Words of the Mother: There is an ascending evolution in nature which g oes fro m the stone to the plant, from t he p lant to t he animal, from th e animal t o man. Because man is , for the moment, t h e la st rung at. the s u m mit of the a scending evolution, he ~ ons iders hi mself as the fin al stage in this ascension and b eli eves t h ere can b e nothin g on e a rth superio r t o hi m . In t h at he is m is t aken. In hi s physical n ature h e is yet a lm ost w h olly a n an imal, a th ink ing and s peaking anim al, but still an anim al in his materia l h abits and in st incts . Undoubted ly, nature cannot be satisfie d w ith such an imperfect re sult; she en d eavours t o b ring out a bein g who w ill be to m an w hat man is t o the an im al , a bein g who will rem ain a m an in it s ext ernal for m , and yet whose co nsciousness w ill rise far above the mental and its sl av ery to ignorance. Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to teach this truth to men. He told the m that m an is only a transitional b e ing living in a mental consciousne ss, but w ith t h e pos s ibili t y o f a c quiring a new co n sciousness,t he Trut h-con sciou s ness, an d capable of living a life perfectly h armon ious, g oo d and beautiful, happy and fully conscious. Dur in g the w hole of hi s life u p on e arth, Sri Au robindo g ave all hi s time to e stablish in hi m self this co nsciousness h e calle d sup ramental, and to help those gath ered around him t o re ali se it . How to Read Sri Aurobindo

Iadvisealwaysto read 17 littleat a time, keeping the mind as tranquil as one can, without making 1711 effort to understand, but keeping the headI7S silent as possible,andletting theforcecontained in what one rends enter deep within. Thisforcereceived in the calm and the silence will do its work of light and, ifneeded, willcreatein thebrain thenecessl7 ry cellsfor theunderstanding. Thus, when onere-reads thesamething somemonths later, oneperceives that the thought expressed has become muchmoreclear andclose, andeven sometimesaltogether[amiliar. It is preferable to read regularlu, a little every day, and at afixed hour ifpossible; this [acil iiaies thebrain-receptivity. The Mother

Cover Page: Sri Aurobindo (Paiuitng by Priti Gh osh )

2 Sri Aurobindo's Message

Ma tter sha ll revea l th e Spirit's face. - Sr i Arobindo

CONT ENTS Words of Sri Au robindo

Section I (On Creation) Existence Is No t an Illusion 5 The Miracle of Birth 6 Key-word of the Earth's Ridd le 7 Next Ap proa chi ng Step of the Ear th's Evolu tion 8 Destin y of Our Troubled Human Existence 9 Arise, Tran scend thyself, Become Thyself 11

Section II (On Yoga) The Old Yoga and the New Goa l 13 The Integral Yoga 15 Key-word of the Yoga - Self-Surrend er 16 Divine Moth er and He r Embodiment 17

Section III (On Sociology) Sri Auro bindo on Religion 18 How Society S'i10uld Regard the Individu al 20 Key to Human Uni ty 21 Sri Auro bindos Message to Free Indi a 23 The Renaissan ce in Indi a .26 Sri Aurobindo's Messa ge to Sad haks 29

Section IV (Sri Aurobindo's Message) The Glorious Future 33 The One Thing· Essential 35

3

Existence Is Not an Illusion

Exist ence is not a fluke, a rand om crea tion by nobod y, a thing th at un acco un tab ly happen ed to be. It carries in itself the Word of God , it is full of a hid d en Divine Presence. Existenc e is not a blind machine tha t somehow came an d started a se t ign ob le motion 'wi thout objec t or sense or' pur­ pose.Existence is a Tru th of things un foldi ng by a grad ual process of man ifest ati on , an evo lu tion of its ow n inv olved Reality. Existence is not an illusion , a Maya that had no reason , no business to exist, cou ld n o t ex is t, d oes not ex is t b u t only seems to be. A mighty Reality manifests in itself th is ma rvelou s u ni verse.

Ma nifest ati on is not an ep isode of the Eternal. It is his face and bod y o f glory that is imperishable, it is the movement of his joy and power. ..

Th e Divine that we ad ore is not only a rem ote extra-cosmic Reali ty, but a half-veil ed Ma nif estation p resent and near to us here in the universe. Life is the field of a di vine m anifesta­ tion not yet comp lete: here, in life, on ea rth, in the body, ­ iliaiua,' as th e Upa nis hads ins is t, - we have to u nveil the Go d hea d; here we must mak e its transcend ent greatness, light and sw eetness real to ou r cons ciousness, here possess and, as far as may be, express it.

.. . man is a d eveloping sp irit trying here to find and fulfil itself in the for ms of m ind, life and bod y .. . Sri Aurobi ndo

I. 11 <:1"(:itself. The Miracle of Birth

I saw m y so ul a traveller th rough Tim e; From life to life the cosmic ways it trod , Obsc ure in the depths and on the heights sublime, Evo lving from the wo rm into the god.

A spark of the eternal Fire, it came To build a house in Ma tte r for the Unborn. The inco nscient sunless Ni gh t received the flam e, In the brute seed of things dumb and forl orn

Life stirred and Thought outline d a gleaming shape Till on the stark inanima te ear th could move, Born to somnambulist Na ture in her sleep, A thinking creature who can hop e and love.

Still by slow steps the mira cle goes on, The Immortal's gradual birth mid mire and stone.

o Thou who climb'dsr to mind from the dull stone, Face now the miracled summits still unwon. Sri Aurobindo

6 Key-word of the Earth's Riddle

The in volution of a s u perconscien t Spi rit in incon scient Matt er is the secret cau se of this visib le and apparent worl d . The key-w ord of the earth's riddle is the grad ua l evolu tion of a hidden illimitable conscio us ness and power out of the see m ing ly in ert ye t furiousl y d ri v en force of in sen sibl e Nature. Ear th- life is one se lf-chose n habitation of a grea t Divinity and his aeo nic will is to cha nge it from a blind pri son into hi s s p le n d id m ansi on and hi gh h ea v en-reaching temple.

Evolution is nothing but the pro gressi ve unf olding of Spirit out of the den sity of material conscio usnes s and the gradual self-revelation of God out of thi s ap parent anima l being.

Evolution in its esse nce is not the development of a more and mor e orga nised body or a mo re and more efficien t life ­ th ese ar e only it s m achine ry and ou tward circumstance. Evolution is th e strife of a Conscious ness somnambulised in Matt er to wa ke and be free and find and possess itself and all its possibilit ies to th e very utmost and widest, to th e very last and qigh est. Evolution is the emancipation of a self­ revealing Soul secret in Form and Force, th e slow becoming of a Godhead , the grow th of a Spirit. In this evo lution ment al ma n is not the goa l and end, the comp le ting va lu e, th e h ighest last sign ifica nce ; he is too small and imperfect to be th e crown of all thi s travail of Na ture. Sri Aurobindo

7 Next Approaching Step of the Earth's Evolution

The teaching of Sri Aurobindo starts from that of the an cient sages of India that behind the appearan ces of the uni verse there is the Reality of a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things one and eternal. All beings are united in that One Self and Spirit but divided by a certain separativity of con­ sciousness, an igno rance of their tru e Self and Realit y in the mind, life and bod y. It is possible by a certain psychological d iscipline to rem ove this veil of sepa ra tive consc iousness and beco me aware of the tru e Self, the Divinity within us and all.

