I am
very grateful for the
opportunity that has
been given to me to
speak this evening on
the eve of the
celebration of the
Jayanti of Sri
Aurobindo…
As for the
important question
raised, I can say that I
have been very sincerely
trying to follow a
different line of
thought, which my
country has given to me
through tradition. I
must confess, that I am
fundamentally convinced
of certain truths of one
system of philosophy of
which I am aware. It is
also a matter for
confession that I
understood my
Ramanuja much
better through Sri
Aurobindo than I
was able to do through
others. He, it was that
made me enter into the
sadhana of
the whole thing. Whilst
I am very clear as to
what is
tattva,
hita and
purusartha and
that in India we are not
interested in what is
called
kama and
artha and
whilst we have
throughout guided
ourselves to the one
single goal which any
man ought to seek and
will seek inevitably,
that is freedom, I feel
that this freedom
requires a series of
delineations. I consider
that Sri
Aurobindo has
provided a fundamentally
integral knowledge of
the
hitas and
purusarthas.
About his
tattva, I
think he has not
deviated from the most
ancient statement: “Ekam
Sat,
Viprah
Bahudha
vadanti –
Sarvam
khalvidam
Brahma”. He has not
played a different tune,
nor are we prepared to
play a different tune.
That is the most
important fact we have
to
recognise.
Whether you call God or
the
Ekam, ‘Brahman’
or
Eswara or by
whatever name He is
known, or by whatever
personality He dominates
the world, I can say
that it is not at all in
contradiction to this
original statement of “Ekam
Sat,
viprah
bahudha
vadanti –
Sarvam
khalvidam
Brahma”.
We have had
evolution, may be
historically
conditioned. We have
worshipped Sri Vishnu at
one time, Shiva at
another time and
Brahma at yet another
time. We may also be
worshipping lesser ones
that is, the sons of
these or personalities
of the One. But I need
not take you to
mythology. Mythologies
grow in the
consciousness of the
people, and have value
for a particular people.
A truth might have to be
emphasized for the
particular purpose of
divine action, but that
certainly does not mean
that you ought not to
search for Him and that
you are merely to accept
what is called a custom
in the matter. It is
necessary for us to know
the whole Brahman, if it
is possible. That it is
impossible, some have
told us. I am not
grudging them that
truth. But I am saying
that I want to know the
whole. Nobody can tell
me that I should not
aspire to know the
whole. I hold that the
Gita is a
fundamental scripture.
It is, and it is claimed
by everybody who has
some reverence for Sri
Krishna that it is a
Upanishad. It is a
distilled essence of the
Vedas and the
Upanishads. Please note
that it is not something
that contradicts any
portion of the Vedas. It
is something that is the
essence of the Vedas,
the
Brahmanas,
Mantras and Upanishads
put together. There are
many people who pay lip
homage to
Brahmanas. I feel
that the mantras are
interpreted in the
Brahmanas. The
meaning of the mantras
cannot be understood
apart from the
Brahmanas in
which they are used. I
am not making a very
wild statement, but I
will rather trust in the
genius of the ancients
who have put them
together as one
scripture. Again, I must
say, to Sri
Aurobindo’s
credit that he brought
us back to this
recognition.
Nobody else
has drawn attention to
the great volume of
Brahmana literature,
which is slighted by the
Westerners as
meaningless rituals and
so on. Sri Aurobindo said
that there is another
cue offered in the
matter. That cue is that
yoga is not to be
understood in the
naturalist way, but in
the adhyatmika way.
Even for that suggestion
we should be grateful.
We are provided with an
apparatus of mind to see
that particular
literature with a
different vision and
hope. To-day, if there
is something which we
hold as fundamentally
capable of providing us
a clear knowledge of the
hereafter, the
Brahmanas provide
it. Take away the
Brahmanas. There
is no after-life to be
explained hereafter.
Even the
Upanishads cannot grant
you knowledge of
after-life. It can grant
you freedom and that
freedom may be
meaningless. So far as
that point is concerned,
I feel that Sri
Aurobindo has given us a
lead, if not a fuller
explanation. I do not
say that he has
reconciled, or that he
has supplanted this in
order to implant himself
in that place. Not at
all. He has provided a
modern apparatus for
thinking afresh on our
old philosophy.
