India, they return from the mystic closed doors and find nothing more than 'the babblings of a race in its infancy.' When we go through the first three Avatars we find the Divine descending as a fish, the Matsya Avatar and then second time as a tortoise, the Kurma Avatar, the third as a boar, the Varaha Avatar. Three animal forms! How strange wonders the modern graduate! How strange that the Supreme should take the forms of these lower animals - a fish, a tortoise, a boar! Far far back, much before our present creation a time came when a vast change was impending; one of the changes called a pralaya is. It was necessary that the seeds of life be carried over that pralaya to the next manvantara. And the Lord came, to rescue as Matsya Avatar. Then we find, tracing it onward, that this great age passes and the world begins to rise out of the waters. The first life on earth has already come as a fish. The next great type is to be fitted either for land or for water; for the next stage of the earth shows the waters draining gradually away, and the land appearing. The creature that is the marked characteristic of the age must exist partially on land and partially in water. Here again there must be the manifestation of the type of life this time of what we call the reptile type. The tortoise is chosen as the typical creature and while the tortoise typifies the type to be evolved, reptiles, amphibians, other similar creatures swarm over the earth, becoming more and more land-based in their character as the proportion of land to water increases. So, the second type favoured by Nature was the form of a tortoise which was assumed by the Lord in the Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 126

Kachchhap Avatar. And the occasion? The occasion was the frustration of gods, caused by a curse of Durvasa Rishi, a great seer but short-tempered. "Your glory and power will wane away O, Indra," cursed the Rishi, "powerful Danavas will soon capture the Heaven". Indra ran to Brahma, the first of the Trinity, the Creator, along with a host of other gods and implored to him to rescue them from the impending predicament. Brahma, as he himself could do nothing in this matter, took them to Vishnu, the supreme Godhead and entreated Him to help the gods. Having heard the plea of Gods, Hari thus spoke: "I will restore your strength, but you have to act as I enjoin. Let all the Gods and Asuras cast all sorts of medicinal herbs into the sea of milk, Kshirasagar, and together churn the ocean for ambrosia. My full aid will be with you without which you may not perform the task. "To secure the assistance of your opponents, Asuras, you must be at peace with them and agree to give them an equal share of the outcome of your combined labour— the Amrita, by drinking which they shall become immortal. I shall take care that the Asuras, who are the enemies of the gods, shall not partake of the precious draught and only share in the labour". Gods did the needful as enjoined by the Lord. Indra along with other gods approached the king of the titans— Bali and succeeded in securing their assistance in the churning of ocean and share the ambrosia. The king's army chiefs too readily agreed. They both, gods and titans, threw all the herbs of the earth in the ocean as ordained and uprooted the Mandara mountain to make it the churning rod or the Mathani. 127 Early Avatars

Lord Hari himself assumed the form of a mighty tortoise to serve as a pivot for Mandara mountain as it revolved. The serpent Vasuki was engaged as a churning rope. Holding the rope Devas on the tail side of the serpent and Danavas on the head began to churn the ocean of milk. The Lord himself was sustaining all of them - gods and danavas and the serpent king Vasuki in their mighty toil. Many divine marvels were churned out of this mighty labour of gods and demons which included Kamadhenu - the all fulfilling divine cow, Airawata - the mighty divine elephant of white colour, Uchchaishrava - the white divine horse, Kaustubha mani, Kalpavriksha which fulfills all desires, Moon, Kadali tree, Lakshmi - the supreme Mother and divine spouse of the Lord Vishnu. Halahal, the poison and Apsaras too were the products of the Samudramanthan. The cherished divine Ambrosia - AMRITA was last to appear held in the hands of Dhanvantari - who was given the office of the physician of Gods later on, as also considered as one of the partial Avatars of Vishnu. How was the distribution of the Amrita tackled evading the share of Asuras is another story and the Lord had to appear as Mohini - his another partial Avatar - with a bewitching and tantalizing beauty to make the Asuras bewildered, confused and confounded. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 128

Varaha

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Then lotus-eyed Mahavarahah lifted the earth on his tusks and emerged out from beneath the lower world - Rasatala - like a colossal blue mountain.

Then comes the third incarnation of the supreme Lord that is no less mind-boggling when he appears as a boar, a Varaha. It is to be noted that this particular form of the Lord was at once the necessity to solve the crisis of that time and the type required to evolve in the gradual progression of the march of Evolution. According to Indian mythology, which gives us the most authoritative accounts of the Avatars, Brahma, the creator of the universe says to the first Swayambhuva Manu and his spouse Shatarupa to perpetuate the creation on earth. But where is the earth? One of the two mightiest titans - Hiranaksha was so powerful that even gods trembled at the mere mention of his name and so none could face him. All gods went into hiding for their safety. The titan then took the earth into the lowest world - the Rasatala - the deepest bottom of the ocean and began to beat the tides of waters with his mace in the frenzy of fun to appease his bellicosity and challenged Varuna - the lord of waters with his war cry. Varuna avoiding to fight with him, humbly advised the Asura to 129 Early Avatars meet Sri Hari, who alone could match his might and satisfy his itch for battle. Where will my creation flourish if earth is not there? The creator of the universe then went into concentration and prayed to the supreme Lord. It is then that from the nostril of the supreme Being issued forth a white infant boar. As the creator Brahma looked at it in dismay, the infant instantly became as large as an elephant and soon grew as enormous as a mountain. According to the accounts of Vayu Purana the boar was ten yojanas in breadth and a thousand yojanas in height; his colour was like a dark cloud and his roar like thunder. His bulk was vast as a mountain; his tusks were white, sharp, and fearful; fire flashed from his eyes like lightning and he was radiant as the sun. His shoulders were round, fat and large; he strode along like a powerful lion; his haunches were fat, his loins slender and his body smooth and beautiful. The Varaha who was none other than the Lord himself the form of massive boar plunged into the waters and found the earth in the lowest bottom, Rasatala. The earth recognized the Lord and prayed and bowing with devout adoration, addressed him in a hymn of great beauty in which she reminds him that she sprang from him and is dependent upon him as in fact are all things. Being thus praised, the auspicious supporter of the world emitted a low murmuring sound, like the chanting of the Sama-Veda, and the mighty boar, whose eyes were like lotus, whose body was vast as the Nilachala and of the dark colour of the lotus leaves, uplifted upon his ample tusks the earth from its lowest regions. He was then seen by the demon Hiranaksha who was already searching for Sri Hari as Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 130 suggested by Lord Varuna. He at once identified him and challenged him for fight and chased him holding his mace in his hand. After the earth was settled on an appropriate base and site on the summit of waters so that it could be made habitable for created things, Varaha turned to the demon and fought with him and slew him. Hiranaksha and Hiranyakashipu were two great demons born as twins to Diti, wife of Rishi Kashyap. These demons were none others than the gate-keepers of Lord Vishnu's abode — Jaya and Vijaya. They had refused Sanakadi Rishis to enter the Lord's presence, who in turn enraged, cursed them to be born as Daityas. As a consequence of the curse, Jaya and Vijaya were born as Hiranaksha and Hiranyakashipu.

Nrisimha

In the story of the Varaha Avatar we have read that the mighty demon Hiranaksha was killed by the Varaha Avatar. He had a twin brother Hiranyakashipu who was equally mighty and a terror for gods. He had done a severe penance for several thousands of years and was granted a boon by Brahma that he would not be slain by any weapon, or by any god, man or animal; nor in the sky or on earth or in the lower world, not outside nor inside the palace, nor during day or night, meaning thereby that he should not be killed by any power whatsoever and at no time and thus become immortal and invincible. Demons always have been wanting immortality as the result of their severe penance, but since immortality could not be 131 Early Avatars granted directly as the law of Nature would not permit it, they used to ask their boon in such a way that their wish could not be refused. But the supreme Lord, always handled the situation in a befitting manner and foiled all their tricks and cunning and ultimately all demons were done away with. Hiranyakashipu too thought that he had tricked his deity, Brahma, and by his boon he had become deathless. This idea of high headedness made him mad with power. Gods were defeated and lost their world, Heaven to him. He became the sole sovereign master of all the three worlds and began all kinds of atrocities against gods and holy men. He had a son, Prahlad, who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, the supreme Godhead. He had always on his lips the sacred name of the Lord and his image in his heart. Lord Vishnu was the most hated adversary of the demon, for the demon himself wanted to be worshipped by all gods and men as the supreme Lord in all the three worlds. But here his son himself was defying his authority and always sang the praise of the Lord. The demon tried to persuade him personally as also through tutors to sing his glory and worship him i. e. the demon alone, for he himself claimed to be the supreme Lord of all the universes and verily, after he had usurped the sovereignty of Indra, the lord of gods, all the gods - Surya, Vayu, Agni, Varuna, Soma, Yama, Gandharvas obeyed his commands and eulogized him as their supremo. But Prahlad listened to none except the call of his soul where dwelt Hari, the Almighty Lord, who was also immanent everywhere. The demon father, enraged and inflated with pride, commanded his Daityas to kill him as he could not tolerate his enemy's devout in his own house and family. To him his son was a blot on the race which Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 132 must be cleansed forthwith. The demon's attendants rushed up to kill him with swords and other weapons but nothing worked on him. Prahlad kept singing the name of the Lord calmly and fearlessly. And this became the shield against all dangers. He was then trampled by elephants, bitten by poisonous serpents, cast down from the mountain peaks, flung into the sea but Prahlad survived the entire crisis by chanting and meditating on the Lord's name. "Throw him into the fire. It will surely consume him." cried the demon father. But lo! Fire too could not burn a hair. Puzzled, he asked his son by what magic he was able to protect himself. "The omnipotent and omnipresent Lord Vishnu wards off all evils cast on his devotee. There is no magic in it and His protective hands are available to everyone who has trust in His Grace," calmly replied Prahlad. "Is your God present in this pillar?" cried the demon pointing out to one of the pillars of his court. He decided to kill him with his own hands. He therefore, brandishing his sword at him, jumped from his throne and shouted, "Let your God save you now if he is everywhere." And lo! he then heard a terrifying big bang as if the sky had split which made everyone present in the court tremble. Perplexed and struck by fear, he looked around and saw a terrible, ferocious and mysterious figure half lion and half man burst out from the pillar. It was neither a god, nor a man nor an animal. His eyes were like burning balls of fire. His gaping mouth looked like a cave, his tongue like a sharp sword. His hairy head was as high as sky. His breast was broad and waist thin. He had hundreds of hands with sharp dagger-like nails. His white hairs were shining like rays of the moon. 133 Early Avatars

The demon had already had his devil's due and his end had now approached. The giant divine figure clutched him by his paws as a cat catches a rat and dragged him to the entrance of the court and laid him on his thigh. "Recollect your boon," a roaring voice came, " I am not a god, nor a man or an animal. The sun is setting, so it is not day nor night. You are lying an my lap which is neither sky nor the earth. This place is a door-way, neither outside nor inside. My paws will kill you which are no weapons." The demon was killed by his sharp nails and hurled on the ground. After the demon was slain, Prahlad was coronated as the king of Daityas by the Lord himself and he ruled the earth thereafter for many thousands of years as an ideal king.

Vamana

There is an interesting story related to the Vamana Avatar which runs as below: It is said that the demon king Bali was a gambler in one of his previous births. One day he received some money by gambling which he spent to buy a garland of flowers for his beloved and rushed to offer it to her. In a hurry he dashed against a boulder and fell down unconscious. After a while he regained consciousness, but he could not get up and walk. He felt that he would no longer survive and was going to die soon. "What to do with the garland, now it can't reach my darling?" he thought. He then recollected what he had heard from a saint before that anything offered to Shiva selflessly was auspicious and brought good fortune. "Even if it is not auspicious, let me offer it to Shiva, Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 134 after all it is going to be a waste for I can't offer it to my sweet heart." Having thought thus he offered the garland to Shiva and died. He was brought to the Lord of death, the Yamaraj. "Look into his account of Karma," said the Yamaraj to his book keeper. "He has been a sinner for ages," said the recording angel. "Any righteous deed, any punyam in his life?" Yamaraj enquired again. "Just now, before his death he offered a garland of flowers to Shiva which he bought by the money he earned in gambling for his beloved. But as he fell down on his way and was about to die, he offered it to Shiva. That is the only punyam in his life if it is a punyam," the angel said. The Yamaraj mused for a while and said to the gambler, "Well, what would you like to go through first - to enjoy the fruit of your punyam or to suffer the fruit of your sin?" The gambler thought for a while and said, "Suffering hell will be endless, for my sins are endless; so let me enjoy my punyam first, if there is any punyam earned by me." "Although your punyam is very meagre but great. You are made Indra, the king of Heaven for two hours. Then you can go to Hell for ever." The Yama gave his verdict. The gambler soon was seated on the throne of Heaven. The nymphs came to entertain him. Gandharvas began to sing his glory. Narad, the celestial sage, who was also present there laughed sarcastically. "Why do you laugh? This is impudence in Indra's court?" chipped in the gambler. Narad tried to avoid the matter, "No, no, there is 135 Early Avatars nothing." "You must tell me the reason, why did you laugh?" insisted the gambler politely. "Your life-story," replied Narad, "reminds me of a sloka which means that one must do virtuous acts whether one believes in after-life-worlds or not. The believer does not lose anything by this but the non-believer is done with. This sloka applies very much to your life, for, one single punyam done without any motive has enthroned you in Heaven, although, for very short time." The gambler understood the cue and import of giving. He immediately called Brahmins and gave away all the heavenly objects — Chintamani, Nandanvan, Airawat elephant, Kamdhenu etc. to them. In this process two hours passed. Indra came and asked, "Where is my Airawat?" - - - - "where is my - Kamdhenu?" The gambler has given them away to Brahmins. Indra went toYamaraj but he was reprimanded by him and told, "Now he will not go to Hell. By offering a mere garland without devotion he earned the kingdom of Heaven. Now he has ritually offered the Heaven to Brahmins. He will therefore rule the Heaven only." It was he who became Daityaraj Bali, the king of Titans. Raja Bali, although he was a demon, was a great giver. He respected Rishis and Brahmins and gave them whatever they asked for. By virtue of his generosity and nobility and the sacrifice performed by Brahmins of the race of Bhrigu he became so powerful that he conquered all the three worlds. He became invincible by gods. The incarnation of Vamana was undertaken by the Lord to recover the Heaven Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 136 for the gods. Having lost the kingdom of Heaven and thereby their share of sacrifices to the demons, gods were perturbed. They approached their Mother Aditi, who in turn did a great penance to please Lord Vishnu. Vishnu, pleased with her penance, promisea to come as her son and deliver gods from their deprivation from office, even if he had to beg, for, Bali was so pious and powerful that there was no ground on which he could be vanquished. Lord Vishnu then assumes the form of a dwarf Brahmin and sets out to fulfil his mission. He reaches the spot where Raja Bali was performing a great sacrifice and giving away to Brahmins according to their wishes. Whatever suppliants wanted from him he bestowed on them. Bhrigus were the priests of the sacrifice while all other great Rishis and sages were also present. The demon king welcomed the dwarf Brahmin, washed his feet and promised to give him whatever pleased him - cows, gold, embellished house, food and drink, Brahmin's daughter, flourishing villages, horses, elephants, carriages, land - - - - . The dwarf Brahmin praised the greatness of the forefathers of the king - Virochana, Prahlad, Hiranaksha and Hiranyakashipu and that of their worthy successor, the king Bali himself. The king pleased with him, said, "please command, O son of Brahmin, what can I do for you." The dwarf concludes his speech with the semblance of moderation as follows: I ask from thee a small portion of ground, three paces measured step by step, I desire no more from thee. A wise man incurs no sin when he asks only as much as he needs." The king, though astonished at the smallness of the request takes a vessel of water in his hand and is about to give confirmation of his word ritually by 137 Early Avatars samkalp. His preceptor, Sukracharya, the priest of the demons, saw through the Vamana Brahmin, the play of Vishnu to trick the king and advised him to break his word and said that the Vamana Brahmin was no other than Vishnu himself who had come to cheat him of his wealth and power in favour of gods. But the king, in spite of his guru's warning, was rather happy to know this and thought the fact that the Lord himself had come to ask for something from him was a great privilege and it was fortunate of him to serve the Lord with whatsoever pleased him. And the king with great joy gave his ritual consent to give three paces of land to him. The Vamana's pigmy form, after samkalp, becomes a giant and massive figure and measured the earth and the heaven by two strides and the third step yet to be measured. "Asura, three paces of ground were promised to me by Thee; with two paces the entire earth and heaven have been covered; find a place for the third," said Vamana. Bali offers his head for the third pace of Vishnu, who presses his foot to send the king to the patala, the lower world. Bali was a daitya all right, but nevertheless he was a benign and benevolent ruler, a great giver, favourably inclined to Brahmins and Rishis, and so mighty that even gods were not able to vanquish him. Why then had the Lord come to humble him down. The entire religious scripture has a mystic, spiritual and universal message concealed and codified in allegories. The way the story of king Bali runs, we hardly find anything negative in him. And if there is anything which is not to be tolerable or so monstrous, why is he not done away with altogether? His Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 138 greatness is simply subdued, his ego is humbled down and the higher region is liberated from the black shadow of egoism. Indeed, it is ego that is the Asura, form and degree may vary. Therefore the work of Vamana Avatar is to restore the higher kingdom of gods to them from the clutches of the demons, the forces of the vital region, the seat of the Ego.

Parashurama

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This has been an absolute truth from time immemorial. Statecraft and rule of kingdom has been the prerogative of the Kshatriyas who were strong, powerful, fearless, courageous, and valiant and protectors and saviours of the weak and the holy. They were heroes of high morals, and model kings. It was the tradition of the Aryan culture of yore in India. But since they enjoyed absolute power, sometimes they were subjected to moral degeneration and degradation and fall from their ideal. We find many examples of this nature in our ancient history, one of which is being cited here as it is relevant to the present story of Parashurama Avatar of the Supreme Being. Once in ancient times there ruled a king named Sahasrarjuna who was the son of Kritavirya of Haihaya dynasty. Once he, along with his retinue and regiment visited the Ashram of Jamadagni Rishi who was one of the great galaxy of seven seers of the Veda. The Rishi had a heavenly cow - all fulfilling Kamdhenu Savatsa whom he had earned by virtue of his great tapas. The Rishi prayed to the Kamdhenu to look after the royal guests, feed them 139 Early Avatars to their heart's content and take care of their proper comfort and rest. The king was impressed by the wonderful banquet and the luxurious arrangement of rest for such a large number of his team in the simple and austere hutments of the Rishi's ashram in the forest. When he came to know that all that was produced by the divine cow - Kamdhenu, he could not resist the temptation to take away the celestial cow along with him. He therefore requested his host, the Rishi to part with the heavenly Kamadhenu. But the Rishi humbly refused the king's demand and said, "She is the mother and soul of the Ashram. It is she who supplies us all sacrificial needs and materials for all kinds of religious rituals as also takes care of our celestial visitors. How can I think of parting with her." The king Sahasrarjuna, by virtue of a severe penance, had obtained a boon from his deity Dattatreya to have a thousand arms and not to be slain by any one except the Divine. Drunk with power and pride, he therefore not only expanded his empire ruthlessly, crushing the neighbourly small fiefs, but also became arrogant, atrocious and absolutely blind to all norms of decency and decorum. It is then no wonder that he took away the Rishi's Kamadhenu by force to his capital, let alone to say a word of gratitude to the Rishi for his generous hospitality. The king's men, boors and brutes, drove away the cow mercilessly while she looked back piteously mooing at the Rishi who stood stony, dumbstruck and helpless at the pitiless act of the king and his men. Although his power of penance was far more mighty than the haughty king, the great Rishis characteristically always keep calm and unperturbed, condone and forgive even the most evil ones. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 140

But his youngest son Parashurama was different. He was the living image of both Brahmatej and Kshatratej, the glory of the Brahminic wisdom and the force of a Kshatriya. He combined both propensities in his nature - tapas and battle. As a son of a Rishi and Brahmin he mastered all Vedas and scriptures — Shaastra vidya as also the science of weapons, Astra-vidya, under the tutelage of Maharshi Kashyap. He also performed a great penance and pleased the great God Shiva who granted him many invincible divine astras. He had a very impressive and awesome personality — a tall and perfect body with an axe on one shoulder and a bow on the other like a warrior, with matted hair on his haloed countenance and clad in valkalavastra like an ascetic, a tapasvin, fair complexioned stout body like a flame of fire — shining like a brilliant sun. When on his return from the forest, he learnt of the unfortunate incident from his mother, he was furious and immediately ran to give a chase to the king and bring back his sacred Kamadhenu. The king had not yet reached his capital, Mahishmati- puri when Parashurama checked and challenged him for battle. "Kill the Brahmin. He has come to take away the cow." The king, haughty and blind to the reality, commanded his men. This was the state of disregard to which the superior status of the Brahmins, the knowers of Brahman, Rishis that was once highest in the society was reduced and degenerated in course of time. But the king had to pay a very heavy price for his unworthy acts and words. Not only the king's men and regiments were killed, but also the 141 Early Avatars king himself lost his life at the hands of Parashurama, the Incarnate Divine. Having freed the cow, his Kamadhenu, he returned to his father's hermitage. To avenge the death of their father, sons of Sahasrarjuna, attacked the ashram of Rishi Jamadagni, when Parashurama and his brothers were not present there, and chopped up the head of the meditating Rishi and ran away with it. The Rishi's wife Renuka helplessly lamented and beat her breast in heart-rending grief. This was the height of arrogance and atrocity against the innocent holy hermits and the Rishis who were engaged in tapas only for the public welfare - lokakalyana without any motive. When Parashurama returned to the Ashram and came to know the tragedy, he immediately rushed with his bow and axe to Mahishmatipuri. Kshatriyas were supposed to love and take care of their subjects. Instead, they had become worse than asuras. They must be taught a lesson. Therefore Parashurama not only killed all the thousand sons of the brute king, but killed all the kshatriyas of the land and not once, but twenty one times, to ensure that no progeny survived any more. This was the Divine wrath to set right the imbalance created by the asuric conduct of the kshatriya kings. The right equilibrium was later firmly founded by another genre of kshatriya kings led by Rama who was again none other than the Incarnate Divine. `

Rama

Rama is the seventh Avatar of the Supreme Godhead. Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, wreaks havoc on earth, Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 142 peace takes flight and darkness shrouds the land as his atrocities grow with each passing day. The mother earth cries out in supplication to the Heaven to deliver her from the tyranny of the demons. In answer to her prayers the Lord decides to descend on the earth in the form of Rama and put an end to the evil. He not only came to kill Ravana, but also to show how a man can stick to the path of righteousness in the face of all adversity. A hero and warrior like no other, Rama towers above over not only kings or demons of his time in prowess, but also sages and seers in wisdom despite his tender age. And all his actions are not for the self but for his people and the humanity at large. The spell-binding story of Sri Rama Avatar has been very vividly depicted in the Sanskrit epic 'Ramayana' by Valmiki - a great sage and poet of ancient India. This unique literary marvel surpasses all the great poetic creations of the world in its characterization, vision and cosmic sweep. It is at once a legend and a cultural history which stands as a great landmark in the terrestrial evolution of mankind on earth. The story of Rama Avatar is so popular in India, so much infused in the fabric of Indian life that all kinds of people, from pundit to the peasant, from king to pauper, never get tired of singing the glory of Rama and act his life-story on their festive occasions. It is indeed the warp and woof of the national culture of our country. Rama descended on earth in Treta Yuga, according to the Indian classification of kâla from the point of view of evolutionary progress in the human nature. He marks the end of one stage of civilization, the civilization of animal and asuric nature, and the beginning of a sane and 143 Early Avatars enlightened culture, the culture of sattwic and ideal mind — Rama Rajya. He manifests a wonderful reconciliation of two opposing natures in his character — humility, unassuming temperament, calm and endurance, and matchless valiance, invincible force and victor's power. He comes as the greatest warrior of his time, for he had to deal with the titanic forces which were opposing the new light to descend, and establish itself in the earthly play. He was of course a prophet and harbinger of a new way of life, but not a Rishi or sage or saint, but a prince, although he was the saviour of sages and seers. Born as the eldest son of king Dasharath of Ayodhya, he is taken away while still young by Rishi Vishwamitra to his hermitage for the protection of sacrifices and religious performance of Rishis against the rakshasas. Two demons — Maricha and Subahu were commanded by Ravana — the titan king of Lanka, to prevent the completion of sacrifices being performed by Rishis. He was accompanied by his faithful and beloved brother Lakshmana on the way to the hermitage. Vishwamitra bestows on Rama various arms and powers to make him more powerful and unparalleled in might. The task of completion of yajnas undistursed under the watchful eyes of the duo, the sage addresses Rama thus: My joy, o prince, is now complete Thou hast obeyed my will Perfect before, this calm retreat Is now more perfect still.3 Next, Rama and Lakshmana are persuaded to accompany the hermit to Mithila, the capital of king Janaka, 3. Griffithi's Ramayan p.125 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 144 to attend the swayamvar ceremony of his daughter - Sita's marriage - as also to see the wonderful bow of Lord Shiva under the possession of the king. On the way Rama, by his divine touch, liberates Ahalya, the wife of Gautama Rishi who had been turned into a stone by the curse hurled by her husband, for ages. Rama and Lakshmana along with the sage reach Mithila. They are introduced to the king Janaka. The ceremony begins. The heavenly bow is brought on to the stage and the king announces that whoever shall bend the bow and pull the string, to him will go his daughter, Sita. All the suitors, kings and princes, desirous of winning Sita's hand failed to move the bow even by an inch, let alone to bend and string it. Then disappointed Janaka invites Rama who takes it up easily in his hand and as he was to pull the string, it snapped in two, to the wonder of the beholders. Rama thus becomes the successful suitor of Sita and messengers are dispatched to Ayodhya to invite his father to the wedding ceremony. His two brothers - Bharata and Shatrughna also join and along with Rama's marriage with Sita, his three brothers are also wedded to the other three daughters of king Janaka. Then they return home and live in happiness. After some time, when the eldest Rama was to be coronated, Rama's step-mother, the mother of Bharata, Kaikeyi, who was envious of Rama's enthronement and willing to enthrone her own son instead, forced the king Dasharath to fulfill the vow given to her on an occasion of great danger when she alone had stood by him. And the vow shall be fulfilled only if Rama was sent to live a hermit's life in the forest for fourteen years and her own son Bharata 145 Early Avatars installed as king. Rama, as an image of humility and ideal son, follows his step-mother's command and departs without any murmur. His faithful wife Sita and ideal brother Lakshmana insist on accompanying him. Thus all three left the capital amidst the tears of the whole city. The helpless king Dasharatha quietly suffers and at last succumbs to his unbearable grief a short time after their departure. The three met with many adventures in the forest while they lived like ascetics. On the way Rama and Lakshmana killed a great giant named Viradha, who wanted to run away with Sita. Then he kills a big battalion of 14 thousand soldiers of Ravana under the captaincy of Khara and Dushana who, enraged, came to kill Rama, Lakshmana and Sita soon after Ravana's sister Shurpanakha's nose was mutilated by Lakshmana. This is followed by Sita's abduction by Ravana to avenge the insult to his sister, Shurpanakha, with the help of Maricha. Maricha was reluctant to help Ravana in his malicious plan of kidnapping Sita, but forced and threatened by him, agreed to take the form of a golden deer to entice Sita. Sita, attracted by it, insisted that Rama catch it for her. Rama follows the deer, Lakshmana stays back to take care of Sita. Rama shoots the deer and while dying it cried in the voice of Rama, "Ha Sita! Ha Lakshmana"! Lakshmana leaves Sita alone and rushes towards Rama to see if something was wrong with him. Ravana, who was hiding near, seized the opportunity to carry off the defenceless Sita and took his in her chariot to his palace in Lanka. Rama and Lakshmana, when they returned home and Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 146 did not see Sita there, sank in sorrow and grief and tried in vain to find her in the forest. At last, with the help of Jatayu, Hanuman, Sugriva, Jambavant, etc. they were able to trace the whereabouts of Sita. But to bring her back from the clutches of the mighty demon Ravana across a sea of a hundred yojanas was almost impossible. On the advice of Hanuman Rama agrees to restore the kingdom of the monkey king Sugriva from his brute brother Vali on the condition that Sugriva would help him to get back Sita from Lanka. Rama then kills Vali and Sugriva is made the king of Vanaras. With the help of Sugriva and his army of powerful monkeys at last the sea is bridged and a mighty army of monkeys attacked the fortification of Lanka. There was a fierce battle between the Danavas and the Vanaras. Ravana's brother Vibhishana was a godly person and was not happy with Ravana because of his immoral act of kidnapping Sita. He therefore joined Rama's side and helped him fight the war with Ravana. This was a fierce battle between demoniac forces and the divine powers. Ravana was no ordinary demon. He was the mightiest force in all the three worlds. Gods had already been vanquished by him. He never cared for mere beasts and men. That is why he was cock sure that he will win the war and the monkeys' army of Rama and Lakshmana will serve as a good banquet for his rakshasas. There were many moments of ups and downs. Many a time Rama and Lakshmana were wounded and fell unconscious by the furious assaults of mighty danavas and monkeys in thousands were eaten up by them. There were times when Rama's army lost the hope to win. But at last 147 Early Avatars

Ravana along with his mighty chiefs was killed by Rama and Lakshmana. Sita was restored and all the three happily go back home to Ayodhya since the period of the exile was about to end. At this point the drama ends in comedy. But the drama continues. A time comes in Rama's life when Sita was exiled at the behest of one of his subjects who had to be satisfied at all costs in a model kingdom, Rama Rajya, which was one of the obligations to be fulfilled as an ideal king. But these are the background created for the Avataric works for which the supreme Godhead came down as Rama on earth. He came down to give a push to the evolutionary wheel. Man had emerged out of beasts, but the rein of his life was still in the hands of animal vitality. The mental morality was still a far cry. It was still a jungle raj. He comes to manifest the power of the higher mind which can tame both forces — the titans and the beasts. He sets ideals in all possible relations — an ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal lover and husband, and ideal friend and finally an ideal king and warrior, and, for all this he sacrificed all his personal wills, comforts and conveniences. He came down purely to work out the Divine will as the Divine man to play the hero in the cosmic drama of the Divine. Sri Aurobindo's remarks on Rama Avatar are worth reading for he himself is the incarnation of the Divine knowledge and power and he has looked at Rama's life from that divine height: "His business was to destroy Ravana and to establish the Rama Rajya — in other words, to fix for the future the possibility of an order proper to the sattwic civilized human Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 148 being who governs his life by the reason, the finer emotions, morality, or at least moral ideals, such as truth, obedience, cooperation and harmony, the sense of domestic and public order, — to establish this in a world still occupied by anarchic forces, the animal-mind and the powers of the vital Ego making its own satisfaction the rule of life, in other words, the Vanara and Rakshasa. This is the meaning of Rama and his life-work and it is according as he fulfilled it or not that must be judged as Avatar or no Avatar. It was not his business to play the comedy of the chivalrous kshatriya with the formidable brute beast that was Vali, it was his business to kill him and get the Animal under his control. It was his business to be not necessarily a perfect, but a largely representative sattwic man, a faithful husband and a lover, a loving and obedient son, a tender and perfect brother, father, friend— he is friend of all kinds of people, friend of the outcast Guhaka, friend of the animal leaders, Sugriva, Hanuman, friend of the vulture Jatayu, friend of even Rakshasa Vibhishana. All he was in a brilliant, striking but, above all, spontaneous and inevitable way, - - - - but with a certain harmonious completeness. But most of all, it was his business to typify and establish the things on which the social idea and its stability depend, truth and honour, the sense of Dharma, public spirit and the sense of order. To the first, to the truth and honour much more than to his filial love and obedience to his father — though to that also — he sacrificed his personal rights as the elect of the king and the assembly, and fourteen of the best years of his life and went into exile in the forests. To his public spirit and his sense of public order, the great and supreme civic virtue in the eyes of the ancient Indians, Greeks, Romans, 149 Early Avatars for at that time the maintenance of the ordered community, not the separate development and satisfaction of the individual, was the pressing need of the human evolution, he sacrificed his own happiness and domestic life and the happiness of Sita. In that he was at one with the moral sense of all the antique races…… Finally, it was Rama's business to make the world safe for the ideal of the sattwic human being by destroying the sovereignty of Ravana, the Rakshasa menace. All this he did with such a divine afflatus in his personality and action that his figure has been stamped for more than two millenniums on the mind of Indian culture, and what he stood for has dominated the reason and idealizing mind of man in all countries, and in spite of the constant revolt of human vital, is likely to continue to do so until a greater ideal arises. "4

4. Avatarhood AIM (Aug-Sept) 1998 pp.51-53 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 150

Chapter 5

Buddha Avatar

"Buddhism came as a blaze of lightning across the sky of India's tradition; it was almost a fiery writing on the wall. Buddhism opposed and denied some of the very fundamental principles upon which the old world rested, it was perhaps the greatest iconoclastic movement ever thrown up by the human consciousness. First of all, it denied the tradition itself; it did not recognize the authority and sanctity of the pûrve pitarah, the ancient fathers, nor their revealed knowledge, the Veda. Buddhism enjoined the priority and supremacy of the individual's own consciousness, own effort and own realisation. 'Be thou thy own light, work out thy own salvation. —'that was the injunction given. Not to take anything for granted - not even God or Brahman — but to judge and see for yourself where and what is the truth. It was the first protestant reaction recorded in human history." This is how Shri Nolinikant Gupta wraps up the Buddhism, in his article, 'The Mission of Buddhism' compiled in the 2nd volume of his Collected Works. Yes, indeed, Buddha was born and brought up in India and in the Hindu tradition but developed an independent view of things, his own weltanschauung, which was even contrary in many respects to his own traditional family culture, founded as an independent doctrine and religion called Buddhism separate from the Hindu scriptures and yet, he was not only enfolded by Hindus and their scriptures but also accepted as one of the incarnations of their supreme deity. 151 Buddha Avatar

Buddha is regarded as the ninth Avatar of the Supreme Godhead, the Lord Vishnu of the Hindus, although he himself never believed in God or Gods or even in the individual soul which is the indwelling God in all the creatures of the world according to the Gita: <Ç·É®ú : ºÉ´ÉÇ¦ÉÚiÉÉxÉÉÆ ¾þqäù¶Éä%VÉÖÇxÉ ÊiÉ¹`öÊiÉ * But one thing was remarkable in him; he was all compassion and love for suffering humanity and this urge was so strong that he felt he could stake anything and everything of his life to save humanity from the curse of suffering and pain, dukkham, of life. He was all the time lost sitting pensive and melancholy right from his childhood. He was a handsome and brilliant prince of Kapilavastu, a kingdom of the Shakya dynasty in the valley of Himalayas near Nepal, son of king Shuddhodana who ruled there nearly two thousand and five hundred years ago. When he grew young he still sat wrapped in solitude instead of going out for hunting or other prince-like sports or partaking of joys of royalty. Worried parents hoped for some change in his nature if he was married. But in vain. When he was married and also became father of a child, he was still steeped in the world of thought, meditating and musing. He was 29 then. It was about that time that four simple and common events, which in everyone's life and perhaps everyday, happen unnoticed, stormed his mind and soul and brought about a most uncommon change in his life. It was a great turning point in this career. One day on his outing he happened to see on the path quite an old man passing by, fully ripe of age, with corrugated skin all over, sunken cheeks and eyes and no teeth, stooped, tottering on his stick and about to fall down Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 152 with no one arround to support. He was dumb struck at this pitiable sight. His heart melted. He had never seen such a pathetic scene before. He was full of compassion for him. He stopped the coach and wanted to know from the coachman what this creature was and why and how he met this fate. "This is the lot of man to grow old, from childhood to youth and from youth to old age and when he is too old to walk he looks like that. There is nothing unusual about it, and nothing to be surprised at," replied the coachman very coolly. "Let's return home and not move further," Buddha said, who was on his way to his royal pleasure-park. He was surprised how people can enjoy amidst these miseries of life. There is no permanence in anything. The world, the life is nothing but pain and sorrow. The second day he happened to see a sick man whose lustre of youth was robbed by his disease which left him so grotty and grotesque unlike a human creature. Again the prince was struck and he wanted to know if he was really a human being or something else. The coachman again explained that sickness too was the fate of man like the old age andcould not escape it. The prince, Siddhartha as he was called, again was perturbed and wished to return to the palace and reflect on it. The third day likewise he happened to see a dead man, around whom his relatives and kinsmen were crying and beating their breasts. The prince learnt from his coachman that the deadman will no more return to life for death, the end of life or the end of everything was inevitable and sooner or later all living beings must end in nothingness. The next day he met a young mendicant, clad in ochre 153 Buddha Avatar robe and a begging bowl in his hand, with calm and peaceful countenance. He learnt from the coachman that he was a wise man given to search for and seek the higher purpose of life, free from the burden of the common life, trying to go above the mirage of desire and the wild-goose- chase to satisfy it. He keeps a begging bowl and is happy and content to eat whatever he gets from the house-holders. The prince took his cue from the mendicant and decided to go in search of the cause of human misery and the way to get rid of it for the humanity. It is said that the prince confided in his father and told him the work he was intending to do and for which he felt a pressing call from his heart. Before the king could discuss the matter with his ministers and his queen, the prince suddenly one day at midnight called his coachman and asked him to leave him (the prince) on the border of his kingdom. Thus he left the palace in the darkness of midnight in search of light for the suffering world. A monument still stands on the site, where Siddhartha, the prince bade his adieu to the old world of ignorance and entered a life of search for a light, on the way to Kushinagar, a place now in ruins, situated about 50 miles from Gorakhpur in Utter Pradesh . Buddha first went to Vaishali and became a disciple of a Brahmin guru of 300 disciples, but soon he found that it was not what he was looking for. He thence went to Raja- grih, the capital city of Magadh and found another guru there, who too could not satisfy his urge. Ultimately he decided to undergo a penance and severe austerity to find the knowledge of the Truth and he went into the forests near a village Uruvila along with other five fellow seekers. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 154

