During a conversation about his book on the life and thought of Sri Aurobindo, the Never-dying Fire, Luc Venet mentioned that he had indeed considered writing a book about Mother. If such a book ever materializes, it would be on Mother’s transformation of her body and the effort of transforming the world. The book’s title would be a question ‘Transformation for What?’ Other talked about topics were the need to create an inner contact, the gain of establishing a personalized relationship with Mother, the search for the essence. He mentioned also that he was aware of the difficulties that Auroville was facing. Auroville is going to succeed, no other way. How can it be stopped while looking for the essence? Transformation for what and thesearch for the essence, how to experience those ideas?
There are defining landmarks in the spiritual journeys of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. Events indicating their thoughts, aims and actions, helping to understand the stages and progress in their unending search to establish the Truth-Consciousness upon Earth.
Sri Aurobindo’s spiritual experience while arriving again on Indian soil at the Appollo Bunder
in 1910 when he was 20 years old. The first meeting between Mother and Sri Aurobindo at
Pondicherry on 29 March 1914, 110 years ago. The publication of the Arya revue on 15 August 1914 the birth of Sri Aurobindo Ashram on 24 November 1926. Their common spiritual journey from 1920 to 1973 for 53 years. Initiating the construction of Golconde in 1938. The publication of the first part of Savitri in September 1950. The supramental descent on the evening of 29 February 1956 of the Truth-Consciousness Force upon Earth declared by Mother, 68 years ago. Auroville’s charter and inauguration ceremony on 28 February 1968, 56 years ago. Matrimandir completion on 21 February 2008, after 36 years of construction work.
‘I see more and more manifestly that man can never get out of the futile circle the race is always treading until he has raised himself on to the new foundation.’ ‘How could our present instruments, intellect, mind, life, body be made true and perfect channels for this great transformation?’
Human civilizations, during their entire existence and growth, have exclusively relied on the mental faculty. After millenniums of existence, it is accurate to state that we have hugely failed to make noticeable progress on almost all essential key points for establishing human unity: liberty, equality, fraternity or more correctly, an inner oneness.
‘The human mind, with its narrow reasonings, erring impressions, its bottomless aggressive ignorance and its petty self-confident knowledge, shut in the prison of its half-lit obscurity cannot follow the many-sided freedom and steps of the Divine Shakti.’ For the mind to fulfill its potential to become a transmitter of the Truth, it has either to fall silent and expand to accommodate room for a wider consciousness, or to allow the inner Light to give free expression or change its habit of intellectual questioning towards an intuitive intelligence. ’The thinking mind with most men is, in matters of life, only an instrument of the vital.’
Reaching this new space requires an effort, a progressive journey tailored to each individual personal possibilities and weaknesses. ‘By breaking down the habit of being on the surface and by going deeper within.’
That mysterious other dimension, beyond the perception of our ordinary sight, exists, acts, and arranges things around us, although we are not aware of its existence. It acts invisibly and is all the time flowing constantly behind our thoughts, it is buried, hidden by our internal enemies who limit our scope of mind to the sense-action and sense-perception and as a result ‘this secret knowledge’ is not able to reveal itself.
‘Human society itself never seized on the discovery of the soul as a means for the discovery of the law of its own being or on a knowledge of the soul’s true nature and need and its fulfilment as the right way of terrestrial perfection’. ‘If one practices the effort to go inward oneself sincerely, we are bound to find out the Divine works in us through our nature, not by a succession of random miracles.’
No civilization period has ever achieved a manifestation of a living embodiment of human unity. The aim of creating such an opportunity has been meticulously explored and prepared by Mother and Sri Aurobindo. They ensured that their findings and deeds were cast in bronze to front the difficult travel years ahead for those who received an invitation and attempted to start the journey.