Sri Aurobindo's teaching sta tes that this One Being and Consc iousness is invol ved here in Ma tter. Evol u tion is the me thod by which it libera tes itself; conscious ness appears in wha t seems to be inconscie nt, and once havin g appeared is self-impelled to grow h igh er and high er an d at th e same tim e to enlarge and develop towards a grea ter and greater perfection . Life is the first step of this release of conscious­ ness; mind is the seco nd; but the evol ution does not finish with mind, it awaits a release into some thing grea ter, a con­ sciousness which is spiritual and su pramental. The next step of th e evolu tion mus t be tow a rd s th e development of Sup ermind and Spir it as the do minant power in the conscio us being. For only th en will th e invol ve d Divinity in things releas e itself en ti rel y and it become possib le for life to manif est perfection. Sri Aurobindo

8 Destiny of Our Troubled Human Existence

Man is a tran sition al bein g, he is not fina l; for in him and high beyond him ascend the radiant degrees which climb to a divine sup ermanhood . The step from man tow ard s super man is the next approach­ ing achieve ment in the eart h' s evo lution . There lies our des­ tiny and the liberating key to our aspiring, bu t troubled and limited human existence - inevi table because it is at once the intent ion of the inner Spirit and the logic of Na tur e's process. The appearance of a human possibility in a ma terial and anima l world was the first glint of a coming divine Light, ­ the first far-o ff intimation of a godhead to be born out of Matt er. The appea rance of the superma n in the human wo rld will be the fulfilment of that distant shining pro mise. ... Man is a mind imprisoned , obscured and circumscr ibed in a pr ecariou s and imp erfect livin g but imp erfectly conscio us body. Th e sup erman w ill be a sup ra me n ta l sp ir it whic h will en ve lop an d freely use a consci ous bod y, p las tic to spiritual forces. His ph ysical fram e will be a firm sup port and an ade qua te rad iant instru me nt for the spirit's divine play · and wo rk 'in Matt er. ... Supermi nd or gnosis is in its original natur e at once and in the same movem ent an infinite wisdom and an infin ite will. At its so urce it is the dyn ami c consciousness of the divine Knower and Creat or. ... Supe rma n is not man climb ed to his own natural zenith, not a superior degre e of human greatness , knowledge, pow er, intelligence, will, character, genius, dynamic force, saintliness, love, purity or pe rfection. Supermind is something beyond ment al man and his limits, a grea ter consciousness than the highest consciousness proper to human nature. ...

9 Man's greatness is not in what he is but in what he makes possible. Hi s glory is that he is the closed place and secret workshop of a living labour in wh ich supermanhood is made ready by a divine Craftsman. But he is admitted to a yet grea ter gre atness and it is this that, unlike the lower creation, he is allowed to be partly the conscious artisa n of his di vine cha ng e. His free assent, his consecrated will and participation are need ed that int o his body may d escend th e glory that will repl ace him. His aspiration is earth's call to the supramental Creator.

If earth calls and the Supreme answe rs, the hour can be even now for that immens e and glorious transformation.

The world is a movement of God in His own being; we are the centres and knots of divine con sciousness which sum up and supp ort the processes of His mo vement. The world is His play with His OWnself-conscious d elight, He who alone exists, infinite, free and perfect ; w e are the self-multiplica­ tions of that conscious delight, thr own out into being to be His playmates. The world is a formula, a rhythm, a symbol­ system expressing God to Himself in Hi s ow n consciousness, - it has no material existence but exists only in His conscious­ ness and self-exp ression; w e, like God, are in our inward being That which is expressed, but in our ou tw ard being term s of that formula, note s of that rhythm, symbo ls of that system . Let us lead forward God's movement, play out His play, work ou t His formula, execute His harmony, express Him thr ough ourselves in Hi s system. This is our joy and our self-fulfilment; to this end we who transcend & exceed the universe, ha ve entered into universe-existence. Sri Aurobindo

10 Arise, Transcend th yself, Become Thyself

This is thy wo rk and the aim of thy being and that for which thou ar t here, to become the divine superman and a perfect vesse l of the God head . All else that thou hast to do, is only a making thyself ready or a joy by the way or a fall from thy pu rpo se. But the goal is this and the purpose is this and no t in power of the wa y and the joy by the wa y bu t in the joy of the goal is the greatness and the deli ght of thy bein g. The joy of the way is becau se that which is drawing thee is also with thee on thy path and the power to climb was given thee that thou mightest mo unt to thy ow n summits.

If thou hast a duty, this is thy duty; if thou ask wh at shall be thy aim, let this be thy aim ; if thou d emand pleasure, ther e is no greater joy, for all other joy is broken or limi ted, the joy of a dr eam or the joy of a sleep or the joy of self-forgetting. But this is the joy of thy whole being . For if tho u say what is my being, thi s is thy being, th e Divine, and all else is onl y its broken or its perver se appearance. If thou seek the Truth, this is the Truth. Place it before thee and in all thin gs be faithful to it.

It has been we ll said by one who saw but thr ou gh a veil and mistook the veil for the face, that thy aim is to becom e thyself; and 'he said well again that the nature of man is to tran scend him self. This is ind eed his na ture and that is indeed the divine aim of his self-tran scending....

Rath er arise, trans cend thyself, become th yself. Thou ar t man and the wh ole nature of man is to become more than him self. He was the man- animal, he has becom e more than the animal man . He is the thinker, the cra ftsman, the seeker after beauty. He shall be more than the thinker, he shall be the seer of kn owledge: he sha ll be more than the craftsman,

11 he shall be the crea tor and master of his crea tion; he shall be more than the see ker of bea uty, for he sha ll enjoy all beauty and all del ight. Physical, he seeks for his imm ortal subs tance ; vital he seeks after immortal life and the infinit e power of his being; mental and par tial in kn owled ge, he seeks after the who le light and the utter vision.

To possess these is to becom e the super man; for [it] is to rise ou t of mind into the supermind. Call it the di vin e mind or Knowled ge or the sup ermind; it is the power and light of the divine will and the divin e conscious ness. By the supermind the Spirit saw and crea ted him self in the worlds, by that he lives in them and governs them . By that he is Swa ra t Sarnrat, self-ru ler and all-ru ler. Supermind is superma n; therefore to rise beyon d mind is the condition. To be the superman is to live the divine life, to be a god; for the gods are the powers of God. Be a power of God in humanity.

To live in the divine Being and let the consciousness and bliss, the w ill and kn owled ge of the Spirit possess thee and play wi th thee and th rou gh the e, this is the mean ing.

Th is is the transfiguration of thyself on th e mountain . It is to discover God in thyself and reveal him ~o thyself in all things. Live in his being, shine wi th his light , act w ith his pow er, rejoice wi th his bliss. Be that Fire an d that Sun and that Ocean. Be that joy and that greatness an d that beau ty.

When tho u hast d one this even in pa rt, thou hast attained to the first steps of superm anhood . Sri Aurobindo

12 Section II: On Yoga

The Old Yoga and the New Goal

(An excerp t from a person al letter of Sri A llrobindo to his broth er, Burin. Origina l in Bengali , w ritte n around 1920.)