Secondly, we
are accustomed to value
our Gita. Sri Aurobindo holds
that the Gita is a Gita
of liberation.He agrees
with our ancestors that
the Gita is the Moksha Sastra,
not at all intended for
the lonely purpose of
having an action done
and somehow done. That
is one way of looking at
it. If it is a Moksha
Sastra, what is
the
moksha we are
seeking? The greatness
of Gita would depend
upon its richness of
contribution towards
general
libereation,
starting with a little
liberation from my doubt
as to the conflict
between custom and my
duty, or a higher or new
morality introduced into
the world–the morality
of Ahimsa, the
morality of social
welfare or social life,
or preservation of
social dharma and
individual dharma.
I believe that here
again the problem, if it
is faced as a mental
being, will not be very
simple.
You all know
that the Essays on
the Gita were
written by Sri Aurobindo at
a time when Sri Bal
Gangadhar
Tilak was
projecting his work. In
the earliest number of “Arya”
Sri Aurobindo made the
statement: “I hear that
Sri Bal
Gangadhar
Tilak is going to
bring out Gita
Rahasya. I am
sure it is going to be
very valuable, but I am
also told that he holds
that the Gita gives you
Karma Yoga and I believe
it is not the complete
truth”. So, he projected
his own Essays on the
Gita and it was written
under such conditions.
He held, even as some of
the ancients of India
have held, that Karma
Yoga may be the
beginning. It is
necessary, but it is not
the whole meaning. Even
the capacity for you to
perform Karma properly
will not arise unless
you have got the Jnana.
Infact Jnana may grow
by action, by performing
the ritual actions Even
the performance of
ritual actions will
certainly lead you to
Jnana, but that would
not be enough, for that
Jnana would only be
building up itself for a
greater and fuller
absorption in the
Divine, the enjoyment of
the Divine–that is
Bhakti. Jnana will
transform itself into
Bhakti and you will find
that your works will
transform themselves
into devotional duties.
Everything then would
become just subsidiaries
to Bhakti. Bhakti is the
culmination. Now, the
modern interpreters of
the Gita would be
satisfied with this type
of interpretation. I
should feel that most of
us are satisfied with
this integration of our
human faculties or
modes of consciousness.
Mentally you can
assimilate a wee bit of
this and a wee bit of
that, but the main
contradiction between
the
conative,
cognitive and affective
levels of our
Being would remain. A
solution would not have
come and therefore, a
sadhana is
inculcated in the whole
process. Yoga is a means
of sadhana. Yagna is a
means of sadhana.
Yagna and yoga have all
the same purpose, that
is the transformation of
one’s relationship
between oneself, the
world and the gods.
Karma Yoga will bring a
relation between the
higher worlds and one’s
world. Yagna is for the
realization for a
particular dynamic
interdependence of the
higher and the lower
worlds. As for
Yaga, this may
also be taken as above.
But what is Yoga? Yoga
is a particular
relationship, which one
establishes between
oneself and God through
knowledge. This
relationship can be
three-fold. It can be
done through works; but
it would not be done if
you do only works. It is
necessary to find that
the Divine is within
yourself and yourself is
the seat of the Divine
action and if you do not
know that it is the
Seer, the guiding
Niyanta within
you, that is the
Eswara, there is
no possibility of
getting into real Jnana
Yoga. You must identify
your true self with
Brahman, but that
identification can
happen through works or
devotion or affection.
But mere Tattva Jnana
even is meaningless. It
cannot stand on its own
stem. It has no roots.
It must manifest itself
in the action which is
considered to be what we
call
kainkarya –
devotional service or
what we call devotion.
Devotion, according to
His Will is a particular
methodology of approach.
It is not everything
that becomes Bhakti.
There are two types of
Bhakti. There is a
particular methodology
called Ashtanga Yoga in
Bhakti. This is an
important part of
devotion for it fixes
one’s mind on God in
surrender and
submission. Bhakti would
demand Ashtanga Yoga.