After subjecting his body and mind to hard disciplines of tapasya for 6 years, he came to conclusion that asceticism was not the right road to abiding peace of mind and deliverance from sorrow and pain of life; rather it was a snare. He left that practice too and broke his long fast and sat in meditation under a peepal tree near Gaya city on the bank of river Niranjana with a determined will that he would not get up until the realisation of the knowledge which will deliver him from the trap of life and its curses. It is said that under that very tree he realised the supreme consciousness which he called enlightenment after a prolonged and severe battle with Mara and its armies, the forces of Kama, the originator of all desires and pains and sufferings and death. In his meditation after the victory over the dark forces he reached a world of light, peace and calm and utter bliss. Nothing existed beyond that. There was no desire there, nor the consequences of desire. There was no suffering and pain, no old age, no disease and death there. He did not see any God there. It was a great void, infinite vacancy — a fathomless zero, absolute absence of existence — Asat. When he woke up, he was at peace, free from all problems of life and the world. The tree became famous as the Bodhi Tree and the place was known later as Bodh Gaya. He formulated his great experiences later into doctrines and began to share them with people as a mendicant, a travelling monk, in the form of sermons which became famous as four Arya Satyas viz., 1. There is suffering in life. 2. There is a reason for it and that is Desire 3. There is a solution to it. 4. and the solution is the eight-fold path — Ashta Marga — which includes eight disciplines such as 155 Buddha Avatar samyak drishti, samyak samkalp, samyak vak, samyak karma, samyak ajivika, samyak vyayama, samyak smriti, and samyak Samadhi. If the seeker followed these disciplines, he would be delivered from the snare of life and he will reach the absolute freedom from dukkham of life which he called Nirvana — a status of consciousness where there is perfect bliss and peace. After he realised this knowledge, he claimed to be the Enlightened One or the Buddha. His doctrines became famous as Buddhism — a separate new religion cut off from the main tradition of India which was then based on the Veda and Upanishad — a revealed knowledge by many Rishis of yore. There was no personal religion at that time in India like Christianity or Islam founded by any particular Avatar or prophet but the entire tradition was known as Sanatana Dharma — the Eternal Law, which was catholic and universal in character and was meant for the entire mankind. It was not founded by any particular individual at any particular point of time in history. Nor was it called Hindu Religion by the natives of the soil. It was of late that the Aryan culture and tradition of India was identified by outsiders as Hinduism. The word Hindu may be derived from Indus river and the Indus valley civilization. Whatever it is, Buddhism caught momentum during the life-time of Buddha itself. He was invited by the king of Magadh, Bimbisara, to his capital city Rajagriha for his lectures, followed by invitation by the king of Kosala, Raja Prasenjit. Since the Buddha himself hailed from a royal family and he was a charming, intelligent and brilliant speaker who spoke with strong conviction, about things Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 156 perceptible and palpable, with realistic approach, within the range of common man's experience, he received a wide response both from the commonalty and the royalty. His ideas were also patronized by the kings. But yet the most important reason for the instant success of Buddhism was the fading spirit of Vedic practice and general deterioration in the character of Brahmins, the priests, the leaders of the society and their fraudulent behaviour who, in the name of God and gods and the sacrificial rites of the Veda, were cheating the society. It is for this reason that the Buddha denied the authority of the Veda and suggested each one to work out one's own salvation and to be one's own light, not to take anything for granted — not even God — but to judge and see for oneself where and what is the truth. There was already brewing and boiling in the air a general dissatisfaction against the hypocricy in the name of the old tradition. They found their own voice in the words of the Buddha. The essence of spirituality had evaporated from the sanctum sanctorum of the Vedic altars; only the outer vestiges were being continued. Moreover, the approach of the Buddha was so realistic, humanistic and rationalistic that it straightaway appealed to the heart of every one. Who does not suffer in life? Who is not forced to drink the cup of pain, disease and death? But why? What is the reason? Everybody would like to know. And every one would like to be free from it. The Buddha's words touched the most vulnerable point, the vital spot of the human conscience and it was heard by people with great interest. Casteism was another curse prevalent in the contemporary society which was the ugliest deformation 157 Buddha Avatar of the great system of varnashram of the Aryan cult. Buddhism denied even this and favoured only two classes — Bhikkus and House-holders — no brahmin and kshatriya and no vaishya and shudra. No one is high and no one is low. He also denied God in the name of whom the society was being exploited under various garbs, casteism being one of them. Therefore even God was exiled from the Buddhist tenet. The concept of soul, the divine spark and its rebirth from life to life to carry forward the evolution of the central consciousness towards the Supreme Being of Sachchidananda was out of question. The Buddha says: if you take off the elements that constitute the creation of man one by one, nothing is left in the end. Man is only an assemblage of separate elements. There is nothing behind them or within them that is permanent and holding them together. When names and forms go, at the end there is only dissolution, pure and simple, Nothing, Nihil, an infinite zero or Asat. But "Nothing can arise from Nothing," comments Sri Aurobindo, "nothingness is a creation of our mind; where it cannot see or conceive, where its object is something beyond its grasp, too much beyond to give even the sense of a vague intangible, then it cries out, 'Here there is nothing'. Out of its own incapacity it has created the conception of a zero. But what in truth is this zero? It is an incalculable Infinite."1 Sri Aurobindo again remarks: "it is agreed even by the philosophies of the Nihil, Tao or Zero (Sunya) that the Non- Existence of which they speak is a Naught in which all is and from which all comes. Tao, Nihil, or Zero is not different from the Absolute or the Supreme Brahman of Vedanta; it is only another way of describing or naming it." 2 1. Essays Divine and Human CWSA 12:197 2. Ibid p.200 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 158

Nor does Sri Aurobindo agree to Buddhist philosophy of 'Sarva Dukkha', all life and world is suffering and pain, because for him all is delight, the world is born out of delight and goes to delight for "no man could even have the strength to draw in his breath and throw it out again if there were not this heaven of Bliss embracing our existence as ether embraces our bodies, nourishing us with its eternal substance and strength and supporting the life and the activity."3 In spite of contrary views, Sri Aurobindo accepts the Buddha as the Divine Incarnation for he shot up directly to the Absolute the Abode of supreme Peace and Light and Knowledge from where there is no returning to birth. But yet, he adds, "Buddha tried to shoot from mind to Nirvana in the Supreme just as Shankara did in another way after him. Both agree in overleaping the other stages and trying to get at a nameless and featureless Absolute. Krishna on the other hand was leading by the normal course of evolution. The next normal step is not a featureless Absolute but the Supermind. I consider that in trying to overshoot, Buddha like Shankara made a mistake, calling away the dynamic side of the liberation. Therefore there has to be a correction by Kalki,"4 And if Buddha is the Avatar, Divine Incarnation in human body, what were his Avataric works! It is undoubtedly true that he did not follow the beaten tracks of his preceding Avatars, and yet reached the Supreme Truth. The Supreme Truth is infinite and infinite are the ways to realise it. He charted a new route to reach the Truth, the route of the human way. He looked at the world, the suffering humanity, not from the

3. Ibid p.215 4. Avatarhood (AIM) Aug-Sept 1998 p.45 159 Buddha Avatar ivory tower of a realised soul or a divine person who has attained to an equanimity, a poised state of samata towards pleasure and pain, or health and sickness or life and death, but as a common man who too himself can be a victim of the common problems of the common man. He looked at humanity from the eye of the humanity. And instead of seeking the solution of the ills of common men through the old paths, he rationalized the problem, pondered over it, tried many methods, sacrificed all his life to find a new solution, and came out with a new formula of a middle path. He discovered on his way four Arya Satyas and an eight -fold path. Thus we can say that humanity — which is nothing but his love and compassion for humanity and rationality are his two new and great contributions to the world. "Such an age of Reason," writes Nolinikanta Gupta, "and Ratiocination and pure brain power was ushered in by Buddha in India, and almost contemporaneously by Socrates in Greece and Confucius in China. The rationale, that is to say, the scientific or analytical attitude to things appeared in the human consciousness for the first time in its fullness and almost exclusive sway. Neither the Vedas nor the Upanishads know of logic as an instrument — a necessary instrument — for knowledge and expression. The old world method was, as I said, intuitive, experiential, empirical, dogmatic. Also the atmosphere of that world, the stress of the consciousness was theocratic; what the new world brought in was what is called humanistic."5 His compassion and love for the suffering humanity was so deep that, it is said, when his soul heard the human cry while ascending the Nirvanic

5. Collected Works of Nolinikanta Gupta Vol.2 p.281 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 160 status, he refused to go there and decided to stay back on the earth to help and guide men to escape the misery till the entire humanity was liberated. 161

Chapter 6

Kalki: The Avatar: Sri Aurobindo

1. What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme. 15.08.1964 —The Mother * 2. The symbol of Sri Aurobindo: The descending triangle represents Sat-Chit-Ananda. The ascending triangle represents the aspiring answer from Matter under the form of life, light and love. The junction of both — the central square — is the perfect manifestation having at its centre the Avatar of the Supreme — the lotus. The water, inside the square, represents multiplicity, the creation. —The Mother * 3. Since the beginning of earth history, Sri Aurobindo has always presided over the great earthly transformations, under one form or another. —The Mother * 4. (Q: You spoke of Sri Aurobindo's birth as 'eternal' in the history of the universe. What exactly was meant by 'eternal'.?) The sentence can be understood in four different ways on four ascending planes of consciousness: a) Physically, the consequences of the birth will be of eternal importance in the world. b) Mentally, it is a birth that will be eternally remembered in Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 162 the universal history. c) Psychically, a birth that recurs for ever from age to age upon earth. d) Spiritually, the birth of the Eternal upon earth. * 5. In the eternity of becoming each Avatar is only the announcer, the forerunner of a more perfect future realisation. And yet men have always the tendency to deify the Avatar of the past in opposition to the Avatar of the future. Now again Sri Aurobindo has come announcing to the world the realisation of tomorrow and again his message meets with the same opposition as of all those who preceded him. But tomorrow will prove the truth of what he revealed and his work will be done. 21.2.1957 — The Mother * 6. Sri Aurobindo came to tell us: "One need not leave the earth to find the truth, one need not leave the life to find his soul, one need not abandon the world or have only limited beliefs to enter into relation with the Divine. The Divine is everywhere, in everything and if He is hidden, it is because we do not take the trouble to discover Him." — The Mother * 7. Sri Aurobindo incarnated in a human body the supramental consciousness and has not only revealed to us the nature of the path to follow and the method of following it so as to arrive at the goal, but has also by his own personal realisation given us the example; he has provided us with the proof that the thing can be done and the time is now to do it. — The Mother * 163 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

8. Sri Aurobindo does not belong to the past nor to history. Sri Aurobindo is the future advancing towards its realisation. 2.4.1967 — The Mother * 9. 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 Mother * 10. Sri Aurobindo came to tell the world of the beauty of the future that must be realised. He came to give not a hope but a certitude of the splendour towards which the world moves. The world is not an unfortunate accident, it is a marvel which moves towards its expression. The world needs the certitude of the beauty of the future. Sri Aurobindo has given that assurance. 27.11. 1971 — The Mother * 11. 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. 20.6.1972 — The Mother * 12. Q: I have a strong feeling that you are the Divine Incarnation. Am I right? (This question was asked by a disciple to Sri Aurobindo) Answer: Follow your faith - it is not likely to mislead you. — Sri Aurobindo * The last Avatar among the ten prominent ones according to the Puranas — the Indian Mythological accounts, is referred Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 164 to as Kalki, meaning thereby, the Avatar of tomorrow or the Avatar of Kaliyuga, who is supposed to appear towards the termination of our present age. The Vishnu Purana paints a graphic picture of the dismal state of affairs prevailing before the birth of the last Avatar. Towards the end of Kaliyuga there will be total eclipse of moral and spiritual values —Truthfulness, honesty, sincerity, gratitude will disappear from the nature of men and women, for these virtues will have no value for them. The satisfaction of desire will be the sole business of life. Human relationship will be based not on the obligation of duty and love, but on the selfish motive. Falsehood will be the triumphal arc, cunningness the sole wisdom. Property will decide the rank, dishonesty will be the universal means of subsistence. Vedas, the true knowledge, will be lost and Veda-knowers will be considered fools. Violence and anarchy will be the order of the day. Rulers will be criminals and breakers of law. Thus in Kali age shall decay flourish until the human race approaches annihilation. Vishnu Purana further says that it is at that time that Kalki will descend on earth and take birth in the family of Vishnuyasha, an eminent brahmin of Sambhal village as Kalki endowed with eight superhuman traits. By his irresistable might he will destroy all the iniquitous people and establish righteousness upon earth and the minds of those who live at the end of Kali age shall be awakened and be made pure as crystal. The men who are changed in virtue of that particular time shall be the seeds of human beings who will give birth to a new race who shall follow the laws of the Krita Yuga, the age of Truth and Purity. Kalki will be riding a white horse with a sword in his 165 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo hand. He is the purifier of the present degenerate age and the restorer of purity and goodness. We are already living quite nigh to the end of the world. Our present civilisation would have been finished during the second great war itself but for the intervention of some unknown power, for Hitler was the great Asura Incarnate who was bent upon to destroy the world. There was again the possibility of third great war and had it taken place as expected a few years back, humanity would have been completely extinct. But this too was evaded against all rational explanations by some inexplicable power. The unexpected fall of Russia gave a new lease of life to humanity. But still, we are surviving only under the threat of an imminent catastrophe, the sword of Damocles, arising from the mutual distrust, hate and intolerance among the nations of the world. It is not that Hindu scriptures alone speak of destruction of the world and of change to a new way of life. Prophet Mohammed, it is said, also had foreseen 'qayamat' after 1400 years from his time and the coming of a new messiah. According to Chritianity there will come a Doomsday and Christ will appear again to fulfil his promise to found the paradise on earth. The language is different, but the spirit is the same. The famous science fiction writer H.G. Wells observed the trend of science and the propensities of human nature and guessed that the world will come to an end one day very soon. In his novel 'Shape of Things to Come', he imagines that a fast killing epidemic will sweep the world, those who survive will create a new world. A thinker and writer, Aldous Huxley foresees emergence of a 'Brave New World' from the ashes of the atomic war. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 166

There is no doubt that at present everybody feels that the danger of imminent annihilation is waylaying and waiting for the least chance to spring at the world. But somehow it has not come about till now. It seems that there is some power struggling to save us against some destructive and demoniac force that wants to wash off life from the face of the earth. There is a constant battle between the Divine and the Demon in the occult or spiritual world, the manifestation of which we sometimes watch on the material plane in the form of a large- scale massacre. And yet many of us can feel genuinely that we have deformed the world to such an extent and created such an incurable global crisis that a massive operation, a thorough amputation if not total replacement, is inevitable. The German philosopher Nietzsche wants to bring down the kingdom of Heaven by violence. He does not care for Good, it is the Great that moves him. According to Nietzsche, an ideal man is he who fights always - the champion of strength, of greatness, of mightiness. The way of the cross, the path of love and charity and pity does not lead to the kingdom of Heaven according to him. His solution of all the ills of the world is 'superman' of his brand who is typified in Hitler. A scientist christian Teilhard de Chardin arrives at the vision of Omega by his 'ultra-physics' and then argues that at the human level of evolution Omega may be expected to communicate with us through religious messages and, for full effect, incarnate as the divine Super-Person in humanity. Such a special act would give a great push to the work of world-unification, the gathering together of personal centres by a Super-Centre. The incarnate divinity is thus a step and a stage in the progressive history of a 167 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo universal soul of Evolution, remarks K. D. Sethna in one of his essays: "The true Teilhard and the essential Sri Aurobindo." Dr. Beatrice Bruteau's remarks in a penetrating article, "Sri Aurobindo and Teilhard de Chardin on the problem of Action", are worth noting: "Teilhard visualizes evolutionary fulfilment in a sort of 'super-organism' where the sovereign centre which he calls Christ-Omega constitutes the converging point for a multitude of personal centres enjoying a 'differentiating union' of love with it. When the peak of development is attained, there will be a break- through outside Time and Space by the very excess of unification and co-reflection of the numerous personal consciousnesses. There will be a final 'critical point' of evolution at which mankind, its convergence complete, will detach itself from this planet and join the transcendent Christ-Omega. At this point we may feel that somehow we have come full circle and that the finite, material, spatio- temporal world, whose value we are trying to justify, has quietly slipped through our fingers, leaving us with our supreme value again attached only to the spiritual realm." According to him "the world travails, not to bring forth from within itself some supreme reality, but to find its consummation through a union with a pre-existent Being. And he was obliged in the end to abandon the world of space, time and matter for another world beyond." 1 According to Bruteau, while Teilhard's vision of the world evolving towards a single collective state of "super- humanity" with a "super consciousness" does undoubtedly contain powerful sources of motivation for action in the world, especially for those who share his theological

1. Aspects of Sri Aurobindo by K.D. Sethna p.34 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 168 presuppositions, it does not thoroughly succeed in justifying the world and satisfactorily solving the problem of action in the space-time frame-work.2 Teilhard in his book "The Phenomenon of Man" has considered many possibilities of evolution and reached this conclusion that the evolution is on its march towards the perfect consciousness. But alas! that perfection is beyond this world. Sri Aurobindo's contemporary philosopher of Germany Martin Heidegger in his work "Being and Time" speaks of evolution and transformation of man into an authentic Being which can save the world from the present crisis. A. B. Naess who writes in the New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1975), has distinguished the nature of Heidegger's Being from the psychological means by which it is to be attained. Those means are dreadful and dark; yet they conduct us to a differnt state, one of radiant happiness. Naess tells us: "- ---'knowing joy --- is a door to the Eternal' --- Being is associated with 'Light' and with 'the joyful'--- Being 'calls the time;' 'to think Being' is to arrive at one's (true) home.3 Heidegger is a critic of technological society and of the role of science, but also averse to common religion and the expressions of traditional theology. But there is a great deal of mysticism at the back of his thinking — very near to the great formula of the Upanishads — Absolute and Eternal yet he may not be aware of his co-relation with the great thoughts of Indian philosophy. Perhaps it is for this reason that the writer of "The Radical Thinkers" finds reading Sri Aurobindo's works, which are based on the Vedas and Upanishads, very helpful to understand Heidegger's and vice versa.

2. Ibid p.35 3. The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (1975) Vol.8, p.740 169 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

There is another philosopher, and poet Iqbal who also speaks the language of evolution of super humanity and believes that man's future lies in surpassing himself — beyond his mind and intellect, perhaps through the heart into the soul. He had foreseen that Reason was leading the present civilisation to the brink of destruction which he expressed in his poetic tone thus:

Thy culture will kill herself by her own dagger Whoever shall perch on a weak bough will fall and stagger According to Iqbal, man becomes perfect only when he becomes God. His destiny is to supersede himself and be a Nayabe-Ilahi — a spiritual man, be so great that not man should merge in God, rather God shall merge in him.

Khudhi ko kar buland itna Ki har takdeer ke pahale Khuda bande se poochhe Bataa, teree razaa kya hai?

Anyway, it is definitely being felt by all the thinkers of the world that our civilization is under seige and humanity is facing an ever greatest crisis at present. But no one is able to diagnose the malady and present a solution. One of the greatest poets of the world and a Nobelist Rabindranath Tagore was upset to see the Doomsday lie in wait and worried to save the world, he begs the Buddha to be reborn so that the world may regain its sense and love may be restored to its rightful place: Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 170

The world today is wild with the delirium of hatred, The conflicts are cruel and unceasing is anguish, Crooked are its paths, tangled its bonds of greed.

All creatures are crying for a new birth of thine O Thou of boundless life, Save them, rouse thine eternal voice of hope, Let Love's lotus with its inexhaustible treasure of honey Open its petals in thy light.

O Serene, O Free, in thine immeasurable mercy and goodness, Wipe away all dark stains from the heart of this earth.

The great Indian poet feels that one more Avatar of the Buddha alone can save the hatred and war-torn world. Thinkers like T.S. Eliot and Aldous Huxley had felt the impending global crisis under the leadership of the Duo, Messrs Reason and Science. One Mr. Oswald Spangler in his 'Decline of the West' has categorically hinted and pointed the finger at Science for endangering the future of Man. Mahatma Gandhi, a social and political visionary and the architect of Indian independence, had seen through the menace of the Western Frankenstein of Reason and Technology and advocated the promotion of handicrafts and hand-made things for our needs. But these are false glimmers of the valley of the mind, intellectual speculations, which neither identify the malady nor present the right solution for it. These are mere flickerings of twilights and star-fed nights of mental reasonings. Sri Aurobindo, who was a seer in the mould of Vedic rishis, who could see the future of the earthly manifestation and 171 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo who, although ironically was brought up in the most impressionable period of his life in the West, has called the Western civilization of Science a sinking ship and warned India against following its legacy and advised to develop her own system in all the spheres of life based on her glorious past. Not only to India that he shows the right path, but he brings a message for the whole humanity and the entire earth. Not only he indentifies the reasons of the present problems, the current impasse throttling the way to further progress of mankind, but he also points out the errors committed in the past leading to the present crisis. The reason he says is that the total Truth of existence and life was never sought for the mankind and partitioned truths guided the destiny of man. The mystic meaning of the birth of the universe always eduded us. The Finite and Infinity were never tuned. The unity of Spirit and Matter ever remained shrouded. Shankara and Buddha in the past proclaimed their gospels as the last word of God or Truth. For Shankara the world did not exist and for Buddha life was only duhkham, whereas Sri Aurobindo looks at the creation from the last peak of Unity — the single Truth — unpartitioned and total. For him Spirit and Matter are one, two poises of a single Reality. The world is the extension of God, hence both are true. Nothing is illusion or unreality. Nor the life is suffering, because hidden below it is Delight, which we have to discover. That is why he knows the malady of man and its solution as well. This apparent gulf between the Spirit and Matter has created two antagonistic blocks in the world life — East and West, spiritual and material, resulting in numerous Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 172 impediments in the way of Human Unity and higher harmonies of earthly life and nature. Sri Aurobindo has bridged the gulf of the Spirit and Matter and hence reconciled the difference between East and West too. Sri Aurobindo because of this totality of his vision, knowledge and experience, is identified as an Avatar — the last Avatar, Kalki, and accomplisher and fulfiller of the goal of creation. An Avatar always comes with a new element unknown to the present life, but compatible to the new goal that he sets for the humanity, to take forward the march of evolution of Consciousness towards higher heights. He was a treasurer of superhuman dreams. A divine knowledge poured down into his mind and life and he became one with the mind of God. On a height he stood that looked towards greater heights from where he saw a glorious future of Man. He gave us a new hope: A death bound littleness is not all we are: ------Still have we parts that grow towards the light, Yet are there luminous tracts and heavens serene And Eldorados of splendour and ecstasy.4 He found that not only the present science with its dim glimmers is inadequate to lead mankind to its proper destiny, but even our ancient seers, purve pitarah, missed to see the lingering 'yet unseen the glorious sun,' which could bring the everlasting day in the earth's life. "Our early approaches to the Infinite Are sunrise splendours on a marvellous verge While lingers yet unseen the glorious sun. What now we see is a shadow of what must come.

4. Savitri CWSA 33:46 173 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

The earth's uplook to a remote Unknown Is a preface only of the epic climb Of human soul from its flat earthly state To the discovery of a greater self And the far gleam of an eternal Light.5

Not only he had realised the individual divine and the Personal God in his body, but went up to the Supreme Truth beyond the cosmic Godhead, identified with the Absolute, the Transcendental — Sat, Chit and Ananda, in all its aspects — silent and dynamic, Impersonal and Personal, and because of this all the secret plan of the Supreme Nature was unveiled to him.

There is a plan in the Mother's deep world-whim, A purpose in her vast and random game. This ever she meant since the first dawn of life, This constant will she covered with her sport, To evoke a person in the impersonal Void, With the Truth-Light strike earth's massive roots of trance, Wake a dumb self in the inconscient depths And raise a lost power from its python sleep That the eyes of the Timeless might look out from Time And the world manifest the unveiled Divine. For this he left his white infinity And laid on the spirit the burden of the flesh, That Godhead's seed might flower in mindless Space.6

He in fact surveyed the whole drama of the Cosmos, the play of manifestation right from the great plunge of the supreme — Sat, Chit, Ananda into their opposites — Matter,

5. I bid 6. Ibid pp.72-73 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 174

Inconscience and Suffering and still greater sacrifice of the supreme Mother — the Para Prakriti — into the pitch darkness of Ignorance to the reverse ascending journey of Evolution, to the origin, upto the point of faltering and fumbling Mind and even beyond Mind moving with snail's pace; and found that something very crucial that the earlier trackers had missed with the result the true goal of the manifestation was not attained. It is he that unveils the total agenda of the Absolute and the true will of God behind this manifestation. He says that the route of the evolutionary march of Consciousness does not go to the extinction of the soul beyond this world into the Impersonal Existence or Sat nor to the Nihil or Asat, but to the fulfilment of life here on earth, full of light and love and force of God culminating in a Life Divine. The something very crucial missed by the earlier path-finders was, according to Sri Aurobindo, the supramental world of the Supernal Light without any trace of ignorance, which has the capacity to transform the earthly life into a divine life absolutely free from falsehood, division and strife, malice and hatred, pain and sorrow and even desease, decay and death. He seized upon this world of new Supernal Light — the Supermind as he calls it, unknown to the world hitherto and brought it down on earth to effectuate the necessary change of Consciousness of Man in due course, leading to the new goal and ideal of mankind — the Life Divine on earch, set by him. It is for the first time that such a high ideal and aim of human life has been presented to man: "The ascent to the divine Life is the human journey, the Work of works, the acceptable Sacrifice. This alone is man's real business in the world and justification of his existence, 175 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo without which he would be only an insect crawling among other ephemeral insects on a speck of surface mud and water which has managed to form itself amid the appalling immensities of the physical universe."7 How will this divine Light work in the world? By propaganda? By sermons? By social and religious customs? By a law of force or by the cult of mutts and viharas? The force of the Supramental Light is already permeating and seeping in our life without our awareness of it and affecting slowly and steadily our inner fabrics of life, and moulding our inner nature into a deviner kind. He has foreseen the process of working of the Light as is clear from his super epic Savitri: When darkness deepens strangling the earth's breast And man's corporeal mind is the only lamp, As a thief in the night shall be the covert tread Of one who steps unseen into his house. A Voice ill-heard shall speak, the soul obey. A Power into mind's inner chamber steal, A charm and sweetness open Life's closed doors And beauty conquer the resisting world, The Truth-Light capture Nature by surprise, A stealth of God compel the heart to bliss And earth grow unexpectedly divine. In Matter shall be lit the spirit's glow, In body and body kindled the sacred birth; Night shall awake to the anthem of the stars, The days become a happy pilgrim march, Our will a force of the Eternal's power, And thought the rays of a spiritual sun. A few shall see what none yet understands; 7. The Life Divine CWSA21:48 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 176

God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep; For man shall not know the coming till its hour And belief shall be not till the work is done.8

Sri Aurobindo is a divine dreamer. He dreams in his poem 'A God's Labour' to bring down the heaven on earth :

"I have gathered my dreams in a silver air Between the gold and the blue And wrapped them softly and left them there, My jewelled dreams of you.

"I had hoped to build a rainbow bridge Marrying the soil to the sky And sow in this dancing planet midge The moods of Infinity."9

He dreams to bring sunrise splendours and everlasting day in the pitch darkness of midnight. The present condition of the world is no less than this. Is he then a day-dreamer? A lotus-eater? He was indeed made "of the stuff that dreamers are made of, but dreamers who will act their dream, indifferent to the means." This is the impression of a British journalist, Henry Nevinson, who had interviewed him during his political days. And how true it was! When he knew and saw the possibility of bringing down a new power of the Divine, capable of transforming the life an earth which he termed as 'Supermind', he worked day and night in concentration in his cave of tapasya in Pondicherry, careless of victory or death, in the spirit of do or die to see that it works out in 8. Savitri CWSA 33:55 9. CWSA 2:534 177 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo the end, all alone, against all odds, disbelief and lack of faith among the men around him, like an adventurer into the Unknown, in search of immortality for the mortals where no human feet have ever trodden. In one of his poems 'The Infinite Adventure' a vivid picture of his inner journey is how beautifully drawn:

"On the waters of a nameless Infinite My skiff is launched; I have left the human shore. All fades behind me and I see before The unknown abyss and one pale pointing light...... Beyond, the invisible height no soul has trod.10 A total transformation of Man into Superman, a new race of gods, is like planting a branch of Heaven, the abode of immortal gods on the mortal earth! Indeed it is too great an ambition for a man, an earthly man! But was he a mere earthly man? He was in fact 'a colonist from immortality', a Divine man, the Eternal in human body who came down to shape the lives of men and show that ‘one soul's ambition can lift up the race.’ The Mother was the first to indentify the Avatar in him when she met him in 1914 on 29th March, in Pondicherry, then a French colony, during her first visit to India, while Sri Aurobindo was still living like a political fugitive from British India along with some of his revolutionary friends and pursuing his self-developed Yoga which he calls an Integral Yoga, with a new objective of Integral transformation of man both on individual as well collective level. The ultimate aim of his Integral Yoga, as he had in his mind, was to create a new race of supermen or demigods 10. CWSA 2:606 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 178 out of the present half-man and half-animal humanity. His revolutionary friends who joined him later had revered him as their national leader as also as a great yogi and genius with vast knowledge of this world and the other worlds, but not yet an Avatar. The Mother, then called Mirra Alfassa, who hailed from France, was a great mystic and occultist herself and also an adept in Buddhist Yoga and the Yoga of the Gita. She was taking lessons when in France in mysticism in her vision from many teachers, of one of whom she believed to be an Asian and whom she used to call Krishna in her vision. She felt drawn intuitively to come to India to meet any Yogi of this land for she had known and heard quite a lot of India's past spiritual glory and richness. The Mother's husband, Paul Richard who had accompanied her had already met Sri Aurobindo during his first visit to this French Colony and was very much impressed by his vast intellectual and spiritual knowledge. But for the Mother this was the first meeting with Sri Aurobindo, which to her surprise and soul's content proved so fateful and a decisive turning point of her life. As she looked into the eyes of Sri Aurobindo and his entire get-up, lo! without any exchange of words she recognised him as 'Krishna' of her vision. And she knew instantaneously that her whole life was missioned to work here with him for the transformation of the world and mankind. And she stayed on first time nearly for a year and second time for ever. Rest is history — a supramental history. The Mother records her impression of Sri Aurobindo in her diary of the next day dated 30th March 1914 as follows: "It matters little that there are thousands of beings 179 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo 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."11 When she met Sri Aurobindo, he had already realised the highest truth in toto, the supreme status of Sachchidananda of the Upanishads, the Transcendental Brahman and Maya of the Vedas, and the Purushottama of the Gita and the Purusha and Prakriti of Sankhya and the supreme Mother — the Adya Shakti of the Tantra. He had gone through all the planes of consciousness, experienced their nature and limitations up to the world of the Supermind — the highest supernal light and had possessed the key to the paradox of life. He had known much more than anybody in the world including even the past seers and sages of ancient cultures of the earth, but he was not known beyond Pondicherry as what he really was, except as a 'dangerous revolutionary' for the British rulers. Avatars have been often dangerous for the rulers! Was Christ not dangerous for the ruler of the land? And Krishna for Kansa? Had Sri Aurobindo not migrated to French Pondicherry on his inner command, the world would have been doomed. He had known so much — the past, present and future of the world and still scaling heights after heights. He had charted the route of an undreamed divine life. He had painted a picture of man who could equate with a god. No body knew him truly; when the Mother came, She set the ball rolling. A magazine in English and French 'The Arya' was started and Sri Aurobindo began to serialise many

11. Prayers and Meditations CWM 1:113 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 180 essays simultaneously with well - formulated ideas of a new path under different headings, all single-handed which at last were to become his major works — the Life Divine, the Synthesis of Yoga, the Secret of Veda, Essays on the Gita, the Human Cycle, etc., explaining the why and how of the new creation on the earth and what lay ahead beyond the Man, the real raison d'etre of the universe and the future agenda of the creative Nature.

A wide God-knowledge poured down from above, A new world-knowledge broadened from within: ------The human in him paced with the divine; ------He drew the energies that transmute an age. Immeasurable by the common look, He made great dreams a mould for coming things And cast his deeds like bronze to front the years. His walk through Time outstripped the human stride. Lonely his days and splendid like the sun's.12

Only the Mother had recognised his soul, known the fathomless depth and immeasurable height of his being and his knowledge of all the worlds, visible or invisible. Nearly a year after her first visit in 1914 she had to go back in 1915 but after her second visit in 1920 she stayed for ever with Sri Aurobindo and worked with him as a spiritual collaborator in fulfilment of his mission of founding a divine life, a life of truth, on earth. In fact she found in his mission a reflection of her own dream and vision which she had so fondly cherished and nourished from her childhood and

12. Savitri, CWSA 33:44-45 181 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo she was feeling all alone in her work. Much before she met Sri Aurobindo in India her diary record dated 15 June 1913 has an echo of futility of world- negating realisation of the Impersonal God without caring for the ignorant life and world — which is the highest ideal of the Mayavadins, and of the significance of the transfiguration of the whole earth — the only sublime work of God which she willed to accomplish. Her diary note runs as follows: “Even he who might have attained a perfect contemplation in silence and solitude would have arrived at it only by withdrawing from his body, by disregarding it; and so the substance of which the body is constituted would remain as impure, as imperfect as before, since he would have left it to itself; and by a misguided mysticism through the lure of supraphysical splendours, the egoistic desire to unite with Thee for his own personal satisfaction, he would have turned his back upon the very reason of his earthly existence, he would have refused like a coward to accomplish his mission — the redemption and purification of Matter. To know that a part of our being is perfectly pure, to commune with this purity, to identified with it, can be useful only if this knowledge is later used to hasten the transfiguration of the earth, to accomplish Thy sublime work.”13 How identical were their missions — Transformation of Matter, the body and the whole earthly life. This was the cry of the earth and the Mother gave words identified with the earth consciousness. And the Lord answered to the cry in the form of his descent on earth as Sri Aurobindo. Has not the Mother said later categorically? “Sri Aurobindo

13. Prayers and Meditations CWM 1:20 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 182 is an emanation of the Supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and a new world: the Supramental.... “Sri Aurobindo incarnated in a human body the supramental consciousness and has not only revealed to us the nature of the path to follow and the method of following it so as to arrive at the goal, but has also by his own personal realisation given us the example; he has provided us with the proof that the thing can be done and the time is now to do it.”14 But when the Mother discovered the divine prodigy in Sri Aurobindo, the world knew nothing of him, not even the small group of his revolutionary friends who were less than a dozen living with him. Although they inwardly looked up to him as a guru besides the prophet of nationalism and the leader of the Revolution, but yet this was not always reflected in their outer behaviour. Their belongings were in a mess, actions haphazard and they lived disorderly according to the accounts given by one of the group living with him — Nolini Kant Gupta, in his Reminiscences. When the Mother joined Sri Aurobindo after her second coming, things became different. She took complete charge of the management of the Guru’s household. She not only taught the members of the house to keep their materials in proper order, neat and tidy and to use their things with care, but also taught them by her manner and speech and action how one can be a ‘disciple’ of the ‘guru’ to recieve his grace. And above all, the Mother installed Sri Aurobindo in his right place, to begin with, on his high pedestal of Master and Lord of Yoga. 14. CWM 13: 19, 21 183 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo already by that time had packed his bag with the ‘catch of Infinite’ as he wrote to his brother Barindra with a sense of confidence of power and purpose and yet so humble that he wouldn’t mind nor would he say anything to his ‘friends and comrades’ of his revolutionary days, unless they asked some questions or they wanted him to answer some of his queries which included a plethora of subjects from national politics to metaphysics, yoga and mysticism. They were hardly aware that they were made a part by the Providence of a scene- set of a stage to bring down a new power of God — the Supramental, as love and bhakti was brought down by Krishna on the set of Brindavan’s gopas and gopis. On one of his birthdays he revealed what he was busy with on the spiritual plane: “I am at present engaged in bringing the Supermind into the physical consciousness down even to the sub- material... One feels as if 'digging the earth' as the Veda says. It is literally digging from Supermind above to Supermind below...”15 He unveils this experience in his famous poem ‘A God’s Labour’: I have been digging deep and long Mid a horror of filth and mire A bed for the golden river’s song, A home for the deathless fire.