Wha t I started wi th, wha t Lele gave me, wha t I did in jail ­ all that was a searching for the pa th, a circling aro und looking her e and ther e, tou ching, takin g up, handling, testing thi s and that of all the old parti al yog as, getting a more or less complete experience of one and then going off in pursu it of ano ther. Af te rwards, w he n I cam e to Pondich erry, thi s un stead y condition cease d . The indwelling Gur u of the w orld ind icated my path to me comp letely, its full theory... The defect of the old yo ga was that, kn ow ing the mind and rea son and kn owing the Spi rit, it remained satisfied with spi ritual expe rience in the mind. But the mind can gras p only the fragme n tary; it cannot completely seize th e in fini te, the undivided. The mind 's way to seize it is thro ugh the trance of sarn ad h i, th e lib er ati on of m oksha , th e exti nc tio n of nirvana, and so forth. It has no other wa y. Someo ne here or there may indeed obtain thi s featureless liberation, but w hat is the gain? The Spirit, the Self, the Divine is always th ere. What the Divine w ants is for man to embody Him here, in the ind ivid ual an d in the collectivity - to rea lise God in life. Th e old system of yoga co uld not sy nthesise or unify the Spirit and life; it di smissed th e wo rld as an illusion or a transient play of God . The result has been a diminution of the power of life an d the d ecline of Ind ia. ... What kind of spi ritua l pe rfection is it if a few ascetics, renunciates, holy­ men and reali sed beings attain liberation, if a few devotees dance in a frenzy of love, god -intoxication and bliss, and an entire race, devoid of life and intelligence, sinks to the depths

13 of darkness and ine rtia? First one must ha ve all sorts of partial ex pe rience on the men tal leve l, flooding the m ind w ith sp iritual delight an d illuminating it w ith sp irit ual lig ht ; afterward s one climbs up w ards. Unl ess on e makes th is upward climb, this climb to the sup rame ntal level, it is not possible to know the ultimate secret of world-existe nce; the rid dle of the world is not solved ....

The tradi tion s of the past are very great in the ir own place, in the pa st, but I do not see why we sho uld merely rep eat them and no t go far ther. In the spiritual develop ment of the consc iou sness upon ear th the great pa st oug ht to be follow ed by a greater future.. .. All other Yogas rega rd this life as an illusion or a passin g phase; the supramental Yoga alone regards it as a thing created by th e Divine for a progressive m anifestation and takes the fulfilment of the life an d the body for its object. The Supra­ mental is sim ply the Truth-Consciou sness and what it brings in its descent is the full truth of life, the full truth of con­ scious ness in Matter. One has indeed to rise to high summits to reach it, bu t the more one rises , the more one can bring down below. No doub t, life and body have not to remain the ignorant, imperfect, impotent things they are now; bu t wh y sh ou ld a change to fuller life-power, fuller body-power be cons idere d something aloof, cold and undesirable? The utmost Ana nda the body and life are now capable of is a bri ef excite­ me n t of the vital mind or the nerves or the cells which is limited, imperfect and soon p asses: wi th th e supramen tal change all the cells, ner ves, vital forces, embodied mental forces can become filled with a thousandfold Ana nda, capa ble of an intensity of bliss whic h passes descrip tion and wh ich need no t fad e away. ... Sri Aurobindo

14 The Integral Yog a

Wha t is the int egra l Yoga?

It is the way of a complete God-realisation, a complete Self-realisation, a comp lete fulfilm ent of our being and con­ sciousness, a comp lete transformation of our natur e - and this implies a complete perfection of life here an d no t only a return to an eterna l perfection elsewhere. This is the object, but in the meth od also there is the same integra lity, for the entire ty of the objec t canno t be accom­ plished wi tho ut an entirety in the method, a complete turn­ ing, op ening , self-giving of our being and nature in all its par ts, ways, movem ent s to that wh ich we realise . Our mind, will, he ar t, life, bod y, our ou ter and inne r and inm ost existence, our supe rconscious and subconscious as we ll as our conscious parts, mu st all be thus given, must all become a means, a field of this realisation and transform a­ tion and pa rticip ate in the illumination and the change from a human into a divin e consciousnes s and nature. This is the cha racter of the integral Yoga.

This is a Yoga of transformation of the being, not solely a Yoga of the atta inment of the inne r Self or the Oivine, thou gh that atta inme nt is its basis wi tho ut which no transformation is possib le. In this transform ation there are four eleme nts , the psychic ope ni ng , the transit th rou gh [th e] occult, the spiritual release, the supramental pe rfection. Ifany of the four is unachieved , the Yoga remains incomplete. Sri Aurobindo

15 Key-word of the Yoga - Self-Surrender

The supramental Yoga is at once an asce nt of the sou l towards Go d and a d es cent of th e Go d h ead in to th e em bodi ed nature.

The ascent demands a one-centred all-gathering aspirati on of sou l and mind and life and body upward , th e descent a call of th e w hole b eing tow ard s th e infinite and eterna l Divine....

The re must be an opening and sur rende r of the who le nature to rece ive and ent er int o a greater di vine conscious­ ness which is there alre ady above, behind and eng lobing this mo rtal half-conscious existence. There mu st be too an increas­ ing capaci ty to bear an ever stronger and m or e insisten t acti on of th e divine Force, till the soul has become a child in th e hands of the infinite Mother. All othe r means known to other Yoga can be used and are from tim e to tim e used as subordinate processes in thi s Yoga too, but they are impotent without these grea ter condi tions, and, once th ese are there, they are not indispensable.

In th e end it will be found th at th is Yoga canno t be carried thr ough to its end by any effor t of m ind, life and bod y, an y human psychological or ph ysical process but only by th e action of the supreme Sha kti....

Man cannot by his own effort make himself more th an man, but he can call down the divin e Truth and its power to work in him. A de scent of the Divin e Nature can alone di vinis e th e human receptacle. Self-surrender to a sup reme transmut­ ing Power is th e key-word of the Yoga.

Sri Aurobindo

16 Divine Mother and Her Embodiment

The Divi ne Mo the r is th e Co ns cio usne ss and For ce of the Divine - w hich is the Mother of all things.

The one origina l tran scendent Shakti, th e Mother sta nds abo ve all the wo rlds an d bears in her etern al conscio usness the Suprem e Divine . Alone, she harb ours the absolu te Power and the ineffabl e Presence; containing or calling the Tru ths that have to be manifested , she brings them down from the Mystery in w hich the y w ere hidden into th e light of her infinite consciousness and gives them a form of force in her omnipo tent pow er and her boundless life and a bod y in the uni verse. The Suprem e is man ifest in her for ever as the ever­ lasting Sachchidananda, manifested thr ough her in the wo rlds as the one and dual consciousness of Ishwara-Shakti and the dual principle of Pu ru sh a-Prakriti, embodied by her in the Worlds and the Planes and the Gods and their Energies and figur ed beca use of her as all that is in the known wo rlds and in unknown others. All is her play with the Suprem e; all is her man ifestation of the mysteries of the Etern al, the miracles of the Infinite. All is she, for all are parcel and port ion of the di vin e Consc ious -Force.

Her emb odiment is a chance for the earth-conscio usness to receive the Supr amental int o it and to undergo first the trans­ formation necessar y for that to be possible. Afterward s there will be a further transformation by the Supramental, but the whole ea rth-co nscious ness will not be supramentali sed ­ there will be first a new race representing the su perm ind , as man rep resents the mind. Sri Aurobindo

17 Section III: (On Sociology)

Sri Aurobindo on Religion

The spiritual life (adhuii tma-i ioana), the religio us life (dharma­ jlvana) and the ordi nary human life of which moralit y is a part are thr ee quite different things and one must kn ow whic h one desir es and not confuse the thr ee togeth er. The ord ina ry life is th at of the average human consciousness separa ted from its own tru e self and from the Divin e and led by the common habits of the mind, life and bod y whi ch are the laws of the Ign oranc e. The religious life is a movem ent of the sa me igno­ ra nt huma n consc iousness, turning or trying to turn away fro m the ear th towards the Divine, but as yet witho ut knowl­ edg e an d led by the dogm at ic tenets and ru les of some sect or creed which claims to have found the way out of the bonds of th e ea rth-conscious ness int o som e beat ific Beyon d . The religiou s life ma y be the first approach to the spiritual, but very often it is only a turning about in a roun d of rites, ceremo­ nies and practices or set ideas and forms with out an y issue. The spiritua l life, on the contrary, proceeds directly by a cha nge of conscio usness, a cha nge from the ordina ry conscio us ness, igno rant and separa ted from its tru e self and from God , to a greater consciou sn ess in which one finds one's true being and comes first int o direct and living contact an d then int o union with the Divine. For the spiritual seeker this change of con­ sciousness is the one thing he seeks and nothing else matt ers.

