It was in 1961 that the little gold-blazoned book – ‘The Mother on Sri Aurobindo’ - was published. The frontispiece was a colour reproduction of a notable painting by the Mother. There is an interesting story behind it:
During the early 1920s Sri Aurobindo's brother, Barin, was doing some oil painting under the Mother's guidance. As is the common practice of artists, a small board was kept for depositing the surplus paint left on the palette after each session. A random mixture of colours covered most of the surface of this board. One day when Barin had finished his work the Mother asked for the palette and, with the remaining paint, gave a few deft brush strokes to the centre of the board covered with old palette-scrapings. Thus the painting was completed.
Evidently, something had struck the Mother in the swirl of colours on the board. The suggestion of a face may have been already visible in the midst of it. In the finished painting, a face resembling Sri Aurobindo's emerges from the chaos of colours which appropriately represents "the Inconscient", according to the Mother's title. The Mother herself confirmed that the face is Sri Aurobindo's. It is likely, as is reported in one version of the story, that Sri Aurobindo was present at the time of this incident and she took the opportunity to paint a quick portrait of him. The Mother liked the painting enough to have it printed along with the title she gave it.
The painting also reminds one of her profound experience of 5 November, 1958:
"At the very bottom of the inconscience most hard and rigid and narrow and stifling I struck upon an almighty spring....
The Emerging Godhead is the Golden Purusha, Sri Aurobindo himself."
The prefatory declaration to the book is also challenging:
"What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme."
(K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar in ‘On The Mother’, Chapter 51, ‘Forward to Perfection’, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry)
“Michael Angelo in his fury of inspirations seems to have been impelled by Mahakali, while Mahalakshmi sheds her genial favour upon Raphael and Titian; and the meticulous care and the detailed surety in a Tintoretto makes us think of Mahasaraswati's grace. Mahasaraswati too seems to have especially favoured Leonardo Da Vinci, although a brooding presence of Maheshwari also seems to be intermixed there.”
- Nolini Kanta Gupta
During the early 1920s Sri Aurobindo's brother, Barin, was doing some oil painting under the Mother's guidance. As is the common practice of artists, a small board was kept for depositing the surplus paint left on the palette after each session. A random mixture of colours covered most of the surface of this board. One day when Barin had finished his work the Mother asked for the palette and, with the remaining paint, gave a few deft brush strokes to the centre of the board covered with old palette-scrapings. Thus the painting was completed.
Evidently, something had struck the Mother in the swirl of colours on the board. The suggestion of a face may have been already visible in the midst of it. In the finished painting, a face resembling Sri Aurobindo's emerges from the chaos of colours which appropriately represents "the Inconscient", according to the Mother's title. The Mother herself confirmed that the face is Sri Aurobindo's. It is likely, as is reported in one version of the story, that Sri Aurobindo was present at the time of this incident and she took the opportunity to paint a quick portrait of him. The Mother liked the painting enough to have it printed along with the title she gave it.
The painting also reminds one of her profound experience of 5 November, 1958:
"At the very bottom of the inconscience most hard and rigid and narrow and stifling I struck upon an almighty spring....
The Emerging Godhead is the Golden Purusha, Sri Aurobindo himself."
The prefatory declaration to the book is also challenging:
"What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme."
(K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar in ‘On The Mother’, Chapter 51, ‘Forward to Perfection’, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry)
“Michael Angelo in his fury of inspirations seems to have been impelled by Mahakali, while Mahalakshmi sheds her genial favour upon Raphael and Titian; and the meticulous care and the detailed surety in a Tintoretto makes us think of Mahasaraswati's grace. Mahasaraswati too seems to have especially favoured Leonardo Da Vinci, although a brooding presence of Maheshwari also seems to be intermixed there.”
- Nolini Kanta Gupta
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