I have laboured and suffered in Matter’s night To bring the fire to man; But the hate of hell and human spite Are my meed since the world began.16 15. Sri Aurobindo by Dr. K.R.S. Iyengar p.542 16. CWSA 2:534 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 184

Sri Aurobindo’s symbol itself reveals his Avatarhood. The Mother has explained it as follows: The descending triangle represents Sat-Chit-Ananda. The ascending triangle represents the aspiring answer from matter under the form of life, light and love. The junction of both — the central square — is the perfect manifestation having at its centre the Avatar of the Supreme — the lotus. The water inside the square represents the multiplicity, the creation.17 The lotus in the centre — the Avatar — is none other than Sri Aurobindo whose very name is lotus or Aravind in Sanskrit. In his Yoga the Spirit and the Matter join each other creating a new and perfect manifestation — the Supramental, around him. On 21st February 1957 the Mother gave the following message, which defines also the function of the Avatar: In the eternity of becoming, each Avatar is only the announcer, the forerunner of a more perfect realisation. But yet men have always the tendency to deify the Avatar of the past in opposition to the Avatar of the future. Now again Sri Aurobindo has come announcing to the world the realisation of tomorrow; and again his message meets with the same opposition as of all those who preceded him. But tomorrow will prove the truth of what he revealed and his work will be done.18 Did Sri Aurobindo ever reveal his Avatarhood himself to his disciples as Sri Krishna did to Arjuna? He was definitely asked by his disciples a direct question whether he was an Avatar of the Divine. A disciple wrote

17. CWM 13:29 18. Ibid p.22 185 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo to him: I have a strong faith that you are the Divine Incarnation. Am I right.? Sri Aurobindo’s answer was not a direct 'yes' but indirect 'yes'. He said: “Follow your faith — it is not likely to mislead you.”19 Almost the same question was posed by another disciple in more detail. The question was: “We believe that both you and the Mother are Avatars. But is it only in this life that both of you have shown your divinity? It is said that you and she have been on the earth constantly since its creation. What were you doing during your previous lives.? “Carrying on the evolution,” pat came his brief answer. He kept silent on the first part of the question which meant his endorsement of the disciple’s belief, that he and the Mothe were Avatars. We find many such pointers and indirect hints that suggest his Avatarhood. If he is the Avatar then does he fall in line with our famous ten Avatars of Puranas and fill the gap of the last Kalki, the Saviour, whom the world awaits so anxiously? Sri Aurobindo speaking on ten Avatars as a parable of the Evolution gives again a clear-cut hint of his being Kalki — the last Avatar: “Avatarhood would have little meaning if it were not connected with the evolution. The Hindu procession of the ten Avatars is itself, as it were, a parable of evolution. First the Fish Avatar, then the amphibious animal between land and water, then the land animal, then man-lion Avatar, bridging man and animal, then man as dwarf, small and undeveloped and physical but containing in himself the godhead and taking possession of existence, then the rajasic, sattwic, nirguna Avatars leading the human

19. Avatarhood (AIM) Aug-Sept. 1998 p.76 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 186 development from the Vital rajasic to the sattwic mental man and again the Overmental superman. Krishna, Buddha and Kalki depict the last three stages, the stages of the spiritual development — Krishna opens the possibility of Overmind, Buddha tries to shoot beyond to the supreme liberation but that liberation is still negative, not returning upon earth to complete positively the evolution; Kalki is to correct this by bringing the kindgom of the Divine upon earth destroying the opposing Asura forces. The progression is striking and unmistakable. ...The next normal step is not a featureless Absolute but the Supermind. I consider that in trying to overshoot, Buddha like Shankara made a mistake calling away the dynamic side of the liberation. Therefore, there has to be a correction by Kalki.”20 It clearly means that Kalki is he who will bring down the kingdom of the Divine manifesting the power of the Supermind— which is being done by Sri Aurobindo and his Shakti, the Mother jointly. It is although an indirect hint but as clear as a direct concurrence. An Avatar comes as a teacher of mankind, a world teacher and not only carries the evolution a step further by introducing a new element in the process of evolution, by adding a new rung in the ladder but also simplifies the difficult ascent for man by testing all methods and setting his own personal example before man in a human way. “As for the Mother and myself, we have had to try all ways, follow all methods, to surmount mountains of difficulties, a far heavier burden to bear than you or anybody else in the Ashram or outside, far more difficult conditions, battles to fight, wounds to endure, way to cleave through

20. Ibid : 44-45 187 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo impenetrable morass and desert and forest, hostile masses to conquer — a work such as, I am certain, none else had to do before us. For the leader of the Way in a work like ours has not only to bring down and represent and embody the Divine but to represent too the ascending element in humanity and to bear the burden of humanity to the full and experience not in a mere play or Lila but in grim earnest, all the obstruction, difficulty, opposition, baffled and hampered and only slowly victorious labour which are possible on the Path.”21 More than their words speak their works of their Avatarhood. Their thoughts always run ahead of the times, their actions exceed the human pace, their ideals far greater for the humans to reach. Thousands of years have elapsed when Lord Rama gave us the ideals of sattwic Mind — a mantra of a happy Rama Rajya but before not many of us could realise those ideals, God was in a hurry to come down to give us a new homework through Krishna, ideals of Overmind, the triple Yoga of the Gita. And we have hardly begun to follow the true message of the Gita even after millenniums, that He comes down again to start a new chapter of his Book — the supramental manifesto without our fully imbibing the previous lessons. Is God a tyrant school teacher who is in a great hurry to finish his course book caring not a whit for the pace of the poor class? If one or two students of the class have grasped the teacher’s point, he moves to the next lesson. He does not care to reach the last child— the laggards. Shall Man ever catch God? But this is how perhaps we can learn to run faster, awaken to the soul, break the fetters of the lower nature and follow the foot steps of God and ultimately become

21. Ibid :79 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 188 what we really are and work out His writ — the life divine on earth. The Divine comes down as man, puts on his ignorance, so that man can pace with the Divine. When the Divine descends, he takes upon himself the burden of humanity in order to exceed it — he becomes human in order to show humanity how to become Divine. He comes as man so that man can become Divine. And to become Divine not only beyond Time and Space but here on earth in life, mind and body. This is the goal he has set before us, because this is what he found and discovered as the intent of the Supreme Creator; the complete transfiguration of man into Divine must be the secret behind the ceaseless working of the Nature:

This transfiguration is earth’s due to heaven: A mutual debt binds man to the Supreme: His nature we must put on as he put ours; We are sons of God and must be even as he: His human portion, we must grow divine.22

Whenever we are apt to think that we have come to the end of the journey and there is nothing to gain better and higher, the Avatar comes down to show the higher cliffs. When man began to think that he has done all that he can do and now he is the crown of Nature, Sri Aurobindo revealed to us the Nature's ‘Hidden plan’-

However long Night’s hour, I will not dream That the small ego and the person’s mask Are all that God reveals in our life-scheme, The last result of Nature’s cosmic task.23

22. Savitri p.67 23. Collected Poems : Hidden Plan CWSA 2:602 189 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

When half the humanity is trapped either in the ‘Maya’ of Shankara or the ‘suffering’ of Buddha and the other half drowned in the mire of blind materialism and none knows what is beyond the present fate of man or whether Mind is the finished product of the creative energy of the Almighty, the new Avatar tells us that the Evolution is a progressive game of the Infinite and something higher awaits beyond our struggle and pain:

All is not finished in the unseen decree; A Mind beyond our mind demands our ken. A life of unimagined harmony Awaits, concealed, the grasp of unborn men. ------Earth was a cradle for the arriving god And man but a half-dark half-luminous sign Of the transition of the veiled Divine From Matter’s sleep and the tormented load24 Man is a transitional being, not the finished product of the divine factory of Nature. At the end of the dark tunnel of the present crisis, beyond our struggle and our pain awaits at the higher peak of destiny a world of bliss and knowledge and immortality. Sri Aurobindo has come down not only to show the path, but also to hew the route by his personal example. This is a new goal, a new task, a new route unknown to humanity which no human genius and might, however great can perform it. If we look at the life of Sri Aurobindo even casually we find him so extraordinary, so prodigious in every field wherever he showed his presence. In politics he added a

24. Ibid : Evolution 2 & 1: pp 595, 594 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 190 new element — spiritual politics — a nation is not a geographical body alone, she has a soul — she is a goddess, a collective mighty power of millions of individual souls. In the field of language and literature he mastered all classical languages of the world — Greek, Latin, German, Italian, French, Sanskrit and what not. In poetry he went beyond Homer, Gothe, Milton, and Shakespeare, Valmiki, Kalidas, even Vyasa and gave a new touch — a divine touch, supramental touch, touch of immortality and gave us samples of a new genre of future classics like the Life Divine and Savitri for example, yet to evolve in times to come. In philosophy and Yoga he excelled all past and present thinkers and seers and discovered a new pinnacle of knowledge and power by his tapas and charted a new route or system called Integral Yoga to attain to that. He was a multifacted genius no doubt, but was he only a genius? He was a philosopher and Yogi par excellence. He was a poet and writer and linguist sui generis. But is it only that he was? He was even much more. “For whatever his philosophical grasp, Sri Aurobindo is not just a thinker, and whatever his power and wealth of expression he is not just a literary man. He is infact not just a man at all and really to read him one must be willing at least in some part of the nature, to transcend the human bounds. Sri Aurobindo is Divine Truth: the latest and greatest of the Avatars, come to take and help the world forward in the largest step of its evolution, and to divinize the very earth.... “He brings in a flood of spiritual light and flows with a tireless wealth of spiritual inspiration, and even the most learned and acute literary scholars are not yet equipped for this. 191 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

“Sri Aurobindo as yet, for all but a very few, is too large to see and too much to believe.” This is what a biographer of Sri Aurobindo, Jesse Roarke of U. S. A. writes in the preface of the book. We often get confused to distinguish between the genius and the Avatar and we happen to call the Avatar a genius, and the genius an Avatar. Sri Aurobindo himself has differentiated between the two and given the clue to identity the Avatar among the genius. “In order to establish genius in the human system, Nature is compelled to disturb and partially break the normality of that system, because she is introducing into it an element that is alien as it is superior to the type which it enriches. Genius is not the perfect evolution of that new and divine element; it is only a beginning or at the highest an approximation in certain directions. It works fitfully and uncertainly in the midst of an enormous mass of somewhat disordered human mentality, vital nervosity, physical animality. The thing itself is divine, it is only the undivine mould in which it works that is to a lesser or greater extent broken and ploughed up by the unassimilated force that works in it. Sometimes there is an element in the divine intruder which lays its hand on the mould and sustains, so that it does not break at all nor is flawed; or if there is a disturbance, it is slight and negligible. Such an element there was in Caesar, in Shakespeare, in Goethe. Sometimes also a force appears to which we can no longer apply the description of genius without being hopelessly inadequate in our terminology. Then those who have eyes to see, bow down and confess the Avatar. For it is often the work of the Avatar to typify already, partly or Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 192 on the whole, what Nature has not yet effected in the mass or even in the individual, so that his passing may stamp it on the material ether in which we live.”25 A genius has a new force of divine but his mould is human, egoistic and undivine and hence he pursues his own mentality, vitality and physicality, he has his own egoistic drive, whereas an Avatar is above humanity, above his personal needs, desires and ambitions, and yet he acts in a human way. An Avatar comes down to show the path to the world as a guide and works out a new formula for others to enable them to walk on his footprints and not for the sake of his own moksha or salvation, which he does not need since he is not born as an ascending soul, but has descended from above, already Perfect and Absolute. “For my Yoga is done not for myself who need nothing and do not need salvation or anything else, but precisely for the earth-consciousness, to open a way to the earth-consciousness to change. Has the Divine need to come down to prove that he can do this or that or has he any personal need of doing it?”26 Once Sri Aurobindo wrote this in reply to a question from Nirodbaran. Has Krishna, the Avatar of the Gita, too not said the same thing to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra: “I have no work whatsoever, O Partha, that I need to do in all the three worlds; I have nothing that I have not gained and have yet to gain and I abide verily in the paths of action.”27

25. Essays Divine and Human p.126 26. Avatarhood (AIM) Aug-Sept. 1998 p.12 27. Gita III-22 193 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

We need to have an inner eye to see the Avatar, the reason is too blind to be able to see the Avatar hidden in the genius. Once we recognise the Avatar, we bow down to him and accept his guidance, mould our life on his type and become like him — sadrishya, sadharmya and thus the purpose of his descent, the will of the Divine is served. We move one step ahead, climb a rung higher and the evolution goes up. Sri Aurobindo too came among us as the Avatar of the Supreme to take us from Mind to Supermind and from humanity to super-humanity. To effect this great leap — the preparation of the work was started from the time of Krishna and by Krishna himself. And it is he who has come down again to continue and complete the work. Has he not been guiding and preparing the new Avatar — Sri Aurobindo from childhood of his life? It is he who communed to him in the jail, taught him the true meaning of the Vedas, helped him do all extraordinary feats and descended in his body to prepare him for the higher ascents. "Sri Krishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the process and origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed.....28 Sri Aurobindo again confesses that "I also did not do it all by myself if you mean by myself the Aurobindo that was. He did it with the help of Krishna and the Divine Shakti.- - - - -"29 It is he who wrote the preface of the Integral Yoga — the perfect Yoga of Sri Aurobindo — in the battle field of

28. Autobiographical Notes by Sri Aurobindo CWSA 36:.178 29. Avatarhood (AIM) Aug-Sept. 1998, p.18 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 194

Kurukshetra, combining all paths into one royal path leading to total transformation of Man on the appointed time. It was he who sent his emissary in the form of Christ to scout for the readiness of human mentality, its receptivity to imbibe the power of Love. The divine work continued ceaselessly, and when the Hour of God has struck, he is here again in the mould of Sri Aurobindo leading humanity to the finale of supermanhood, the complete reversal of the earth nature into the divine kind. Kalki is referred to as the Avatar of tomorrow or the Avatar of the Kaliyuga, the last phase of the circle, who will be the Avatar of the complete force of the supreme Divine and he will not only wind-up the ongoing Age — Kaliyuga or bring it to a conclusion but also usher in too the new Age of Truth, Age of new and perfect creation, Satyayuga, the first of another round on the higher spiral of consciousness ever rising to still greater perfections. In our Puranas Kalki is described as descending on a white horse with a sword in his hand who will root out the Asuras for ever. It is strange that there is a passage in the Bible (Revelation 6:2) corresponding to Kalki: "And I saw, and behold, a white horse and he who sits on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him and he went forth conquering and to conquer." The Mother referring to this says in The Mother's Agenda on page 52 of Vol-6 that "that there would be, in fact, a new Christ, who correspends to that of the Hindus. Kalki? “Yes, Kalki. The description is very similar." Sri Aurobindo's Aphorism No 169 says: 195 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

Christ came into the world to purify, not to fulfil. He himself foreknew the failure of his mission, and the necessity of his return with the sword of God into a world that had rejected him. The Mother was asked: 'What is the sword of God?' The Mother said: 'It was the irresistible 'Power' (The Mother's Agenda: 11.10.69) Whether it is Christ who has returned as Kalki or it was the vision of Christ that some higher power than him will descend who will conquer the demons of Falsehood and create a new earth, it is immaterial. What matters is that God comes down with his full or partial power according to the degree of change that he intends to effect or according to the severity of the crisis that he has to tackle. The present crisis difinitely demands the intervention of a greater power than all that has come in the past:

A greater power must come, a larger light. Although Light grows on earth and Night recedes, Yet till the evil is slain in its own home And Light invades the world's inconscient base And perished has the adversary Force, He still must labour on, his work half done.30

And if Sri Aurobindo is Kalki, as he himself has hinted at and also confirmed by his devotees and followers like K. D. Sethna, otherwise known as Amal Kiran (a name given to him by Sri Aurobindo himself) who is a radiant multifaceted genius and a great devotee and spokesman of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga and editor of Mother India, writes in his book "Our Light and Delight:"...Kalki who will come to

30. Savitri CWSA 34: 448-449 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 196 set right the balance by bringing the Transcendent's power to base on the Transcendent's peace a new earth-order, a terrestrial heaven. In this tale of evolutionary humanity we would identify Kalki with Sri Aurobindo, the Master of the Integral Yoga, the Yoga not only of liberation but also of the perfect divine dynamism, the Supermind, the all- transformative Truth-Consciousness manifesting as superman." Then what is and where is his white horse as well as his sword! We are familiar with the symbolism of the Veda as revealed by Sri Aurobindo in his book The Secret of the Veda. Our scriptures speak in the language of symbols. A horse is spoken of, for example, for force and a cow for light. Here the white horse of Kalki is the immaculate Purity, the purity of Sachchidanand or the Supermind, absolutely free from the Ignorance, the dazzling light of sun without any spot of shadow and the Supermind itself is the invincible Power, irresistible by even the greatest Asura, the lord of the Death, the lord of the Night. The aim of the Integral Yoga, as we all know is the divine life in a divine body with supramentalised mind and life in a supramentalised body — a body without death and both of them, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were working out this goal in their own bodies. When Sri Aurobindo decided to leave his body in 1950, it was a strategic step to hasten the descent of the supramental force for he thought he could be more effective on the subtle-physical plane to tackle and manoeuvre the opposing forces than on the physical. Sri Aurobindo said to the Mother some time in April 1950 that one of them might have to go in the interests of their work. The Mother immediately offered to do so. Sri Aurobindo 197 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo turned down the proposal and added that if necessary he would go.31 The reason seems to be obvious. He was busy bringing down the supramental force in the earth's subtle-physical plane; then only it would bring or effectuate the work of transformation of the earth-nature. But perhaps opposition of the earth-nature was strong and fierce.

In the texture of our bound humanity He felt the stark resistence huge and dumb Of our inconscient and unseeing base, The stubborn mute rejection in life's depths, The ignorant No in the origin of things.32 And the ensuing fight with the opposing forces was terrific: In menacing tracts, in tortured solitudes Companionless he roamed through desolate ways Where the red Wolf waits by fordless stream And Death's black eagles scream to the precipice, And met the hounds of bale who hunt men's hearts Baying across the veldts of Destiny, In footless battlefields of the Abyss Fought shadowy combats in mute eyeless depths, Assaults of Hell endured and Titan strokes And bore the fierce inner wounds that are slow to heal.33

It is because he wanted to fight them on the subtler plane that he decided to withdraw and he did succeed, for six years after his departure we were told of the descent of the Supramental Light and Force on the earth on 29TH Feb 1956, brought by the Mother. It was the meditation time in 31. Our Light and Delight p.39 32. CWSA 33:317 33. Ibid : 230 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 198 the evening in the playground on that day when this great spiritual Event occured. The Mother has called this the Day of the Lord. The same day the Mother gave the following message: "This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was there present amongst you. I had a form of 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, one single blow on the door and the door was shattered to pieces. "Then the supramental Light and Force and Consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow."34 The supramental Light was brought down in his instrumental being — his mind, his heart and his body long back, but the transformation of the body up to the cells was not possible until it manifested and permeated the earth atmosphere which was done now by the Mother. The descent of supramental Light in him which has the golden colour is hinted in his poem 'The Golden Light':

Thy golden Light came down into my brain And the grey rooms of mind sun-touched became A bright reply to Wisdom's occult plane, A calm illumination and a flame. Thy golden Light came down into my throat, And all my speech is now a tune divine,

34.CWM, Vol.15, p.102 199 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

A paeansong of Thee my single note; My words are drunk with the Immortal's wine.

Thy golden Light came down into my heart Smiting my life with Thy eternity; Now has it grown a temple where Thou art And all its passions point towards only Thee. Thy golden Light came down into my feet; My earth is now Thy playfield and Thy seat.35

But the transformation of the body was yet to be done, without which the transformation of the being would not be integral and total, for this is the object and goal of the Integral Yoga. This mighty end was yet to come. Sri Aurobindo, it is said, at the time of leaving his body passed on all his supramental Light in to the body of the Mother, so that she could complete the half-done work — the total transformation of her body that is to immortalise the body by changing her cells. Death was not in the Mother's programme and she was very seriously busy with the creation of a supramental body especially with deeper concentration after 1958 when she confined herself only to her room, stopping all other engagements. What will the supramental body be like? "The supramental body," explains the Mother, "which has to be brought into being here has four main attributes: lightness, adaptiability, plasticity and luminosity. When the physical body is thoroughly divinised, it will feel as if it were always walking on air, there will be no heaviness or tamas or unconsciousness in it. There will also be no end to its power of adaptiability: in whatever conditions it is placed

35.CWSA 2:605 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 200 it will immediately be equal to the demands made upon it because its full consciousness will drive out all that inertia and incapacity which usually make Matter a drag on the Spirit. Supramental plasticity will enable it to stand the attack of every hostile force which strives to pierce it: it will present no dull resistance to the attack but will be, on the contrary, so pliant as to nullify the force by giving way to it to pass off. Thus it suffers no harmful consequences and the most deadly attacks will leave it unscathed. Lastly, it will be turned into the stuff of light, each cell will radiate the supramental glory. Not only those who are developed enough to have their subtle sight open but the ordinary man too will be able to perceive this luminosity. It will be an evident fact to each and all, a permanent proof of the transformation which will convince even the most sceptical."36 The physical transformation implies that all organs of the body will be replaced by the centres of conscious energy which will be moved by a conscious will and directed by movements coming from above. It means that there will be no stomach, no heart, no lungs but in their place will be a whole set of vibrations. It is highly spiritual — technological work which will take a minimum of three hundred years to reach a minimum perfction according to Sri Aurobindo. But there are" he envisages," many objections that may be raised. It may be said that it would be impossible for the body to change unless something changes in the surroundings also. What would be your relation with other objects if you have changed so much? With other beings also? It seems necessary that a whole set of things changes, at least in relative proportions, so that one can exist, continue

36. CWM Vol. 3, pp. 175-176 201 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo to exist. This then brings much complication, for it is no longer one individual consciousness that has to do the work, it becomes a collective consciousness. And so it is much more difficult still."37 So, perhaps, the Mother also knew that in her body also like Sri Aurobindo's the physical transformation might remain incomplete. She was consciously replacing her body cells by the concentration of supramental Light and force into centres of conscious energy, but perhaps her body, although collaborating with her will, could not stand the painful process of thorough divinisation, for it after all was the representative of our earth, which is not fully ready for this grand revolution. In 1972 she said, "It is becoming terrible. It is like a pressure, a frightful pressure to bring about the desired progress. I feel it in myself for my body. But my body is not afraid, it says: 'Very well; if I am to end, it is the end.' Every minute it is like that: the true thing or the end. The body knows that this is the way for the supramental body to be formed. It must be wholly under the influence of the Divine. ..."38 The Mother's transcendental self perhaps did not disclose the fate of the body, its preordained destiny whether it will complete the mission or 'follow the old ordinary process of undoing itself and remaking itself. In Amal Kiran's (K D Sethna) words the possibility of having to follow this process became an actuality on 17 November 1973. "But," he remarkably remarks, "this is a way of speaking from the ordinary outer point of view. The Avatar of the Supermind cannot be said to be compelled to any course by a necessity of Nature. Whatever

37. CWM 5:62 38. Bulletin April 1972 p.73 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 202 course is adopted is freely accepted: the Supramental Consciousness belongs to the Transcendence and is above all cosmic conditions even when it elects to work under them. What determines its future is its own transcendent Knowledge and Will. A moment must have come of such Knowledge and Will in the first week of December 1950 to Sri Aurobindo and the instrumental being, put in front for world-action, obeyed. A period of crisis must have preceded this moment... we see a similar crisis in the Mother’s Sadhana.”39 But according to her talk in the Bulletin of August 1972, her subtle physical body was ready — “a body altogether new, sexless... very white... very slim... pretty. Truly a harmonious form." But the technique for materialising the new body was unknown for this was unknown in the past and hence never attempted. And three hundred years’ time was not given to the body. Since the grand finale — the mighty task of supramentalisation of the physical body is half-done, will the Master of Yoga and the Mother come back to accomplish their work to the finis? The Mother asked Sri Aurobindo soon after his departure to resuscitate, he clearly answered: “I have left this body purposely. I will not take it back. I shall manifest again in the first supramental body built in the supramental way.”40 Even soon after the withdrawal of the Mother Nolinikant Gupta gave a somewhat similar message on 17.11.73, which was distributed on 29. 11. 73 in the Ashram.

39. Our Light and Delight by K.D. Sethna pp. 219-20 40. CWM Vol. 13:9 203 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

Sweet Mother, Your physical body belonged to the old creation because you wanted to be one with your children. You wanted this body to uphold the New Body you were building upon it, and it gave you the service you asked of it. You will come with your New Body. Your children’s, the world’s call and aspiration, love and consecration are laid at your feet in gratitude.

Will Sri Aurobindo and the Mother come back? In earlier pages we have seen the remarks of Sri Aurobindo that unless something in the surroundings changes at least in relative proportions, one individual cannot bring a total change. It has to be a collective work for a collective evolution. If it was to change only his body, he would have done it long ago. “Sri Aurobindo has given up his body in an act of supreme unselfishness, renouncing the realisation in his own body to hasten the hour of the collective realisation. Surely if the earth were more responsive, this would not have been necessary.”41 "The lack of receptivity” she further elaborates, “of the earth and men is mostly responsible for the decision Sri Aurobindo has taken regarding his body. But one thing is certain: what has happened on the physical plane affects in no way the truth of his teaching. All that he has said is perfectly true and remains so. Time and the course of events will prove it abundantly.”42 Sri Aurobindo had realised the highest Truth of Existence, known the secret sense of earth evolution, that is, the full development of Divine consciousness here on earth, and he was carving the way to realise it for the earth

41. CWM Vol.13 p.9 42. Ibid p.7 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 204 and not for himself as he writes: “I have no intention of achieving the Supermind for myself only — I am not doing anything for myself, as I have no personal need of anything, neither of salvation (Moksha) nor supramentalisation. If I am seeking after supramentalisation, it is because it is a thing that has to be done for the earth-consciousness and if it is not done in myself, it cannot be done in others. My supramentalisation is only a key for opening the gates of the supramental to the earth-consciousness; done for its own sake, it would be perfectly futile. ...”43 However, he could not complete the desired work, the supramentalisation of the body, because he did not receive the necassary collaboration from the collective humanity, but his work was continued by the Mother and there was hope that the work will be accomplished by her. But this could not be done during her life-time also, obviously for the same reason — the lack of receptivity of the earth and men. But yet, their work continues; may be, it is not visible on the surface to the inattentive viewers. We should not be blinded by the appearances on the surface. Sri Aurobindo’s withdrawal from his body was only a strategic shifting of the disposition of his field of action for a continuation of his work with an intenser concentration for a swifter victory and the same is true in the case of the Mother’s withdrawal. Even now, from behind the surface scene of the material consciousness both of them are preparing for that transformation and when the conditions are ready they shall arrive on earth in new bodies. The change of consciousness and its preparation is just like the formation of the chicken in the egg. Till the last moment of sudden appearance of the chicken no movement, no change is

43. Sri Aurobindo on Himself SABCL 26:144 205 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo visible on the surface of the shell and it appears to be dead. But inside the shell a great and secret process of Nature, the process of life-formation quietly goes an hidden from our surface sight. For a long time we may have an impression that nothing is happening. But as soon as life is ready inside, the chicken is completely formed ready to come out, its simple pecking in the shell is enough to break the barriers to come out in another world, quite different from the dark existence within the egg. And if we try haste to bring the chicken before it is ready, it is death for it. It is clear that the humanity is not yet ready for the final victory of the perfect divine life and the transformation of the body. And if it is forced to come down before we are prepared for it, it may be risky rather than redemptive. In spite of the unpreparedness on the part of humanity, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have not given up their work and are preparing from behind the veil out of their profound compassion and concern for the destiny of the earth and man. The manifestation of the supramental Light on earth which took place in 1956 is working in the earth- nature silently and acclimatizing it slowly and steadily in response to its aspiration for the Light and Force. The Power, the Love, the Ananda which will come with the advent of the new man, as the Mother says, will be so formidable that anything which is not that will simply disappear. The supreme divine Ananda which is indispensible for the full supramentalisation on earth will destroy all that tries to resist its transforming action in the world. The Mother has said: “...the state of consciousness of this ecstasy would be dangerous in the present condition of the world. Because Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 206 that has reactions that are almost absolute — I see that this state of ecstasy has a formidable power. But I insist on the word formidable, in the sense that it is intolerant or intolerable — rather intolerable — for all that is not alike. It is the same thing or almost the same (not quite the same but almost) as the supreme divine Love; the vibration of this ecstasy or ravishment is just a small beginning of the vibration of the divine Love, and that is absolutely, yes there is no other word, intolerant in the sense that it does not admit the presence of anything that is contrary to it. “Then that would have naturally frightful results for the ordinary consciousness. I see it quite well, because sometimes this power comes — this power comes and you have the impression that everything is going to burst. Because it can tolerate nothing but union, it can tolerate nothing but the response that accepts, nothing but what receives and accepts. And it is not an arbitrary will, it is of the very fact of its existence which is all-powerful, "all powerful," not in the sense in which all-powerful is understood, but a true all power. That is to say it exists entirely, totally, exclusively. It contains all, but what is contrary to its vibration is compelled to change, naturally because nothing can disappear. And then this change is immediate, brutal so to say, absolute, in the world as it is, is a catastrophe.”44 Why is the world not ready when the supramental Light and Force is working in the earth-nature, because one condition is still unfulfilled. The highest power and principle has been brought down from above by Sri Aurobindo, but the same principle- the highest from below has yet to

44. Bulletin, Nov. 1963 pp.67-68 207 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo join and intersect it. It is then only a new creation, the square of perfect creation will emerge. At present Sri Aurobindo and the Mother both are working on the subtle-physical plane to establish a direct link between the descending supermind and the ascending supermind involved in Matter. Once this link is established world-conditions will suddenly change as if like a miracle, for the dawn is always close when the night is darkest. It will happen at the culmination of the ongoing process of supramental manifestation by gradual degrees for the manifestation of its fullest power all at once firstly will not be received and assimilated by earth-nature and secondly it will create disbalance and harmful effects in the world. It is therefore in the interest of the safe sailing of the earth- ship that God goes slow and steady. "Sri Aurobindo is constantly in the subtle physical, very active there,” says the Mother and the same is true for the Mother too. Both of them are working incessantly for the goal they have shown to us. Sri Aurobindo had promised to the Mother that although he had left the body, he would stay with us until his work is achieved. “In unmistakable terms Thou hast promised that all of Thyself would remain here and not leave the earth atmosphere until earth is transformed. Grant that we may be worthy of this marvellous Presence and that henceforth everything in us be concentrated on the one will to be more and more perfectly consecrated to the fulfilment of Thy sublime Work.”45 Moreover, immediately after leaving his physical body Sri Aurobindo communicated to the Mother that he ‘shall manifest again in the first supramental body built in the supramental way.’ 45. CWM, Vol 13:6 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 208

It is therefore by all means their second coming is assured for the accomplishment of their half-done work which will mark their full Avatarhood in a new and luminous matter, the true matter culminating in a new creation.