Morality is a part of the ordinar y life; it is an attemp t to govern the outw ard conduc t by certain mental rul es or to form th e charact er by these rules in the image of a certain mental ideal. The spiritual life goes beyond the mind; it enters into th e deeper consc ious ness of the Spiri t and acts out of the truth of th e Spir it. As for the qu estion about the ethical life

18 and the need to realise God, it depends on what is meant by fulfilme nt of the objects of life. If an entry into the spiritua l conscio us ness is par t of it, then mere morality will not give it to you.

The re are two aspects of religion, tru e religion and religionism . True religion is spiritual religion, that whi ch seeks to live in the spirit, in wha t is beyond th e intellect, beyond the aes­ thetic and ethical and practical bein g of man, and to infor m and govern these members of our being by the higher light and law of the spirit. Religion ism, on the contra ry, en trenches itself in some narr ow pietistic exaltation of the lower mem­ bers or lays exclus ive stress on intellectual dogma s, forms and ceremoni es, on som e fixed an d rigid mora l code, on some relig io-political or religio-social system . No t th at these things are alto ge ther negligible or th at th ey mu st be un worth y or unnecessary or that a spiritu al religion need di sdain the aid of form s, cere mo ni es, cre eds or sys tems . On the con tra ry, they are need ed by man because the lowe r members have to be exalted and raised before they can be fully spiritua lised, before they can dir ectly feel the spirit and obey its law. An . int ellectual for mu la is ofte n neede d by th e thinking and rea sonin g mind, a form or ceremon y by the aesthe tic tem ­ pera me nt or other parts of the infra rational being, a set moral code by man's vital na ture in their turn towards the inner life. But these thin gs are aids and supports, not the essence; pr ecisely becau se they belon g to the rational and infr aration al parts, they can be nothing more and, if too blindly insisted on, may even ham per the suprarational ligh t. Suc h as they are, they have to be offered to man and used by him, but not to be imposed on him as his sole law by a forced and inflex­ ible dom ination . Sri Aurobindo

19 How Society Should Rega rd the Individual

The tru e and fu ll sp iritua l aim in soc iety will regard man not as a mind, a life and a body, bu t as a soul incarnated for a di vin e fulfi lmen t upon earth, not only in hea ven s beyond, w hich af ter all it need not have left if it had no divine business here in the world of physical, vital and men tal natur e. It wi ll therefo re regard the life, mind and body neither as ends in them selves, sufficient for their ow n satisfaction, nor as mortal mem bers full of di sease which have only to be dropped off for the rescued spirit to flee awa y into its ow n pure regio ns, but as firs t ins tru me nts of the soul, the yet impe rfect instru­ men ts of an un seized diviner purpose. It wi ll believe in their destiny and help them to believe in themselves, bu t for that very reason in their highest and not only in their lowest or low er p ossibiliti es. Th eir d estiny wi ll be, in its view, to spiritualise themselves so as to grow into visib le members of the sp iri t, lu cid m ean s of its m an ifesta ti on, them sel ves spiritua l, illumined , more and more consciou s and perfect. For, accepting the tru th of man 's sou l as a thing entir ely divin e in its esse nce, it will accept also the possibility of his whole being becoming d ivine in spi te of Na ture's first patent con­ trad ictions of thi s possibility, her d arkened d eni als of this ultim ate certitude , and eve n w ith these as a necessar y ea rthly star ting -point. An d as it will regard ma n the individual, it will regard too man the coll ecti vi ty as a so u l-form of the Infinite, a collec tive so ul myriadl y embodied up on ear th for a divine fulfilment in its man ifold relations and its multitudi­ nou s activities. Therefore it wi ll hold sacred all the different parts of man's life which corres po nd to the pa rts of his being, all his physical, vital, d ynam ic, emo tiona l, aes the tic, ethical, intellectual, psychic evolution, and see in them instru ments for a growth tow ards a d iv ine r living. It will regard ever y human society, nation , peop le or other organic aggregate from

20 the same standpoint, sub-souls, as it we re, means of a complex manifes ta tion and se lf-fu lfilment of the Spir it, the divine Reality, the conscious Infinite in ma n upon earth. The possi ble godhead of man because he is inwardlv of one being wi th God will be its one solitar y creed and d·,'c;ma. Sri Aurobindo

Key to Human Unity

Two grea t wo rds of the divine Tru th have forced themselves insistently on our minds thr ou gh the crash of the ru in and the breath of the tempest and are now the leadi ng words of the hoped-for re constructi on , - free dom and un ity. But everything depends, firs t, upon the truth of our vision of them, seco ndly, upon the since rity with which we apply it, last and espe cially on the inward;ess of our realisation. Vain will be the mecha nical cons truction of unit y, if un ity is not in the heart of the race and if it be mad e only a mean s for safe­ gua rd ing and or ganising our interests; the res ult will then be only, as it was in the immedi ate pas t, a fiercer strife and new outbrea ks.of revolution and ana rchy . No pa ltering mecha- · nism s which have the appearance but not.the truth of freed om, will help us; the new struc ture, however imposin g, will only become another prison and compe l a fresh struggle for libera­ tion. The one safe ty for man lies in learn ing to live from wi thin outward, not depend in g on institu tio ns and machin ery to perfect him, but out of his growing inner pe rfection avai ling to shape a more per fect form an d fram e of life; for by this inwardn ess we shall bes t be able both to see the truth of the high things which we now only speak w ith our lips and form int o outward intellectua l cons truc tions, and to ap ply their truth since rely to all our outward livin g . If we are to fou nd

21 the kin gd om of God in huma nity, we mu st first know God and see and live the divin er tru th of our being in ourselves; otherw ise how sha ll a new manipulation of the constructions of the reason an d scientific sys tems of efficiency which have failed us in the past, ava il to establish it? It is beca use there are plenty of signs that the old error continues and only a minorit y, leaders perhaps in light, but not yet in act ion, are striving to see more clearly, inwardly and tru ly, that we must expe ct as yet rather the last twili ght which divide s the d ying from the unb orn age than the real dawning. For a time, since the mind of man is not yet read y, the old spirit and method may yet be stro ng and seem for a short while to prosper; but the future lies with the men and nation s who first see beyond both the gla re and the d usk the go ds of the morning and prepare them selves to be fit instrument s of the Power that is pressin g towards the ligh t of a greater ideal. Sri Aurob indo

Only when man has developed not mere ly a fellow­ feeling wit h all men, but a dominant Sense of unity and commona lty, only when he is aware of t hem not merely as brothers, - t hat is a f ragile bond, - but as parts of himself, only when he has learned to live not in his separate personal and communal ego-sense, but in a larger universal consciousness can t he phenomenon of war , with whate ver weapons, pass out of his life wit hout t he possibility of re t ur n. Sri Aurobindo

