Guiding Light of The Month

O Lord, how ardently do I call and implore Thy love! Grant that my aspiration may be intense enough to awaken the same aspiration everywhere: oh, may good- ness, justice and peace reign as supreme masters, may ignorant egoism be overcome, darkness be suddenly illu- minated by Thy pure Light; may the blind see, the deaf hear, may Thy law be proclaimed in every place and, in a constantly progressive union, in an ever more perfect harmony, may all, like one single being, stretch out their arms towards Thee to identify themselves with Thee and manifest Thee upon earth. - The Mother

Bonne Année - 50th Anniversary of the coming of la conscience du surhomme 1 January 1969, Part 1

We present below the first part of a reflective article written by Jared Quek of the Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore on the 50th Anniversary of the descent of the New Consciousness or the Consciousness of the Superman. In this part appear selections of what The Mother had stated about the significance of the event of 1st January 1969, as compiled by the writer.


50 years ago, on the morning of 1 January 1969, a powerful New Consciousness descended into the earth atmosphere. The Mother described it in Notes on the Way, pp.148-160. The following are some extracts.


1 January 1969

In the night it came slowly and on waking up this morning, there was as though a golden dawn, and the atmosphere was so light. The body felt: “Well, it is truly, truly new.” A golden light, transparent and... benevolent. “Benevolent” in the sense of a certainty — a harmonious certainty. It was new.

There you are.

And when I say “Bonne année” to people, it is this which I pass on to them. And this morning, I have passed my time like this, spontaneously, saying: “Bonne année, Bonne année.” So...

4 January 1969

On the first, something truly strange happened.... And I was not the only one to feel it, some others also have felt it. It was just after midnight, but I felt it at two o’clock and the others at four o’clock in the morning…It was something very material, I mean it was very external — very external—and it was luminous, with a golden light. It was very strong, very powerful; but even so, its character was a smiling benevolence, a peaceful delight and a kind of opening out into delight and light. And it was like a “Bonne année”, like a greeting. It took me by surprise…But I told you a word or two about it and I spoke of it also to two or three persons: they all had felt it. That is to say, it was very material. They all had felt it, like this, a kind of joy, but a joy friendly, powerful and... oh! very, very gentle, very smiling, very benevolent.... I do not know what it is. I do not know what it is, but it is a kind of benevolence, therefore it was something very close to the human. And it was so concrete, so concrete!

My own impression was that of an immense personality — immense, that is to say, for it the earth was small, small like this (gesture, as though holding a small ball in her palm), like a ball — an immense personality, very, very benevolent, which came for... (Mother seems to lift this ball gently from the hollow of her hands). It gave the impression of a personal divinity (and yet it was... I do not know) who comes to help, and so strong, so strong and at the same time so gentle, so all- embracing.

And it was very external: the body felt it everywhere, everywhere (Mother touches her face, her hands), everywhere.

It was luminous, smiling, and so benevolent through powerfulness; that is to say, generally in the human being benevolence is something a little weak, in this sense that it does not like battle, it does not like fight; but this is nothing of the kind! A benevolence that imposes itself (Mother brings her fists down upon the arms of her chair).

It has interested me because it is altogether new. And so concrete! Concrete like this (Mother touches the arms of her chair), like what the physical consciousness usually considers as “others”, concrete like that. That is to say, it did not pass through an inner being, through the psychic being, it came directly upon the body.

What is it?... Yes, perhaps it is this... Since it came, the feeling of the body is a kind of certitude, a certitude as though now it was no longer in anxiety or uncertainty to know: “What will it be? What will the Supramental be like? Physically, what will it be physically?” The body used to ask itself. Now it does not think of it any more, it is contented.

Is it something that will suffuse the bodies that are ready?

Yes, I believe so, yes. I have the feeling that it is the formation which is going to enter, going to express itself — to enter and express itself — in the bodies... that will be the bodies of the supramental.

Or perhaps... perhaps the superman (surhomme), I do not know. The intermediary between the two. Perhaps the superman: it was very human, but a human in divine proportions, I must say.

A human without weaknesses and without shadows: it was all light — all light and smiling and... sweetness at the same time.

Yes, perhaps the superman.

8 January 1969

It is the descent of the superman consciousness (la conscience du surhomme) ….

It was the first of January after midnight. I woke up at two in the morning, surrounded by a consciousness, so concrete, and new in the sense that I had never felt it before. And it lasted, absolutely concrete, present, for two or three hours, and afterwards it spread out and went about to find people who could receive it. And I knew that it was the consciousness of the superman (la surhomme), that is to say, the intermediary between man and the supramental being.

18 January 1969

It came as a “mentor”, it was practical, quite practical: “This thing must be rejected, that must be accepted; this must be made general, that...”; all the inner movements. And it even becomes very material in the sense that it says with regard to some vibrations: “This you must encourage”, to others: “That must be canalised”, to others again: “This must be removed.” Little indications like that.

…Well, I have first had the experience for this body: it came like a rampart, and it was mighty! It was a mighty power! Altogether out of proportion to the apparent action.

…There is a very marked change in those who have been touched on the first of January: it is particularly... indeed a precision and a certitude that has entered into their way of thinking.

It was there (Mother looks at the region of the heart). It is curious, as though I was given the charge of putting it into contact with all those who come near me.

15 February 1969

Never, never had the body been so happy; there was the complete Presence, absolute freedom, and a certitude…During these few hours (three or four), I understood absolutely what it was to have the divine consciousness in the body…

But that state, which lasted for several hours, nothing similar to that happiness has this body ever felt during the ninety-one  years it has been here upon earth: freedom, absolute power and no limits (gesture here and there, everywhere), no limits, no impossibilities, nothing. It was... all other bodies were itself. There was no difference, it was only a play of consciousness (gesture as of a great Rhythm) going about.

That is all.

(Long silence)

…All the human excuses appear as childishness.

It is something very strange, all the qualities and all the defects of man appear as childishness — foolishness. It is curious. And it is not a thought, it is a concrete sensation. It is like a substance without life; all ordinary things are like a substance lacking life — the true life. Artificial and false. It is strange.

(Silence)

The special character of this new consciousness is: no half measures, no approximations. That is its character. The idea “Oh yes, we shall do it, and little by little we...” — no, no, not like that; it is Yes or No, either you can or you cannot.

(Silence) 

Truly it is a Grace, you see, as if: not to lose time — not to lose time. It must be done or...

But this tremendous Power, it is that above all; and it is with a compassion! a gentleness!... No, there are no words, we have no words to describe that, something... Nothing but just to be attentive and... it is blissfulness. Nothing but just to turn one’s attention towards that side, immediately there is the bliss. And I understand (that has made me understand certain things), we have heard of people who in the midst of torture enjoyed bliss — it is like that. A beatitude.

There you are, it is that (Mother hands out a white hibiscus, which she has named “Grace”).

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