Question of the month (Dec 2014)

Q: Sweet Mother, I would like to have the explanation of a sentence. Sri Aurobindo has said somewhere, “Materially you are nothing, spiritually you are everything.”?

A:  The Mother: That means that it is the Spirit, the spiritual consciousness and the divine Presence which give to life all its value, that without this spiritual consciousness and divine Presence life has no value.

The same holds true for the individual, whatever his material capacities and the material conditions in which he lives, his only worth is that of the divine Presence and the spiritual consciousness in him.

And so from the point of view of the truth of things, a man who has no material possessions and no remarkable capacities or possibilities, but who is conscious of his psychic being and united with the Divine in him, is infinitely greater than a ruler upon earth or a millionaire who possesses considerable material power but is unconscious of his psychic being.

From the point of view of the truth, it is like that. This is what Sri Aurobindo means; no apparent and outer things have any true value. The only thing which is valuable is the divine consciousness and union with the Spirit..

(CWM Volume 12, ‘On Education’, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1978, Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry)

The Mother, on Supramental Education

From beyond the frontiers of form a new force can be evoked, a power of consciousness which is as yet unexpressed and which, by its emergence, will be able to change the course of things and give birth to a new world. For the true solution to the problem of suffering, ignorance and death is not an individual escape from earthly miseries by self-annihilation into the unmanifest, nor a problematical collective flight from universal suffering by an integral and final return of the creation to its creator, thus curing the universe by abolishing it, but a transformation, a total transfiguration of matter brought about by the logical continuation of Nature’s ascending march in her progress towards perfection, by the creation of a new species that will be to man what man is to the animal and that will manifest upon earth a new force, a new consciousness and a new power. And so will begin a new education which can be called the supramental education; it will, by its all-powerful action, work not only upon the consciousness of individual beings, but upon the very substance of which they are built and upon the environment in which they live.

In contrast with the types of education we have mentioned previously, which progress from below upwards by an ascending movement of the various parts of the being, the supramental education will progress from above downwards, its influence spreading from one state of being to another until at last the physical is reached. This last transformation will only occur visibly when the inner states of being have already been considerably transformed. It is therefore quite unreasonable to try to recognise the presence of the supramental by physical appearances.

For these will be the last to change and the supramental force can be at work in an individual long before anything of it becomes perceptible in his bodily life.

To sum up, one can say that the supramental education will result no longer in a progressive formation of human nature and an increasing development of its latent faculties, but in a transformation of the nature itself, a transfiguration of the being in its entirety, a new ascent of the species above and beyond man towards superman, leading in the end to the appearance of a divine race upon earth.

-          ‘Bulletin’, February 1952.

(CWM Volume 12, ‘On Education’, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1978, Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry)

The Mother Says:  

"Before the untiring persistence of your effort, an inner door will suddenly open and you will emerge into a dazzling splendour that will bring you the certitude of immortality, the concrete experience that you have always lived and always shall live, that external forms alone perish and that these forms are, in relation to what you are in reality, like clothes that are thrown away when worn out. Then you will stand erect, freed from all chains, and instead of advancing laboriously under the weight of circumstances imposed upon you by Nature, which you had to endure and bear if you did not want to be crushed by them, you will be able to walk on, straight and firm, conscious of your destiny, master of your life."

Some practical hints for Spiritual Education - Part 2

(continued from the November 2014 issue)

The child should be taught that whenever there is an inner uneasiness, he should not pass it off and try to forget it, but should attend to it, and try to find out by an inner observation the cause of the uneasiness so that it can be removed by inner or outer methods.

It should be emphasised that if one has a sincere and steady aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to meet in one way or another, externally by study and instruction, internally by concentration, revelation and experience, the help one needs to reach the goal. Only one thing is absolutely indispensable: the will to discover and realise. This discovery and this realisation should be the primary occupation of the being, the pearl of great price which one should acquire at any cost. Whatever one does, whatever one’s occupation and activity, the will to find the truth of one’s being and to unite with it must always be living, always present behind all that one does and that one experiences, all that one thinks.