22 Sri Au ro bi ndo's Message to Free In d ia *

Augus t 15th, 1947 is the birthd ay of free India. It mark s for her the end o f an old era, th e beginning of a new age. But we can also make it by our life and acts as a free nation an imp ortan t date in a new age openin g for the whole world, for the po litical, social, cultur al and sp iritual fu tur e of humanity. August 15th is m y own bir thday and it is na tura lly gratifying to me that it sho uld ha ve assum ed this vast signifi­ cance. I take th is coincidence, not as a fortuito us acciden t, but as the sa nction and seal of the Divine Force that guid es my steps on the wo rk wi th which I began life, the beginning of its full fruition .Indeed, on th is da y I can watch alm ost all the world-m ovement s whi ch I hoped to see fulf illed in my lifetim e, thou gh then they looked like impracticable dr eams, arrivi ng at fruition or on th eir wa y to achiev emen t. In all these movemen ts free India may well playa large part and take a lead ing positi on . Th e firs t of these dr eams was a revolutiona ry movem ent which wo uld create a free and u nit ed Ind ia. India tod ay is free but she has not achieved unit y. At one mom ent it almo st seeme d as if in the very act of liberation she wo uld fall back into the chaos of sepa rate States which preced ed the British conquest. Bu t fort un ately it now seems ' pr obable tha t this danger wi ll be av ert ed and a large and pow erful, thou gh not ye t a com ple te union will be established . Also, the wise ly dr astic pol icy of the Con stituent Ass embly has made it prob­ able that the problem of the dep ressed classes will be solved

• When the Mother wa s as ked , how to bring about the nee de d cohesion and faith in the country, she replied to this effect: By followin g Sri Aurobindo's teachings. His Independ ence Day message on Au gust 15th, 19-1 7, needs to be read and reread and its significance explained to millions of his compat riots . India need s th e con viction and faith of Sri Au robindo.

23 without schism or fissure. But the old co m mu nal d ivis ion in to Hindus and Muslims seem s now to have hard ened into ,1 perman en t poli tical di vision of the cou n try. It is to be hoped that this settled fact will not be accept ed as se ttled for ever or as an ything more than a temporar y expe di ent. For if it lasts, Ind ia may be serio us ly weakened , eve n crippled: civil strife may rem ain always po ssib le, possible even a new invasion and foreign co n quest. India's internal d e vel opmen t and prosperit y may be imped ed , her position amo ng the nati ons weak ened , her destiny impaired or even frustrated . This mu st not be; the pa rtition m us t go. Let us hope tha t that may come abo ut na turally, by an increasin g recognition of the necessity not only of peace and conco rd bu t of common acti on, by the practice of common action an d the creati on of means for that purpose. In this way unity may fina lly come ab out under whatever form - the exact form ma y ha ve a pragmatic but not a fundamenta l importance . But by wha tever means, in wha tever way, th e division mu st go; unity mu st and wi ll be achi eve d, for it is n ecessary for th e greatness of Indi a's fu ture. Another dream was for the resurgence and liberati on of the peoples of Asia an d her return to he r great role in the progr ess of hu man civilisation. Asia has arisen; large parts are now quite free or are at this mom ent being liberated: its other still subject or partly subject parts are m oving throu gh wha tever struggles towards free dom. Only a little has to be do ne and that will be do ne today or tomorrow. Th ere India has her part to play and has begun to play it with an energ y and ability w hich a lr eady indica te the measure of her po ssibili ties and the place she can take in the counc il of the nations. The third d ream w as a wo rld -union forming the ou ter basis of a fairer, brighter and nob ler life for all mankind . That unifi cation of the hum an world is under wa y; there is an

24 impe rfect initiation organ ise d but st ruggling aga ins t tre­ me ndo us d ifficulties. But the mom entu m is there and it mu st inev itably increase and conquer. Here too India has begun to play a prominen t part and, if she can develo p that large r statesma n­ ship wh ich is no t lim ited by the present facts a nd immed i­ ate possibilities bu t looks into the fut ur e an d br ings it nearer, her presence may make all the d ifference between a slow and timid and a bold an d swift development. A cata strop he may interven e and interrupt or des troy what is bein g done, bu t even then the final resul t is sure. For un ification is a necessity of Nature, an inevitable movement. Its necessity for the nations is also clear, for wi thout it the freedo m of the small nations may be at any moment in peri l and the life eve n of the large and powerful nations insecu re. The unification is ther efore to the interests of all, and only human imbeci lity and stupid selfishness can prevent it; bu t these canno t stand for ever agai nst the necessity of Na ture an d the Divine Will. But an out-ward basis is not enough; there must grow up an int ern a­ tional spirit and outlook, international forms and institutions mu st ap pear, pe rhaps such develop ments as dua l or multilat­ eral citize nship, willed intercha nge or vo luntary fusion of cultures. Nationalism will have fu lfilled itself and lost its militancy and wo uld no longer find these things incom patible with self-preserva tion and the integ rality of its outlook. A new spirit of oneness will take hold of the human race. Anot he rt d ream, the spi ritual gift of Ind ia to the wo rld has alrea dy begu n. Ind ia's sp irituality is entering Europe and America in an eve r increasin g measure. That movement will grow; amid the disasters of the time more and more eye.s are turning toward s her with hope an d there is even an increas­ ing resort not only to her teachings, but to her psychic and sp iritual practice. The final d ream was a step in evo lution which wo uld raise man to a higher and larger co nscious ness and begin the

25 so lu tio n of the p robl em s which have perplexed and vexe d him since he first began to think and to d ream of indi vidual perfection and a perfect society. This is still a persona l hop e and an idea, an ideal which has begun to take hold bo th in Ind ia and in the West on forwa rd -looking minds. The d iffi­ culties in the way are more formida ble than in any other field of ende avo ur, bu t diff icu lties were mad e to be overcome and if the Supreme Will is the re, they will be overco me. Her e too, if this evo lu tion is to take place, since it mu st p roceed th rou gh a grow th of the spirit and the inner consciousness, the init iative can come from Indi a and, although the scope mu st be universal, the cen tral movem ent may be hers. Such is the con tent which I p ut int o this da te of Ind ia's liberation; whether or how far this hope will be justified de pe nd s up on the new and free Ind ia. Sri Aurobindo

The Renai ssance in India

Ind ia can best develop herself and serve humanity by bein g herself and following the law of her own nature. This does not me an , as so me nar ro wl y and blindly su ppose, the rejection of every thing new that comes to us in the strea m of Time or happens to have been first developed or powerfully exp ressed by the West. Such an atti tud e would be in tellectua lly absurd, physically impossible, an d above all un spiritu al; tru e spiritu­ ality rejects no new light, no add ed mean s or mat eri als of our huma n self-d evelopment. It means simply to keep our cen tre, our essentia l way of being, our inborn natur e and assimi late to it all we receive, and evo lve ou t of it all we do and crea te. Reli gi on has been a cen tra l p reoccu pa tio n o f the Indian

26 mind ; some have told us that too mu ch religion ruin ed Indi a, prec ise ly becau se we mad e the w ho le of life religion or reli gion the w ho le of life, we have failed in life an d go ne und er. I w ill not answer, adopting the langu age used by the poe t in a slightly different connec tion, that our fall does no t matt er and that the d ust in w hic h Indi a lies is sacred . The fall, the failure does ma tter, and to lie in the du st is no so und pos ition for man or nation . But the reason ass igned is not the tru e one . If the majorit y of Indi an s had indeed mad e the wh ole of their lives religion in the tru e sense of the wo rd, we sho uld not be whe re we are now; it was because their public life beca me most irreligious, ego istic, self-see king, mater ialistic that they fell. It is possible, that on one side we dev iated too mu ch int o an excessive religiosity, that is to say , an excessi ve externa lism of ceremo ny, rul e, routine, mechani cal wo rship, on the othe r int o a too wo rld-shunning asce ticism which dr ew aw ay the best min ds w ho we re thus lost to society instead of standing like the ancient Rishi s as its spi ritua l suppor t and its illuminating life-givers. But the roo t of the matter w as the d windling of th e spi ritual impulse in its ge ne ra lity and broadness, the declin e of intellectu al activity an d freed om , the wa ning of grea t ideals, the loss of the gus t of life. Perh ap s there was too mu ch of religion in one sense; the wo rd is English, smac ks too mu ch of thin gs external such as creeds, rites, an externa l piety; there is no one Ind ian equiva­ lent. But if,we give rather to religion the sense of the follow ­ ing of the spiritual impul se in its fullness and define spiritua lity as th e attempt to know and live in the highest self, the divin e, the all-embracing un ity and to raise life in all its part s to the di vin est possible values, then it is evide nt that there w as not too mu ch of religion, but rather too little of it - and in w ha t th ere was, a too on e-sided and therefore an insufficiently amp le tend ency. The right rem edy is, not to belittle still farther the agelong ideal of India, but to retur n to its old amplitude