First Effects But the first noticeable effects will be increase in general confusion, violence, destruction and possibility of a catastrophe because of the intense struggle between the two forces — forces of Falsehood, Ignorance and Darkness, the old principles which have lost their authority but still wanting to hold on and the forces of the Truth, Knowledge and Light, the new principles which have infused into Matter new consciousness and power to possess and change the old rules of life. The result of this conflict will be a change of consciousness, first among the most receptive and then in a greater number of people and later in the general conditions of collective life. But this turn will be different from the spiritual life of the past — not the peace of detached life from all worldly things, a flight from life, an escape from the struggle and battle, but rather this will usher in a new aspect of spirituality, a new aspect of divine grace and a new aspect of progress and life propelling humanity to a new realisation, opening the doors of a new world, not only possible for the choson few to benefit from but gradually influencing the rest of mankind and creating conditions for the emergence of the new humanity and the subsequent appearance or second coming of the supramental Avatars — Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as supramental beings. 209 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

A new creation from the old shall rise, A Knowledge inarticulate find speech, Beauty suppressed burst into paradise bloom, Pleasure and pain dive into absolute bliss. A tongueless oracle shall speak at last, The Superconscient conscious grow on earth, The Eternal's wonders join the dance of Time.46

The Integral Avatar

Sri Aurobindo is the full and perfect manifestion of the whole Truth — the highest of the Absolute, so far known or identified by human experience either in awakened state of consciousness or in the ecstasy of samadhi. That highest Truth has been identified by our ancient seers as Sachchidananda - Sat, Chit, Ananda, the triplicity of the higher hemisphere. This Truth is at once Existence, Consciousness and Bliss as a single Truth with three aspects. But Its poises are many; It is Sat and Asat, consciousness and unconsciousness and Bliss and pain. It is Transcendental, Universal and Individual too. It is the silent and inactive witness as well as dynamic and active. It is a Personal Entity, Saguna and Impersonal, Nirguna as well. Its various poises have been experienced in parts till now by different sages, seers and manifested in the world by many Avatars. For Shankaracharya he is Nirguna, Impersonal, the only Truth and the world is illusion. For Buddha He is Asat, Nihil, a Void, Shunyam, the only escape from the torture of life of disease and death. For Krishna He is Bliss and Love, Eternal Ananda out of which He has created this world and life. Sri Aurobindo has experienced

46. Savitri CWSA 33:330 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 210 all these aspects and poises of the Supreme in his single consciousness, integrating all His moods and all His levels in his single person as an Integral Avatar. Sri Aurobindo incarnated in his instrumental being not only the silent Brahman, the absolute witness Purusha- Akshara Brahman of the Gita, but also the active and dynamic aspect of the Supreme, Sachchidanand, Purushottama of the Gita, for he manifested the dynamic consciousness — force, the creative power of Sachchidanand, the supermind in the earth-nature which will gradually change the texture of life on earth and create a new humanity, a different species other than the present man — a new step in the evolutionary scale of Nature. He is at once the Divine delegate and human protagonist, for he took the garb of human nature and underwent human suffering and pain and passed through the gates of birth and death to lead humanity towards the consummation of the evolutionary goal of Nature. Buddha and Shankara realised the partial Truth of the Divine by dichotomy — separating one reality from another — absolute Peace and Misery of life, Brahman and Maya and gave half, incomplete solution of the riddle of life and world whereas the solution of Sri Aurobindo is total and absolute. For him God and our Life are one reality and to discover it our sole business. Thus we do not lose anything either God nor life. 'To fulfil God in life is man's manhood.' A high and black negation is not all, A huge extinction is not God's last word, Life's ultimate sense, the close of being's course, The meaning of this greet mysterious world. Here to fulfil himself was God's desire. 47 47. Savitri pp. 311-12 211 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

He incarnates unpartitioned Truth and the complete Being with all poises, the whole and integral Reality of the manifested and unmanifested world. That is why he looks at the existence as one reality — the expression of one Spirit — Spirit and Matter are one. There is no second. Ekamevâdwitiyam. He discovered this truth of Vedas in himself which had been lost for us, and we were groping in the dark to know the secrets in vain but yet luckily we could keep the text intact, uncorrupted, unmutilated by the ravages of time. When the Rishis who had heard this knowledge and seen it in their inner silences disappeared and our souls strayed or slept, doors of those secrets were closed. Our smattering pendantry did not unlock those closed chambers of Light. Yaska and Sayana could not peck beyond the shells of karmakanda and were content with the husks of the inner kernel. Similiarly failed Western pundits like Max Muller to know and find treasures of Veda hidden behind the 'babblings' of the early race. In such a back- drop Sri Aurobindo comes before us and reveals the secret of the Veda, its true meaning which is hidden under the double meaning of rituals of sacrifice — the Yajna, prevalent those days as a religio-spiritual tradition in the Aryan culture. He has delivered the Vedas- the mantra of creation of Brahma, the creator, from the Rasatala of the oblivion. It is this treasure of knowledge which gives the secret of creation and of what is beyond creation, the total knowledge of God and His manifestation, essential knowledge and comprehensive knowledge by knowing which nothing remains to be known. Sri Aurobindo's Yoga, known as an Integral Yoga, is Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 212 also complete and total, for it takes care of the full growth of all three propensities of human nature — will, knowledge and love by realising the supreme Truth through each one of them simultaneously, whereas other Yogas are satisfied with taking them up separately and partially - Jnana Yoga insists on knowledge, Karma Yoga on will and work and Bhakti Yoga on love and devotion. The Integral Yoga aims at integral realisation — Sayujya, Sadharmya and Salokya, all three realisations in one go. Sri Aurobindo has therefore synthesized all the prevalent systems of Yoga by taking their essence in a single perfect whole of the Integral Yoga. "Will, knowledge and love," he says, "are three divine powers in human nature and the life of man, and they point to the three paths by which the human soul rises to the divine. The integrality of them, the union of man with God in all the three, must therefore, as we have seen, be the foundation of an Integral Yoga."48 His Integral Yoga is therefore a complete formula of transformation of man into divine superman. "An integral union of the individual's being with the Divine Being is the condition of a perfect spiritual life. Turn then altogether towards the Divine; make one with him by knowledge, love and works all your nature. Turn utterly towards him and give up ungrudgingly into his hands your mind and your heart and your will, all your consciousness and even your very senses and body. Let your consciousness be sovereignly moulded by him into a flawless mould of his divine consciousness. Let your heart become a lucid or flaming heart of the Divine. Let your will be an impeccable action of his will. Let your very sense and body be the rapturous sensation and body of the Divine. Adore and sacrifice to 48. The Synthesis of Yoga CWSA 24:545 213 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo him with all you are; remember him in every thought and feeling, every impulsion and act. Persevere until all these things are wholly his and he has taken up even in most common and outward things as in the inmost sacred chamber of your spirit his constant transmuting presence."49 His philosophy, his thoughts, ideas, his approach towards life and world and beyond, all are strung like pearls on a thread of single Truth that all is Brahman- Sarvam Khalu idam Brahma. It is one supreme Power which expresses itself in all three poises — The Transcendental, the Cosmic and the Individual. And he has realised and manifested the unity of all these principles in his single being. He integrates in his being all seemingly divergent principles so marvellously: Reason with faith, spirituality with intellectuality, Renunciation with enjoyment- Tenatyaktena bhunjhitha, Spirit with Matter, this worldiness with other-worldiness. His words are at once a poetic creation, philosophical discourse, metaphysical revelation and prophetic utterance. His personal life is a matchless example of a vast integration which excludes nothing, includes all. He completes the half-done works of all past seers and prophets and even Avatars. He complements Buddha and Shankara who gave us only lop-sided view of the Reality. He complements even Krishna who started the movement of comprehensive and integral solution of life to be concluded only by his successor-the future Avatar that Sri Aurobindo is. He integrates as also completes the works of Vedic Rishis. They had the knowledge of the supermind and attempted to attain that individually, but they did not try

49. Essays on the Gita CWSA 19:590 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 214 to realise it for the world. "...they did not bring it down and make it a permanent part of the earth-consciousness. Even there are verses of the Upanishad in which it is hinted that it is impossible to pass through the gates of Sun (the symbol of the Supermind) and yet retain an earthly body. It was because of this failure that the spiritual effort of India culminated in Mayavada."50 He also completes the half-done work by Religions. They promised to bring down the kingdom of God on earth but failed to do so, because their approach was not integral. Christ banked upon Love alone and Mohammad on Force. Sri Aurobindo's aphorism no. 171 says: "When all is said, Love and Force together can save the world eventually, but not Love only or Force only. Therefore Christ had to look forward to a second advent and Mohamed's religion, where it is not stagnant, looks forward through the Imams to a Mahdi." The Mother, commenting on the above, said: Love alone as preached by Christ failed to transform man. Force alone preached by Mohamed did not transform man, far from it. That is why the consciousness which is at work to transform mankind unites Force with Love, and the One who must realise this transformation will come on earth with the power of Divine Love.51 Sri Aurobindo promises to come with the integrated force of the Divine in his immortal epic Savitri: One day I will return, a bringer of strength, And make thee drink from the Eternal's cup; His streams of Force shall triumph in thy limbs And Wisdom's calm control thy passionate heart. Thy love shall be the bond of human kind, 50. The Riddle of this World 2009:pp 1-2 51. CWM, Vol. 10:261 215 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

Compassion the bright key of Nature's acts: Misery shall pass abolished from the earth; The world shall be freed from the anger of the Beast, From the cruelty of the Titan and his pain. There shall be peace and joy for ever more.52 Sri Aurobindo's integral philosophy is a confluence of three streams of nationalism, internationalism and universalism. He is at once a nationalist, internationalist and universalist. He is on the one hand a passionate patriot to the extent of madness — 'what will the son do when he sees a rakshasa sitting on the breast of his mother and sucking her blood? Will he quietly have his meal or will he rush to deliver his mother from that grasp?' he once wrote to his wife in the context of the slavery of India, on the other, a great advocate of the ideal of human unity. On one side he does not tire singing the glory of the spiritual genius of India, on the other he is all praise for the Western world for its scientific, rational and intellectual contribution to humanity. But he understands the limitations of both and sees the salvation of mankind in meeting of both — the East and the West. "The West has put its faith in its science and machinery and it is being destroyed by its science and crushed under its mechanical burden. It has not understood that a spiritual change is necessary for the accomplishment of its ideals. The East has the secret of that spiritual change, but it has too long turned its eyes away from the earth. The time has now come to heal the division and to unite life and the spirit."53 But the true human unity cannot come by an external association of interests, by superficial means and the mechanism of the ego, but by living in the Spirit which

52. Savitri CWSA 34:507-08 53. SABCL vol-14 pp.329-330 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 216 lives in each and every object of the universe and which is the cause of the very existence of the cosmos. Once we transcend our limited egoistic self and discover the Self in all, the true fraternity, true equality and true liberty will be the natural flowering of that unity of the Spirit. Sri Aurobindo's being itself is integrated with so many personalities, holding at once so many offices that one gets bewildered as to how to address him in one syllable. He is a great intellectual and thinker. He thinks deeply, intellectually, originally of so many things simultaneously — of the individual, of the collectivity, of the countries and continents, of the world — their past, present and future. He is a philosopher par excellence, his philosophy is very deep and new. He is a Rishi, Yogi and Tapasvi. He hears the divine words, sees the divine vision. He is a great creative and visionary poet of a new and future genre casting out of himself vibrant and flaming characters throughout like Savitri, Ashwapati and Yama in his immortal epic. He is a creative writer churning out classics of metaphysics, Yoga, philosophy, social sciences and what not. He is a politician and patriot of a new brand setting new trends, new ideas, new gospels, new doctrines everywhere. He is a lover, lover of man and God. He is so many in one personality. But is he a person, a personality? He did not do anything for his personal self. All he did, he did impersonally. He was throughout his life impersonal. Indeed, he was a great Impersonality, he was 'the Avatar- Sri Aurobindo, the emanation of the One, the Supreme.' 217

ADITI – The Divine Mother

And the Mother! The Mother is none other than Sri Aurobindo himself. Both are one Being, one Consciousness and one Bliss in the upper hemisphere; in the lower creation, the Supreme Being manifests in two embodiments as Purusha and Prakriti or Brahman and Maya — the Creative force of the Brahman and not the Illusion as interpreted by Shankaracharya — or Ishwar and His Shakti, for the nature of work they intend to accomplish in the world, demands this duality.

The Two who are one are the secret of all power, The Two who are one are the might and right in things.54

These two embodiments of the one Reality may appear on earth in two different situations, different countries or different cultures, but soon they join each other for they are conscious even in the their instrumental consciousness, of their avataric common mission that they have to fulfil.

‘The Mother and I are one but in two bodies’, said Sri Aurobindo.55 And what the Mother said about Sri Aurobindo is a fact of even deeper unity:

‘Wthout him, I exist not; without me, he is unmanifest.56 Sri Aurobindo is the Avatar of the Supreme Being — Sat; and the Mother of the Chit-Shakti of that Being, his consciousness-force which has no independent existence. Sachchidanand came down or emanated as Sri Aurobindo 54. Savitri CWSA 33:63 55. Sri Aurobindo on Himself P.457 56. CWM 13:.32 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 218 and the Mother with a specific purpose of fulfilling the work of transformation of human nature into divine nature, complete divinisation of man into God. Every Avatar comes to fulfil a particular mission according to the need of the time in which they appear. Rama came to establish the rule of the ideal mind in the earth nature to lift humanity from the lower regions of vital rule. Krishna came to lift humanity to a still higher world of overmind, a world of modified living with Bhakti, Jnana and Karma. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have come to bring down a higher force of the Divine – Supermind as termed by Sri Aurobindo, which is referred to in the Upanishad as Vijnana and in the Veda as Rita-Chit.

The Incarnate dual Power shall open God’s door, Eternal Supermind touch earthly Time. The superman shall wake in mortal man And manifest the hidden demi-god Or grow into the God-Light and God-Force Revealing the secret deity in the cave.57

Supermind is the world of the dynamic powers of Sachchidananda, highest godhead who is the cause of this entire cosmic existence. It is His Consciousness involved in our existence, in our material manifestation, which is unfolding progressively and gradually and moving towards the source. This upward ascent or movement is supported by descents of corresponding powers from above. The powers so far descended on earth have prepared humanity up to the present status, but now unable to take it further, as such man is held up in the tangle of stagnation. It is the

57. CWSA 34:705 219 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

Divine only who incarnates or descends in the body suited to the nature of the work, presenting almost a prototype and bringing or manifesting only the power that is necessary to pull the creation up one step higher. These descents are called Avatars in common parlance in our country. It is how Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have descended as Supramental Avatars to bring down the higher principle or power of the Divine called Supermind which has the capacity to change the human nature into divine nature. Both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother from the beginning of their life were preoccupied with this very task — how to change man into the divine kind. It is a tremendous task almost impossible like bringing the heaven or kingdom of God on earth. Science or the mental reasoning will brush it aside as a superstition beause it is a truth beyond the Mind. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother came at such a time when the world was divided into two blocks – East and West. The East was trapped in the mist of religious dogmas and superstitions and the truth of the spirit was lost in externals. The West was searching for the truth of existence or life with the dim lamp of mental conjectures and speculations. Both science and religion were groping for everlasting bliss, immortality and light. But whereas science was searching for its hieroglyph in the embryo or organism of the body, in the outer phenomenon, religion was shut up in the temples, mosques and the churches. They had to be told of the secret, the new reality, the new ideal which is beyond the grasp of both religion and science. The Mother prepared the background in the West — in France which was centre of cultural flowering in the Western World. Sri Aurobindo Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 220 created a new wave, a new spiritual wave in India, the centre of refinement and aesthetics in the East, from the arena of national politics which gave a ready-made stage for him to announce a new reality — a spiritual politics — India is not a mere geography for which we want liberty but our Mother, our goddess who is being outraged by others, it is her deliverance that we seek — it was the prelude as if, — perhaps, first outpour of spiritual force streamed forth from the Gangotri of ‘Vande Mataram’ which wrote the preface to the Supramental Manifestation, Transformation, New Race, Kingdom of God, Life Divine on earth.

Supramental Aim It was a new ideal, a new approach to life, spirituality blended with materialism — a formula of divine life in divine body that he envisaged and kept before us. “It is indeed as a result of our evolution that we arrive at the possibility of this transformation. As Nature has evolved beyond Matter and manifested Life, beyond Life and manifested Mind, so she must evolve beyond Mind and manifest a consciousness and power of our existence free from the imperfection and limitation of our mental existence, a supramental or truth-consciousness, and able to develop the power and perfection of the spirit. Here a slow and tardy change need no longer be the law or manner of our evolution; it will be only so to a greater or less extent so long as a mental ignorance clings and hampers our ascent; but once we have grown into the truth- consciousness, its power of spiritual truth of being will determine all. Into that truth we shall be freed and it will 221 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo transform mind and life and body. Light and bliss and beauty and a perfection of the spontaneous right action of all the being are there as native powers of the supramental truth – consciousness and these will in their very nature transform mind and life and body even here upon earth into a manifestation of the truth-conscious spirit. ... All may not open to the fullness of its light and power, but whatever does open must to that extent undergo the change. ... ''... A divine life in a material world implies necessarily a union of the two ends of existence, the spiritual summit and the material base. The soul with the basis of its life established in Matter ascends to the heights of the Spirit but does not cast away its base, it joins the heights and the depths together. The Spirit descends into Matter and the material world with all its lights and glories and powers and with them fills and transforms life in the material world so that it becomes more and more divine.'' 58 The Mother in France was changing the direction of the wind of intellectualism towards an inner search and a deeper reality via occultism, mysticism, art and music. She was a great musician, great artist, occultist and mystic. From her childhood she was conscious of her spiritual mission as Sri Aurobindo was that she would fulfil in future to change the destiny of mankind and earth.

The General Aim A paper read by her on 7th May 1912 to a small group of seekers "l’Idèe", founded by her which used to meet regularly in Paris with the aim of self-knowledge and self- mastery, gives a similar agenda she had in mind to work

58.CWSA : 536-37; 521-22 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 222 out for a new ideal on earth: The general aim to be attained is the advent of a progressing universal harmony. The means for attaining this aim, in regard to the earth, is the realisation of human unity through the awakening in all and the manifestation by all of the inner Divinity which is one. In other words, — to create unity by founding the Kingdom of God which is within us all. This, therefore, is the most useful work to be done:

(i) For each individually, to be conscious in himself of the Divine Presence and to identify himself with it. (ii) To individualise the states of being that were never till now conscious in man and, by that, to put the earth in connection with one or more of the fountains of universal force that are still sealed to it. (iii) To speak again to the world the eternal word under a new form adapted to its present mentality. It will be synthesis of all human knowledge. (iv) Collectively, to establish an ideal society in a propitious spot for the flowering of the new race, the race of the Sons of God. * The terrestrial transformation and harmonisation can be brought about by two processes which, though opposite in appearance, must combine — must act upon each other and complete each other: 1. Individual transformation, an inner development leading to the union with the Divine Presence. 2. Social transformation, the establishment of an environment favourable to the flowering and growth of the individual. 223 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

Since the environment reacts upon the individual and on the other hand, the value of the environment depends upon the value of the individual the two works should proceed side by side. But this can be done only through division of labour, and that necessitates the formation of a group, hierarchised, if possible.

The action of the members of the group should be threefold: 1. To realise in oneself the ideal to be attained: to become a perfect earthly representative of the first manifestation of the Unthinkable in all its modes, attributes and qualities. 2. To preach this ideal by word, but, above all, by example, so as to find out all those who are ready to realise it in their turn and to become also announcers of liberation. 3. To found a typic society or reorganise those that already exist.

For each individual also there is a twofold labour to be done, simultaneously, each side of it helping and completing the other.

1. An inner development, a progressive union with the Divine Light, sole condition in which man can be always in harmony with the great stream of universal life.

2. An external action which everyone has to choose according to his capacities and personal preferences. He must find his own place, the place which he alone can occupy in the general concert, and he must give himself entirely to it, not forgetting that he is playing only one note in the terrestrial symphony Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 224 and yet his note is indispensable to the harmony of the whole, and its value depends upon its justness.59

This is a kind of blueprint of divine life envisaged by Sri Aurobindo or the Magna Carta of spiritual liberty and divine rights as it were. How identical were their experiences and consciousnesses! Even wordings are the same — Transformation, New Race, Kingdom of God, Human Unity, Individualisation of the states of being i.e. the formation of the psychic being etc. And mind you, it was on 7th May 1912, the Mother had not yet seen Sri Aurobindo till then. She had many unusual experiences in her vision in her teens the significance of which she might not have fully understood then, but later on as she grew in age she knew who she was and why she had been sent on earth. One of the visions which she recorded in her Prayers and Meditations and which continued every night almost for a year was that in her sleep she used to go up out of her body very high above and see herself clad in a magnificent golden robe longer than herself which stretched spreading out around her. Then all kinds of unhappy people – men, women, children, sick, would gather under the robe praying for help. The robe, in answer to their prayers, would extend towards them and let them touch itself. As soon as they touched it, they felt comforted, healed and happy and went back to their bodies happier and stronger. How this vision came true when she came to India and was given the charge of the Ashram in 1926 after Sri Aurobindo stopped meeting people to pursue the deeper sadhana. What in her vision she did in the subtle plane

59. CWM 2 : 47-48 225 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo here in India, she is still doing on the physical plane helping, healing, comforting thousands of people who come crying and weeping everyday to her Samadhi and go back smiling with gratitude. The golden robe is still spread as the aura of the Samadhi around it and it is so palpable and tangible that anyone even not knowing who the Mother is feels its touch and gets consoled and comforted by it. This single experience of hers is enough to indicate that she was Divine and she came with a definite purpose of doing the Divine work on earth. And after her meeting with Sri Aurobindo in 1914, it became further clear and confirmed what exactly the nature of the mission was and how and where she had to do it. When she was asked once when and how she became conscious of her mission and how she met Sri Aurobindo, she answered in the following words: “For the knowledge of the mission, it is difficult to say when it came to me. It is as though I were born with it, and following the growth of the mind and brain, the precision and completeness of this consciousness grew also.

“Between 11 and 13 a series of psychic and spiritual experiences revealed to me not only the existence of God but man’s possibility of uniting with Him, of realising Him integrally in consciousness and action, of manifesting Him upon earth in a life divine. This, along with a practical discipline for its fulfilment, was given to me during my body’s sleep by several teachers, some of whom I met afterwards on the physical plane. “Later on, as the interior and exterior development proceeded, the spiritual and psychic relation with one of these beings became more and more clear and frequent; Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 226 and although I knew little of the Indian philosophies and religions at that time I was led to call him Krishna, and henceforth I was aware that it was with him (whom I knew I should meet on earth one day) that the divine work was to be done. “In the year 1910 my husband came alone to Pondicherry where, under very interesting and peculiar circumstances, he made the acquaintance of Sri Aurobindo. Since then we both strongly wished to return to India – the country which I had always cherished as my true mother–country. And in 1914 this joy was granted to us. “As soon as I saw Sri Aurobindo, I recognised in him the well-known being whom I used to call Krishna. ... And this is enough to explain why I am fully convinced that my place and my work are near him, in India.”60 That was the momentous hour when she recognised in him the all-consummating Avatar of the Supreme Lord and Sri Aurobindo found in her his counterpart, his consciousness force, Chit-Shakti, the Supreme Mother, Aditi, Para Prakriti, who would give practical shape to his yoga and inaugurate a new chapter in the earth-history. Before she first met Sri Aurobindo on the 29th March 1914, she had already had to her credit many accomplishments, attainments and realisations besides her spiritual visions. She was a versatile genius, multi-faceted prodigy, adept in many fields of knowledge like Sri Aurobindo. She studied Art in a famous Art Studio of Paris, the Academie Julian, for four years from the age of 15 to 19 and became a painter of eminence. Her few works were 60. CWM Vol.13: 38-39 227 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo exhibited along with the famous artists of that period at the Salon de la Societé national des Beaux-Arts. She drew her own sketch and also Sri Aurobindo’s before meeting with him based on her vision and whom she called Krishna. Later in the Ashram she drew sketches of many sadhaks. She came in contact with leading artists of the period when she was pursuing Art such as Auguste Rodin and Matisse and Cezanne and Gustav Moreau. She married at the age of 19, in the year 1897 a notable artist, Henri Morisset, who was working with her in a studio. She was a born musician, a great musician. She learnt music very early. She was very fond of classical symphonies like Beethoven’s. Whenever she heard good music played by good and expert hands, she went into trance and had spiritual experiences of vastness and bliss. Even at an early age, 14 or 15, she used to thrill the listeners by her organ music. Her music is very famous and popular in the Ashram and among the devotees all over the world. She used to play organ music in the Ashram at midnight on the 31st of December ushering in the New Year and later at 6 o’clock in the morning on the first of January. Once, she was playing the piano in her room at Tlemcen, Théon’s place in Algeria, she recollects, and when she finished playing, she found to her utter surprise a big toad, outside her window, overjoyed and thrilled, swelling and deflating. Even lower creatures felt the power of her music. She had entry even to the subtle world of music the source from where music originates. According to her “between the border of the lower hemisphere and the higher hemisphere there is a world of creation. When you Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 228 enter there, you find that it consists of a series of zones. Each zone has a number of layers. The first zone is of material form, perfect form. Inspirations, proddings from that zone of form are responsible for great works of sculpture, architecture, painting. It is a world of forms. Next is the zone of music. That is the origin of all inspired music; all great composers, whether they are aware of it or not, are inspired from that plane. First there are musical waves. Vibratory waves without sound, gradually they take the shape of sounds.”61 The Mother used to hear those vast waves of music and sometimes her hands would give expression to them without her physical awareness of what she was playing. She would get up only when the waves subsided. Music is the first embodiment of consciousness as joy, she remarks. With these two accomplishments she could have been the greatest or one of the greatest artists and musicians of the world. But she was not seeking a career of outer life – money, comforts, name and fame and family life. She was seeking her soul. She was having many inner experiences, but she was not able to understand the significance of those things. She wanted to know what these visions meant to her life. It was then she chanced upon to read Gita as suggested by one Indian, Gyan Chakravarty, who also told her: ‘read this, but regard Lord Krishna as the Indweller.’ The Mother says that within one month her work was done. Later she came across a book by Vivekananda on Rajayoga — a compilation of his lectures, which further helped to make things or phenomena of her inner life clear to her. Her central quest was to find her inner self, the supreme discovery, which she realised within a few months. Then 61. An Early Chapter of the Mother's Life by M.P. Pandit p.88 229 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo she was about 20 or 22. As soon as she attained union with her psychic principle, she felt the sense of eternity and immortality and all fear of death disappeared. She was also a great occultist. She was gifted with the natural talent of clairaudience and clairvoyance. She could hear and see the things of the subtle worlds and also deal with them. She even participated in planchettes, automatic writings, mediums, seances, but only for fun, because she was very advanced occultist already and knew the limitations and unreliabilities of these practices. “By the beginning of this century the Mother had seen on the borderland between form and formlessness, high above, a kind of idealised form which was neither male nor female, but which Sri Aurobindo characterised as the prototype of the supramental form. In this connection Mother makes an interesting observation. As she has described in a number of visions when she went down to the nethermost regions of existence, she had seen a divine form with the head resting on arms, reclining. And what was special about it was that when Mother looked at that form, it opened its eyes wide. Mother explains it as the beginning of a fully awakened manifestation. She found a certain resemblance between this from in the inconscient and the other form on the border of formlessness, with this difference that the colour of the form below was diamond white, whereas the one on the top of the world of form was one of golden glory. This was the difference. But all these happened before she met Theon or Sri Aurobindo. She had already seen and known those two ends of existence supporting and overseeing this manifestation." 62 After all these experiences by the end of 1905, the

62. Ibid p.120 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 230

Mother came in touch with two Masters of occultism – M. Theon and his wife Madame Alma Theon, who lived, in Tlemcen in Algeria in a suburban set-up on a hill. She went to Tlemcen to meet these masters to learn more of occultism from them. During her stay at Tlemcen she learnt the art of going effortlessly to the Supraphysical planes, the science of materialising and dematerialising and to differentiate between the various smells, to differentiate the suble smells, colours, lights, their source and action. The Mother found that Madame Theon was a greater adept in occultism and she could leave her body twelve times, each time assuming a more subtle form till she arrived at the border of the domain of form. The Mother learnt this technique and this process from her. Madame Theon noticed 12 pearls in a formation over the Mother’s head and told her its significance. ‘This means you are That and only That can have this formation.’ Madame Theon also told the Mother that there were always two angels around her. All these go to prove that the Mother was from the beginning of her life the supreme Mother, Supreme’s Consciousness-Force and as her instrumental personality grew she became conscious of her true identity. When she joined Sri Aurobindo for good in Pondicherry after her second visit, and later was given the charge of the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo declared her true personality: “The One whom we adore as the Mother is the Divine Consciousnes-Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence.”63

63. The Mother by Sri Aurobindo 14th Edition : pp27-28 231 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

He further elaborates Mother’s powers and personalities.: “Four great Aspects of the Mother, four of her leading Powers and Personalities have stood in front in her guidance of this Universe and in her dealings with the terrestrial play. One is her personality of calm wideness and comprehending wisdom and tranquil benignity and inexhaustible compassion and sovereign and surpassing majesty and all-ruling greatness. Another embodies her power of splendid strength and irresistible passion, her warrior mood, her overwhelming will, her impetuous swiftness and world-shaking force. A third is vivid and sweet and wonderful with her deep secret of beauty and harmony and fine rhythm, her intricate and subtle opulence, her compelling attraction and captivating grace. The fourth is equipped with her close and profound capacity of intimate knowledge and careful flawless work and quiet and exact perfection in all things. Wisdom, Strength, Harmony, Perfection are their several attributes and it is these powers that they bring with them into the world, manifest in a human disguise in their Vibhutis and shall found in the divine degree of their ascension in those who can open their earthly nature to the direct living influence of the Mother. To the four we give the four great names, Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati.”64 The Mother too has confessed before her children of the Ashram the fact of her being the Divine, of which she was sure even before she came to Pondicherry. She wrote on 24 May 1951:

64. Ibid pp. 37-38 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 232

“There is only one thing of which I am absolutely sure, and that is who I am. Sri Aurobindo also knew it and declared it. Even the doubts of the whole of humanity would change nothing to this fact. “But another fact is not so certain — it is the usefulness of my being here in a body, doing the work I am doing. It is not out of any personal urge that I am doing it. Sri Aurobindo told me to do it and that is why I do it as a sacred duty in obedience to the dictates of the Supreme. “Time will reveal how far earth has benefitted through it." 65 France, Algeria and even Japan periods were the preparatory phases to finally come to India, the country of her soul, where she was destined to fulfil her mission, the mission of changing the world into a new kind, hitherto unheard of by any prophet, Avatar or Nabi of the past. The first time she came to India in 1914 and returned nearly a year after; the second time she arrived here on 24th April 1920 and since then she never left Pondicherry till her last breath and worked day and night for the physical realisation of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga of supramentalisation of the earth-life. Once the Mother came finally to Pondicherry on 24th April 1920, she never looked back again and completely surrendered herself – whatever she had and she was – at the feet of the Master of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo, who was for her, her Lord and her Divine and carried on his yoga of transformation till the last breath of her life. Although she was equal to Sri Aurobindo in sadhana and realisations, she often took the position of a humble disciple of Sri Aurobindo and spoke of carrying out his work and message

65. CWM .13:47 233 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo to the world to the last drop of her body. But for Sri Aurobindo, she was indispensable and without her cooperation, as he thought, his work would not have been possible. “It is the Mother who showed the way to a practical form, without her no organised manifestation would have been possible.”66 Not only this, Sri Aurobindo goes much farther to compliment the Mother to say, “But when I came to Pondicherry, there was no help from within, and I was seeking for some illumination from an outside thing or person. Then Mirra came, and, had she not come here, I would have been still fumbling. ...“ "This is", remarks Shri K.D. Sethna in his book Our Light and Delight, "the most sweeping as well as startling compliment to the Mother, charged with a humility possible only to a supreme instrument of the Divine such as Sri Aurobindo.” The Mother was destined to join Sri Aurobindo in his great task of initiating a new divine element, a new Dharma in the Nature and collaborate with him, in the work of Supramentalisation of man, for such tremendous changes to bring about, Divine has always been coming with his Shakti. To establish the higher mental ideals Rama came with his Shakti Sita and Sri Krishna for bringing down the ideal of Bhakti, a higher emotion in the heart, brought his Shakti Radha with him. The work of manifesting divine life or supramentalisation of earth-nature is a greater transition than all previous steps of evolution; hence it was necessary for the Divine to come down with his Shakti. Sri Aurobindo himself explains: “The function of the Shakti is something special. In my own case it was a necessary condition for the work that I

66. Our Light and Delight by K.D. Sethna, p.6 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 234 had to do. If I had to do only my own transformation or give a new yoga or a new ideal to a select few people who came into personal contact with me I could have done that without having any Shakti. But, for the work that I had to do, it was necessary that the two sides must come together. By coming together of Mirra and me certain conditions are created which make it easy for you to do the transformation. You can take advantage of these conditions. But it is not necessary that everybody should have a Shakti just because in my case it was necessary. You cannot generalise like that from one case. It is not a question of great or small. It is a question of your being less complex than I am. If you had to do all the things that I have done you would never be able to do it. And before you can have a Shakti you must first of all deserve a Shakti. The first condition is that you must be master of all the movements of Kama, lust. There are many other things. One thing is that there must be complete union on every plane of inner consciousness.”67 Both have to play in fact complementary roles in the transformation of the complex human nature. Man houses in his being both principles – Purusha and Prakriti and it is by working on both the principles that the desired result can be effectuated. “The work of the two together alone brings down the Supramental Truth into the physical plane. A.G. acts directly on the mental and on the vital being through the illumined mind, he represents the Purusha element whose strength is predominantly in illumined knowledge (intuition, supramental or spiritual) and the power that acts in this knowledge, while the psychic being supports this action and helps to tranform the physical and 67. Ibid p.4 235 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo vital planes. Mirra acts directly on the psychic and on the emotional vital and physical being through the illumined psychic consciousness while the illumined intuitions of the supramental being give her the necessary knowledge to act on the right lines and at the right moment. Her force representing the Shakti element is directly psychic, vital, physical and her spiritual knowledge is predominantly practical in its nature.”68 Indeed, as the Mother was the Divine Shakti, she came into action as soon as she joined the small house of Sri Aurobindo, the nucleus of the future Sri Aurobindo Ashram. She set the house in order and by her sweet personal example, radiated an atmosphere of respect and reverence for the Guru and God, because it was she who first recognised the Divine in Sri Aurobindo and introduced him as such to those around for whom Sri Aurobindo was just a leader of the national movement and at the most, a yogi from North – the Uttara yogi for both the inmates of the house with a few revolutionaries as well as visitors comprising patriots and spiritual seekers. No one had even an iota of feeling that they were living or meeting with God. With the coming of the Mother, Sri Aurobindo’s sadhana became more intense and deep and some concrete results were in the offing. Sri Aurobindo, obviously was working hard to pull down the Supermind, which is very clear from his letter to his younger brother Barin in April 1920: “Without reaching the Supramental it is impossible to know the ultimate secret of the world. The riddle of the world cannot be solved without it.