Some ask the question
“Can you love God
really? Does every part
of your being respond to
the love of God? Is your
nail loving God?” that
is an important
question. Nobody can
love truly unless God
grants one such love
through His Grace. To
love truly means that
one cannot live without
Love of God. By Love of
God should one live or
hold on to life. Some of
the great men have
withstood the test. That
is why their lives, even
through the shadow of
time, shine. The modern
interpreter of Gita is
more satisfied with
saying that the three
Yoga have correspondence
with the three attitudes
or the modes of
consciousness of man. I
consider that the Gita
goes a little deeper. It
is to this point that
Sri Aurobindo leads us.
I do see that one
important Yoga to which
Sri Vaishnavism has
referred is
Bhara
Samparpana
Yoga or Nyasa Yoga. This
is a unique feature of
Gita. Says our Lord “sarvadharman
parityajya
mam
ekam
saranam
vraja;
aham tvam
sarvapapebhyo
moksayisyami, ma
sucah” – “If
you cannot do all these
three yogas and even if
you are lingering over,
surrender all of them
and take me alone as
your sole Refuge.
Surrender unto me and I
shall take you through
the whole yoga.”
Yogaksemam
vahamyaham.
Here
ksema is
freedom; and Yoga is
again to eternally abide
with one’s God, in all
parts. This Mantra, has
been expounded with
extraordinary lucidity
by the Sri Vaishnava
Acharyas – I
should say, reverence –
by the commentators of
Gita. This particular
verse has a broader
deliberate meaning in
Sri Aurobindo. Just as
it has a meaning for the
immediate solution of
one’s problems or even
the higher solutions of
problems in
Visishtadvaita,
one does not have
anything that goes
beyond to the higher
evolution of man. For
example you may find
that you are not capable
of achieving your self,
either because of your
birth or because of your
status or because of
your condition or
because of the debacle
that comes to man at any
time. You may find that
you are helpless on
occasions. You may ask,
“To whom shall I go? Who
shall be the person who
will save me?” it may be
that I am against God
also. Such a moment
occurs even to an
atheist. Well then, the
Lord says “Even if
Ravana came to me for
refuge I shall save
him”. God says,
“Surrender unto me and
then see how I save you.
It may not be according
to your terms that I am
going to save you, but
it will be according to
my terms. Save you, I
shall.” This faith in
God’s words you should
develop. If you can do
that, it is all right. I
consider that the
Alwars have
stated this position of
the omnipotence of God’s
Grace very firmly. Sri
Ramanuja has stated it
also very firmly. They
have stated that
surrender is a
fundamental thing and
that will lead us
further to the
ultimate state of living
in God. Do not have any
doubts about God’s
Grace. Your capacity for
reasoning into God’s
nature or your capacity
to perform
Yajnas which are
very costly according to
some people, but which
are very simple and not
at all costly according
to others is very
slight. But we do not,
nowadays, have even
teachers to tell us how
to perform them. For
example, we all are
aware that we are not
able to do Karma Yoga,
nor able to follow Jnana
Yoga. Most of us do not
know how to do
Astaanga Yoga and
follow
Panchakala
Vidhi. Gita says,
“I am the path. I am the
Upaya; I am
your
Purushartha; In
me you shall find your
freedom.” As to what
that freedom is and what
the content of that
freedom is , at that
point, the Gita stops.
The Gita tells one to
surrender unto Him. Of
course Sri
Krishna preaches earlier
“Become of my mind, do
my actions, think of me,
surrender unto me and I
shall do everything.”
Here the full
instruction is given. If
a man is solely devoted
to God and surrenders to
Him, he has done all
that has to be done (krtakrtya).
If he does it, and does
it consistently through
abyasa, that
is, pursues it, holding
on to the feet of the
Lord without that vice
of mankind, namely
asuya, envy
and greed, he will
achieve the goal, namely
God Realisation which is
Moksha. That is how the
whole thing has been so
brilliantly summarized
in the last chapter of
the message of Gita.