27 and give it a still wi der scope, to ma ke in very tr uth all th e life of the nation a religion in this high spi ritua l sen se. This is the direction in w hich the philosophy, poetry, ar t of the West is, still more or less obscu rely, bu t w ith an increasing light , beginn ing to turn, and even some faint glints of the truth are beginning now to fall across political and soc iolog ical idea ls. India has the key to the knowledge and conscious application of the ideal; what was d ar k to her before in its application, she can now, w ith a new light, illumine; what wa s wrong and wry in her old m eth ods sh e can now rectify; the fen ces which she crea ted to protect the outer growth of th e spiritua l id eal and w hich afterwards becam e barr iers to its expa ns ion and farther ap p lication, she can now br eak down and give he r spirit a freer field and an ampler flight: she can, if she w ill, give a new and decisiv e tu rn to th e proble ms over w hi ch all mankind is labouring and stum bling , for the clue to their solutions is there in her ancient knowled ge. Whethe r she will rise or not to th e height of her op por tu nity in the renaissance whic h is coming upon her, is the qu estion of her destiny. Sri Aurobindo

The recovery of the old spiritual knowledge and experience in all its splend our , depth and fullness is it s f irst, most essent ial work ; the flowing of t his sp iritual ity int o new f orms of ph ilosophy , lit erature, art, science and cr it ical knowledge is t he second ; an orig inal dea ling wit h modern problems in th e light of t he Indian spirit and t he end eavour to formu lat e a greater synthesis of a sp ir itualised soc iety is the t hird and most difficult . Its success on t hese three lines will be the measure of it s help t o th e f ut ure of humanity . Sr i Aurobindo

28 Sri Aurobindo's Message to Sadhaks

There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction the grea t and d ifficult thing which is the aim of our endeav­ our, a fixed and u nfailing as piration tha t calls from below and a supreme Grace from above that answers. But the supreme Grace wi ll act only in the cond itions of the Light and the Tru th; it will not act in condi tions laid up on it by the Falsehood and the Ign orance. For if it we re to yield to the d em ands of the Falseh ood, it wo uld defeat its ow n purpose. These are the conditions of the Light and Tru th, the sole conditions under which the high est Force will descend ; and it is only the very high est supra mental Force descending from above and opening from below that can victori ously handle the ph ysical Na ture and annihilate its difficulties.... There mu st be a total and sincere surre nde r; there mu st be an exclusive self-ope ning to the di vin e Pow er; there mu st be a constant and integral choice of the Truth that is descending, a constant and int egral rejection of the falseho od of th e mental, vital and ph ysical Powers and Appearances that still rul e the earth­ Na ture. The sur render must be total and seize all the parts of the being. It is not enough that the psychic 'should respond and the higher mental accept or even the inn er vital submit and the inn er physical consciousness feel the influence. There mu st be in DO part of the bein g, even the mo st external, any thing that makes a rese rve, an ything th at hides beh ind d oubts, confusions and subterfuges, anything that revolt s or refus es. If part of the being sur renders, but ano ther part reserves itself, follow s its own way or makes its ow n conditions, then each time that th at happens, you are yourself pu shing the divin e Grace away from you. If behind your devotion and surrende r you make a cove r

29 for yo ur desires, ego istic dem ands and vital insistences, if yo u put these things in place of the tru e aspiration or mix them wi th it and try to impose them on the Divin e Sha kti, then it is idle to invok e the di vin e Grace to transform you. If yo u op en yo urself on one side or in one part to th e Truth and on another side are constantly ope ning the gates to hostile forces, it is vain to expec t that the divin e Grace will abi de with you. You mu st keep the temple clean if you wish to ins tal there the livin g Presence. If each time the Powe r intervenes and brings in the Tru th, you turn your back on it and call in aga in the falseh ood that has been expe lled, it is not the divine Grace that yo u must blame for failin g you, but the falsit y of your ow n will and the impe rfection of your own sur rende r. If you call for the Tru th and yet some thing in you chooses what is false, ign orant and undivin e or even simply is un will­ ing to reject it alto gether, then always you will be open to atta ck and the Grace will recede from you. Detect first what is false or obscure in you and persistently reject it, then alone can you rightly call for the divine Power to tran sform you. Do not im agine that truth and fal seh ood, light and darkn ess, sur rende r and selfishness can be allowed to dw ell together in the hou se consecrated to the Divine . The trans­ formation mu st be int egral, and integral therefore the rejec­ tion of all that withstands it. Reject the false noti on that the di vine Power will do and is bound to do eve rything for you at your demand and eve n thou gh yo u do not satisfy the condition s laid down by the Sup reme. Mak e your surrender tru e and complete, then only will all else be done for you. Reject too the false and indolent expectation that the divine Power will do ev en the surr ender for yo u. The Supreme demands your surrende r to her, but does not impose it: you are free at every mom ent, till the irrevocable transformation

30 comes, to deny and to reject the Divin e or to reca ll your self­ giving, if you are willi ng to suffer the spiritual consequ ence. Your su rrende r mu st be self-made and free; it must be the surrende r of a living bein g, not of an inert autom at on or mechani cal tool. An inert passivit y is cons tantly confused with the real su rrende r, but ou t of an inert passivity no thi ng tru e and powerful can com e. It is the in er t pa ssivi ty of ph ysica l Na ture that leaves it at the me rcy of every obsc ure or un­ divin e influ ence. A glad and stro ng and helpful submission is de ma nded to the working of the Divine Force, the obedi ence of the illumined disciple of the Truth, of the inner Warrior who figh ts against obscurity and false hood, of th e faithful servant of the Divine. This is the true att itude and onl y tho se who can take and keep it, preserve a fait h unshaken by disappointmen ts and diffic ulties and sha ll pass through the ordeal to the supreme victory and the great transmutation .

2

In all that is do ne in the universe, th e Divine th rough his Shakti is behind all action but he is veiled by his Yoga Maya and works thr ou gh the ego of the [iva -in the lower natur e. In Yoga also it is the Divine who is the Sad haka and the Sadhana; i'I: is his Shakti with her light, power, knowled ge, consciousn ess, Ana nda, acting upon the Adhara and , when it is ope ned to her , pouring into it with these div ine forces tha t makes the Sadha na possibl e. But so lon g as th e lower nature is active the personal effort of the Sadha ka remai ns necessary. The persona l effor t requ ired is a triple labour of aspira­ tion, rejection and surrende r, - an aspiration vigilant, constant, unceasing - the mind 's will,

31 the heart's see king, the assen t of the vital being, the w ill to ope n and make plas tic the ph ysical consciousness and nature; rejection of th e mov emen ts of the lower nat ur e - rejec­ tion of the mi nd 's ideas, opinions, pre ferences, habi ts, cons tructions, so that the true knowledge may find free roo m in a silent mind ,- rejection of the vital nat ur e's desires, demands, cravi ngs, sensa tions, pa ssions, selfish­ ness, pride, a rr oga nc e, lu st, greed, jea lo usy, envy, hostility to the Truth, so that the tru e pow er and joy may pour fro m abov e into a calm, lar ge, stro ng and conse­ cra ted vital being, - rejection of the ph ysical natur e's stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obsc ur ity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness, un w illingness to cha nge, Tamas, so that the tru e stability of Light, Power, Ana nda may establish itself in a bod y growing alwa ys more divine; su rr ender o f oneself and all one is a nd ha s and ever y plane of the consciousness and ev ery movem ent to the Divine and the Sha kti.