68. Ibid p.5 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 236

“But its attainment is not easy. After fifteen years I am just now rising to the lowest of the three layers of the Supermind and trying to draw up all my movements into it. But when the Siddhi is complete, then there is no doubt that the Divine will give the siddhi of the Supermind to others through me with very little effort. Then my real work will begin. I am not in a hurry to accomplish my work”.69 Gradually the number of seekers began to swell and by 1926 it reached 24. There were regular meditations and talks and personal guidance from the Master and even the Mother who had already attained the status of ‘The Mother’ from just ‘Mirra’ through the lips of Sri Aurobindo in some inspired moment. Sri Aurobindo seemed to be withdrawing himself slowly and putting forth the Mother to guide others in their inner Sadhana also along with the responsibility of the outer organisation of the House of the Guru, which she was already doing of her own. And after the momentous day, the 24th Nov. 1926, his Siddhi Day, Sri Aurobindo openly announced that henceforth the Mother will take care not only of the material needs of the inmates or sadhakas, but also be their spiritual guide and guru and he himself will be available only through the Mother. From that day Sri Aurobindo retired to devote his entire time exclusively to the inner sadhana. The 24th of November 1926 was a great day in the life of Sri Aurobindo and his sadhana. This is also the day when the Sri Aurobindo Ashram formally came into existence and the Mother was given the charge of spiritual and material care of the Ashram. This was the day when a great milestone was reached in the journey of Sri

69. The Mother by Wilfred pp.34-35 237 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

Aurobindo’s sadhana. A great height of consciousness known as ‘Overmind’ which is below the Supermind but the highest of all the planes of the Mind, descended in his body without which the Supramental descent could not have been possible. Sri Aurobindo himself has explained the significance of the Day which the Mother has called the ‘Victory Day’: “The 24th November 1926 was the descent of Krishna into the physical. Krishna is not the Supramental Light. The descent of Krishna would mean the descent of the Overmind Godhead preparing, though not itself actually, the descent of Supermind and Ananda. Krishna is the Anandamaya; he supports the evolution through the Overmind leading it towards his Ananda.”70 From that day the household of the Guru, Sri Aurobindo, became ‘Sri Aurobindo Ashram’ with the well- defined objective “to create a centre of spiritual life which shall serve as a means of bringing down the higher consciousness and making it a power not merely for ‘salvation’ but for a divine life upon earth.” Sri Aurobindo wrote this to the Maharani of Baroda in 1930 and added: “It is with this object that I have withdrawn from public life and founded this Ashram in Pondicherry...”71 The Mother began to look into every detail of the Ashram life including the spiritual progress of the sadhaks. To keep in touch with sadhaks for their spiritual needs, she began the Morning Pranam and Soup Distribution, through which she transmitted her force to their inner beings. The number of seekers began to swell and along with them activities of the Ashram too increased, where sadhaks were given some work as a part of yogic discipline, Karma Yoga. Activities

70. Ibid p.36 71. Images of Her Life p.16 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 238 started with the essential services such as Building Service, Atelier, Garden Service, Bakery, Dining Room and went on increasing with the passage of time. With the coming of the children due to second world war a school and a hostel for them became necessary. On 2nd December 1943 a school was opened and subsequently a Physical Education Department also came into existence. All the ashramites, young and old, were supposed to participate in all the physial education programmes. The Mother herself also was taking classes. More buildings came up for classes, play grounds, hostels, etc. and naturally more activities which the Mother was personally organising and guiding in minute details. The Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s eyes were everywhere from the transcendental plane on to the earth, on to the country, and to the Ashram activities, to every individual’s need — outer and inner. They were striving jointly to prepare the ground to woo the Supermind, watching the war clouds hovering over the world, the possibility and prospects of Indian Independence and also diggingout the nut-hard gross material of the heart and mind of everyone who happened to be in touch with them either personally or through letters, insiders or outsiders. They were to hasten the descent of the Supermind, tackle the Hitlers, liberate India and see to every sadhak’s spiritual growth. Everything was progressing. The destructive march of Hitlers was halted. India became independent. But the conditions on earth for the Supramental manifestation were not yet ready. The Master changed his strategy; he decided to leave his physical body in 1950 to work more effectively from his subtle physical 239 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo plane. The strategy worked and the Mother announced the supramental manifestation on earth on 29th Feb 1956. “This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was present amongst you. I had a form of 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, one single blow on the door and the door was shattered to pieces." "Then the supramental Light and Force and Consciousness rushed down upon the earth in an uninterrupted flow.”72 This was the Hour for which the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were waiting. This was the Day for the Supramental Godhead to descend on earth. The Mother called this day, the Day of the Lord or the Golden Day, the Day of the Supreme Victory. This was promised to the earth and was done by the supreme executrix, the Divine Mother. She concluded the announcement as follows: Lord, Thou hast willed, and I execute: A new light breaks upon the earth, A new world is born. The things that were promised are fulfilled.73

But she was left alone on the physical, although Sri Aurobindo was all the time in her and acting through her. Now the task of transformation of body, the last victory over Matter, fell solely on her head. She did it to her best until the last moment, as long as her body cooperated or 72. CWM Vol. 13, p.52 73. CWM Vol. 15, p.190 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 240 endured the pressure. Her inmortal body of subtle physical material was ready but it could not fuse as per the plan so far with the gross-physical envelope, whose cells had been fast opening up to the Supermind’s luminous force. Lately the Supermind itself had once possessed the Mother’s most external consciousness for a few seconds. Her physical being was proceeding rapidly to absorb the causal body’s influence, but the shock of the master-power was also immense and the physical being came on more than one occasion to the verge of literally dying so as to make room for the new life. In spite of all dangers she never stopped her fight for transformation. But she declared too that the final Will of the Supreme had not yet been disclosed to the body – whether her fight would be directly crowned with success or the fighting instrument would have to be given up in order to serve the Lord who always knows best how to accomplish his work. Evidently, the Divine Will was found by her to go against a direct triumph. Without a moment’s hesitation she exercised the Supramental Avatar’s right consciously to decide her own departure. She took her station in the waiting causal body, in which during the last few months of tranced inner withdrawal she must have stayed continually. Staying there, while still keeping her physical sheath alive, she must have assimilated the essence of the latter’s achievement into the causal body and thus rendered that body denser and brought its subtle substance nearer to gross matter. Now, in place of matter becoming supramentalised in the Mother, the Supermind stands ready to be materailised as the Mother.74 Although the real work has not fully been done, the seed of supramentalisation has been sown in the Matter,

74. Amal Kiran, Mother India Feb.2004 p.116 241 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo in the life of the earth and partial transformation of the individual bodies of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother — the representatives of the gross matter of the earth. As to why Sri Aurobindo decided unexpectedly to leave his body untransformed has been explained by the Mother time and again. “The lack of receptivity of the earth and men is mostly responsible for the decision Sri Aurobindo has taken regading his body. ... Surely if the earth were more responsive, this would not have been necessary." 75 Was the Mother’s withdrawal too Aurobindonian? This question stared at us on one more catastrophic day. On 17th November 1973 ! It all depends on the preparedness of humanity. The Avatars have done their work and now it is up to us how and when we profit ourselves. The Divine waits at our door for us to wake up, open our eyes and welcome Him. Sooner the better. Not only the inner force and light are ready in the subtle physical world, but also samples of new ideals, the prototypes of the future have been given to us. How should an individual act in the collectivity, what should be the structure of the future society and humanity? The future moulds of every acivity have been forged. People from the world, the world of money and wealth, are aghast to see that people more intelligent than them work here without taking money. How come? Talented teachers, highly educated teachers and professors of Universities of the outside world where exhorbitant fee structures and high and pompous degrees matter more than knowledge, ask us how it is possible to educate without money, text book and degree and examination? And those who study the

75. CWM Vol.13 pp 7 & 9 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 242 structure of the Ashram a little more deeply, are wonder- struck to see the topless management of the Ashram without any hierarchy. It is anarchy they exclaim! Yes, it is divine anarchy. Things should go all right automatically like an automatic machine, a perfect machine. Everyone should be guided from within, the indwelling god. This is the miracle the Mother has created. And very few are aware of it or thought of it. But they are all part of it. The activities of the Ashram are not for the sake of action. They are to find out our soul. They are the part of the Integral Yoga of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. She opened the school not to prepare the children to earn and amass money, to eat, drink and be merry. The children are getting a new education, a new knowledge, first to know their Self and then to become later children of the new race, the race of the super-humanity by training their mind, life and body and soul to be fit to grow as superman. The Ashram is a place of integral growth of the individual – growth of all the faculties one has – mind, heart, body. To take care of the material things is a part of the spiritual life of the Ashram. It is a training ground of divinisation of the total life where everything of life is uplifted to the level of the soul and Divine. The Ashram has grown enormously as a living centre of all activities of life under the care of the Mother. It has a printing press, industries, farms, handmade paper factory, guest houses, perfumery section, weaving and marbling departments, workshops, clinics, agricultural activities and what not. It is a world by itself where all actions are prayers to the Divine. It is a prototype of a new world, the seed of the future world, the supramental world. 243 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

The one major extension of the ideals of the Ashram or of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo is Auroville — an experimental city to realise human unity in the world, which, in the present scenario of strife, difference and division all over, looks almost impossible. Yet the unity is a basic principle inherent in all of us; after all, we have become many out of One only. But we have to discover it and it is being discovered in all earnestness by those who have opted to live in Auroville – a city in making near Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu State. Auroville is the manifestation of the Mother’s dream – a place which no nation could claim as its own, a place where the needs of the Spirit and the concern for progress would take precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions. It is also in consonance with Sri Aurobindo’s wish to realise human unity as a prerequisite for the supramentalisation of the world, as mentioned in his message issued on the Indepenence day of India, 15th of August 1947. “Auroville wants,” explained the Mother “to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Aurovile is to realise human unity.”76 The following charter of Auroville given in French by the Mother and read out by her at its inauguration 28th Feb. 1968 is a simple statement of the aims and hopes of tomorrow’s world: "Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville one must be the willing servitor of the Divine

76. CWM Vol.13 : 188 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 244

Consciousness. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations. Auroville will be a site of material and spirital researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity." 77 She came down from above into our struggling world and created new moulds of life for the suffering mortal race. She opened our eyes to a new light and gave us the key to open the gate of bliss in the heart of grief. Her life was indeed a golden bridge between earth and heaven. Sri Aurobindo’s lines in Savitri befittingly tell the immortal saga of her glorious life:

A priestess of immaculate ecstasies Inspired and ruled from Truth’s revealing vault Moves in some prophet cavern of the gods, A heart of silence in the hands of joy Inhabited with rich creative beats A body like a parable of dawn That seemed a niche for veiled divinity Or golden temple-door to things beyond. Immortal rhythms swayed in her time–born steps; Her look, her smile awoke celestial sense Even in earth-stuff, and their intense delight Poured a supernal beauty on men’s lives. A wide self-giving was her native act; A magnanimity as of sea or sky Enveloped with its greatness all that came

77. Ibid pp.193-94 245 The Avatar : Sri Aurobindo

And gave a sense as of a greatened world: Her kindly care was a sweet temperate sun, Her high passion a blue heaven’s equipoise. As might a soul fly like a hunted bird, Escaping with tired wings from a world of storms, And a quiet reach like a remembered breast, In a haven of safety and splendid soft repose One could drink life back in streams of honey-fire, Recover the lost habit of happiness, Feel her bright nature’s glorious ambience, And preen joy in her warmth and colour’s rule. A deep of compassion, a hushed sanctuary, Her inward help unbarred a gate in heaven; Love in her was wider than the universe, The whole world could take refuge in her single heart. The great unsatisfied godhead here could dwell: Vacant of the dwarf self’s imprisoned air, Her mood could harbour his sublimer breath Spiritual that can make all things divine. For even her gulfs were secrecies of light. At once she was the stillness and the word, A continent of self-diffusing peace, An ocean of untrembling virgin fire; The strength, the silence of the gods were hers. In her he found a vastness like his own, His high warm subtle ether he refound And moved in her as in his natural home. In her he met his own eternity.78

78. Savitri CWSA 33: 15-16 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 246

Chapter 7

The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

India is the most wonderful land on the earth. As the earth is the only chosen planet in the whole cosmos for the progressive evolution of life and consciousness, so India is the only country on the earth chosen for the exploration of the Truth, for seeking the Spirit, for finding the highest knowledge and the secret of Existence. It is a land of great seers and sages, saviours and prophets, Deliverers and even Avatars. And all of them have explored the Truth of Life and Existence in their own ways, based on their own experiences and presented them before the world.

Perspective Some have said that there is a supreme power called God who rules the world by rod and punishes evil with hell and rewards the good with heaven. Therefore we should always avoid bad actions to escape the sufferings of hell and be good to others to ensure the bliss of heaven after death. Some say there is no God at all, the world is not real either; it is a fluke and a passing phase. It is a flux of things changing from moment to moment and nothing is permanent here. Man is a stream of moving thoughts and changing impressions goaded by never-ending urge-of desire, which is also the mother of suffering. With the cessation of it, everything lapses into a void, a big zero, Shunyam. We should therefore try to be free from desire in life so that we may merge our existence in the bliss of Shunyam i.e. called Nirvana and never return to life of suffering. Yet, there is 247 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo another view, which still dominates in the mind of the masses of this country. There is a Supreme Reality, infinite and eternal, ever unborn and the Absolute. He is second to none. He alone is true. The world, the manifestation though appears to exist but it is non-existent in reality. As the rope in insufficient light gives the impression of a snake, so is this world, in the state of ignorance, without the light of knowledge appears to be true. It is in fact like a dream, which eludes the waking state. According to this view of truth life in the world is an illusion or Maya and sooner we get out of it, and realise the truth of the Self and attain liberation or moksha, the better. Both views - the advocates of Nirvana and Moksha - look down upon life in the world and concentrate on the practice of certain fixed disciplines, which have necessitated the organization of monastic life, recoiling from material life. The monastic life thus having come into being is recognized in general in India as also in the West as spiritual life vis a vis the material life. This kind of ‘spiritual life’, which is being dubbed by the materialist thinkers as escapism, was not the original spiritual way of life of the Aryan Culture during the periods of the Vedas and Upanishads and even the periods of two great epics. There were great rishis who were highly advanced seers and sages, great spiritual giants, but they were all house-holders. There were Ashramas of course which were great seats of learning, where knowledge from gnosis to polity and archery to war- game was imparted. But no monasteries and no monastic life. Somehow this monastic life, evolved much later than the Vedic periods, became synonymical to Indian spiri- Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 248 tual life for the outside world. Even in India, since Vedic culture was lost into oblivion monastic life prevailed and exercised a great influence over the psyche of the masses. Since the goal of monastic life was much loftier, mystic and other-worldly, it fascinated the youth of all classes and category and almost all able-minded and able-bodied youth were drawn to monastic life and became indifferent to the problems of the society and the country. The result was unfortunate. We could not defend our boundaries against foreign invasions and we suffered slavery to barbaric alien ruler and their incondite cultures.

Integral View However, there is another view of existence and life which appears to be more holistic, integral and more perfect. Sri Aurobindo, the greatest thinker, seer and Rishi of the modern age, has given us a new philosophy of existence, life on the earth and its goal and destiny on the lines of revelations of Vedic rishis. The entire knowledge of Brahman, the Supreme Reality, the Absolute, the Infinite and Eternal and His Manifestation, its purpose was revealed to him without any deliberate intention and effort on his part. Even before he started Yoga, he met or experienced three goddesses of the Veda - Ila, Saraswati and Sarama - the energies of Revelation, Inspiration and Intuition, in his vision, of whom he was unable to make any head and tail then. When he began Yoga, all knowledge was revealed to him just as the Vedic knowledge was revealed to Vedic rishis of yore. Later on when he studied Vedas all his experiences and knowledge were corroborated by those of the Vedic seers and also he knew the meaning 249 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and significance of the said three goddesses or powers of the Vedas. According to the view of Sri Aurobindo, “An Omni- present Reality is the truth of all life and existence whether absolute or relative, whether corporeal or incorporeal, whether animate or inanimate, whether intelligent or un- intelligent; and in all its infinitely varying and even constantly opposed self-expressions, from the contradictions nearest to our ordinary experience to those remotest antinomies which lose themselves on the verges of the Inef- fable, the Reality is one and not a sum or concourse. From that all variations begin, in that all variations consist, to that all variations return. All affirmations are denied only to lead to a wider affirmation of the same Reality. All antinomies confront each other in order to recognize one Truth in their opposed aspects and embrace by the way of conflict their mutual Unity. Brahman is the Al- pha and the Omega. Brahman is the One besides whom there is nothing else existent.”1 “The teaching of Sri Aurobindo starts from that of the ancient sages of India that behind the appearances of the Universe there is the Reality of a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and eternal. All things are united in that One Self and Spirit but divided by a certain separativity of consciousness, an ignorance of their true Self and Real- ity in the mind, life and body. It is possible by a certain psychological discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness and become aware of the true Self, the Di- vinity within us and all. “Sri Aurobindo’s teaching states that this one Being and Consciousness is involved here in Matter. Evolution is

1. The Life Divine CWSA 21:38 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 250 the method by which it liberates itself; consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient, and once having appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and at the same time to enlarge and develop towards a greater and greater perfection. Life is the first step of this release of consciousness; mind is the second; but the evolution does not finish with mind, it awaits a release into something greater, a consciousness which is spiritual and supramental. The next step of the evolution must be towards the development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in the conscious being. For only then will the involved Divinity in things release itself entirely and it becomes possible for life to manifest perfection.” 2 According to Sri Aurobindo’s experience not only God is real but the world is also real. The world is not unreal or illusion or Maya as it is believed. It is the Brahman, the Supreme Reality, the Supreme Being which has gone abroad into manifestation, into the Becoming, it is the One that has become Many. “Existence is not a fluke, a random creation by no body, a thing that unaccountably happened to be. It carries in itself the Word of God, it is full of a hidden Divine Pres- ence. Existence is not a blind machine that somehow came and started a set ignoble motion without object or sense or purpose. Existence is a truth of things unfolding by a gradual process of manifestation, an evolution of its own involved Reality. Existence is not an illusion, a Maya that had no reason, no business to exist, could not exist, does not exist but only seems to be. A mighty Reality manifests in itself this marvellous universe.” 3 2. The Integral Yoga (Compilation) Lotus Light Publication USA: p.3 3. Essays Divine and Human by Sri Aurobindo, pp. 228-29 251 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

It is not all. Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy based on his inner experience goes much beyond the seers of the Vedas and Upanishads. According to him Man is not the final creation of the Creative Energy of the Supreme, for he is not yet as perfect as the Divine, whereas the intent of the Divine behind his manifestation is to bring down his own Spirit’s perfection in his material manifestation as well.‘Here to fulfil Himself was God’s desire.’ He has experienced a level of consciousness between the lower and the higher hemisphere i.e., between the lower plane consisting of matter, life, mind and the higher plane consisting of Anand, Chit and Sat which he identifies as Maharloka – an intermediate world of consciousness, by realising which the material life on the earth can be transformed, perfected and divinised and thus a divine life could be made possible. Once this possibility is effectuated, the face of the present humanity will be absolutely new. There will be perfect harmony on the earth, human unity and love and harmony will be natural. There will be no ignorance and falsehood. There will be all over the rule of perfect Light, Love and Truth. We find that in the positive philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, neither there is a problem of pain nor the problem of Illu- sion. For him “the world lives in and by Ananda. From Ananda, says the Veda, we were born, by Ananda we live, to Ananda we return.” Not for him the existence is unreality. But how did he come to conclude such a perfect idea or philosophy? We can have a glance at his life and see how such a high and perfect philosophy he could visualise or realise or did he really seize upon the kingdom of the secret Spirit and Nature or was he himself the Divine who came down in the garb of man to lead and guide us to our hidden destiny or to the highest truth which we were Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 252 secretly seeking by groping in the dark for millenniums?

A new star is born Sri Aurobindo passed the I.C.S examination with fly- ing colours and was a great scholar of English literature besides being conversant with many European languages, such as Greek, Latin, Italian and French. He lived in En- gland for his education for fourteen years from the age of 7 to 21 — the most impressionable period of life. He studied European and Greek history very extensively. But till the age of 21 he was completely ignorant of any Indian language and the culture of his motherland. So much so that he was averse to any religion and even an atheist and agnostic for sometime, then how come suddenly he became a great thinker and philosopher and the great exponent of the ultimate truth and reality which is affirmed later on the authority of Vedas and Upanishads?. It is true that he did not show any sign of interest in mysticism or spirituality or even philosophy. After he returned from England he joined the Baroda state service where he acquainted himself with Indian culture and languages, and the political situation of the country under the British rule. Among all these the movement for freedom of the country struck him most. His heart was caught almost in a frenzy for the freedom of the motherland. He left the job of Baroda State and plunged fully in the freedom movement. He writes in a letter to his wife about the kind of love he cherished for the country: “....other people look upon the country as an inert piece of matter, a stretch of fields and meadows, forests and rivers. To me she is the Mother. I adore Her. What will the son do when he sees a rakshasa sitting on the breast 253 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo of his mother and sucking her blood? Will he quietly have his meal or will he rush to deliver his mother from that grasp?” In the same breath he writes further: “I know I have the strength to redeem this fallen race. It is not physical strength, it is the strength of knowledge. The power of Kshatriya is not the only power. There is also the power of Brahman, the power founded upon knowledge. This feeling is not new, I was born with it and it is in my marrow. God has sent me to this world to accomplish this great mission. When I was fourteen, the seed began to sprout; at eighteen the foundation became firm and unshakable.”4 This is for the first time we perceive an avataric tone in his utterance. The instrument becomes conscious of the mission of the Divine, ‘The secret Spirit and Nature housed in me’. The clarity about his mission of raising the race becomes more crystallized when we see another piece what he wrote in Bhawani Mandir booklet : “ It is not a piece of earth, nor a figure of speech, nor a fiction of my mind. It is a mighty Shakti, composed of the Shaktis of all the millions of units that make up the nation, just as Bhavani Mahisha Mardini sprang into being from the Shaktis of all the millions of gods assembled in one mass of force and welded into unity. The Shakti we call India, Bhawani Bharati, is the living unity of the Shaktis of three hundred millions of people; but she is inactive, imprisoned in the magic circle of tamas, the self-indulgent inertia and ignorance of her sons.” The part of the letter to his wife Mrinalini Devi cited above had talked of Sri Aurobindo’s third madness. The other two madnesses we are still to know, which are as follows:

4. Sri Aurobindo for All Ages by Nirod Baran p.53 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 254

“I have three madnesses. The first is this, I firmly believe that the accomplishments, talent, education and means that God has given me, are all His. Whatever is essential and needed for the maintenance of the family has alone a claim upon me; the rest must be returned to God. If I spend everything for comfort or luxury, then I am a thief... The second madness which has recently seized hold of me is: I must somehow see God… if He exists, there must be ways to perceive His presence, to meet Him. However arduous the way, I am determined to follow that path. In one month I have felt that the Hindu religion has not told lies — the signs and hints it has given have become a part of my experience.”5 These three madnesses are sufficient for one to understand his entire outlook towards life and his weltanschauung. This was all going on around 1905. His first love was the country, not God and he began Yoga only to attain some power for the liberation of the country. He writes in another revealing letter: “I learnt that Yoga gives power and I thought why the devil should I not get the power and use it to liberate my country… It was the time of country first, humanity afterwards and the rest nowhere.” It was something from behind which got the idea accepted by the mind; mine was a side-door entry to the spiritual life.6 And when he decided to take up Yoga not for moksha or realisation of God, he made this prayer to God of whom he was not very sure if He existed at all, as his language indicates: “If you do exist, you know my mind, you know I do not care for liberation; what others want has no attraction

5. Ibid p.53 6. Ibid p.49 255 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo for me. I want power so that I may raise this country and serve my dear countrymen.” 7 We have seen and heard of many patriots, national- ists, many martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their motherlands throughout the world but none of them had this kind of unusual and extraordinary zeal, intense fervour, devotion, adoration and intensity of love for the motherland. They never looked at the country from the eye of the soul as Sri Aurobindo did. Although they gave their lives, yet it was only for the sake of the geographical boundary, the material entity, at the most for their sacred motherland or Punyabhumi whereas for Sri Aurobindo India, apart from the physical structure, the body, the mass of the earth, has a living soul. She is a spiritual being as we all are. Sri Aurobindo adds a new meaning to patriotism, a new dimension to our love for the country. It is for this reason that all his political thoughts which he expressed in the editorials of Bande Mataram wore a new colour, the colour of spirituality; it was a spiritual politics. In May 1907, he writes: “ In this grave crisis of our destinies let not our people lose their fortitude or suffer stupefaction and depression to seize upon and unnerve their souls. The fight in which we are engaged is not like the wars of old in which when the king or the leader fell, the army fled. The king whom we follow to the wars today, is our own Motherland, the sacred and imperishable; the leader of our onward march is the Almighty Himself, that element within and without us whom sword cannot slay, nor water drown, nor fire burn, nor exile divide from us, nor a prison confine.”8

7. Ibid p.49 8. India's Rebirth p.22 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 256

And in June 1907 : “What India needs especially at this moment is the ag- gressive virtues, the spirit of soaring idealism, bold creation, fearless resistance, courageous attack; of the passive tamasic spirit of inertia we have already too much. We need to cultivate another training and temperament, another habit of mind. We would apply to the present situation the vig- orous motto of Danton, that what we need, what we should learn above all things is to dare and again to dare and still to dare.”9

Towards the Unknown And when he took to Yoga, the Yoga in very traditional sense, the elementary form of Yoga, he discovered that the Yoga itself was in need to break its boundaries. He practised Pranayama but he was not satisfied with the result. Except some improvement in health he could not lay hold of any power that he was looking for. Even he tried silence of mind with the help of the Maharashtrian Yogi Vishnu Bhasker Lele and he realised it within three days. In his own words, “Lele asked me to silence the mind and throw away the thoughts if they came. I did it in three days — and the result was that the whole being became quiet and in several days I got the Nirvanic experience which remained with me for a long time. I could not have got out of it even if I had wanted to. Even afterwards, this experience remained in the background in the midst of all activities.”10 This experience, to quote him, — ‘a series of tremen- dously powerful experiences and radical changes of consciousness’ — came as a surprise to Lele for he had never 9. Ibid p.23 10. Sri Aurobindo for All Ages by Nirod Baran p.81 257 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo expected that highly Yogic and rare experience by a mere vacant mind of Sri Aurobindo, for, it had far exceeded his own. Even Sri Aurobindo himself was amazed, for it was contrary to his own preconceived ideas based on his Western education which affirms material reality, as also on his passionate love for the country for which he had staked his life and career. The Nirvanic experiences, he says, ‘made me see with a stupendous intensity the world as a cinematographic play of vacant forms in the impersonal universality of the Absolute Brahman.’ This experience was described by him much later in his poem ‘Nirvana’ : All is abolished but the mute Alone. The mind from thought released, the heart from grief Grow inexistent now beyond belief; There is no I, no Nature, known-unknown. The city, a shadow picture without tone, Floats, quivers unreal; forms without relief Flow, a cinema’s vacant shapes; like a reef Foundering in shoreless gulfs the world is done. Only the illimitable Permanent Is here. A Peace stupendous, featureless, still, Replaces all, what once I, in It A silent unnamed emptiness content Either to fade in the Unknowable Or thrill with the luminous seas of the Infinite.

This is considered the highest and the last spiritual realisation in the realm of Yoga for which a Sadhak has to undergo severe penance and tapasya for many long years and even through many births and such realised Yogis, Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 258 having once scaled the high snowy peak of the permanent Bliss, never turn back to the world of struggle and suffering. But for Sri Aurobindo this was the beginning of his Yoga. It is because of this that he was always hesitant to follow the path of old spirituality. He never liked to escape from the life and always thought of changing the fabric of the present life, if it was not perfect. He was different and he never liked to enjoy the Supreme Bliss all alone. He therefore put this Nirvanic experience on one side and again threw himself into the storm of action, the action of shaking the sleeping country, waking the millions of his brothers and sisters from their swoon and sloth by his fiery speeches and writings. Sri Aurobindo, although his writings spit fire and force, was simple, unassuming and unegoistic in his appearance. There was something in him which made him different from other great men. People all around him who were established leaders of the time like Bipin Chandra Pal, Lokmanya Tilak, Rabindranath Tagore, admired his genius and cherished a sense of adoration for him, although he was the youngest among them as also a new entrant in the freedom movement of the country. “Rabindranath, O Aurobindo, bows to Thee”, wrote Rabindranath in his Bengali poem entitled ‘Namaskar’ offering his salutation to him.

“O friend, my country’s friend, O voice incarnate, free, Of India’s soul! No soft renown doth crown thy lot, Nor pelf or careless comfort is for thee; Thou’st sought 259 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

No petty bounty, petty dole; the beggar’s bowl Thou never hast held aloft. In watchfulness thy soul Hast thou ever held for bondless full perfection’s birth For which, all night and day, the god in man on earth Doth strive and strain austerely…” 11

How prophetic and true proved his words in course of time. The Avatarhood was in the making in him then. Rabindranath Tagore had the eye of a Rishi which could recognize the inner godhead blossoming out. Suddenly Sri Aurobindo shot up into fame and became a national leader because of the Alipore Bomb Case and was interviewed by a special correspondent of the Manchester Guardian of Lon- don, Henry Nevinson, who recorded his impressions of him as follows: “Intent dark eyes looked from his thin, clear-cut face with a gravity that seemed immovable… grave with intensity, careless of fate or opinion and one of the most silent men I have known, he was of the stuff that dreamers are made of, but dreamers who will act their dream, indifferent to the means.” 12 And indeed, he was not only mad in his love for the country and God, he was a great dreamer too. He speaks of his five dreams in his message released on the occasion of the Independence Day of the country. We shall discuss them later. In the meantime we shall cite one more proph- esy by C. R. Das who was the defending Counsel of Sri Aurobindo in the Alipore Bomb Case. On the day of the final judgement, while on one side security arrangement of the court-room was very tight and

11. Ibid p.70 12. Ibid p.71 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 260 the atmosphere very tense since policemen with fixed bayo- nets stood on guard to take care of any eventuality from the side of the accused whose fate hung in the balance, on the other side, some of the accused were absorbed in reading the novels of Bankim Chandra, RajYoga of Vivekananda or the Gita and Puranas. Sri Aurobindo too was sitting quietly detached and self-absorbed, who was the chief culprit in the eyes of the British Govt. and whom the prosecution was anxious to convict more than any body else. The final speech for the defence by C. R. Das continued for eight days and towards the close of the speech what he said became prophetic to the letter and an exemplary classic piece of advocacy charged with mantric force. He ended his speech with the following inspired words: “My appeal to you therefore is that a man like this who is being charged with the offences imputed to him stands not only before the bar in this Court but stands before the bar of the High Court of History. And my appeal to you is this: That long after this controversy is hushed in silence, long after this turmoil, this agitation ceases, long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed not only in India, but across distant seas and lands. Therefore I say that the man in his position is not only standing before the bar of this court but before the bar of the High court of History.”13 And how true it has proved to the letter! Today indeed, after he has left the material scene, he shines like a brilliant sun of a new hope in the firmament of the cloudy future of mankind. Today his philosophy of divine life on

13. Ibid p.97 261 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo the earth gives us the hope of a fresh lease of our existence on this very planet, for which he quietly did severe tapasya in the cave of Pondicherry without proclaiming anything, without hoping for anything from humanity. If we read his writings carefully and a little deeply, we are wonder- struck how he could do such a Herculean task all alone — the task of charting out absolutely a new route from our own low terrain to the mountain top, the terra-incognita of the supramental world and so silently and noiselessly that the world did not know of him. Even today, six decades after his physical departure we have hardly begun to know him. The Mother, his collaborator and his Shakti, Mirra Alfassa, who joined him in his adventure, the adventure of a new creation, was the first to call him an Avatar, the incarnation of the Supreme, who in his infinite grace is wanting to uplift the human race and change it into a divine kind for which He came down to show the path in the human body of Sri Aurobindo. Her epitaph inscribed on Sri Aurobindo’s Samadhi is an eye-opener; this explains the magnitude of his work which he did so secretly and silently, behind the veil of obscurity hiding from the public gaze. “To Thee who hast been the material envelope of our Master, to Thee our infinite gratitude. Before Thee who has done so much for us, who has 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.” We are digressing now and then or perhaps pausing and musing for a while while we retrace the route of his journey from the humanity to Divinity, how slowly and Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 262 slowly he left his human slough and gradually revealed his true Being of divinity, the full grandeur of his inner sunlight. He writes in his poem ‘Transformation’:

I am no more a vassal of the flesh, A slave to Nature and her leaden rule; I am caught no more in the senses’ narrow mesh. My soul unhorizoned widens to measureless sight, My body is God’s happy living tool, My spirit a vast sun of deathless light.

We have not yet arrived at the cliff of his life. We were just admiring the dazzling snowy peak in the view which our eyes can’t help glancing over from far off, a distance we have yet to traverse. We are still in his political days. His one year of solitude in jail during the Alipore Bomb Case proved a great turning point in his life. He went to the jail as an accused of sedition, along with many like him, some of them were real criminals — but he returned from there a changed person as if by an alchemy, a Yogi and Divine man. It was a different experience from the earlier one of the Nirvanic silence, and in a very different situation. Sri Aurobindo’s house was suddenly raided by police men one fine morning and he was arrested along with many other revolutionaries. All the accused were charged with organising a gang for the purpose of waging war against the Govt. by criminal force, a grave offence under IPC. Since he was suspected by the Police to be the leader of the group of revolutionaries, he was confined in a solitary cell in the most inhuman conditions. His cell was 9 feet long and 5 feet wide without a win- 263 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo dow and in front stood strong iron bars. That small cell was to serve as a place for all human functions, i.e., eating, sleeping and attending to Nature’s calls. He was provided with a blanket, a plate and a bowl, which was also multi- purpose. In Sri Aurobindo’s own words, “my dear bowl was multi-purpose, free from all caste-restrictions, beyond all discriminations; in my cell it helped in the act of ablu- tion, later with the same bowl I rinsed my mouth and bathed, a little later when I had to take my food, the lentil soup or vegetable was poured into the same container. I drank water out of it and washed my mouth.” In such inhuman and horrible conditions as he says, — “but since my faith in divine mercy was strong, I had to suffer only for the first few days; thereafter — the mind had risen above these sufferings and grown incapable of feeling any hardship.” All this that he suffered was without any fault of his. But was it all that happened in his one-year prison- life? His prison life in Alipore began on May 5, 1908 and he was released on May 6 next year. Much water had flown under the bridge during this one year and his inner life was completely changed. He observes philosophically in his ‘Kara Kahini’: “Friday, May 1, 1908… I did not know that it would mean the end of a chapter in my life and that there stretched before me a year’s imprisonment during which all my human relations would cease, that for a whole year I would have to live, beyond the pale of society, live like an animal in a cage. And when I would re-enter the world of activity, it would not be the old familiar Aurobindo Ghosh…I have spoken of a year’s imprisonment. It would have been Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 264 more appropriate to speak of a year’s living in an Ashram or a hermitage… The only result of the wrath of the British Government was that I found God.” 14 His one year’s prison life as he rightly observes, was a life of hermitage, a life of austere penance and severe spiritual disciplines. The prison became his cave of tapasya. His old ideas and views changed. Before he was sent to jail he never cared for spiritual gains. Even a Himalayan realisation like Nirvana was set aside for the love of his motherland. The motherland was over and above all interests. Nay, he had equally cherished madness for God. If there is God, he must find Him and meet Him face to face. And indeed he found Him, but at a very queer place. Was Krishna not born in jail? Sri Aurobindo’s Krishna too was born in his prison-life. But at what cost? God is a jealous lover. He can’t tolerate any other love, you must want the Divine and Divine alone. Sri Aurobindo too had to pay compensation, quid pro quo for it and forgo and forget the movement for the freedom of the motherland. He was told that it was not his business; it was the business of God to see to it and liberate her at the ordained time. He must do what the Divine wanted him to do, the work that had been planned for him, to raise not only a nation, to liberate not only a country, but to raise and liberate the whole earth- life, the humanity at large. And we all know what happened after he returned from the jail; hardly could he stay for a year and on 4th April 1910 he arrived at Pondicherry under the ‘Adesh’ of God. The rest is a great and vibrant history, history of the foundation of a great future of the earth, the future of man.

14. Ibid p.92 265 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

But what was the actual change in his inner life and in his consciousness, which compelled him to abandon his mission in the thick of the movement? He has revealed all this in his Uttarpara Speech which makes it very clear that Sri Aurobindo was no longer the same self that he was before the prison life. He was made aware of a higher mission and a higher divine task that awaited. He speaks of his experiences how they happened in the following words:

Krishna everywhere “When I was arrested and hurried to the Lal Bazar hajat I was shaken in faith for a while, for I could not look into the heart of His intention. Therefore I faltered for a moment and cried out in my heart to Him, ‘What is this that has happened to me? I believed that I had a mission to work for the people of my country and until that work was done, I should have Thy protection. Why then am I here and on such a charge?’ A day passed and a second day and a third, when a voice came to me from within, 'wait and see’. Then I grew calm and waited,…. I remembered then that a month or more before my arrest, a call had come to me to put aside all activity, to go into seclu- sion and to look into myself so that I might enter into closer communion with Him. I was weak and could not accept the call. My work was very dear to me and in the pride of my heart I thought that unless I was there, it would suffer or even fail and cease; therefore I would not leave it. It seemed to me that He spoke to me again and said, ‘The bonds that you had not the strength to break, I have broken for you, because it is not my will nor was it ever my intention that that should continue. I have had another thing for you to do and it is for that I have brought you Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 266 here, to teach you what you could not learn for yourself and to train you for my work.’ Then he placed the Gita in my hands. His strength entered into me... I was not only to understand intellectually but to realise what Sri Krishna demanded of Arjuna and what He demands of those who aspire to do His work.” 15 Not only the doors of his auditory faculty were flung open which made him hear divine words, but also his vi- sual faculty had a new sight which made him see the divine visions. He began to see Sri Krishna everywhere — ”I looked at the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade. I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay on the course blankets that were given me for a couch and felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me; the arms of my Friend and Lover. This was the first use of the deeper vision He gave me.” 16 "When the case opened in the Lower Court and he was brought before the Magistrate, he heard again the inner voice: “When you were cast into jail, did not your heart fail and did you not cry out to me, where is Thy protection? Look now... at the Prosecuting Counsel.” Sri Aurobindo looked at them and found that it was Sri Krishna, his lover and friend, was sitting there and smiling. He heard His 15. Uttarpara Speech by Sri Aurobindo 3rd impression, pp. 7-9 16. Ibid : 11-12 267 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo voice again, “Now do you fear? I am in all men and I over- rule their actions and their words. My protection is still with you and you shall not fear. This case which is brought against you leave it in my hand. It was not for you. It is not for the trial that I brought you here but for something else. The case itself is only a means for my work and nothing more. … I am guiding, therefore fear not. Turn to your own work for which I have brought you to jail and when you come out, remember never to fear, never to hesitate. Remember that it is I who am doing this, not you nor any other. Therefore whatever clouds may come, whatever dangers and sufferings, whatever difficulties, whatever impos- sibilities, there is nothing impossible, nothing difficult. I am in the nation and its uprising and I am Vasudeva, I am Narayana, and what I will, shall be, not what others will. What I choose to bring about, no human power can stay.” 17 This was a great realisation indeed which he accomplished within one year. This is supposed to be rather greatest siddhi – Vasudeva-sarvamite or Sarvam khalvidam Brahma — to see the Divine everywhere in every object is the consummation of the spiritual practice for Yogis. But not for Sri Aurobindo who was assigned a greater mission — a rather impossible mission which needed him perhaps to go still farther, ‘where none have gone’ and attain still greater realisations till thou reach the grim foundation stone and knock at the keyless gate. But for the time being this realisation was the second great milestone in his spiritual adverture, the first being the Nirvanic silence which he achieved within a fortnight.