Such a journey needs certain favorable conditions in place. ‘Therefore the truest order is that which is founded on the greatest possible liberty; for liberty is at once the condition of vigorous variation and the condition of self-finding. Nature secures variation by division into groups and insists on liberty by the force of individuality in the members of the group. Therefore the unity of the human race to be entirely sound and in consonance with the deepest laws of life must be founded on free groupings, and the groupings again must be the natural association of free individuals.
Mother’s experience of breaking the Golden Door which was holding up the highest Force preventing it from acting directly upon earth, is an event with far-reaching terrestrial implications. At that moment, the full strength of the Truth-Consciousness invaded and started working upon earth. However, the working of the Force, as mentioned by Mother, was limited due to its absorption by massive resisting waves of Ignorance. After 68 years of its action upon earth, we can assume that its strength and directness of action has hugely increased and fortified. It is this Force of the Truth-Consciousness that is guiding, directing our efforts towards perfection, beauty, love, human unity. With the inner help and sustained protection of Mother and Sri Aurobindo, through whatever individual method, rhythm and tempo which is suitable, the Truth-Consciousness can be established and activated within the inner domain.
During 1957, Mother made an appeal for people interested in joining the Great Adventure: ‘we are in a very special situation, extremely special, without precedent. We are now witnessing the birth of a new world; it is very young, very weak—not in its essence but in its outer manifestation—not yet recognised, not even felt, denied by the majority. But it is here. It is here, making an effort to grow, absolutely sure of the result. But the road to it is a completely new road which has never before been traced out.’
Exactly 11 years later, the Great Adventure was launched to take off. A place which belongs to nobody, a place of unending education with a youth that never ages, a bridge between past and the future while taking advantage of all discoveries of without and from within, a site for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity. These Auroville charter keywords, contained in just four lines, rendered with the utmost simplicity, indicate a path for humanity’s future.
Auroville’s adventurous journey is happening while we try to make sense of ’an ongoing experiment of unparalleled complexity, attracting an accumulation of all possible difficulties. Oppressed by the thousand forces that deny. It is an ideal which ought to be kept in view, for the more we can approximate to it, the more we can be sure of being on the right road.’
The Truth-Consciousness Force relentlessly chased after and exposed by Sri Aurobindo, finally brought down by Mother, is the guiding star for our journey. A part of that Force is embedded within us, to ignite this hidden flame on the inner so that it can act in the outer happens when there is receptivity. We must believe in it, we need to call for it, we need to invoke its presence,
we need to request its help, we need to thirst for it; drink it like a strengthening wine. We should never forget to express our deepest gratitude when it answers our calls.
Truth opposing forces make use of human flaws and shortcomings. Hostile forces exploit and manipulate for their own purposes man’s dark shadow areas. The more powerful the Truth force becomes, the more violent the destructive forces react. Resulting in an unending stream of falsehood, working persistently against the manifestation of the Truth-Consciousness. During such a siege it is easy to forget the invaluable privilege of being present at the birth of a new world. Grace too is near at hand and more than willing to help with everything that impedes and hinders our progress.
A Truth conscious collective can only exist, grow and blossom when the inner aspiration, dedication and perfection of each individual member is taken up. Each one should realize his own unique identity in connection with all other members through an inner realization. The interdependence between the individual and the collectivity needs to be a living entity displaying unity in diversity. No doubt a difficult enterprise but the only worthwhile life adventure to explore and participate in.
The sign of the new humanity is a reversal of outlook and the understanding that inner means, inner knowledge and inner techniques can change the world and master it without crushing it. The inner domain operates in silent mode settings. Events, thoughts, communications use the invisible frequency. The more we travel in that domain, the more precise Truth receptor and
transmitter we become. Already in 1912 Sri Aurobindo remarked ‘there are means in this world, fortunately for the humanity, which Governments and authorities cannot touch or prevent.’ What an extra bonus, an incentive to continue the inner journey. Auroville is being built in the soul of its journeying seekers, its outer realization will reflect the collective inner truthfulness. While the unseen is found, the impossible done.
Tency,
February 2024