In prop ort ion as the surrender and self-consecration progress the Sad ha ka becom es cons cious of the Divine Shakti doing th e Sadhana, pourin g into him mor e and mor e of he rself, found ing in him the freedo m and perfection of the Divine Na tur e. Th e more th is consc ious pr ocess repl aces his own effor t, the more rapid and true becom es his pr ogress. But it canno t completely replace the necessity of person al effort until the surrende r and consec ration are pure and complete from top to bott om. Note that a tamasic sur render refusing to fulfil the condi­ tions and calling on God to do eve ry thing and save one all the trouble and struggle is a decep tion and does not lead to free dom and perfection . Sri Aurobindo

32 Section IV: Sri Aurobindos Me ssa ge

The Glorious Future

If the eme rge nce and grow th of consc ious ness is the central motive of th e evoluti on an d th e key to its secret purpose, then by the ve ry nature of that evo lution thi s growth mu st involve no t only a wid er and wid er extent of its capacities, but also an ascent to a high er and hig her leve l till it reaches the high est possible. For it starts from a neth erm ost level of invo lu tion in the Inconscience whic h we see at work in Matter crea ting the m aterial un iverse; it proceed s by an Ign oran ce which is ye t ever d evelop ing knowledge and reachin g out to an eve r greater light and ever greater organ isation and efficacy of the will and har monisation of all its ow n inh erent and eme rgi ng powers; it mu st at last reach a point where it develops or acquires the complete fullness of its capac ity, and that mu st be a state or acti on in which there is no lon ger an ign orance see king for knowl edge but Knowl ed ge self-pos­ sessed, inhe re nt in the bein g, ma ster of its own truths and workin g them out wit h a nat ur al vision and force that is not afflicted by limitation or error. Or if there is a limitation, it mu st be a self-imposed veil behind which it wo uld keep truth back from ~ ani fe st ati on in Tim e but draw it out at will and witho u t any need of searc h or acq uisition in the order of a right perception of th ings or in the just succession of that which has to be manifested in obedie nce to the call of Tim e.

This wo uld mea n an entry or approach int o wha t might be called a tr u th-consc io usness se lf-exis te n t in w hic"h the bein g wo uld be aw are of its own realities and wo uld have the inhe rent pow er to manifest them in a Time -creation in which all wo uld be Truth following ou t its ow n un err ing steps and combining its own harmoni es; every thou ght and w ill

33 and feelin g and ac t would be spo n taneous ly right, insp ired or intuitive, movin g by the tight of Truth and therefore perfect. All wo uld express inher ent realiti es of the spirit; so me full­ ness of the power of the spi rit wo uld be ther e. O ne wo uld have overpassed the pr esent limitations of mind: mind wo uld become a seei ng of the light of Tru th, wi ll a force and power of the Truth, Life a progressive fulfilme nt of the Truth, the body itself a conscious vessel of the Tru th and part of th e mean s of its se lf-effectua tion an d a form of its se lf-aware existen ce. It wo uld be a t least so me initiation of thi s Tru th­ consciousn ess, so me first figure and actio n of it that must be reach ed and enter into a first operat ion if there is to be a di vine life or any full manifestation of a spiritualised consc ious ­ ne ss in the w orld of Matter. Or, a t the ve ry least, such a Tru th­ consciousn ess mu st be in com m unica tion with our ow n mind and life and bod y, descend int o touch with it, control its see ing and action , impel its moti ves, take hold of its forces and sha pe their directi on and purpose. All tou ched by it m ight not be able to embo dy it fully, but eac h wo uld give some form to it accord ing to his spi ritual temper am ent, inner capacity, the lin e of his evolu tion in Na ture: he wo uld reach sec urely the perfection of which he was im me diately capa ble and he wo uld be on the road to the full possession of the truth of the Spi rit and of the truth of Na ture....

If we could draw d own thi s power [Truth-Conscious­ ness] int o the mater ial wo rld, our age long dreams of human perfectibility, indiv idual perfectio n, the perfectibility of th e race, of society, inner mastery over self and a com plete master y, govern ance and utilisati on of the forc es of N ature could see at long last a pr osp ect of total achievement. This complet e human self-fu lfilmen t m ight well pa ss beyond limitations and be transformed into the character of a di vin e life. Matter after taking int o itself and manifesting the power

34 of life and the light of mind would d raw d ow n int o it the superio r or supreme p m-vel' and ligh t of the sp irit and in an earthly bod y she d its parts of inconscien ce a nd becom e a perfectl y consc ious fra me of th e spirit. A secure com plete­ ness and stability of the hea lth and streng th of its ph ysica l ten ement co uld be maintain ed by the wi ll and force of this inha bitan t; all the natural capac ities of the ph ysical frame, all pmvers of the physical conscio usness wou ld reach their utmost ex tens ion and be there at command and sure of their flawless ac tion. As an instru ment the body would acq uir e a fullne ss of capacity, a tot ality of fitne ss for all uses wh ich the inhabi­ tant wou ld d em and of it far beyond an yth in g now possib le. Even it could becom e a revealing vessel of a sup reme beauty and bliss, - casting the beau ty of the light of the spirit suffus­ ing a nd r ad ia tin g from it as a lam p reflect s and diffuses the luminosit y of its indwelling flame, carrying in itself the beatitude of the spirit, its joy of the seei ng mind, its joy of life and spiri tual happiness, th e joy of Ma tte r released in to a spiritual conscious ness and thrilled with a cons tant ecs tasy. This w ou ld be the total perfection of the spiritualised body.

Sri Aurobi ndo

The One Thing Essential

The on e thing essen tial must tak e preced ence, the conversion of the whole life of the human bein g to the lead of the spirit. Th e ascent of man into heaven is no t the key, but ra ther his ascent here int o the spirit and the de scent also of the spirit in to hi s normal humanity and th e tr an sformati on o f thi s ea rthly nature. For that and not some post mort em salva tion

35 is the real new birth for which humanity waits as the crown­ ing movem ent of its lon g obscu re and painful course.

The refore the individuals w ho wi ll most help the future of humanity in the new age w ill be those w ho w ill recogni se a sp iritual evo lu tion as the d estiny and th er efor e th e great need of the human being. Even as the an imal man ha s been lar gely conve rted into a mentalised and at the top a hi ghly mentalised humanity, so too now or in the future an evolution or con version - it does not greatly matter which figure we use or w hat theor y we ado p t to support it - of the p resent typ e of humanity into a spiritua lised humanity is the need of the race and surely the intention of Na ture; that evolution or conversion will be their id eal and endeavour. They will be com pa ratively indifferent to particular belief and form and leave men to resort to the beliefs and forms to which they are naturally drawn. They will only hold as essen tial the faith in thi s spiritu al conversion, the attempt to live it out and what­ ever kn owledge - the form of opinion into w hich it is thrown does not so much matter - can be converted into this living. Th ey w ill especially not make the mi stak e of thinking that thi s change can be effected by machiner y and outward insti ­ tution s; th ey will know and ne ver for get that it has to be lived ou t by each man inwardly or it can never be made a reality for the kind. The y will adopt in its heart of meaning th e inward view of the East w hich bids man see k the secret of his destiny and salvation within; but also they will accept, thou gh with a different turn give n to it, the importance w hich th e Wes t rightly attaches to life and to the making the best we know and can attain the gene ral ru le of all life. They will not make soci ety a shadow y background to a few luminous spiritual figures or a ri gidly fenced an d earth-bound root for the grow th of a comparatively rare and sterile flower of ascetic spiritua lity. Th ey will not accept the the or y that the

36 many must necessarily remain for ever on the lower rang es of life and only a few climb in to the free air and the light, but w ill start fro m the standpoin t of the grea t spirits who have strive n to rege nerate the life of th e earth and held that fai th in sp ite of all pr evious fai lu re. Failures mu st be ori ginally numerou s in eve rything great and d ifficul t, bu t the time comes w hen the experience of pa st failures can be p rofitabl y used and the gate that so long resisted opens. In this as in all great hum an asp irations and endeav ours, an a priori declaration of im p ossibility is a sign of ignorance and weakness, and th e m o tto o f th e aspi ra nt's endeavo ur must be the soltiitur antbulando' of the d iscoverer. For by the doin g the difficulty will be solved. A true beginning has to be made; the rest is a work for Time in its sudde n achievements or its lon g patient lab our.