A wide God-knowledge poured down from above,

17. Ibid pp 13-17 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 268

A new world-knowledge broadened from within: ... The human in him paced with the divine;18

...And on the Adesh of his inner voice he left British India, touched the shores of Pondicherry on 4th April 1910 to pursue his Yoga unhindered and to march on his forward journey and accomplish the ordained task for which he was called down on to the earth, which he was now very much made aware of. He had no more any personal will — the will of the instrumental personality. He offered his will to be His will, the will of the Lord Sri Krishna, Vasudeva, who was sitting in his heart and steering the chariot of his life, who was every moment whispering to his soul : Thou hast come down into a struggling world To aid a blind and suffering mortal race, To open to Light the eyes that could not see, To bring down bliss into the heart of grief, To make thy life a bridge twixt earth and heaven; 19

The Divine, it is true, always comes down to help us rise above the life of ignorance and grief to his level and for this He lives among us like ordinary mortals in such a way that we can hardly identify their avataric personality. When Rama wept for Sita like very ordinary mad lover in his exile, our ordinary mental perception would hardly accept him as the Divine Incarnation. But that is the way of the Divine. If he comes like a thaumaturgist and solves all difficult problems and accomplishes even impossible things in a trice and if he does not suffer pains like ordinary mortals, we shall never be inspired to attempt diffi-

18. Savitri CWSA 33:44 19. Ibid CWSA 34:536 269 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo cult things and never know how to suffer with patience and fortitude. He who would save the world must share its pain. If he knows not grief, how shall he find grief’s cure? If far he walks above mortality’s head, How shall the mortal reach that too high path? If one of theirs they see scale heaven’s peaks, Men then can hope to learn that titan climb. God must be born on earth and be as man That man being human may grow even as God.20

Perhaps this is the reason why Sri Aurobindo took up the human sufferings on him right from his childhood when he studied in England away from the parental care and affection during the most tender period of his life and for some time even “he had to spend many days on a few slices of bread and butter, an occasional sandwich or two, some cups of tea and a penny worth of sausage. During winter they (Sri Aurobindo and brothers) could not afford to have a fire in the room and Sri Aurobindo did not have an overcoat to protect him from the cold.”21 And during all his political days how he lived a life of poverty sleeping on the floor is well known to us. During the period of Alipore Bomb Case trial his suffering reached its climax. But he faced and went through all with divine patience and fortitude without complaining and grum- bling, without any feeling of bitterness and ill will against any one.

Cave of Tapasya But was his life in Pondicherry comfortable and safe?

20. Ibid p.537 21. Sri Aurobindo for All Ages by Nirod Baran p.12 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 270

And smooth without tumult? Perfectly calm and congenial enough to pursue the inner search which brought him to this quiet and serene city, Pondicherry? No doubt the city was not only calm and quiet but a dead city according to the account of Nolini Da who adds, “Sri Aurobindo has chosen a cemetery for his sadhana, which had its full complement of ghouls.” They were the bands of ruffians — known locally as ‘bandes’ in French — who were on the pay rolls of politicians and officials to work during compaigns for their elections according to Nirodbaran. But this hardly mattered to Sri Aurobindo. It was also found that in ancient times Pondicherry was the seat of Vedic learning founded by the famous great Rishi Agastya who had come to the South to spread the Vedic culture. It was rather an auspicious coincidence because Sri Aurobindo too revived Vedic knowledge and experience on this soil. Its ancient name Vedapuri was thus confirmed by Sri Aurobindo. Except for some time when Sri Aurobindo was on sur- veillance by British Police after they came to know his whereabouts, there was nothing much which could disturb him in his sadhana. Moreover neither was he a problem to the French Govt. nor the French Govt to him. And the very fact that he lived here uninterrupted till he left his body in 1950 is proof of his right choice of place for his work. And also it was a Divine will, for he came here on Divine command which could not be changed by any human will or power. He came here to seek refuge - a safe place for his work, which was not his personal work but the work of the Divine for the humanity at large, and he did find his refuge here. At the same time History will give 271 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo another verdict. The way Sri Aurobindo’s work has been recognized globally, and the impact of his Yoga and Phi- losophy is changing the face of humanity and will continue to change in future, the way slowly and gradually Pondicherry is growing into a spiritual capital of the world, History’s verdict will be otherwise, that it is Sri Aurobindo who has given refuge to Pondicherry and embraced and blessed it and not Pondicherry to Sri Aurobindo. Whatever it is, it is true that it is here, at this place that Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga and Philosophy reached its full efflorescence and consummation, which is by no means like any other Yoga and Philosophy only to be studied and re- searched academically in the universities and to decorate the shelves of the world-libraries. His Yoga and Philoso- phy is packed with epoch-making Force, the Supramental Force which will change the destiny of Man and the Earth and a day will come when the entire globe will turn to Pondicherry for guidance and the healing touch from the ring of power that Pondicherry has preserved safely in her bosom. Pondicherry has indeed become a blessed city — a city of God due to Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s Grace and Force. But can we really know what exactly Sri Aurobindo did during his long sojourn in Pondicherry? He was in fact after impossible things. He was hewing a passage to an immortal life for mortal men, to a divine life for the half animal - half man, which is to the mind an absurdity, irra- tional, reductio ad absurdum. But his spiritual experiences which just poured into him — that all Existence is nothing but Brahman — Sarvam khalvidam Brahma — and that all evolution is nothing but the return journey of the Spirit Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 272 from Matter progressively from Plant, Life, Mind and higher layers of Mind, clearly indicated to him that Man is destined to realise his highest self sooner or later which is the hidden Godhead in him - the Immortal and Eternal. It was very much logical to his supramental sense which he had acquired within first few years of his stay in Pondicherry. But indications were given to him as early as his days in Alipore prison. He knew since then that his life henceforth would be an adventure into Unknown, for his work would be the first ever attempt of its kind — to break the iron law of Nature. And he was all alone in this journey of adventure, but he invites courageous spirits to join him, if any body really could:

With wind and the weather round me Up to the hill and the moorland I go. Who will come with me? Who will climb with me? Wade through the brook and tramp through the snow? Not in the petty circle of cities Cramped by your doors and your walls I dwell; Over me God is blue in the welkin, Against me the wind and the storm rebel. I sport with solitude here in my regions, Of misadventure have made me a friend. Who would live largely? Who would live freely? Here to the wind-swept uplands ascend.

I am the lord of tempest and mountain I am the Spirit of freedom and pride. Stark must he be and a kinsman to danger Who shares my kingdom and walks at my side.22

22. Collected Poems : Invitation : CWSA 2:201 273 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo

First Sri Aurobindo saw and realised by his inner experiences the inevitability of this radical transformation of human nature and consciousness into the divine nature and consciousness and then plunged into it with a spirit of do or die, for he knew that it was a new path — a new Yoga — calling down a new force which will be certainly opposed by established powers already ruling the earth nature, which would mean facing insurmountable odds. “There even I do not know the result. I have received only an indication from within that it is going to be. Yet I myself do not know the end of my adventure. Very few in the past have followed this Yoga and none has conquered the material plane. That is why it is an adventure into the Un- known.… “I have made my watch word: Victory or death.” 23 Sri Aurobindo speaks of divine life, God, spirituality, spiritual society, spiritualized humanity and world. Is he or was he leading humanity towards monastic or ascetic life? This is what is meant by spiritual life in India or elsewhere until he himself clarified it in a reply to a letter written to him in October 1914. “...You sent a message about an ‘Aurobindo Math’ which seemed to show you have caught the contagion which rages in Bengal. You must understand that my mission is not to create maths, ascetics and Sannyasins; but to call back the souls of the strong to the Lila of Krishna & Kali. That is my teaching, as you can see from the Review (Arya), and my name must never be connected with monastic forms or the monastic ideal. Every ascetic movement since the time of Buddha has left India weaker and for a very obvious reason. Renunciation of life is one thing, to

23. Evening Talks by A.B. Purani pp 35&42 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 274 make life itself, national, individual, world-life greater and more divine is another. You can not enforce one ideal on the country without weakening the other. You cannot take away the best souls from life and yet leave life stronger and greater. Renunciation of ego, acceptance of God in life is the Yoga I teach, — no other renunciation.”24

A God’s Labour His was the Yoga for the world, for the whole humanity, for the radical change in the human nature itself and since it was not done before, not even attempted, it was far difficult, for he felt a great resistance in the earth atmosphere to the Truth descending, which he was bringing down. He was lifting the whole earth nature to the new light. “I am not doing an isolated Yoga. … If I wanted my own liberation and perfection, my Yoga would have been finished long ago.” 25 The first four years from 1910 to 1914 were a very silent period of his Yoga and a period of intense sadhana during which he studied the Vedas very deeply , not to gain knowledge from them but to corroborate his experiences, that he had had so far. “When Sri Aurobindo turned to Veda seriously,” explains Kireet Bhai in detail, in his book ‘Philosophy and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo', “for the first time after coming to Pondicherry, he had already had three great realisations of his Yoga. By that time he had the realisation of the Brahmic Nirvana, under the guidance of the Maharashtrian Yogi called Lele. He had further realisation of the universal Vasudeva — Sri Krishna — in the Alipore

24. Autobiographical Notes CWSA 36: 221-22 25. Sri Aurobindo for All Ages by Nirod Baran p.187 275 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo jail. And he had already in the Alipore jail also heard the voice of Vivekananda for fifteen days uninterruptedly where Sri Aurobindo was given the knowledge of the planes between the Mind and Supermind. It was after this background that Sri Aurobindo had numerous experiences to which he had not a clue, either in Western Psychology that is modern Psychology or ancient Psychology or anywhere. But these experiences were rising in his consciousness; as he says himself, he had particularly the experiences of what the Veda calls Ila, Saraswati, Sarama, "Dakshina". These are four female energies described in the Veda and, without knowing this Sri Aurobindo had already had the experience of these energies. What were these powers, which were rising in his own consciousness on their own? And then when he happened to read the Veda, with this background, he directly contacted and understood and found a confirmation of his own experiences in the Veda. This was the way in which the key of the Veda was found. It was found by his own personal experiences which preceeded his understanding of the Veda. It is not as if these experiences came to him after reading the Veda and finding them in the Veda. It is not as if he found the confirmation later in his own experiences. It is the other way round. He already had the experiences of these highest powers of consciousness and he found a clue to them in the Rig Veda. It is said in the Veda that only the Seer can understand the words of the Seer. This is the Vedic expression itself, Ninya Vachamsi, that is, sacred words, Kavaye Nivachanani, are revealed only to the Kavi, to the Poet, to the Seer. (In the Vedic parlance Kavi is a Seer). And this is confirmed in the case of Sri Aurobindo; the secret meaning of the Veda was revealed only to the Seer, to Sri Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 276

Aurobindo. (Veda has been studied by many scholars in the past and the present, but so far as the secret meaning of the Veda is concerned, it is not known to them. Even the greatest among them Sayana and Yaska groped in the dark and landed only to be smatterers). Sri Auronindo studied the Veda in depth. In depth: to cover such a huge mass of Vedic knowledge, within two or three years is really something like a Herculian labour! And he accomplished it within a short time as if he dived into the Veda, collected all the treasures within a short time, brought the jewels and diamonds out and then began to express and put them before the mankind. This was in 1914. That is to say, in 1910 he came to Pondicherry and by 1914, within four years, he had attained such a mastery of the secret meaning of the Veda that he began to write a series of articles under the title ‘The Secret of the Veda’ (in his magazine ‘Arya’). If one reads ‘The Secret of the Veda’ one can see a masterly interpretation; it is a masterly interpretation because Sri Aurobindo found the proof of his own interpretation in the Veda itself. It is by internal evidence that he shows that the interpretation he has given follows clearly and obviously, luminously from the Vedic verses themselves.” 26 He by this time must have scaled still higher heights of realisations in his being, which gave him clarity to formulate and systematise his integral Philosophy and Yoga for mankind to follow and practise. Sri Aurobindo’s life, especially after settling in Pondicherry, like all mystics and yogis, was not lived on the surface, hence shrouded in the mist of mysteries, hardly to be known or understood by common men of intellect. Yet through his writings, espe-

26. The Philosophy and Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and other Essays by Kireet Joshi pp. 49-51 277 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo cially his poems, we can try to catch certain glimpses of important landmarks of his inner journey, though we can never know or realise the difficulty and gravity of the journey he went through. He had already attained to cosmic consciousness while he identified himself with Sri Krishna in the jail — a great realisation the experience of which is expressed in his poem ‘Cosmic Consciousness’ —

I have wrapped the wide world in my wider self And Time and Space my spirit’s seeing are. I am the god and demon, ghost and elf, I am the wind’s speed and the blazing star. ……… The world’s joy thrilling runs through me, I bear The sorrow of millions in my lonely breast.! 27 But perhaps that was not enough to re-create Man into God and change Matter’s night into the glorious everlasting day. He must go to the last gate of the Infinity and find the key to Immortality for man. He must go still beyond on ‘The Infinite Adventure’ —

On the waters of a nameless Infinite My skiff is launched; I have left the human shore. All fades behind me and I see before The unknown abyss and one pale pointing light ...... Beyond, the invisible height no soul has trod. 28

The Avatar gives a new Dharma It seems that during these four years or by the time

27. Collected Poems CWSA 2:603 28. Ibid p.606 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 278 the Mother came to see him in 1914, he had reached the highest Truth for himself what possibly man could know of the Truth, what the ancient rishis of the Veda had attained, rather, he went beyond them as indicated in his following lines: “The Vedic Rishis never attained to the Supermind for the earth or perhaps did not even make the attempt. They tried to rise individually to the supremental plane, but they did not bring it down and make it a permanent part of the earth-consciousness. Even there are verses of the Upanishad in which it is hinted that it is impossible to pass through the gates of the Sun (the symbol of the Supermind) and yet retain an earthly body. It was because of this failure that the spiritual effort of India culminated in Mayavada. Our Yoga is a double movement of ascent and descent; one rises to higher and higher levels of consciousness, but at the same time one brings down their power not only into mind and life, but in the end even into the body. And the highest of these levels, the one at which it aims is the Supermind. Only when that can be brought down is a divine transformation possible in the earth-consciousness.”29 It is clear that the total change or the total reversal of human nature into divine nature resulting in a divine life on earth was not attempted by the rishis in the past, because perhaps the secret or the key to this they could not lay hands on. Also it should be noted that the double movement of ascent and descent is a new theory and practice and a speciality of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga alone, because of which only transformation of human nature was envisaged possible by him. Without the descent of the realised

29. Sri Aurobindo : The Riddle of the World, 1969 Edn. p.2 279 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo powers into the instrumental nature — mind — life and body - the divine life is not possible. The old Yogas could not tap the Supermind which is the dynamic divine Truth of Sachchidananda and which alone can transform the human life into the divine life; but they “go straight from mind to the absolute Divine, regard all dynamic existence as Ignorance, Illusion or Lila.” This is the fundamental difference between the old Yogas and the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. Also the old Yogas have no descent theory; they just go up to the highest and stay there and leave the wordly instruments — mind, life and body — ignorant, unchanged and undivinised as before, for either they are Illusion or Lila according to them. By 1914, Sri Aurobindo had formulated all his experiences in clear-cut and well organized compartments of thoughts and ideas which were serialized in the ‘Arya’ monthly magazine forming his major works like The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, The Secret of Veda, The Ideal of Human Unity and The Human Cycle — all diverse fields of life but with one under-current as the central theme of translating the unity of the Spirit in all its material manifestations. Out of all his works The Life Divine gives us the main philosophy which he formulated later based on his spiritual experiences of the ascending planes after planes of consciousness throughout his arduous inner adventur- ous journey up to the Infinite, whereas his The Synthesis of Yoga is the route mapped out step by step to the Integral knowledge and union with the Divine — the key to realise divine life on earth. Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of The Life Divine is not the product of his metaphysical thinking out or purely his intellectual speculation, or a guess work of his genius like Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 280 the philosophers of the West — Hegel or Bradley. Sri Aurobindo is a philosopher with a difference, doubled up as a Yogi, the discoverer of the Truth, who has given us a practical way of reaching the supreme state of consciousness. His philosophy is an intellectual expression of the Truth of what he experienced in his consciousness by identity, through his inner will and aspiration, spiritual illumination and intuition, self-giving and surrender with a consequent transformation of mind, life and body. His Philosophy is at once his Yoga and his Teaching and all three integrative in nature, because his philosophy accepts all, excludes nothing. For him One and Many, Spirit and Matter, God and World, Brahman and Maya are two poises of a single Truth. His Philosophy and Yoga and entire Teaching are based on his concept of evolution which is radically different from the Western theory of evolution of form by Darwin. In Sri Aurobindo’s theory of evolution it is the consciousness which evolves, which begins gradually right from inconscient matter where consciousness is veiled or in a sleeping state, because according to Sri Aurobindo All life here is a stage or a circumstance in an unfolding progressive evolution of a Sprit that has involved itself in Matter and is labouring to manifest itself in that reluctant substance. This is the whole secret of earthly existence. … Evolution in its essence is not the development of a more and more organised body or a more and more efficient life — these are only its machinery and outward circumstance. Evolution is the strife of a Consciousness somnambulised in Matter to wake and be free and find and possess itself and all its possibilities to the very utmost and widest, to the very last and highest. Evolution is the emancipation of 281 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo a self-revealing Soul secret in Form and Force, the slow becoming of a Godhead, the growth of a Spirit.”30 He further explains: “A Consciousness, a Being, a Power, a Joy was here from the beginning darkly imprisoned in this apparent denial of itself, this original night, this obscurity and nescience of material Nature. That which is and was for ever, free, perfect, eternal and infinite, That which all is, That which we call God, Brahman, Spirit, has here shut itself up in its own self-created opposite. The Omniscient has plunged itself into Nescience, the All - Conscious into Inconscience, the All-wise into perpetual Ignorance. The Omnipotent has formulated itself in a vast cosmic self-driven Inertia that by disintegration creates; the Infinite is self-expressed here in a boundless fragmentation; the All-Blissful has put on a huge insensibility out of which it struggles by pain and hunger and desire and sorrow. …This gradual becoming of the Divine out of its own phenomenal opposite is the meaning and purpose of the terrestrial evolution. … “Nature laboured for innumerable millions of years to create a material universe of flaming suns and systems; for lesser but still interminable series of millions she stooped to make this earth a habitable planet. For all that incalculable time she was or seemed busy only with the evolution of Matter; life and mind were kept secret in an apparent non- existence. But the time came when life could manifest, a vibration in the metal, a growing and seeking, a drawing in and a feeling outward in the plant, an instinctive force and sense, a nexus of joy and pain and hunger and emotion and fear and struggle in the animal, — a first organised consciousness, the beginning of the long-planned miracle. 30. The Hour of God 2009: 111-12 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 282

Thence forward she was busy no more exclusively with matter for its own sake, but most with palpitant plasmic matter useful for the expression of life; the evolution of life was now her one intent purpose. And slowly too mind manifested in life, and intensely feeling, a crude thinking and planning vital mind in the animal, but in man the full organisation and apparatus, the developing if yet imperfect mental being, the Manu, the thinking, devising, aspiring, already self-conscient creature. And from that time onward the growth of mind rather than any radical change of life became her shining preoccupation, her wonderful wager. Body appeared to evolve no more; life itself evolved little or only so much in its cycles as would serve to express Mind heightening and widening itself in the living body; an unseen internal evolution was now Nature’s great passion and purpose. ... “But Mind is not all: for beyond mind is a greater consciousness; there is a supermind and spirit. As Nature laboured in the animal, the vital being, till she could manifest out of him man, the Manu, the thinker, so she is labouring in man, the mental being till she can manifest out of him a spiritual and supramental godhead, the truth-conscious Seer, the knower by identity, the embodied Transcendental and Universal in the individual nature. “From the clod and metal to the plant, from the plant to the animal, from the animal to man, so much has she completed of her journey; a huge stretch or a stupendous leap still remains before her. As from matter to life, from life to mind, so now she must pass from mind to supermind, from man to superman; this is the gulf that 283 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo she has to bridge, the supreme miracle that she has to perform before she can rest from her struggle and discontent and stand in the radiance of that supreme consciousness, glorified, transmuted, satisfied with her labour.” 31 And then supermanhood which will be totally divinised will be the next stage after the present humanity — a stage of divine life on the earth and evolution may not stop even then, for vistas of new possibilities will always be there of endless unfoldment of the Infinite. Sri Aurobindo’s Philosophy of the Life Divine answers many doubts and solves all the problems of Existence, for it is the philosophy of complete affirmation of the world as also perceives the reality behind all the systems of philosophy. It only denies the denial of both — that of the materialist and ascetic. His philosophy reconciles both — the reality of Matter and the reality of Spirit in the integral harmony of the concept of Supermind which is his exclusive discovery.

His philosophy may be summed up in brief as follows: 1. All existence is the existence of the One, Eternal and Infinite — Ekamevâdvitiyam — one without a second, and there can be nothing else at any time or anywhere. 2. This world is as real as God. The world is not Maya or Illusion, for it is the manifestation of That, the sole Reality, God. What we see as the Many, is the multiplicity of the One. It is our misreading of our ignorant mind that we see the world as illusion. 3. The world was created by That, the sole Reality which is Sachchidananda — at once Truth, Consciousness and

31. Ibid pp. 111-16 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 284

Bliss — for His Delight. Delight is hidden in the nature of things of His creation, which we have to discover in our life. Ignorance is the only suffering, there is no other suffering. 4. Man is a transitional being and not the finished product of Nature as it is generally accepted. Man can transcend his present nature and become a super nature, a superman, a divine man, a perfect man through an accel- erated process of Nature by Yoga, because that divinity is already involved in the nature of things and slowly moving towards its fulfillment is a natural way. “Every state of existence has some force in it which drives it to transcend itself. Matter moves towards becoming life, Life travels towards becoming Mind, Mind aspires towards becoming ideal Truth, Truth rises towards becoming divine and infinite Spirit. The reason is that every symbol, being a partial expression of God, reaches out to and seeks to become its own entire reality; it aspires to become its real self by transcending its apparent self.”32 5. There is a plane of consciousness called Supermind which is the link between the Lower Hemisphere of Con- sciousness — Matter, Life and Mind and the Higher Hemi- sphere of consciousness — Sat, Chit, Anand, which, if brought down in the lower hemisphere, can transform the present ignorant life on the earth into a divine life, the life of Truth. This power was not tapped and brought down in the earth atmosphere in the past, although it was known and attained by some yogis individually, but no route was charted for the collective effort in general, which has since been done by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother jointly. It is

32. Essays Divine and Human by Sri Aurobindo CWSA 12:115 285 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo because of this that divine life — a life of spiritualized mind, life and body, is possible to be realised on earth, the result of which Sri Aurobindo has presaged and outlined in his epic Savitri as follows:

The Truth shall be the leader of their lives, Truth shall dictate their thought and speech and act, They shall feel themselves lifted nearer to the sky, As if a little lower than the gods. For knowledge shall pour down in radiant streams And even darkened mind quiver with new life And kindle and burn with the Ideal’s fire And turn to escape from mortal ignorance. The frontiers of the Ignorance shall recede, More and more souls shall enter into light, Minds lit, inspired, the occult summoner hear And lives blaze with a sudden inner flame And hearts grow enamoured of divine delight And human wills tune to the divine will, These separate selves the Spirit’s oneness feel, These senses of heavenly sense grow capable, The flesh and nerves of a strange ethereal joy And mortal bodies of immortality. A divine force shall flow through tissue and cell And take the charge of breath and speech and act And all the thoughts shall be a glow of suns And every feeling a celestial thrill......

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. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 286

Nature shall live to manifest secret God, The Spirit shall take up the human play, This earthly life become the life divine.33 6. Once the life divine becomes possible to be realised on earth, first in a few individuals and later in a group comprised of those realised individuals, then a Gnostic or spiritualized society will be possible on the earth and a new humanity or super-humanity will be born. 7. Human Unity based on the unity of soul will be then a natural consequence and the world will progress without any egoistic strife or competition based on hatred and jealousy in the peaceful atmosphere of love and harmony among the nations, towards greater realisations. 8. According to Sri Aurobindo a nation is not just a geographical entity or an extent of inert mass of land, rivers and mountains, but a living soul; a deity, a spiritual being behind her material body as every human being has a soul; a divine portion and power is always present, dormant or active behind this physical structure. 9. The destiny of human life and the goal of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is not Moksha or Nirvana in the Beyond, but the Di- vine Life on the earth. All his philosophy and his intellectual concepts are formulated on the basis of his spiritual experiences which were the result of his total identification with the Su- preme Reality — Sachchidananda, the Absolute, Parabrahman, Purushottama in all His poises and moods — a total and integral realisation indeed, achieved for the first time in the human body and it is this that entitles

33. Savitri CWSA 34:710 287 The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo him to be the Avatar of the Supreme, the last in the series, Kalki, the fulfiller of the task Divine, heralding a new cycle of a spiritual age with a new humanity, the divinised humanity, the Satya Yuga of a new cycle. Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 288

Chapter 8

The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

It is time for the decomposition and destruction of old values, old patterns of life, life of Mind, because Mind has exhausted its capacities, but yet failed to organize life in harmonious and orderly way. And at last it has pushed the world to the brink of a great precipice. Therefore a greater power than the Mind has to take up the rein of life on earth if there is a real purpose and meaning of it and if it has to survive. So far life and existence appeared to be a riddle, a purposeless struggle, but now with the advent of Sri Aurobindo, the world knows the meaning of its existence.

No more existence seemed an aimless fall, Extinction was no more the sole release. The hidden Word was found, the long-sought clue, Revealed was the meaning of our spirit’s birth, Condemned to an imperfect body and mind, In the inconscience of material things And the indignity of mortal life...... To free the self is but one radiant pace; Here to fulfil himself was God’s desire.1 And indeed the Supermind, which is a greater power than the Mind has been brought down by Sri Aurobindo and the Divine Mother, his spiritual collaborator and

1. Savitri, CWSA 33: 313, 312 289 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

Shakti, his executrix force, and it is already working in the earth atmosphere and slowly and steadily influencing the forces in favour of a new and better change and fulfilment of the new goal.

Supermind Then what is Supermind? ‘Supermind’ is Sri Aurobindo’s own word and he has used it in a particular sense to denote a specific power of the Divine or to be more precise, a particular level of consciousness of the Supreme Power or Sachchidananda. In fact the principles of consciousness which is the basic power of awareness and fundamental factor of Exist- ence or Creation or the Manifestation, have been roughly divided in seven planes representing the seven worlds of the Vedic Conception. The Spirit which is pure Existence – SAT, pure Con- sciousness – CHIT, pure delight – ANANDA, has three terms, but is really one, a triune Being – Sachchidanand. These three highest principles of the Spirit have their own highest worlds – Satya loka – the world of true existence, Tapo loka – the world of energy of self- conscience and the Janaloka – the world of creative delight. These are the worlds of the higher creation – Parardha. In these worlds Consciousness is One without any shadow of obscurity, multiplicity or division. There are also worlds of lower creation – Aparardha – Bhurloka, Bhuvarloka and Swarloka, which we can call Matter, Life and Mind. All these three worlds are the result of the separative or divisive Consciousness – Avidya, hence are not as triune but as triple. The Bhurloka is the material world formed by the involvement or becoming of the pure Existence – Sat, which has extended itself as an apparent inconscient substance, that is gross Matter. The Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 290

Bhuvarloka is a world of Consciousness in which the dynamic Life force with sensation has emerged from the domi- nation of gross Matter. The Swarloka is the world of that formation of Consciousness in which Mind liberates itself from subjection to both material hold and Life- impulse and becomes dominant and determines its own forms. In all these three lower worlds Consciousness is separated from the absolute Truth – first completely lost in the thick darkness of Matter and gradually returns to the original Truth and its light and force. Between these two hemispheres there is one more principle of Consciousness which the Vedic seers have called Maharloka, which links both the creations of higher and lower worlds. It is this plane or the world of awareness that Sri Aurobindo has called Supermind. According to Sri Aurobindo the Supermind is a plane of “...full Truth-Consciousness of the Divine Nature in which there can be no place for the principle of division and ignorance; it is always a full light and knowledge superior to all mental substance or mental movement. Be- tween the Supermind and the human mind are a number of ranges, planes or layers of consciousness – one can regard it in various ways – in which the element or substance of mind and consequently its movements also become more and more illumined and powerful and wide. The overmind is the highest of these ranges; it is full of lights and powers; but from the point of view of what is above it, it is the line of the soul’s turning away from the complete and indivis- ible knowledge and its descent towards the Ignorance. For although it draws from the Truth, it is here that begins the separation of aspects of the Truth, the forces and their working out as if they were independent truths and this is a process that ends, as one descends to ordinary Mind, Life and Matter, in a complete division, fragmentation, 291 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo separation from the individual Truth above. There is no longer the essential, total, perfectly harmonising and unifying knowledge, or rather knowledge for ever harmonious because for ever one, which is the character of supermind. In the supermind, mental divisions and oppo- sitions cease, the problems created by our dividing and frag- menting mind disappear and Truth is seen as a luminous whole. In the overmind there is not yet the actual fall into Ignorance, but the first step is taken which will make the fall inevitable.” 2 It is the power of Supermind, according to Sri Aurobindo, that will change and transform the present ignorant and painful life into the divine life and fulfil God’s desire. What is God’s desire? Not the extinction, nor the eternal peace in the Sachchidananda. If it is so, Existence remains an unsolved enigma. The Eternal was there already in supreme peace. There was no need of its manifestation in Time and Space. But if we accept Sri Aurobindo’s formula – that God wants to come down in His manifestation with the same splendour and grandeur, with the same immaculate purity and power, the same Omnipotence and Omnipresence without diminution, then the manifestation is justified. Because what we notice at present is that “the essential mark of the descent of the Consciousness from its highest grade in the Supreme Spirit is the constant diminution of the power of Sachchidananda, the intensity of its force, force of Being, force of Conscious- ness, force of Bliss. The intensity of all these three in the supreme status is ineffable; in the Supermind the intensity of consciousness is ever luminous and undiminished; in Overmind it is already diminished and diffuse; the highest intensity of mind is a poor thing in comparison with the splendour of overmind and so it goes diminishing till it

2. Sri Aurobindo : The Integral Yoga, 1993, p.65 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 292 reaches an apparent zero which we call Inconscience.”3 So far we have been told by the old Masters that liberation or Moksha of the soul from the lower Nature is the ultimate aim of the journey of life in the world. But according to Sri Aurobindo this liberation is only the condition of the life divine – To free the self is but one radiant pace. It may be noted that it is to prepare for the descent of this new power of Supermind that Sri Aurobindo was commanded by Sri Krishna in 1910 to leave all his personal interests and go into solitude in Pondicherry and work it out to clear the way for the next step in the evolution of Consciousness, from humanity to super humanity – a new race and reveal the ancient knowledge of Veda to the world which contains the basis of a new spiritual culture and harmonious universal life. And after an arduous tapas Sri Aurobindo was able to bring down the Overmind – that is Srikrishna’s Consciousness into his own body which cleared the passage for the Supermind to come down. But despite his arduous tapasya it was not made possible during his life time owing to the tremendous resistance of the humanity. To hasten the descent of Supermind he therefore changed the strategy and decided to leave his body and work from the subtle physical plane which could be more effective. And at last in the face of all odds and the earth’s resistance the Mother was able to bring down the Supermind on the 29th February 1956 six years after the physical departure of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo gives some hints of the work he was entrusted in a letter to Shri Motilal Roy in 1912: My future sadhan is for life, practical knowledge and shakti, — not the essential knowledge or shakti in itself which I have got already — but knowledge and shakti es-

3. Essays Divine and Human by Sri Aurobindo CWSA : 12, p.216 293 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo tablished in the same physical self and directed to my work in life. I am now getting a clearer idea of that work and I may as well impart something of that idea to you; since you look to me as the centre, you should know what is likely to radiate out of that centre. 1. To reexplain the Sanatana Dharma to the human intellect in all its parts, from a new standpoint. This work is already beginning, and three parts of it are being clearly worked out. Sri Krishna has shown me true meaning of the Vedas, not only so but he has shown me a new Sci- ence of philology showing the process and origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed and the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He has also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore to reexplain the whole Vedanta and Veda in such a way that it will be seen how all religion arises out of it and is one everywhere. In this way, it will be proved that India is the centre of the religious life of the world and its destined saviour through the Sanatana Dharma. 2. On the basis of Vedic knowledge to establish a Yogic Sadhana which will not only liberate the soul, but prepare a perfect humanity and help in the restoration of the Satyayuga. That work has to begin now but it will not be complete till the end of the Kali. 3. India being a centre, to work for her restoration to her proper place in the world; but this restoration must be effected as a part of the above work and by means of Yoga applied to human means and instruments, not otherwise. 4. A perfect humanity being intended society will have to be remodelled so as to be fit to contain that perfection. 4 It is clear from the letter that he was contemplating to create a new humanity, a perfect humanity and divising a 4. Autobiographical Notes, CWSA : pp. 177-78 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 294 new system of Sadhana to achieve that goal, the seed of which was already there in the eternal knowledge of the Veda and Upanishad which were seen and heard by the ancient seers of India but they never attempted to realise it for the world and bring down on earth. Once Sri Aurobindo realised the Supermind in himself and experienced its full potency, he set for the humanity a new goal – not the Nirvana of extinction or the Nirvana in Brahman – but the transformation of the terrestrial nature into divine nature and the life on earth divine and immortal, in other words planting Heaven on earth. This goal was never conceived before, not even by Gita. This possibility was envisaged by him in his inner vision for which he worked further to make it concrete, did the needful to bring down the supramental force for working out this possibility. And now the possibility has become a certainty – an inevitable step of Nature in the march of the evolutionary journey of consciousness towards the supreme origin. After Man to Superman. It is natural that the old formula of Nirvana or Moksha, the old systems of Yoga and past disciplines of religion will not help us any more. For they were meant for the old goals, Mukti or escape into the Beyond. There- fore a new path for the new goal was necessitated. Sri Aurobindo has hence given us a new formula – a new path – a new system of yoga – to pursue the new goal. It is the Integral Yoga – the Yoga of Perfection – Purna Yoga, because the goal too is integral and perfect, and the means ought to be equally integral and perfect. We have been till now apt to divide our life as worldly and non–worldly, material and spiritual or family– life and monastic life, may be perhaps due to the Buddhist teaching or due to the Philosophy of Mayavada. But in Vedic culture we do not find such a division. All life 295 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo was the field of inner expression and progressive perfection. Sri Aurobindo goes to the source of the Veda and finds the life and world a play of one Omnipotent, Omni- present and Omniscient Power and Being who is at once Transcendental, Cosmic and Individual. His life is an example of this wonderful harmonious unity and integrality which is quite apparent right from his early life. For him there was nothing worldly or spiritual. For him each event was a blend of Spirit and Matter, inner and outer, spiritual and material, as he recounts in one of his letters as follows: "My own life and my own yoga have always been, since my coming to India, both this-worldly and other-worldly without any exclusiveness on either side. All human interests are, I suppose, this-worldly and most of them have entered into my mental field and some, like politics, into my life, but at the same time, since I set foot on the Indian soil on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, I began to have spiritual experiences, but these were not divorced from this world but had an inner and infinite bearing on it, such as feeling of the Infinite pervading material space and the Immanent inhabiting material objects and bodies. At the same time I found myself entering supraphysical worlds and planes with influences and an effect from them upon the material plane, so I could make no sharp divorce or irreconcilable opposition between what I have called the two ends of existence and all that lies between them. For me all is Brahman and I find the Divine everywhere. Every one has the right to throw away this-worldiness and choose other-worldiness only, and if he finds peace by that choice he is greatly blessed. I, personally, have not found it necessary to do this in order to have peace. In my yoga also I found myself moved to include both worlds in my purview – the spiritual and the material – and to try to establish the Divine Consciousness and the Divine Power Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 296 in men’s hearts and earthly life, not for a personal salvation only but for a life divine here. This seems to me as spiritual an aim as any and the fact of this life taking up earthly pursuits and earthly things into its scope cannot, I believe, tarnish its spirituality or alter its Indian character. This at least has always been my view and experience of the reality and nature of the world and things and the Di- vine: it seemed to me as nearly as possible the integral truth about them and I have therefore spoken of the pursuit of it as the integral yoga."5