There are aspects of the mental, vital and physical development which contribute to the psychic and spiritual education. They can be briefly mentioned.

In its natural state the human mind is always limited in its vision, narrow in its understanding, rigid in its conceptions, and a certain effort is needed to enlarge it, make it supple and deep. Hence, it is very necessary to develop in the child the inclination and capacity to consider everything from as many points of view as possible. There is an exercise in this connection which gives greater suppleness and elevation to thought. It is as follows: a clearly formulated thesis is set; against it is opposed the antithesis, formulated with the same precision. Then by careful reflection the problem must be widened or transcended so that a synthesis is found which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher and more comprehensive idea.

Another exercise is to control the mind from judging things and people. For true knowledge belongs to a region much higher than that of the human mind, even beyond the region of pure ideas. The mind has got to be made silent and attentive in order to receive knowledge from above and manifest it.

Still another exercise: whenever there is a disagreement on any matter, as a decision to take, or an act to accomplish, one must not stick to one’s own conception or point of view. On the contrary, one must try to understand the other person’s point of view, put oneself in his place and, instead of quarrelling or even fighting, find out a solution which can reasonably satisfy both parties; there is always one for men of goodwill.

And there are many such exercises.

A wide, subtle, rich, complex, attentive and quiet and silent mind is an asset not only for the psychic and spiritual discovery, but also for manifesting the psychic and spiritual truths and powers.

The vital being in us is the seat of impulses and desires, of enthusiasm and violence, of dynamic energy and desperate depression, of passions and revolt. The vital is a good worker, but most often it seeks its own satisfaction. If that is refused totally or even partially, it gets vexed, sulky and goes on strike.

An exercise at these moments is to remain quiet and refuse to act. For it is important to realise that at such times one does stupid things and in a few minutes can destroy or spoil what one has gained in months of regular effort, losing thus all the progress made.

Another exercise is to deal with the vital as one deals with a child in revolt, with patience and perseverance showing it the truth and light, endeavouring to convince it and awaken in it the goodwill which for a moment was veiled.

A wide and strong calm but dynamic vital, capable of right emotion, right decision, and right execution by force and energy, is an invaluable aid to the psychic and spiritual realisations.

The body by its nature is a docile and faithful instrument. But it is very often misused by the mind with its dogmas, its rigid and arbitrary principles, and by the vital with its passions, its excesses and dissipations. It is these which are the cause of the bodily fatigue, exhaustion and disease. The body must therefore be free from the tyranny of the mind and of the vital; and this can be done by training the body to feel and sense the psychic presence within to learn to obey its governance.

The emphasis on the development of strength, suppleness, calm, quiet, poise, grace and beauty in physical education will ensure the contact of the body with the psychic centre and the body will learn to put forth at every minute the effort that is demanded of it, for it will have learnt to find rest in action, to replace through contact with the universal forces the energies it spends consciously and usefully. By this sound and balanced life a new harmony will manifest in the body, reflecting the harmony of the regions which will give it the perfect proportions and the ideal beauty of form. It will then be in a constant process of transformation, and it will be possible for it to escape the necessity of disintegration and destruction, and death.

At a certain stage of development, when the seeking of the student is found to be maturing, he can be directed more and more centrally to the psychic and the spiritual discovery. And here we come to yoga proper, the nature and problems of which have to be studied separately.

(concluded)

(Selected from Kireet Joshi’s essay – “Some Practical Hints For Spiritual Education”,‘Dimensions of Spiritual Education – Integral Education Series’, Published by Sri Aurobindo Institute of Research in Social Sciences, A Unit of Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry)

The Mother Says:

"With very few exceptions, parents are not aware of the disastrous influence that their own defects, impulses, weaknesses and lack of self-control have on their children. If you wish to be respected by a child, have respect for yourself and be worthy of respect at every moment. Never be authoritarian, despotic, impatient or ill-tempered. When your child asks you a question, do not give him a stupid or silly answer under the pretext that he cannot understand you. You can always make yourself understood if you take enough trouble; and in spite of the popular saying that it is not always good to tell the truth, I affirm that it is always good to tell the truth, but that the art consists in telling it in such a way as to make it accessible to the mind of the hearer."