Th e th ing to be done is as large as human life, and ther e­ for e the individuals wh o lead th e wa y w ill tak e all human life for th eir provin ce. Th ese pi on eer s w ill cons ide r no thing as alien to th em, nothing as outside their scope. For every part of human life has to be taken up by the spiritual, - not onl y th e in tellec tua l, th e aesthetic, th e ethical, but th e d yn amic, the vita l, th e physica l; therefore for no ne of these th ings or th e ac tivities that spri ng from the m wi ll the y have con tempt or aversion, however they may insist on a cha nge of th e sp irit and a tran smutat ion of the form. In each power of our nature th ey w ill seek for its ow n proper mean s of conversion; know­ ing th at the Divine is con cealed in all, they will hold that all can be m ade the sp irit's mean s of self-finding and all can be converted into its instruments of di vin e living. Sri Aurobindo

1. The answer of Stephe nson to th ose w ho argued by strict scientific logic tha t his eng ine on rails could not and should not move, "Your difficu lty is solved by its moving." - ed,

37 Sources of the Passages Published in this Compilation

Pag e 1: CWM Vol. 12, p . 116. Page 2: CWM 12: 205. Page 5: CWSA 12: 218, 219; CWSA 23: 74 (SABCL 20: 68); CWSA 25: 125 (SABCL 15: 116). Page 6: CWSA 2: 615 (SABCL 5: 147); CWSA 2: 595 (SABCL 5: 164). Page 7:CWSA 12: 161, 334, 166 (SABCL 17: 17-18, 41, - ). Page 8: CWSA 36: 547 (SABCL 26: 95). Pages 9-10: CWSA 12: 157­ 160, 97. Pages 11-12: CWSA 12: 150-52 (SABCL 17: 74-76). Pages 13­ 14: Bengali Writings (SAA 1991): 359-6 1; SABCL 26: 122-124-125. Page 15: CWSA 12: 358, 367-368. Page 16: CWSA 12: 364-65. Page 17: SABCL 25: 65, 20-21, 49. Pages 18-19: SABCL 22: 137-38; CWSA 25: 177-78 (SABCL 15: 166-67). Page 20: CWSA 25: 227-28 (SABCL 15: 212-13). Pages 21-22: CWS A 25: 621-62 (SABCL 15: 596-97); CWS A 25: 611 (SABCL 15: 587) . Pages 23-26: CWSA 36: 478-80 (SABCL 26: 404-06). Pages 26-28: CWSA 20: 38-40 (SABCL 14: 432­ 33); CWSA 20: 15 (SABCL 14: 409). Pages 29-32: SABCL 25: 1-8. Pages 33-35: CW SA 13: 532-34 (SA BCL 16: 16-1 9). Pages 35-37: CWSA 25: 265-67 (SABCL 15: 250-51).

CWSA denotes Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, 1997 onw ards under publication . SABCl denotes Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Libr ary: ed ition : 1971-73, 30 Volumes. CWM denotes Collected Works of the Mother: 1st ed ition, 17 Volumes. In the references, the initial numeral specifies the Volume Number and the second number(s) the pa ge( s) where th e passa ge occurs in that volume .

The passa ges ca rry titl es and cap tions cho sen by the editor, hi ghlighting the them e of the excerpts and, whenever po ssible, borrowing a phrase fro m the text itself.

The excerp ts selected are the editor's choice intended to give the reader some basic idea on the subject. These are by no means exhaustive. Th ese compila tions, we hope, will inspire the reader to study th e complete wo rks of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

38 Words of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Compiled Subject-wise in AIM Books Title P Posta ge The Goa l 3( New Birt h 3( The Inner Attitude - Everything Depends upon It 3( Realisation of the Divine 3( Blossoming of Devoti on 3C The Four Austerities and the Four Liberations 3C The Path of Sur render 3C Receptivity on Birthdays 3C Fear - Its Cause and Cure 3C How to Sleep Well 3C How to Cultiva te Concent ration 3C What is Light 3C Spiritual Expe riences of Sri Aurobindo in Jail ... 3C Creation and the Creator A New World Is Born 4C Nirvana and Beyond Soul and How to Find It An Introduction to True Spir ituality What We Are Seeking in Life The Way to Spiri tua l Life Remain Young,Never Stop Striving Life Has a Purp ose The Divine Grace Right Spirit in Work The Divine as the Master and Guide Thy Peace, 0 Lord Yogic Equality Send yo ur enqui ry / order to SABDA, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry - 60 ~ Major Works of Sri Aurobindo Pages Pri ce,R s . 1. The Life Divine 1070 280 2. The Supramen tal Manifestation and Other Writi ngs 530 205 3. Essa ys Divine and Human 519 185 4. The Synthesi s of Yoga 918 300 5. Letters on Yoga : Vol. I 502 160 6.Letters on Yoga : Vol. II 587 200 7. Letters on Yoga: Vol. III 719 275 8. Autobiographicals Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest 612 190 9. The Mother - with Letters on the Mother 496 120 10. Record of Yoga: Vol. I 777 280 11. Record of Yoga: Vol. II 737 270 12. Essays on the Gita 595 190 13. The Upanishads - I 597 200 14 The Upanishads - II 449 160 15. The Secret of the Veda 604 175 16. Hymns to the Mystic Fire 507 185 17. The Renai ssance in India and O ther Essays on Indian Culture 450 160 18. The Human Cycle - The Ideal of Human Uni ty - War and Self-determi na tion 690 230 19. Bande Mataram - Early Political Wri tings 921 250 20. Savitri - ALegend and a Symbol 827 260 21.Collected Poems 631 150 22. The Future Poetry 416 100 23. Letters on Poetry, Literature and Art 271 90 24. Collected Plays and Short Stories (2 Volumes) 1090 300 Postage extra, for details vis it Web site: www.sabda.in SABDA, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry - 605 002. Tel: 0413-2223328 E-mail : [email protected]

40 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? Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo's Message Reprint from: All India Magazine, August 2010 A Monthly Magazine of Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry (Annual Subscription: Rs. 150 in India, U.S. $ 25 by Airmail)

Editor: K.C.Ana nd, Publishers:Pradeep Narang for Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry - 605 002 Printers:Sri Aurobin do Ashram Press, Puducherry - 605 002 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trus t, Puducherry - 605 002 Distributors: SABDA, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry - 605 002

Excerp ts from the w ritings of Sri Aurobind o and the Mother published in AIM booklet s are the ed itor's selection intended to give the reader some basic idea on the subject. Th ese are by no means exhaustive. These compilations, we hope, will inspire the reader to study the complete works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Titles to the excerpts are givenby the editor.