Integral Aim We have already many systems of Yoga in India which are well–formulated and scientific and in their nature, they all are an attempt to arrive at the union with the Supreme Being, Consciousness and Bliss, although their processes are different. Hathayoga selects the body and the vital functioning as its instruments of perfection and realisation. Rajayoga selects the mind, whereas Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Jnana Yoga use the will-power, the heart or emotion and the buddhi or intellect respectively as their levers. All these schools follow the Vedantic methods of Yoga where Purusha is the Lord. There is another system called Tantra, which still exists in India, in which the Shakti is the sole effective force of all attainment. Whereas in all other schools of Yoga cited above the presiding Lord is the Purusha, the conscious Soul, in Tantra Yoga Sadhana it is the Prakriti, the Energy, the Nature-soul that is worshipped as the presiding deity, who surprisingly in the Vedantic conception is the deception-creating Maya, the power of Illusion, according to Mayavadins. Sri Aurobindo has integrated both methods – Tantric

5. Letters on Yoga, SABCL 22: 121-22 297 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Vedantic in his Integral Yoga where he accepts both as equally important and necessary for the working out of his integral objectives. Purusha is Sat, the Being of Con- scious Self-existence, pure and infinite, Chit is the power of his Consciousness. Both are one Being when they are at rest, Chit-Shakti being absorbed in Sat, in the bliss of conscious self-Existence. But when there is action and creation and becoming, the Energy, the creative Force is poured out and that becomes the manifest Nature, the Universe, apparently undivine, seeking to fulfil her own infinite potential in existence through ascending ladders of body, life and mind. It is the self-fulfilment of the Purusha through his Energy, the Nature whose movement is two-fold – higher and lower from the practical point of view. Yoga is nothing but the journey from the lower to the higher, of the Nature-soul, the jiva, to its origin. The ordinary Yoga aims at the escape from the world to God, but Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga aims at nothing short of total transformation of mind, life and body into divine substance, which is a new goal never conceived hitherto by any system of Yoga. Also it is not only individual transformation which this Yoga aims at; this realisation must be achieved at the collective level – a new society, a new race of divinized humanity must come into being to usher in a new Age. Not only this, Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga also insists on the integral realisation of the Divine on all the possible levels, whereas other systems may be satisfied on any one level of the realisations. He says that the realisation is integral and perfect only when it can be attained on all three levels – transcendental, cosmic and individual. “If I realise the Divine as that, not my personal self, which yet moves secretly all my personal being and which I can bring forward out of the veil, or if I build up the image of that Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 298

Godhead in my members, it is a realisation but limited one. If it is the Cosmic Godhead that I realise, losing in it all personal self, that is a very wide realisation, but I become a mere channel of the universal Power and there is no personal or divinely individual consummation for me. If I shoot up to the transcendental realisation only, I lose both myself and the world in the transcendental Absolute. If, on the other hand, my aim is none of these things by itself, but to realise and also to manifest the Divine in the world, bringing down for the purpose a yet unmanifested Power – such as the Superminds – a harmonisation of all the three becomes imperative. I have to bring it down, and from where shall I bring it down – since it is not yet manifested in the cosmic formula – if not from the unmanifest Transcendence, which I must reach and realise? I have to bring it into the cosmic formula, and if so, I must realise the cosmic Divine and become conscious of the cosmic self and the cosmic forces. But I have to embody it here, — otherwise it is left as an influence only and not a thing fixed in the physical world and it is through the Divine in the individual alone that this can be done."6 Even the liberation must be total for the total result and the fulfilment of the total goal that the Integral Yoga aims to arrive at. The specialized Yogas attain to different kinds of liberation at the end in respect of the ultimate fruition of life. Jnana Yoga’s highest attainment is the identification of the individual being in all its parts with the Divine, Sayujya–mukti, which is possible even while in the body. Bhakti Yoga’s highest liberation is the dwelling eternally in the status of Sachchidananda, Salokya-Mukti. Karma Yoga’s highest liberation is the attainment of dynamic self-law of the Lord, that is to say, the acquisition of divine nature by transformation of the lower nature, 6.Sri Aurobindo, The Riddle of the World 2006: p.51 299 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

Sadharmya-Mukti. Integral Yoga includes all these libera- tions in its objective by reconciling and harmonizing the apparent difference that seems to exist between Knowl- edge, Love and Works. It has already been reconciled in the Gita. “He must know with the knowledge of the supreme Self and Brah- man; he must turn his love and adoration to the supreme Person; he must subject his will and works to the supreme Lord of cosmos. Then he passes from the lower to the divine Nature. ... “This integral turning of the soul Godwards bases roy- ally the Gita’s synthesis of knowledge and works and devotion. To know God thus integrally is to know him as One in the self and in all manifestation and beyond all manifestation, — and all this unitedly and at once. And yet even so to know him is not enough unless it is accompanied by an intense uplifting of the heart and soul Godwards, unless it kindles a one-pointed and at the same time all-embracing love, adoration, aspiration. Indeed the knowledge which is not companioned by an aspiration and vivified by an uplifting is no true knowledge, for it can be only an intellectual seeing and a barren cognitive endeavour. The vision of God brings infallibly the adoration and passionate seeking of the Divine, — a passion for the Divine in his self-existent being, but also for the Divine in ourselves and for the Divine in all that is.To know with the intellect is simply to understand and may be an effective starting point, — or, too, it may not be, and it will not be if there is no sincerity in the knowledge, no urge towards inner realisation in the will, no power upon the soul, no call in the spirit: for that would mean that the brain has externally understood, but inwardly the soul has seen nothing. True knowledge is to know with the inner being, and when the inner being is touched by the light, then it arises to Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 300 embrace that which is seen, it yearns to possess, it struggles to shape that in itself and itself to it. ... Here that which is known is not an externalized object, but the divine Purusha, self and lord of all that we are. An all-seizing delight in him and a deep and moved love and adoration of him must be the inevitable result and is the very soul of this knowledge. And this adoration is no isolated seeking of the heart, but an offering of the whole existence. Therefore it must take also the form of a sacrifice; there is a giving of all our works to the Ishwara, there is a surrender of all our active inward and outward nature to the Godhead of our adoration in its every subjective and in its every objective movement. All our subjective workings move in him and they seek him, the Lord and Self, as the source and goal of their power and endeavour. All our objective workings move out towards him in the world and make him their object, initiate a service of God in the world of which the controlling power is the Divinity within us in whom we are one self with the universe and its creatures. For both world and self, Nature and the soul in her are enlightened by the consciousness of the One, are inner and outer bodies of the transcendent Purushottama. So comes a synthesis of mind and heart and will in the one self and spirit and with it the synthesis of knowledge, love and works in this integral union, this embracing God–realisation, this divine Yoga.”7 And since this Yoga is the Yoga of transformation of the whole being of the individual, it includes also the perfection of the mind and body which are the highest results of Raj Yoga and Hatha Yoga. Thus we find that Integral Yoga takes the spirit and central principles of all the systems and schools which lead us towards one supreme experience – ‘to know, be and possess the Divine’ which is the one thing needful and which includes all the rest. 7. Essays on the Gita, CWSA19: 323-25 301 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

As we know that this Integral Yoga that he has given us takes care of the radical transformation of the whole mankind, the human race, not only of a few select individuals, though in the beginning it will begin with a few elect ones who will be ready and open to receive the supramental light and force and willingly collaborate and offer all parts of their being for the needed transmutation. “Nor would the integrality to which we aspire be real or even possible, if it were confined to the individual. Since our divine perfection embraces the realisation of ourselves in being, in life and in love through others as well as through ourselves, the extension of our liberty and of its results in others would be the inevitable outcome as well as the broadest utility of our liberation and perfection. And the constant and inherent attempt of such an extension would be towards its increasing and ultimately complete generalisation in mankind.”8 Whereas all old Yogas have Mukti as their ideal, Inte- gral Yoga, which is not only world–affirming but also cher- ishes the ideal of a divine life on earth, does not reject the ideal of Bhukti – enjoyment and fulfilment of material life – Tenatyakten bhunjitha – enjoyment with renunciation as mentioned in the Ishopanishad, which is the rule of divine life. India has suffered because she neglected material life, and the West suffered because they neglected the spirit. Integral Yoga fulfil both. Integral Yoga in fact fulfils and complements all world religions and world movements because all of them have been dreaming and aspiring in one way or the other for the kingdom of God on earth, City of God, Heaven on earth, universal brotherhood, one humanity, one world-family, world unity, equality-liberty and fraternity, but they have not yet succeeded. It is the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

8. Synthesis of Yoga CWSA 23:49 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 302 which will fulfil this ultimate hope of man. ‘‘The divinising of the normal material life of man and of his great secular attempt of mental and moral self-culture in the individual and the race by this integralisation of a widely perfect spiritual existence would thus be the crown alike of our individual and of our common effort. Such a consummation being no other than the kingdom of heaven within reproduced in the kingdom of heaven without, would be also the true fulfilment of the great dream cherished in different terms by the world’s religions.” 9

A New Path Thus we find that the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo is a new path, although the essentials of old systems have been harmoniously integrated with it. What are the novel- ties of this Yoga, Sri Aurobindo himself has stated in one of his letters to a disciple: It is new as compared with the old yogas: 1. Because it aims not at a departure out of world and life into Heaven or Nirvana, but at a change of life and existence, not as something subordinate or incidental, but as a distinct and central object. If there is a descent in other yogas, yet it is only an incident on the way or resulting from the ascent – the ascent is the real thing. Here the ascent is the first step, but it is a means for the descent. It is the descent of the new consciousness attained by the ascent that is the stamp and seal of the sadhana. Even the Tantra and Vaishnavism end in the release from life; here the object is the divine fulfilment of life. 2. Because the object sought after is not an individual achievement of divine realisation for the sake of the 9. Ibid : 49-50 303 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

individual, but something to be gained for the earth- consciousness here, a cosmic, not solely a supra-cosmic achievement. The thing to be gained also is the bringing in of a Power of Consciousness (the supramental) not yet organised or active directly in earth-nature, even in the spiritual life, but yet to be organised and made directly active. 3. Because a method has been preconized for achieving this purpose which is as total and integral as the aim set before it, viz., the total and integral change of the consciousness and nature, taking up old methods but only as a part action and present aid to others that are distinctive. I have not found this method (as a whole) or anything like it professed or realised in the old Yogas. If I had, I should not have wasted my time in hewing out a road and in thirty years of search and inner creation when I could have hastened home safely to my goal in and easy canter over paths already blazed out, laid down, perfectly mapped macadamised, made secure and public. Our yoga is not a retreading of old walks, but a spiritual adventure.”10

Method of Integral Yoga Now what is the method of the Integral Yoga? We have seen that the method of Hatha Yoga physical, of the Raja Yoga psycho-physical, of the Jnana Yoga intellectual, of the Bhakti Yoga emotional and of the Karma Yoga that of dynamic will. All the traditional Yogas are specialized systems; hence their methods are also specialized. Integral Yoga not only has absorbed the essentials of old Yogas but added much more, something very vast and total, embracing all life in its fold where nothing of the life

10. Letters on Yoga, SABCL 22: 100-01 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 304 is left out. Since its goal is to transform the whole nature of life, mind and body, its method too should be as vast as the world and as integral as its goal. “In the first place it [the Integral Yoga] does not act according to a fixed system and succession as in the specialised methods of Yoga, but with a sort of free, scattered and yet gradually intensive and purposeful working determined by the temperament of the individual in whom it operates, the helpful materials which his nature offers and the obstacles which it presents to purification and perfection. In a sense, therefore, each man in this path has his own method of Yoga. Yet are there certain broad lines of working common to all which enable us to construct not indeed a routine system but yet some kind of Shastra or scientific method of the synthetic Yoga.”11 This Yoga accepts our nature as it is, in whatever way it has been organized by Nature according to our past Karmas, without rejecting anything, for it believes that the supreme artisan will seize upon the crude material and fashion it into the desired divine nature, for “the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world — environment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection.” 12 The same method is used by the Nature since she too seeks to manifest the highest in itself, but it is obscure and slow and subcon- scious. She has taken millions of years to develop the bodily and nervous mentality and presently engaged in promot- ing and perfecting pure mental mentality which is not yet achieved and tends to move still further towards the di-

11. Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA 23: 46-47 12. Ibid p.47 305 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo vine mentality which is hidden within her. Whereas the Nature, which is nothing but unconscious Yoga, takes millions of years, the Conscious Yoga by the Concentration of dispersed movements can reach the same result in a much shorter span of time. Integral Yoga employs the same integral method of Nature but with self-awareness and one- pointed concentrated efforts. As we find in Nature that it is the involved Divinity in her that seeks to evolve to its original divine perfection, so in Integral Yoga too it is the Divine who can accomplish this perfection, but the soul in the Nature has to allow the divine force to act and do the needful. ‘The ego person in us cannot transform itself by its own force or will or knowledge or by any virtue of its own into the nature of the Di- vine; all it can do is to fit itself for the transformation and make more and more its surrender to that which it seeks to become.’ In order to effect the spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being in the individual, not a mere illu- mining modification of our nature or not a mere union with the Divine, we must call in the Divine Shakti, for she alone has the needed force to effect the miraculous work that is the goal of our Yoga. In fact in this Yoga it is the Divine, the master of Yoga who is at once the sadhak and Sadhana as also its goal, for this Yoga cannot be done by the force of ego in man. But before the Divine Shakti takes up this work of Yoga in the individual soul, it is necessary to come out of the clutches of lower nature and hand over the charge of Yoga to the higher force of Divine Nature. To come out of the lower nature Sri Aurobindo suggests three simple but difficult steps or methods: Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 306

Aspiration Before we call in the Divine Shakti, we must ensure that we want it and want it whole-heartedly. It must be the necessity of the entire being; it must be the integral choice of mind, life and even the body. There must be a decision of the mind and the will, seized on by the heart’s burning aspiration. The mere intellectual seeking of something higher beyond is not enough. Therefore our aspiration must be unmixed, constant and vigilant, supported by the will of the mind, longing of the heart, the demand of the physical consciousness and above all, the yearning of the soul, our inmost being, the true self in man. The aspiration for the Divine light, knowledge and force must be for the sake of the Divine not for the egoistic satisfaction of the longing of the vital in ego or its hankering after name and fame, power and position, which are characteristics of ambition. It is necessary to distinguish aspiration which is the self–articulation of the psychic entity, from ambition and desire, which proceeds from Avidya, the ignorance. The aspiration should be like a calm and steady flame, intense but without impatience. It must have a support of assurance and faith in the Divine wisdom and force.

Rejection True and intense aspiration for the divine life implies the rejection of all the movements which contradict and oppose it, for the opposing movements too are dwelling within us, in our lower nature. The mind tends to make ideas, opinions, thought–constructions and habits incessantly and is ever occupied and never quiet for a moment, 307 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo leaving no room for higher knowledge to pour in. Simi- larly, desires, petty pleasures, cravings, passions, pride, lust, greed, envy, anger, attachments keep our dynamic nature of life-impulse, our vital part, so much entangled with their narrow and selfish demands that the true power and joy from above are unable to descend in that incondite and incongruous conditions. The body too has its own nature and consciousness which tends to be obstinate, stu- pid, lazy and sluggish, inert and inactive, unwilling to change, doubting and opposes and obstructs all that is new to its nature. That is why the aspiration has to be not only incessant, steady but also vigilant and alert and whatever opposes its upward movement and checks its Godward flight, must be outright forcefully rejected, so that all these three instruments of the Being are made quiet and calm and in perfect silence Divine Shakti could enter and begin her work, the sadhana of the individual soul.

Surrender But the Divine does not impose itself on the soul manifest in nature; the consent, the readiness and self-giving of the entire being is the imperative condition for the Divine Shakti to take up the individual's sadhana of Integral Yoga, the Yoga of the divine transformation and divine life. Hence, the integral surrender, surrender of the mind, life force and the physical nature to the Divine Shakti must be voluntar- ily and willingly made. And it must be the happy and joy- ous assent of a strong soul, not of a weak and helpless mind and will. It is then only that the Divine Shakti will take up Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 308 the sadhana and she becomes herself the sadhak, sadhana and sadhya, the goal, in the individual soul. But as long as the soul is trapped in the lower nature, the above triple labour –Aspiration, Rejection and complete self-giving on the part of the sadhak of the Integral Yoga is imperative. “In proportion as the surrender and self-consecration progress, the Sadhaka becomes conscious of the Divine Shakti doing the Sadhana, pouring into him more and more of herself, founding in him the freedom and perfection of the Divine Nature. The more this conscious process replaces his own effort, the more rapid and true becomes his progress. But it cannot completely replace the necessity of personal effort until the surrender and consecration are pure and complete from top to bottom.”13 But surrender must be real and dynamic and true surrender should not he confused with tamasic surrender which refuses to fulfil the conditions and calls “on God to do everything and save one all the trouble and struggles.” It “is a deception and does not lead to freedom and perfection”, warns Sri Aurobindo.

13. The Mother, 2002: p.8 309 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

Object of the Integral Yoga

Then what is the object of Integral Yoga? "The object of the yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine's sake alone, to be turned in our nature into the nature of the Divine, and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine. Its object is not to be a great yogi or a Superman (although that may come) or to grab at the Divine for the sake of the ego's power, pride or pleasure. It is not for Moksha, though liberation comes by it and all else may come, but these must not be our objects. The Divine alone is our object. "...The aim of this yoga is, first, to enter into the divine consciousness by merging into it the separative ego (incidentally, in doing so one finds one's true individual self which is not the limited, vain and selfish human ego but a portion of the Divine) and, secondly, to bring down the supramental consciousness on earth to transform mind, life and body. All else can be only a result of these two aims, not the primary object of the yoga."1 Sri Aurobindo observed that till now only partial truth of Life and Existence had been realised by a few individuals and the world was left ignorant of even that partial truth. Those who thought that they had reached the summit of the absolute Reality, supposed the world to be either unreal or full of misery, either illusion, non-existent or if it existed, it was just sorrow and suffering. It was therefore the only course left for them was to escape from it in the supreme status beyond the life of the world. Sri Aurobindo had a different experience of the world and the reality beyond the world. He found that the world

1. The Integral Yoga (Compilation) Lotus Light - Publications, 1993, p.10 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 310 is Brahman or God and as real as Brahman or God. The Omnipotent wisdom has created the world- Prajna Prasrita Purani. And it is possible to establish the perfect truth and perfect bliss of God in the world-existence, because God here 'sees all things with the eye of truth and enjoys all things with the sense of unalloyed freedom'-Tenatyaktena bhunjitha. "Perfection has to be worked out, harmony has to be accomplished. Imperfection, limitation, death, grief, ignorance, matter are only the first terms of the formula — unintelligible till we have worked out the wider terms and reinterpreted the formulary; they are the initial discords of the musician's tuning. Out of imperfection we have to construct perfection, out of limitation to discover infinity, out of death to find immortality, out of grief to recover divine bliss, out of ignorance to rescue divine self-knowledge, out of matter to reveal Spirit. To work out this end for ourselves and for humanity is the object of our Yogic practice."2 Sri Aurobindo, we have observed, was not a mere Yogi in a traditional sense, that is to say, he did not do Yoga to gain other-worldly realisation. There was no division in his mind such as something like this-worldly or that-worldly. He loved life in totality. He was interested in everything life and world are constituted of and which can make life and world perfect and beautiful and divine — satyam, shivam, sundaram. When he observed that all past efforts made for the perfection of life here in the world failed and no further attempt was in the offing, he decided to work it out himself. But was he not ordained by the Divine, the Lord himself, the Avatar of the Gita to do this task? To complete the work which was perhaps begun by the Lord in the Gita but remained half-done? But the base was given on which the colossal edifice of the Integral Yoga was founded by Sri 2. Essays Divine and Human by Sri Aurobindo SABCL 12: 103 311 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

Aurobindo who first worked under the guidance of the Avatar of the Gita and later he himself rose to become the Supramental Avatar. When he realised all the aspects of the supreme Reality — Sachchidananda — and at all the levels from individual Divine to the Transcendental, he found that it was possible to bring down the perfection of the highest truth in the world nature through the instrumentality of the Divine dynamis of the Supermind which is exclusively his discovery. And ultimately he was able to formulate integral system which he called an Integral Yoga, with the objective of total transformation of the earth-nature into divine nature. Whereas the other Yogas have for their aim partial realisations — either departure into some supra-cosmic reality or some limited perfection in the world, the object of Integral Yoga is "a complete God- realisation, a complete self-realisation, a complete fulfulment of our being and Consciousness, a complete transformation of our nature — and this implies a complete perfection of life here and not only a return to an eternal perfection elsewhere." 3

From Mind to Supermind The Integral Yoga is also called the Supramental Yoga because it can be accomplished only by the Supramental Power, the power of the Supermind. All human Yogas are done by the Power of Mind, for man is a mental being in a living body. It can only reflect some light of the divine Truth but can not wholly seize and embody it, but the Supermind is an eternal dynamic Truth-Consciousness beyond mind and "at its highest reach the divine Gnosis, the Wisdom- Power-Light-Bliss of God by which the Divine knows and upholds and governs and enjoys the universe."4

3. Ibid p.375 4. Ibid p.384 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 312

The change that is effected by the transition from Mind to Supermind is not only a revolution in knowledge or in our Power for knowledge. If it is to be complete and stable, it must be a divine transformation of our will too, our emotions, our sensations, all our power of life and its forces, in the end even of the very substance and functioning of our body. The golden Light came down into my heart Smiting my life with Thy eternity; Now has it grown a temple where Thou art And all its passions point towards only Thee. The golden Light came down into my feet; My earth is now Thy playfield and Thy seat.5 "Then only can it be said that the Supermind is there upon earth, rooted in its very earth-substance and embodied in a new race of divinized creatures."6

The Integral Yoga and the Divine Mother The metamorphosis or the complete divinization of the entire human nature into Supreme Truth-Consciousness that Sri Aurobindo has set as a goal of Integral Yoga is such a complex, intricate and uphill task, which has never been attempted before Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, that it cannot be carried out to its end by human effort alone or by only the force of mind, life and body or any human psychological process without the full aid and support of the Supreme Shakti. "Man", says Sri Aurobindo, "cannot by his effort make himself more than man, but he can call down the divine Truth and its Power to work in him. A

5. The Golden Light: Collected Poems: CWSA 2:606 6. Essays Divine and Human, by Sri Aurobindo CWSA 12: 384 313 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo descent of the Divine Nature can alone divinize the human receptacle. Self-Surrender to a supreme transmuting Power is the key-word of this Yoga."7 Gita too speaks of surrender as the only Dharma for the seeker of the triple Yoga but that surrender is to the Purushottama, the supreme Purusha, the Lord himself. The supreme Mother is mentioned as Para Prakriti through whom worlds are created by the supreme Lord. The object of the Gita is to draw back from nature and have the supreme realisation beyond it, not here in the world. That is why the Ishwara aspect of the Divine is more pronounced. In Integral Yoga the object is to possess and transform the world-nature and realise the Supreme through it as in Tantra; therefore this Yoga insists more on the aspect of the Divine Mother, the creative force of the Divine, Para Prakriti and surrender to Her is essential for the fulfillment of the object of this Yoga. "In regard to the Purushottama the Divine Mother is the supreme divine Consciousness and Power above the worlds, Adya Shakti; she carries the Supreme in herself and manifests the Divine in the worlds through the Akshara and Kshara. In regard to the Akshara she is the same Para Shakti holding the Purusha immobile in herself and also herself immobile in him at the back of all creation. In regard to the Kshara she is the mobile cosmic Energy manifesting all beings and forces." 8 It is to this supreme Shakti or the Divine Mother that the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo demands surrender with pure, candid and perfect faith and sincerity. "To walk through life armoured against all fear, peril and disaster, only two things are needed, two that go always together — the Grace of the Divine Mother and on your side an 7. Ibid p.383 8. Letters on Yoga, SABCL 22:72 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 314 inner state made up of faith, sincerity and surrender." He further says that our sincerity and surrender must be genuine and entire without demand, without condition, without reservation so that all in us "shall belong to the Divine Mother and nothing be left to the ego or given to any other Power."9 "The more complete your faith, sincerity and surrender, the more will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all difficulties, obstacles and dangers; surrounded by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into opportunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible."10 Sri Aurobindo time and again reminds us that in this Yoga our all works, all thoughts, all movements of life must be an offering and sacrifice to the Supreme Shakti, "... your only object in action shall be to serve, to receive, to fulfil, to become a manifesting instrument of the Divine Shakti in her works. You must grow in the divine consciousness till there is no difference between your will and hers, no motive except her impusion in you, no action that is not her conscious action in you and through you."11 Our surrender to her implies that we do every thing for her alone without any demand, free from any egoistic

9. The Mother by Sri Aurobindo 2002:9-10 10. Ibid, p.10 11. Ibid, p.15 315 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo motive as a selfless worker. Our only reward will be the pleasure of the Divine Mother and our progression in divine consciousness, the joy of divine service and our inner growth. "But a time will come when you will feel more and more that you are the instrument and not the worker. For first by the force of your devotion your contact with the Divine Mother will become so intimate that at all times you will have only to concentrate and to put everything into her hands to have her guidance, her direct command or impulse, the sure indication of the thing to be done and the way to do it and the result. And afterwards you will realise that the divine Shakti not only inspires and guides, but initiates and carries out your works; all your movements are originated by her, all your powers are hers, mind, life and body are conscious and joyful instruments of her action, means for her play, moulds for her manifestation in the physical universe. There can be no more happy condition than this union and dependence; for this step carries you back beyond the border-line from the life of stress and suffering in the ignorance into the truth of your spiritual being, into its deep peace and its intense Ananda."12 When our surrender is complete and our faith, sincerity and aspiration absolute, the Mother carries the soul up to her Supramental plane, the goal of the journey and the consummation of this Yoga. "The last stage of this perfection will come when you are completely identified with the Divine Mother and feel yourself to be no longer another and separate being, instrument, servant or worker but truly a child and eternal portion of her consciousness and force. Always she will be in you and you in her; it will be your constant, simple and natural experience that all your

12. Ibid : 16-17 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 316 thought and seeing and action, your very breathing or moving come from her and are hers. You will know and see and feel that you are a person and power formed by her out of herself, put out from her for the play and yet always safe in her, being of her being, consciousness of her consciousness, force of her force, Ananda of her Ananda. When this condition is entire and her supramental energies can freely move you, then you will be perfect in divine works; knowledge, will, action will become sure, simple, luminous, spontaneous, flawless, an outflow from the Supreme, a divine movement of the Eternal."13 But what is Divine Shakti or who is the Divine Mother who presides over the future process of transformation of nature which is the main feature of the Integral Yoga given by Sri Aurobindo? He has himself explained in detail the position and status of the Divine Mother in relation to the Absolute Power, Brahman or Sachchidananda or God and her role in the manifestation in his magnum opus, The Life Divine, as also in his epoch-making, legend and symbol- epic Savitri. "An absolute, eternal and infinite Self-existence, Self- awareness, Self-delight of being that secretly supports and pervades the universe even while it is also beyond it, is, then, the first truth of spiritual experience. But this truth of being has at once an impersonal and a personal aspect; it is not only Existence, it is the one Being absolute, eternal and infinite. As there are three fundamental aspects in which we meet this Reality, — Self, Conscious Being or Spirit and God, the Divine Being, or to use the Indian terms, the absolute and omnipresent Reality, Brahman, manifest to us as Atman, Purusha, Ishwara, — so too its power of Consciousness appears to us in three aspects; it is the self-

13. Ibid p.17-18 317 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo force of that consciousness conceptively creative of all things, Maya; it is Prakriti, Nature or Force made dynamically executive, working out all things under the witnessing eye of the Conscious Being, the Self or Spirit; it is the conscious Power of the Divine Being, Shakti, which is both conceptively creative and dynamically executive of all the divine workings. These three aspects and their powers base and comprise the whole of existence and all Nature and taken together as a single whole, they reconcile the apparent disparateness and incompatibility of the supracosmic Transcendence, the cosmic universality and the separativeness of our individual existence; the Absolute, cosmic Nature and ourselves are linked in oneness by this triune aspect of the one Reality".14 In other words the Divine Mother is the Consciousness and Force of the Divine, the Supreme triune Godhead, Sat, Chit, Ananda. Therefore she is also Supreme and the Creator of all the universe and the Mother of all things — animate or inanimate. An energy of the triune Infinite, In a measureless Reality she dwelt, A rapture and a being and a force, A linked and myriad-motioned plenitude, A virgin unity, a luminious spouse, Housing a multitudinous embrace To marry all in God's immense delight, Bearing the eternity of every spirit, Bearing the burden of universal love, A wonderful mother of unnumbered souls.15 ... At the head she stands of birth and toil and fate, In their slow round the cycles turn to her call;

14. The Life Divine, CWSA 21: 339-340 15. Savitri, CWSA 34: p.695 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 318

Alone her hands can change Time's dragon base. Hers is the mystery the Night conceals; The spirit's alchemist energy is hers; She is the golden bridge, the wonderful fire. The luminous heart of the Unknown is she A power of silence in the depths of God; She is the Force, the inevitable Word, The magnet of our difficult ascent, The Sun from which we kindle all our suns, The Light that leans from the unrealised Vasts, The joy that beckons from the impossible, The Might of all that never yet came down. All Nature dumbly calls to her alone To heal with her feet the aching throb of life And break the seals on the dim soul of man And kindle her fire in the closed heart of things.16

As Sri Aurobindo embodied the Supreme Being and came down to give us a perfect formula of divine life on earth, the Integral Yoga, so, along with him manifested his Consciousness-force, Chit-Shakti as his spiritual collaborator, the Divine Mother, Mirra Alfasa, to lead the aspiring souls and effectuate that great transition from human to god-man. With their advent in the human body in the last century a new dawn of hope, a new future of man and building of a rainbow bridge from earth to heaven has begun. It is to that Spirit's alchemist energy, the wonderful fire, that we have to sacrifice all our mortal being so that she can forge us in her own immortal stuff. It is in reference to her that Sri Aurobindo said that "The Mother's consciousness and mine are the same, the one Divine consciousness in two, because that is necessary for the play. Nothing can be done without her knowledge and force, 16. Savitri, CWSA 33: p.314 319 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo without her consciousness — if anybody really feels her consciousness, he should know that I am there behind it and if he feels me it is the same with hers."17 The Mother was born in France and came to India to see Sri Aurobindo for the first time on 29th March 1914. Before she knew Sri Aurobindo, she was doing sadhana independently but followed the same lines as of Sri Aurobindo. "When they met, they helped each other in perfecting the Sadhana. What is known as Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is the joint creation of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother; they are now completely identified — the Sadhana in the Ashram [Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry] and all arrangement is done directly by the Mother, Sri Aurobindo supports her from behind. All who come here for practising Yoga have to surrender themselves to the Mother who helps them always and builds up their spiritual life."18 The Mother, as stated above, met Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1914 and stayed in Pondicherry for eleven months and they worked together. But she had to return to France owing to the outbreak of the first Great War in 1915. She returned to Sri Aurobindo in 1920 on 24th April and stayed with him permanently to collaborate with him in developing his Integral Yoga for ushering in a new spiritual age and creating a new humanity. The disciples of Sri Aurobindo mistook her as one of them, come to learn Yoga from Sri Aurobindo. In answer to this misgiving Sri Aurobindo wrote, in 1941 the following: "The Mother is not a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. She has had the same realisation and experience as myself. "The Mother's sadhana started when she was very young. When she was twelve or thirteen, every evening many teachers came to her and taught her various spiritual 17. The Mother and the Integral Yoga, 2002: p. 13-14 18. Ibid, p.15-16 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 320 disciplines. Among them was a dark, Asiatic figure. When we first met, she immediately recognised me as the dark Asiatic figure whom she used to see a long time ago. That she should come here and work with me for a common goal was, as it were, a divine dispensation. "The Mother was an adept in the Buddhist yoga and the yoga of the Gita even before she came to India. Her Yoga was moving towards a grand synthesis. After this, it was natural that she should come here. She has helped and is helping to give a concrete form to my yoga: This would not have been possible without her cooperation. "One of the two great steps in this yoga is to take refuge in the Mother." (When asked what the other great step is, Sri Aurobindo replied, 'Aspiration of the sadhak for the divine life.') 19 In 1926, on 24 November, Sri Aurobindo attained to a great siddhi in his Yoga which the Mother calls the 'Victory Day'. On this day Sri Krishna descended in his physical body. His descent means the descent of the Overmind God which will prepare the descent of the Supermind. On this day Sri Aurobindo announced that henceforth the Mother would directly guide the sadhaks of Integral Yoga living in the Ashram or outside and also be responsible for the outer organization of the Ashram. Since then it is she, the Mother, the Divine Mother incarnate, who has been directly guiding, directing and leading the sadhana of her children who have aspired, consented and offered themselves in her hands to prepare them, through all the vicissitudes and perils, for the divine life which is the goal of Integral Yoga. Even after she left her physical sheath, it is she who is always present among us and doing sadhana in each of us according to our nature and the capacity of self-giving, faith, sincerity,

19. Ibid : p.16 321 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo self-opening and receptivity and self-surrender. Sri Aurobindo writes about the powers of the Mother and her ways of workings in his small but power-packed book 'The Mother': "The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many-sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence. The Mother is the consciousness and force of the Supreme and far above all she creates. But something of her ways can be seen and felt through her embodiments and the more seizable because more defined and limited temperament and action of the goddess forms in whom she consents to be manifest to her creatures. "There are three ways of being of the Mother of which you can become aware when you enter into touch of oneness with the Conscious Force that upholds us and the universe. Transcendent, the original supreme Shakti, she stands above the worlds and links the creation to the ever unmanifest mystery of the Supreme. Universal, the cosmic Mahashakti, she creates all these beings and contains and enters, supports and conducts all these million processes and forces. Individual, she embodies the power of these two vaster ways of her existence, makes them living and near to us and mediates between the human personality and the divine Nature." As the Transcendent Power she carries in her the everlasting Sachchidanand, the dual consciousness of Ishwar-Ishwari and the dual principle of Purusha-Prakriti. As the universal Mother she works out the will of her transcendental Consciousness in the triple world of ignorance and stands in an intermediate plane between the Supramental Light and the lower world of Matter, Life and Mind in order to lift them back into the infinity of the Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 322

Spirit. "...In her deep and great love for her children she has consented to put on herself the cloak of this obscurity, condescended to bear the attacks and torturing influences of the powers of the Darkness and the Falsehood, borne to pass through the portals of the birth, that is a death, taken upon herself the pangs and sorrows and sufferings of the creation, since it seemed that thus alone could it be lifted to the Light and Joy and Truth and eternal Life. This is the great sacrifice called sometimes the sacrifice of the Purusha, but much more deeply the holocaust of Prakriti, the sacrifice of the Divine Mother."20 The Mother as Mahashakti is also the mediator between the Supramental creation and the lower triple creation of Mind, Life and Matter, whose presence and power alone and not any human endeavour and tapasya can hasten the Supramental change in the earth-consciousness which will bring and complete the last phase of divine perfection and fulfil the aim of Integral Yoga.