The Mystic Feather

I found you, soft, pleasing and colourful,

Swaying along with a lovely bird.

Beautiful it dances, pride of India,

Spreading its magical wings of life.

Little violets from the bird fell on earth,

And I found you there,

Spotted with green, blue and gold

You were lying there with a yearning.

A little blue boy walked by,

Glancing a graceful look on you,

Did he like you so much? I am jealous of you,

For His red tinted hands picked you up,

Softly, he placed you on his turban.

And you remained there forever,

Adorning the crown of a prince,

Turban of a cow herd,

The stealer of all our Hearts.

-          Sandhya.

The Symbol Dawn - Part 2

We had the privilege of listening to the talk of Sri S. S. Lahiri, from the Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Ulsoor on the evening of the 28thof September, 2014. As an added bonus, Lahiri-ji had compiled excerpts of his talks from his notes, which we reproduce here. The subject of the talk was on ‘Savitri – The Symbol Dawn’. Sri Lahiri explored many ideas presented in this canto lucidly and candidly, drawing from other works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother as well as ancient Vedic texts and epics and his constant cross-references to world events and events that occurred in the lives of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. We present these notes in two parts. The November 2014 issue of our Newsletter contained Part1, and below is the concluding part.

The Dawn, Night and Inconscient

in the opening section of

The Symbol Dawn

(continued from the November 2014 issue)

Part 2

1.                                                                      In the Vedas Nakt Usha is the term used to covey the idea of Night and Dawn, the two mothers who suckle the child sun. In Savitri and specially in The Symbol Dawn these mothers have been extensively and very vividly portrayed. The night symbol itself has been portrayed as a double symbol- a temporary one and the other the primordial Night. The temporary fall is  brought out

           “…As in a dark beginning of all things…”

           “…A mute featureless semblance of the Unknown…”

           “…Thrown back once more into unthinking dreams…”

           “…Condemned to resume the effort and the pang…”

The primordial and the fundamental fall is also depicted and we find terms like,

”…Abysm of unbodied Infinite’’….

     “…Fallen boundless self…’’

     “…Vacant Naught’’…

     “…Athwart the vain enormous trance of space,…’’.

2.      In the opening canto, Sri Aurobindo brings in an infinite number of suggestive lines to depict the emergence of Dawn with a failing of darkness, ‘Dawn built her aura of magnificent hue’.  Amal Kiran says, ‘So subtle is the flexibility of expression, that one tends to get blown away and often fail to notice the  richness so delicately spread.’

3.      As the Mother says “Satyavan is the soul of the earth, the earth’s jiva”. Then it is Satyavan, the soul of earth, who has been kneading the soil of earth, and making it ready, for the descent of the Truth.  But the final descent of the Sun of Truth would perhaps require an encounter with Night. In his poem The Pilgrim of the Night he says, “… my footprints’ track shall be A pathway towards Immortality”. Then only “ Heaven’s fire is lit in the breast of the earth And the undying suns here burn”.  Likewise Savitri tells her queen mother in the presence of Narad,“I am stronger than death and greater than my fate; “The Mother says that the big difficulty in Matter is the material consciousness; the mind in Matter was formed under great difficulties, obstacles and struggle. It was “worked out” by these agencies and that gave it the impression of defeatism and pessimism. These are the greatest of all difficulties, and Matter needed to be “whipped” into action. This is the difficulty with the Night that has to be tackled.

4.      We find in the second sentence of the canto

“Across the path of the divine Event

The huge foreboding mind of Night, alone

In her temple of eternity,

Lay stretched immobile upon Silence’ marge.”