Process of Integral Perfection It is for the first time in the history of human consciousness that a total perfection of human existence, an integral change in the human nature, nothing short of divine perfection, is being envisaged and demanded by the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. It is not that perfection was not sought and attempted in the past. Man as a thinking being is capable to grow towards progressive perfection and conceive some kind of ideal standard of it and pursue and achieve it. Progress has been achieved so far in the field of mental or emotional life or faculty, but it did not transcend the boundary of Ignorance and Ego and humanity remained as imprisoned in the dark dungeon of

20.The Mother, by Sri Aurobindo pp 29& 36-37 323 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo its littleness as before. Even in the field of religion and spirituality when the desirable perfection of an ideal humanity could not be achieved, the world was condemned either as an illusion or a nightmare and any change in the earth-nature was dubbed as impossible as straightening a dog's tail. It is in this perspective that a single man dreamt and hoped

I had hoped to build a rainbow bridge Marrying the soil to the sky And sow in this dancing planet midge The moods of infinity. (A God's Labour by Sri Aurobindo)

It is Sri Aurobindo, the Master and Lord of Integral Yoga who not only 'hoped to build a rainbow bridge' but also Coercing my godhead I have come down Here on the sordid earth, Ignorant, labouring, human grown Twixt the gates of death and birth...... I have laboured and suffered in Matter's night To bring the fire to man; But the hate of hell and human spite Are my meed since the world began. (A God's Labour by Sri Aurobindo)

Sri Aurobindo's life was A God's Labour for 'Bringing the fires of the splendour of God into the human abyss.' He explored virgin lands, chartered the unknown terrains and unrealised kingdom of mysteries of God and seized upon it to bring it down for man on earth so that man need not escape from life into Beyond and can realise Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 324 the Divine perfection here in the life of the world. He knew that he was up to such an daunting thing — which was never thought of and tried before, not even by Vedic seers, and the Gita too had given no hint of it. Moksha or liberation of the soul into unknown has been the alpha and omega until now. And if one amongst us wants to bring or toils to bring a new hope, our darker part, the demon within resists the 'Sacred Light' and kills the deliverer. Was Christ not crucified? Thank God, Sri Aurobindo could manage to escape from the gallows. Even Sri Krishna the Avatar had to slip from the prison of Kansa. Anyway, inspite of all past failures to bring heaven on earth Sri Aurobindo did not accept defeat and accepted the challenge. The divine perfection which he set as the goal of his Integral Yoga was nothing less than bringing heaven on earth. He underwent severe tapasya in the cave of Pondicherry and said "I have pierced the void, where thought was born. I have walked in the bottomless pit."; and at last he was able to bring the Light that he was seeking and that was capable to bring a radical change in earthly life. Heaven's fire is lit in the breast of the earth And the undying suns here burn; Through a wonder cleft in the bounds of birth The incarnate spirits yearn ....

A little more and the new life's doors Shall be carved in silver light With its aureate roof and mosaic floors In a great world bare and bright 21

If we follow the formulae of his Yoga of perfection or Yoga of transformation strictly, sincerely with faith in and 21. Collected Poems : A God's Labour CWSA 2: 537-38 325 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo surrender to the Divine Mother, then the result or the goal is achieved in three successive steps: First comes the Psychic transformation in the individual nature. Second is the Spiritual transformation and the third last is the Supramental transformation.

1. Psychic Transformation Our personality is primarily made of mind, life and body, instruments through which the true person, the soul, which is at present hidden in us behind the instruments, evolves. This inner entity hidden behind the heart is called the psychic being or soul according to Sri Aurobindo. It is in direct touch with the divine Truth and has the direct knowledge of right and wrong, true and false, good and evil. This is our true self, and not the surface personality of mind, life and body which we wrongly call ourselves. "It is an ever-pure flame of the divinity in things and nothing that comes to it, nothing that enters into our experience can pollute its purity or extinguish the flame. This spiritual stuff is immaculate and luminous and, because it is perfectly luminous, it is immediately, intimately, directly aware of truth of being and truth of nature; it is deeply conscious of truth and good and beauty because truth and good and beauty are akin to its own native character, forms of something that is inherent in its own substance. It is aware also of all that contradicts these things, of all that deviates from its own native character, of falsehood and evil and the ugly and the unseem; but it does not become these things nor is it touched or changed by these opposites of itself which so powerfully affect its outer instrumentation of mind, life and body. For the soul, the permanent being in us puts forth and uses mind, life and body as its instruments, undergoes the envelopment of their conditions, but it is other and greater than its members."22 22. Life Divine, CWSA 22: p.924-925 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 326

The natural traits of the psychic being are love, bhakti, self-giving, truth and it always remains open to the divine Shakti and surrendered to the Divine Mother like a true child. As long as it is veiled, hidden, dormant, our life is a play of ignorance of the mind, vital and body entangled in the lower nature. The psychic being remains only a silent witness without interfering in the working of the mind, the vital and the physical although it upholds them, like a constitutional head "who allows his ministers to rule for him, delegates to them his emspire, secretly assents to their decisions and only now and then puts in a word which they can at any moment override and act otherwise." When it comes to the front of our being, it begins to control the movements of its ministers and from a mere silent witness becomes the true monarch. The first thing to be done is to bring the psychic being forward and let it take the reign of life, the play of mental, vital and physical activities. This can be done by constant aspiration and purification of the heart. By coming forward of psychic being is meant that its presence is felt in the daily working consciousness, its influence fills, dominates, transforms the mental and vital and physical movements. We become aware of our soul, feel the psychic being to be our true being. The mind, vital and physical begin to be only instruments of the inmost and the true person within us. When the psychic change or transformation takes place in us, then the inner mind, inner vital and inner physical open to psychic influence and in turn they guide and influence their surface counterparts. This is how the psychic, by coming forward, begins to govern the mind, life and body turning them all towards the Divine. Consequently the whole lower being opens to the spiritual truth. This psychic realisation or the psychicisation "means the change 327 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo of the lower nature bringing right vision into the mind, right impulse and feeling into the vital, right movement and habit into the physical — all turned towards the Divine, all based on love, adoration, bhakti — finally, the vision and sense of the Mother everywhere in all as well as in the heart, her Force working in the being, faith, consecration, surrender."23

2. Spiritual Transformation The psychic change is the result of an opening inwards of the inner mind, inner vital, inner physical to the inmost part of us that is the Psychic; but the spiritual change comes by opening upwards to what is above the mind, to the higher spiritual levels. Both openings are indispensable for the fruits of sadhana of the Integral Yoga, for the real Self is not on surface but deep within and high above. The highest spiritual Self is above the bodily existence in the subtle body and has two aspects, one is static, a condition of wide peace, freedom, silence and unaffected by any action or experience, impartially supporting them but not seeming to originate them, standing back detached, udasina. “The other aspect is dynamic and that is experienced as a cosmic Self or Spirit which not only supports but originates and contains the whole cosmic action.... this world and all other worlds, the supraphysical as well as the physical ranges of the universe. Moreover, we feel the Self as one in all; but also we feel it as above all, transcendent, surpassing all individual birth or cosmic existence. ...To get into the transcendent self above all makes us capable of transcending altogether even cosmic consciousness and action – it can be the way to that complete liberation from the

23. Integral Yoga(Compilation) Lotus Light Publications, 1993: p.209 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 328 world-existence which is called also extinction, laya, moksha, nirvâna.”24 “The spiritual change is the established descent of the peace, light, knowledge, power, bliss from above, the awareness of the Self and the Divine and of a higher cosmic consciousness and the change of the whole consciousness to that,”25 When the peace is established, the higher Force descends first into the head, then into the heart, navel and other vital centres and into the Muladhara and below and liberates their inner centers as also works for their perfection. It acts upon the whole nature integrating and harmonizing its contradicting elements and establishes a new rhythm in it. The more the psychic centre is open and active and the more love and bhakti and samarpana grow in the heart, the more effective will be the force descending, from above. “For the heart opens to the psychic being and mind centres open to the higher consciousness and the nexus between the psychic being and the higher consciousness is the principal means of the siddhi.”26 The peace, force, light, knowledge, purity, Ananda etc. which descend in the being belong to any of the higher planes from Higher Mind to Over Mind and transform the instrumental Nature to be fit for the work of the Cosmic Divine. But this spiritual transformation is not complete and perfect, because all planes, below the Supermind are subject to limitations in the working of the effective Knowledge, Power and the Truth. It is only the Supermind or the Supramental force and light which is the full Truth Consciousness that can divinize the earth nature — mind, life and body, and all becomes supramentalised in the

24. Ibid p.214 25. Ibid, p. 209 26. Ibid p.216 329 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo divine Gnostic Consciousness as a part of the dharma of the nature, not as a personal Yoga-siddhi.

3. Supramental Transformation First is the psychic transformation; we realise the Di- vine through the consciousness of our inmost being, the Psychic entity. In Spiritual transformation we are merged in the Divine in the Cosmic Consciousness. In the Supra- mental transformation we are supramentalised in the divine gnostic consciousness. It is only in the last change that the complete transformation of the mind, life and body as envisaged by Sri Aurobindo as the goal of Integral Yoga will be possible. The other higher powers including the highest of the Mind which Sri Aurobindo calls Overmind, when brought down in the manifestation gradually lose their potency and suffer a diminution of their dynamic capacity. Between the Supermind and the human mind there are several planes of consciousness. As we go upwards above the mind into Higher mind, Illumined mind, Intui- tive mind and the Overmind which tops the ladder of the lower hemisphere, there grows gradually more wideness, more light, more power of the spirit. But this range upto Overmind is still not completely free from the net of Igno- rance. Division and fragmentation begins from the Overmind and gradually going downwards the unity of the Truth disappear completely into inconscient Matter. Supermind is the intermediate power between the lower hemisphere of Mind, Life and Matter and the higher hemisphere of Sat, Chit, and Ananda. It is the dynamic creative power of Sachchidananda, full of Truth-consciousness of the Divine Nature in which there can be no place for the principle of division and ignorance and is always a Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 330 full light and knowledge superior to all mental substance or mental movement. If it descends into the lower world, it can transform the lower nature into its own higher nature. But the conditions for its descent have to be fully fulfilled. The descent of the Supermind can take place only if the Psychic and the Spiritual transformations are complete and consequently, on the one hand, the psychic entity, the soul manifests itself as the central being, takes up its function as a guide and ruler of the nature; every nook and corner of the nature, every movement, thought, sensation, motive, action-reaction, desire, habit is lighted up by its light, the whole consciousness is delivered from the darkness of ignorance and all kinds of impurities; and on the other hand, if the being opens above to the cosmic consciousness, to a vision of an Infinity, an eternal presence or an infinite Existence, an infinity of consciousness, an infinity of bliss — a boundless Self, a boundless Light, a boundless Power, a boundless Ecstasy; the mind rises into a higher plane of pure self, silent, tranquil, illimitable and experiences the contact of a divine Love or Beauty or the atmosphere of a wider and greater and luminous Knowledge and if there is an urge to keep these experiences for ever, yearning for a permanent ascension from the lower into the higher consciousness and effectual permanent descent of the higher into the lower nature. “Only the supermind can thus descend without losing its full power of action; for its action is always intrinsic and automatic, its will and knowledge identical and the result commensurate: its nature is a self-achieving Truth- consciousness and, if it limits itself or its working, it is by choice and intention, not by compulsion; in the limits it chooses its action and the results of its action are harmoni- 331 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo ous and inevitable. Again, overmind is, like mind, a dividing principle, and its characteristic operation is to work out in an independent formation a selected harmony; its global action enables it indeed to create a harmony whole and perfect in itself or to unite or fuse its harmonies together, to synthesise; but, labouring under the restrictions of mind, life and matter, it is obliged to do by sections and their joinings. Its tendency of totality is hampered by its selective tendency which is accentuated by the nature of the mental and life material in which it is working here; what it can achieve is separate limited spiritual creations each perfect in itself, but not the integral knowledge and its manifestation. For this reason and because of the diminishing of its native light and power it is unable to do fully what is needed and has to call in a greater power, the supramental force, to liberate and fulfil it. As the psychic change has to call in the spiritual to complete it, so the first spiritual change has to call in the supramental transformation to complete it. For all these steps forward are, like those before them, transitional; the whole radical change in the evolution from a basis of Ignorance to a basis of Knowledge can only come by the intervention of the supramental Power and its direct action in earth-existence. “This then must be the nature of the third and final transformation which finishes the passage of the soul through the Ignorance and bases its consciousness, its life, its power and form of manifestation on a complete and completely effective self-knowledge. The Truth-consciousness, finding evolutionary Nature ready, has to descend into her and enable her to liberate the supramental principle within her; so must be created the supramental and spiritual being as the first unveiled manifestation of the truth of the Self and Spirit in the material universe.”27

27. The Life Divine, CWSA 22: 951-52 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 332

Essential Prerequisites of the Integral Yoga

A call from within Yoga is not everybody’s cup of tea. It is the most difficult path of all to follow and yet more precarious to go through to the end. It is still thousand times more difficult in the case of Integral Yoga, the latest of all, for it has integrated the essence of all the specialized systems of the past and made it one integral whole, a most perfect system and the goal set by it is also nothing short of highest perfection, the perfection of the Divine within the limitations of the human mould. This path of Integral Yoga can be likened to an adventure in the unknown, for it is a journey of spiritual transformation from man to Divine, from mortal to Immortal, from ignorance to supreme Knowledge, from Matter to Spirit; joining the two extremes of the one eternal Truth. “...the way is long, arduous, dangerous, difficult. At every step is an ambush, at every turn a pitfall. A thousand seen or unseen enemies will start up against thee, terrible in subtlety against thy ignorance, formidable in power against thy weakness. And when with pain thou hast destroyed them, other thousands will surge up to take their place. Hell will vomit its hordes to oppose thee and enring and wound and menace.... Each step forward is a battle. There are precipitous descents; there are unending ascensions and ever higher peaks upon peaks to conquer. Each plateau climbed is but a stage on the way and reveals endless heights beyond it. Each victory thou thinkest the last triumphant struggle proves to be but the prelude to a hundred fierce and perilous battles . . .” 28 This is the law of the way.

28. The Hour of God, 2009: pp 5-6 333 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

But at the end of battle for the victor reward is fabu- lous, the unimaginable glory of God; the medal of life divine and immortality of Heaven waits at the end of the tunnel. This is the path for the strong and the chosen ones. This is the path for those whose evolutionary nature is ready for a new adventure. And yet there must be a call for it, a need for it and the soul must answer. One must be sure that it is not the lure of the ego or the fancy of the mind or the temptation of the vital for miraculous power, but the true call of the soul. It is then only that one can sustain the zeal and will to overcome all the ordeals and tests and pass through all the perils and dangers of the path of the razor’s edge that Yoga is; if the call is not real and sanction of the soul is not obtained, then the entire struggle will end in a poor fiasco or even in a fatal disaster, because “The outer instruments of mortal man have no force to carry him through the severe ardours of this spiritual journey and Titanic inner battle or to meet its terrible or obstinate ordeals or nerve him to face and overcome its subtle and formidable dangers. Only his spirit’s august and steadfast will and the quenchless fire of his soul’s invincible ardour are sufficient for this difficult transformation and this high improbable endeavour.”29

Faith and Will Faith is a precursor of truth or a hidden knowledge of truth, a certain feeling without any proof, of the forthcoming result or happening or experience. “It is a glimpse of a truth which the mind has not yet seized as knowledge.”30 It is on faith that the world moves. It is by faith that all great actions are inspired, and it is the faith that leads all

29. Ibid p.5 30. Integral Yoga, (Compilation), Lotus Light Publications, 1993: p.110 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 334 great thinkers, discoverers, inventors and adventurers to search for and proceed towards unknown truths and places inspite of repeated failures and disappointments. It is a great force behind all great deeds and even miracles. Faith is a kind of assurance and an intuitive prescience or preknowledge of something to come, it is a hope of certainty and a great source of encouragement and strength for taking up any adventure. It is for this reason that it is an essential prerequisite if one has decided to take up Yoga and especially, the Inte- gral Yoga. In the process of Yoga many occasions will come when one finds darkness all around and all roads sieged. And all hope of victory or even of survival gives in. But if one does not lose faith and can hold onto it steadfastly, its power will work miraculously and all opposition will vanish. For this Yoga, says Sri Aurobindo, “It is this faith that you need to develop — a faith which is in accordance with reason and common sense-that if the Divine exists and has called you to the Path, (as is evident), then there must be a Divine Guidance behind and through and in spite of all difficulties you will arrive. Not to listen to the hostile voices that suggest failure or to the voices of impatient, vital haste that echo them, not to believe that because great difficulties are there, there can be no success or that because the Divine has not yet shown himself he will never show himself, but to take the position that everyone takes when he fixes his mind on a great and difficult goal, ‘I will go on till I succeed— all difficulties notwithstanding.’ To which the believer in the Divine adds, ‘The Divine exists, my following after the Divine cannot fail. I will go on through everything till I find him'."31 31. Ibid pp. 111-12 335 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

If this faith is not there, it is impossible to pursue this Yoga. Without the strength of faith a single whiff will blow you off your feet from the path; you will stumble with a single jolt and even ordinary difficulties and failures will chase you away from the battle. It is therefore that a strong faith is not only required in the beginning of Yoga, but also it has to be held fast till the end of the battle, till the victory is won. And if faith is supported by will, even the impossible can be accomplished. Will is a strong positive force which dictates the right action and removes the obstacles in the way. Without a will nothing can be achieved. True will is not the impulse, desire or ambition of Prana, but the energy or power of the Consciousness, controlling the lower nature. Its presence in the being is a sure sign of upward progress towards the goal. As long as the surrender is not complete and the sadhana has not been taken up entirely by the Divine Shakti, will is necessary to support the faith to go on until the end of the journey.

Samata or Samatwam Yoga Uchyate “Fixed in Yoga do thy actions, having abandoned attachment, having become equal in failure and success, O Dhananjaya, for it is equality that is meant by Yoga.”32 Indeed, Equality is Yoga that is union with our true self, who is one “with all beings, one too with that which expresses itself in them and in all that we see and experience. This equality and this oneness are the indispensable twin foundation we must lay down for a divine being, a divine consciousness, a divine action...... The supreme power, the one Eternal and Infinite is equal to all things and to all beings, and because it is equal, it can act with an absolute wisdom according to the truth of its works and 32.Gita Edited ny P.P. Khetan, 1992 : p.48 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 336 its force and according to the truth of each thing and of every creature.”33 To be equal and calm within under all circumstances and not to be moved either by pleasure or pain, joy or grief, honour or insult, or ups and downs and vicissitudes of life is samata or equality which is a great support and the chief source of strength to the sadhak of Integral Yoga. It helps to make the mind and vital keep quiet and silent and en- hances the sadhak’s power of endurance and forbearance. It helps the sadhak always to act and speak out of a calm inner poise of the soul and master the vital desires, pride, anger and other unspiritual movements which come in the way of Yoga. Not only that, “it helps to have an equal view of men and their nature and acts and their forces that move them; it helps one to see the truth about them by pushing away from the mind all personal feeling in one’s seeing and judg- ment and even all the mental bias,” which cause many misunderstandings, misjudgments and even untoward happenings. Without a firm foundation of samata, sadhana cannot progress smoothly. Although it is one of the many essential disciplines of Integral Yoga, according to Gita it is by itself a Yoga — samatwam yoga uchyate. Complete Samata takes a long time to be established and it is not possible unless inner surrender to the Divine is complete and consequently spiritual calm and peace from above have descended. Till then one must exert one’s mental will and must persist and persevere to cultivate the quality of Samata in one’s nature as far as possible.

33. Ibid 337 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

Purification of Instruments If our goal is a perfect perfection of our whole being, we must purify all the instruments of the being — the mind, heart, the soul of vital desire, the life in the body, which are the seats of impurity, the capital impediment in the ascension to the highest Truth which is our goal. Purity can be of two types. One purity may be a negative white- ness, a freedom from sin gained by a constant inhibition against wrong action or feeling or idea, a passive purity, stilling of the vibrant mind and restless vital which leads to a profound peace, because the spirit appears in all the eternal purity of its immaculate essence. But this is negative purity. Another purity can be attained not by inhibition but by perfect action founded on perfect bliss of the being, the purity of the soul’s instrumental as well as the Spirit’s essential nature, purity of the mind, heart, life and body which have to do the divine work in a divine way, but presently not doing divinely since at present they are the seats of impurity, and that is why their purification is the first thing required if the divine perfection demanded by Integral Yoga is to be fulfilled. The seeker of Integral Yoga must have this discernment that it is not the negative, prohibitory, passive or quietistic purity that he seeks but a positive, affirmative, active purity is the object of his seeking. “A divine quietism discovers the immaculate eternity of the Spirit, a divine kinetism adds to it the right pure undeviating action of the soul, mind and body.” 34 Our goal is a divine perfection of man here in the world with mind, life and body which are the instruments of the soul descended in the Nature. But we find that the mental, vital and the physical nature of man is not adequate, and pure enough to be fully spiritualized or divinized. The inadequacy and impurity of human nature arise from the consequent struggle, want of knowledge, want of harmony 34. The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA 24: 643-44 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 338 and want of oneness as a result of separative ego-sense and fall in ignorance. Mind, heart, the soul of desire, the life in the body are the seats of impurity. Our physical nature is subjected to inertia, tamas, stu- pidity, narrowness and limitation, and inability to progress, doubt, dullness, dryness, constant forgetfulness of the spiritual experiences. It is difficult to eliminate them by battles with them, because they are the part of universal Nature reflected in the individual. They can be eliminated by more and more surrender to the Divine Shakti and aspiration and prayer for her divine peace, light, power and presence. This is how the physical nature can be purified and subsequently transformed into divine nature. The vital is a very important part of the human personality for it is the seat of energy, power, zeal, dynamism and without its support nothing worthwhile can be accomplished in life. But it is also the seat of desire, lust, ambition, anger, violence, greed, sex, etc. If it is allowed to go its own way, it becomes our master and gradually leads us to destruction. If it is tamed and controlled, it is a wonderful instrument. It is a good instrument but a bad master, says Sri Aurobindo. The greatest deformation that the vital contributes to our being is desire, which “is the root of all sorrow, disappointment, affliction, for though it has a feverish joy of pursuit and satisfaction, yet because it is always a straining of the being, it carries into its pursuit and its getting a labour, hunger, struggle, a rapid subjection to fatigue, a sense of limitation, dissatisfaction and early disappointment with all its gains, a ceaseless morbid stimulation, trouble, disquiet, ashanti. To get rid of desire is the one firm indispensable purification of the psychical prana, — for so we can replace the soul of desire with its pervading immiscence in all our instruments by a mental soul of calm delight and its clear and limpid possession of 339 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo ourselves and world and Nature which is the crystal basis of the mental life and its perfection.”35 Generally it is understood that desire is the mainspring of life and its satisfaction is the only enjoyment and moti- vating force of human living. And without it life will be dry and dead. But in reality, behind the desire there is a force of will which is the true motive power of the life of the soul; desire is its deformation caused by the intervention of physical life and physical mind. “The essential turn of the soul to possession and enjoyment of the world consists in a will to delight, and the enjoyment of the satisfaction of craving is only a vital and physical degradation of the will to delight. It is essential that we should distinguish between pure will and desire, between the inner will to delight and the outer lust and craving of the mind and body.”36 If we can’t make a clear distinction between the will to delight and its degradation, we shall either turn to life- killing asceticism and escapism or indulge in gross living of satisfaction of all kinds of desire. Some may try a life of ethical restraints permissible to the society. But Integral Yoga seeks none of them but a perfect perfection, which can be effected only by ridding the prana of desire and reversing the ordinary poise of our nature and turn the vital being into an obedient instrument of the soul by will and intelligence, the buddhi, by a wise and reasoned selec- tion of vital movements — attractions and repulsions, of what is the pleasant and what is the good — Preyas and Shreyas, for, pleasant is often wrong and the good is always right. But buddhi in us itself is an imperfect instrument only half-enlightened and subject to impure action, for it is not yet the highest truth but only an intermediary. The more it is free and detached from the lower sugges- tions, the nearer it moves towards the discovery of a self- 35. Ibid : 656-57 36. The Synthesis of Yoga, CWSA: 24: p.658 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 340 existent pure light and delight, knowledge and intuition which illumines all the workings of the sense and reason. “This complete detachment, impossible without an entire self-government, equality, calm, sama, samatâ, sânti is the surest step towards the purification of the buddhi. A calm, equal and detached mind can alone reflect the peace or base the action of the liberated spirit.”37 The mind, even the thought -mind, the intelligence and will in man is also subjected to its inferior instruments. It is influenced by the senses, instincts, desires, emotions and the commands of the life-cravings, because of attachments with its lower ranges. The intelligence must purify itself of its attachments and exceed its limits and control the lower mind and raise all its actions into the planes of nobler will and knowledge and set over them a law of right impulse, right desire, right emotion and right action. Since the mind, the reasoning and thought-mind, the intelligence, the budhhi is the most developed instrument so far in man, and it is because of this alone that he is considered to be superior to animals or plants, if it is well purified and perfected, it can respond and open up to intuitions, inspirations and revelations of the higher Truth and be the main force for effectuation and action of the Truth. In the highest stage of its development the intelligence aspires to seize upon the universal truth and even beyond, but its natural propensity is more towards knowledge than towards will to act. “...for action it is dependent on the aid of the pragmatic mind and therefore man tends in action to fall away from the purity of the Truth his highest knowledge holds into a mixed, inferior, inconstant and impure effectuation.” Therefore even his “highest Buddhi does not work in man in its own purity; it is assailed by the defects of the lower mentality, continually clouded by it, distorted, veiled, and 37. Ibid p.669 341 The Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo prevented or lamed in its own proper action.”38 However, it finally finds that the Truth has infinite aspects and to seize upon them is beyond the capacity of its intellectual forms, for it is still in the shadow of Ignorance, far away from the brilliance of shining knowledge of the Spirit. Nature first enlarges the bounds of our surface knowledge i. e., the Ignorance; later it attempts to abolish the Ignorance and discover the soul and through this be united with God and with all existence. The evolutionary Nature aims to achieve initially in man a the radical transformation of the whole nature of man into the Divine nature. This spiritual change, the first approach of mind to Spirit, begins when the purified mind is influenced by the soul, the inmost being and climbs the first rung of the ladder of Spiritual Mind — the Higher Mind and later gradually adventuring to the Illumined and Intuitive minds as if building a bridge to reach the last station on the peak, the Gnosis — the Truth-mind. But it is a rare adventure. What happens generally is: “Mind, even at its highest stages far beyond our present mentality, acts yet in its nature by division; it takes the aspects of the Eternal and treats each aspect as if it were the whole truth of the Eternal Being and can find in each its own perfect fulfilment. Even it erects them into opposites and creates a whole range of these opposites, the Silence of the Divine and the divine Dynamis, the immobile Brahman aloof from existence, without qualities, and the active Brahman with qualities [Nirguna and Saguna], Lord of existence, Being and Be- coming, the Divine Person and an impersonal pure Exist- ence; it can then cut itself away from the one and plunge itself into the other as the sole abiding Truth of existence. It can regard the Person as the sole Reality or the Impersonal

38. Ibid, p.671 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 342 as alone true; it can regard the Lover as only a means of expression of eternal Love or Love as only the self-expression of the Lover; it can see beings as only personal powers of an impersonal Existence or impersonal existence as only a state of the one Being, the Infinite Person. Its spiritual achievement, its road of passage towards the supreme aim will follow these dividing lines.”39 But the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo goes far beyond this movement of spiritual Mind into still higher regions of supreme unity in the experience of the Supermind, the pure Truth-consciousness where these opposites disappear in the rich totality of an integral realisation of the eternal Being which can take up the task of transmutation of the instruments for a divine life upon the earth.

39. The Life Divine, SABCL 18: 228-29 343

Conclusion

The Reality of Existence, its beginning and end, its growth and evolution, its rise and fall, its ebb and flow, its back and forth movements, its eternal recurrence and lastly the purpose behind all that cannot be known unless we go to its source, beyond its finite forms — “a beginningless and endless eternity and infinity in which divisible Time and Space manage to subsist. ... Nothing in the world can be known by itself but only by that which is beyond it. That being known all else is comprehended.”1 But to know that Beyond, our present instrument of knowledge, the leader of our life-journey on earth — our mind — is inadequate. Its basic means of knowledge — inference and conjecture — have utterly erred in finding the truth of nature of things and consequently our life, misguided by this hazed and myopic leader, if not blind, has strayed far from the truth. Our ancient forefathers, the seers and sages of yore were the knowers of the Veda, the eternal knowledge, the supreme Reality, the source of all forms and phenomena, the root of the Ashwattha tree of cosmic existence which is above in the Infinite. They had possessed the key to open the gates of the infinite in the stillness of mind by identity, by being one with the One - sâdrishya and sâdharmya and sâlokya. They seized upon the secrets of creation, the vast

1. Essays Divine and Human, by Sri Aurobindo P.150 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 344 and endless spectacular phenomena of Nature by tapas, concentration of consciousness in the inner chambers of their souls and knew that “all existence is the existence of the one Eternal and Infinite ekamevadvitiyam — the one without a second and there can be nothing else at any time or anywhere. Even existence in Time is that, even the finite is that; for the finite is only a circumstance of the Infinite and Time is only a phase of Eternity. What we call undivine is that, for it is only a disguise of the omnipresent Divinity.”2 They knew too the purport of all this play with forms of the Formless in the eternity of Time and in the infinity of the finite. That supreme Knowledge is still intact in our holy scriptures — Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas — Shruti, the knowledge which was heard by our ancient seers and Smriti which was passed by memory from one generation to another upto the modern age. Whereas the knowledge of Shruti — Vedas and Upanishads — is intelligible only to the initiates, serious seekers of Truth, the knowledge of Smriti or Puranas is meant for all common people, simplified in symbolic stories intelligible to everyone, which explain the same esoteric secrets of the worlds, the birth of Matter out of Spirit, the impenetrable darkness of Inconscience, the birth of Dawn and Light, birth of species on earth of all forms followed by Deluge, Pralaya, repeating the same drama several times through ever-swaying battles between the forces of Light and Darkness, devas and

2. Ibid, pp.191-192 345 Conclusion dânavas, a prodigal destruction and construction and a labouring forward in ever-progressing zigzag routes passing through which Nature has been advancing to her secret consummation — Light, Truth and Immortality;

Tamaso mâ jyotirgamaya Aâsato mâ Sadgamaya Mrityormâ Amritâm gamaya.

The earlist aspiration of the human race is perhaps also the last. There must have existed, therefore many ancient civilisations on earth of great antiquity, developed or undeveloped, remnants of which either have entirely perished or still buried, hidden from the gaze of speculating material science, perhaps for a more advanced science to explore in future. According to the accounts of the Puranas “there is the Kalpa of a thousand ages with its term of fourteen manvantaras dividing a sub-cycle of a hundred Chaturyugas; there is the dharma, the well-harmonised law of being, perfect in the golden period of the Satya, impaired progressively in bronze Treta and copper Dwapara, collapsing in the iron Kali only to open the way by its disintegration to the manifestation in the next Satya of the old law, truth or natural principle of existence arranged in a new harmony. There is throughout this zigzag, this rhythm of rise and fall and rise again brought about by the struggle of upward, downward and stationary forces. There Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 346 are the alternate triumphs of deva and daitya, helping god and opposing or too violently forward-striving Titan; — the dharmasyaglâni and abhyutthânam adharmasya, when harmony is denied and discord established, and then the Avatar and the dharmasya sansthapanam, eternal Light and Force descending, restoring, effecting a new temporary adjustment of the world’s ways to the truth of things and of man.”3 These symbols suggest progression and regression alternately of evolution of consciousness, completing one term in a circle and again repeating another, but on a higher scale, in a spiral movement ever rising up by subsuming the sum and substance of the previous term towards the final goal in the eternity of Time. That is why we find many srishtis and many pralayas in the past and behind each new creation there is an intervention of the Divine in the form of Avatars without which the upward journey of consciousness in Nature would have been impossible. The Puranas suggest the animal forms symbolizing the undeveloped consciousness before the appearance of the developed conscious form of man. According to Sri Aurobindo, the series of ten Avatars depicted in Puranas is nothing but a parable of evolution wherein we can “trace the growth of our evolution from the fish through the animal, the man-animal and the developed human being to the different stages of our present

3. Ibid, pp. 402-403 347 Conclusion incomplete evolution. But the ancient Hindu, it is clear, envisaged this progression as an enormous secular movement covering more ages than we can easily count. … It is this great secular movement in cycles, perpetually self-repeating, yet perpetually progressing, which is imaged and set forth in the symbols of the Puranas.”4 They had foreseen thousands of years ago the degeneration or the backward movement of man’s consciousness in the Kaliyuga, the last age of the present chaturyuga, as the lower movements of Nature always tend to pull down the higher movements, and also the necessity of a new Avatar who would not only set right the imbalance, but also create the conditions to begin a new era of a golden Age in a new cycle of chaturyuga with the emergence of a new race, a new humanity which will live in perfect harmony with the highest Truth and supreme Reality. How strange but true are their predictions which were recorded thousands of years ago in many of the Puranas, mainly in Vishnu Purana, Bhagavat Purana, Padma Purana and Kalki Purana? They all speak of a new age of purity and a new race of divine truth after the termination of Kaliyuga, which is exactly the aim of Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga and towards the realisation of which he devoted his whole life and is still busy in his subtle physical world to change the consciousness and thereby the conditions of the earth

4. Ibid pp. 403-404 Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 348 by the force of Supermind to bring down the divine life here in the world. It is in this context that Sri Aurobindo has been portrayed as an Avatar and identified with Kalki of the Purana, for he is the only one in our present times whose all thoughts, all movements, all actions, all his approaches towards life in the world and beyond and towards the highest Reality - Sat, Chit, Anand, his vision of a new human race and his new method of Yoga effectuating a divine life on earth and, above all, his rare Himalayan realisations, integrated with all poises and aspects of Purushottama, the Supreme Master of the universe — the Being and the Non-Being and that, Tat Sat, that transcends both, coincide with the attributes of Kalki assigned by Puranas which have already been discussed in the previous chapters and it is in this background that this work has been attempted. His main Avataric achievements — the discovery and subsequent conquest of a new realm of Divine power, the Supermind and a new system of the Integral Yoga of Supramental transformation have been discussed in detail in the last two chapters. Indeed, the Gita declares that the birth and works of an Avatara are Divine in nature. One may add, keeping in mind the example of Sri Aurobindo, that even the 'passing away' of the Avatara is a Divine act that has its own effect and influence upon earth. Rama had secured an earth safe from the Asura and opened the way for the animal nature of man towards a greater sattwic mental ideal. Buddha 349 Conclusion broke the redundant formulas of hard and rigid orthodoxy paving the way for a living more consistent with dharma than with mere rituals. Christ took away the burden of evil from man and humanised its consciousness with the fragrance of love and compassion. Sri Krishna ensured that the arrogant and waning clans of boastful, egoistic Kshatriya type were destroyed and a more refined race of humanity secured the idea of a nation-soul. The work that lay before Sri Aurobindo was of a greater magnitude. On the one side, the powers of Imperialism, Fascism, a violent form of communism, materialism threatened the future of humanity. On the other, the urge towards human unity, internationalism, and a spiritualisation of mankind was pressing for admittance as a valid need of humanity. Amidst the tumult and turmoil of the previous century, Sri Aurobindo secured these for man through the pages of the Arya; the New Idea was being sown in the human consciousness. At the same time, his silent occult force was acting against the powers of division, darkness and hegemony of the Asura. Yet, one last step remained. It was to secure the decisive evolutionary leap for man. Sri Aurobindo sacrificed his personal realisation to secure this boon for earth. Absorbing in his being the dark resistances and strongholds of the Inconscient, he plunged into the very abyss, called Death, and emerged a victor. For soon after he left his body, the Supramental Light descended into matter and stayed in his body for 111 hours. Was it death or was it a conquest Sambhawami Yuge-Yuge 350 over death? Man may never know unless he has the eye of faith or is blessed like Arjuna with the Divine Vision. Nevertheless, soon after this preparatory or a pre-emptive victory, the Supramental consciousness descended as a permanent part of the earth’s atmosphere on the 29th Feb. 1956. The Mother declared: "A New world is born." Since then the world is being shaped more and more under the pressure of the Supramental Light and Truth. In the nineteen sixties man witnessed an entry into the Space Age, a sudden world-wide interest in the inner exploratory journey called Yoga; and, the start of a psychological revolution in human nature whose farther end is still concealed to our sight. As the Mother declared : “In the eternity of becoming, each Avatar is only the announcer, the forerunner of a more perfect realisation. And yet men have always the tendency to deify the Avatar of the past in opposition to the Avatar of the future. Now again Sri Aurobindo has come announcing to the world the realisation of tomorrow; and again his message meets with the same opposition as of all those who preceded him. But tomorrow will prove the truth of what he revealed and his work will be done.5

5. CWM : Vol. 13, p.22