The advent of the divine Event of the Supramental decent is prevented by the formidable ‘mind of Night’. The term ‘mind of Night’ came as a replacement of the previous term, ‘mind of Spirit’. The term, ‘mind of Light’ got introduced by Sri Aurobindo some time in 1935. By this phrase it was meant the physical’s mind receiving the Supramental Light. Drawing from this we may say ‘mind of Night’ would mean physical’s mind receiving the Inconscient. Mother says in her talks on 21 Aug 65, “The physical’s mind (or the mind of Matter) is the link joining the physical mind and this material substance”. It is the most unconscious part. So the real problem lies in the very Matter, in the very cells as also the solution too lies there. Satprem says in his book, ‘Mother on Divine Materialism’, “… He   (Sri Aurobindo) set into motion Matter’s truth so that Matter itself would do the work- which is precisely what happened when Sri Aurobindo was speaking to Richard; without his trying….silence was established in Mother from within….. He let Matter itself speak if we may say so …”

5.      Therefore first the advent of Truth and then the descent of Divine Love would follow. And for Truth to win, Falsehood must be transformed. Then,

“… God needed no more the Inconscient’s screen.”(664).

The return of Savitri and Satyavan followed by Krishna Kali is the statement made through the epic, that the work on the earth has begun. What was fore-shadowed, would be true. The Mother says, “Savitri is the epic of the victory over death.”

-          Sri Lahiri

Om Sri Aurrobindo Mirra.

(concluded)

October - November Sunday Activities at the Centre – A glimpse

October 26^th and November 2^nd : Meditations on Savitri

We meditated on the paintings and passages from ‘Savitri’, Book 7, Canto 6 and 7 on these two Sundays.

Canto 6 – Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute

This Canto describes Savitri’s discovery and experience of the formless God. The following lines bring out the images of this discovery and experience beautifully:

Then all grew still, nothing moved anymore:

Immobile, self-rapt, timeless, solitary

A silent spirit pervaded silent space

Canto 7 - Omnipresent Reality and the Discovery of the All Fulfilling Godhead

In this canto Sri Aurobindo confirms that the realising of the Godhead is not the end of the transformation. Through Savitri, other realms are revealed to us:

Out of the Infinitudes all came to her,

Into the infinitudes sentient she spread,

Infinity was her own Natural home.

No where she dwelt, her spirit was everywhere,

The distant constellation wheeled round her;

Earth saw her born, all world were her colonies,

The greater worlds of life and mind were hers;

All worlds reproduced her in its lines,

Its movements were large copies of her own.

She was the single self of all these selves,

She was in them and they were all in her.

November 9^th: Readings from The Mother’s Writings and OM Choir

We meditated on the first 2 pages from the book, ‘The Sunlit Path’, and passages from ‘Conversation and Writings of The Mother’.

The Great Adventure

The Mother, in this passage, invites us to the great spiritual adventure in our new world. This is one journey nobody has undertaken and it goes beyond the entire often repeated spiritual journey. “One must put aside all that has been foreseen, all that has been devised, and all that has been constructed, and then..........set off walking into the unknown. And - come what may! There.”

In the passage, The Sublimest of Adventures, she goes on to say that the Victory is certain at the end of this journey. It involves casting away the entire luggage like our effort, our strength, all our being and our life. The risk is worth, as it brings unexplainable relief.

November 16^th: Readings from ‘Bases of Yoga’ by Sri Aurobindo

We meditated on the passages on pages 101 to 105 from the book ‘Bases of Yoga’ by Sri Aurobindo.

These pages talk about Sri Aurobindo’s explanation to his disciples’ questions on the various types and effects of dreams. It was very fascinating to read these passages about sleep and dreams, for which we usually don’t give so much importance. Sri Aurobindo says that dreams of panic come from the subconscient which feels itself small and insignificant and has the fear of being submerged by greater consciousness. To make sleep a refreshing one for both the physical and vital, a conscious sleep helps. Sri Aurobindo says that in order to make sleep a conscious one, we have to remember The Mother and open to Her Force. Not all dreams are from the subconscient level. Some may be clearly symbolic coming from the vital plane, which may indicate potential happenings or changes in the inner or outer nature. In God’s creation, everything, including dreams, has its role.

November 23^rd: Meditations on ‘Savitri’

We meditated on the paintings and readings from ‘Savitri’ – Book 8, Canto 3, ‘Death in the Forest’. The pictures and the lines that show Savitri seeking permission from Satyavan’s mother to go into the forest with Satyavan on the day he was going to be taken by the Lord of Death, were stirring. The lines, “She spoke with guarded lips and tranquil face … And forced upon her speech an outward peace” evoked an admiration and reverence for Savitri’s courageous heart, though it bore the sorrow of the knowledge of the impending death of Satyavan.  Satyavan went with the joy of Savitri’s physical presence. In the woods, he started axing a tree. Awhile later, at the verge of death, Satyavan’s parting words and Savitri’s anguish are brought out so poignantly in the proceeding lines.

- Jayalakshmi

Along the Way… The November 2014 Walk

It was indeed a pleasant sight to see more than 20 people gathered at the Labrador Park by 8 a.m. to start our monthly walk on a cool and pleasant day.

Just a stone’s throw away from apartments, busy wharfs, offices and shopping centres, the Labrador Nature and Coastal Walk provides a wide variety of habitats to explore – mudflat, mangroves, coastal forest, rocky shore, park land -there is a myriad of experiences which was waiting to thrill and enrich our senses as we embarked on this walk. The places to be seen and enjoyed were just too many to see in a matter of an hour and half. Having experienced the Bukit Chermin Boardwalk last year to enjoy the expansive waters of Keppel Harbour and multi-million dollar luxurious waterfront apartments, this occasion we ventured out first to the Berlayer Creek mangrove, still alive in Singapore despite habitat destruction all around.

We commenced the walk along the Promenade that overlooks Sentosa Island, first crossing Dragon’s Teeth Gate, a symbolic replica of the original rock outcrop that used to serve as the gateway to Singapore’s western entrance, acting as a navigational guide to sailors centuries ago.

Progressing along the boardwalk, we traversed through two look-out points perched over the creek, to observe the surrounding mangroves and get closer to the rich biodiversity. Some kids in our group were overwhelmed with joy to see a monitor lizard and a small snake roaming around in the mangrove forest.

We experienced the fascinating connection between the landscape and historical journey back to the 1870s and marvelled how Labrador had transformed from a thick coastal forest and mangroves to what it is today - a tranquil nature reserve with relics of Singapore’s World War II past- a machine gun post, a gun bunker, remnants of an old fort and a display of a quick firing cannon. Thereafter west rolled through Singapore’s only coastal cliff vegetation to enjoy a spectacular view of Singapore’s offshore islands from the lookout deck. We went down the cliff and into the park to soak in the breath-taking view of the South China Sea and passing cruise and cargo ships.

Mother Nature was in Her Full Glory!

While all of us were engrossed in Prayers and Meditation in the well laid out place in the Park itself, children in our group enjoyed the nearby banyan tree swings to their hearts’ content.

Our hosts Upali and Ritesh had made an excellent altar and a sumptuous fusion of North and South Indian dishes for brunch. Our heartfelt thanks to them.

Please visit our Sri Aurobindo Society’s Facebook page to see more photos of the walk/meditation and the altar arrangements.

-          S. Ramanathan

************

I was at Labrador Park with the other Society members on the 2^nd of November for the monthly walk. The weather was very nice. Not too hot. Not too cold. I reached the park at around 8a.m. We started off with a simple warm-up and then walked through the park.

           

When we were walking on the boardwalk, we spotted a snake on the handrail. Upon seeing and hearing us, it jumped back into the grass. It was hard to see it after that as it camouflaged well, but we managed to find it, and took many pictures.

           

After the walk, we headed to a shelter where the prayers were going to take place. Behind the shelter, there was a huge tree with many vines hanging on it. My friends and I climbed the trees and swung from the vines. We had great fun.

           

We soon had to stop playing so that we could eat. There was all sorts of food - Idli, rice, noodles, to name a few. And they were delicious. After eating, we continued playing on the tree.

           

Soon, it was time to go back home. I was sad as I was having such a great time and didn’t want to leave. I hope that I can go to Labrador Park again and I look forward to the next walk.

-          Priyanka Patel