But
here Sri Aurobindo was
not quite happy at that
particular point of
conclusion. Where the
Gita has left the Yoga,
he starts. It is not the
final conclusion of the
Yoga. He starts the
beginning of
spiritual life or
describes God’s Yoga as
leading to
Divine Evolution. He
says “You must find the
Lord acting through you
in every one of your
limbs and in everyone of
your parts and see the
transformation of
mind and body.” The
surrender of each part
is necessary. You may
say it is a very
difficult process. You
may say, “How can I
surrender?” the answer
is “Do not worry. Be
surrendering to God.
Only keep yourself fit
for God. Do not obstruct
God’s activity.” I
consider this is a very
great revolution of the
concept of Yoga, which
Sri Krishna has given to
us. It is to the merit
of Sri Aurobindo, I
should say, that he
seized upon this
particular point and
utilised it to its
fullest, for the sake of
divinisation of man. I
do not say it was not
anticipated.
Then, there
is the problem of
getting rid of the ego.
In this divine Yoga,
your ego would have
ceased to exist without
any effort on your part.
It is such a difficult
thing nowadays for
people to get rid of
their ego. Ego is the
obstructor. I
cannot get rid of it,
for every effort to get
rid of it makes it more
powerful. I simply
cannot liquidate my ego
by own efforts. When I
become humble, I claim I
am the most
humble. When I become a
servant of the people, I
am tempted to claim that
I am the humblest
servant of the people
and I develop a peculiar
satwic
conceit, and that can be
terrible. No one knew
about this fact better
than the Seer of the
Isha-Upanishad
himself. There is this
problem of getting rid
of the
egoness without
getting rid of it
actually. You cannot
abolish the ego. It must
be made the vehicle of
the Divine. That is the
only way of liquidating
the ego. You must become
only an instrument of
the Divine. There is no
other alternative. Try
every other method, even
by devotion. It is
action, divine
kainkarya
that can liquidate
egoness. It must
be practised in the
context of divine
life with our
understanding of society
and man, the world and
the society etc.
I hold that
Sri Aurobindo is the
most orthodox of modern
thinkers, if only people
could understand him.
That is why I hold on
fundamentally to the
view the East is
different from the West,
because our value
concepts are different
and these are
Orient
and belong to the East,
whereas the value
concepts of the West are
money and mammon, power
and pelf and human
comfort and pleasure.
They are what we call
our enemies–Kama and
Artha, but that
does not mean that in
God’s world they are not
there, used through the
divine attitude for the
Divine. What is the
purpose of God ? you may
ask that question. Am I
the person to say that
God must do this and do
that? The
Sastras do say
that all the four
Purusharthas
should be desired, but
under restraint and
regulation. Sovereignty,
power and pelf for whom
should we have, for whom
should we exercise,
through whom should we
exercise and who should
exercise? These are the
three factors that have
to be remembered. You
start the work. The
question is for whom, by
whom and who? If you
abolish yourself and if
all are for God, by God
and God’s work, one can
go to the forests with
as much ease as one
could walk into a
palace; and he becomes
verily a sage. It must
be said that only when
the human
consciousness is
changed, then only his
present standards of
action can get changed.
Unless one has
peace that is of God, he
can hardly be fit for
change. One must think
of that particular
aspect that peace comes
only through the Divine.
It is asked,
“How does
evolution really proceed
at that point? Is
material
transformation possible?
Should we think of a
better fitted man for
the enjoyment of
Divine existence other
than the present human
being? Is the body,
which the superman gets,
different from ours?
Should it be different
from ours or should we
get some experience
beyond this body?” All
these are definite
questions. Is evolution
possible beyond this
particular human being
in this world? I am not
here, of course,
standing as a Zoologist
or anyone of those who
are speculating as to
the past and future of
man. I leave it to those
people who think that
matter moves the mind. I
wish they accept it. But
for me and for those who
think like me – who are
a very small band of
people–I hold that mind
rules matter and it has
been ruling matter so
far. Now, I want the
Divine mind to rule this
matter. That is all the
difference. The Gita has
stated it in so many
words. I have not even
extended its meaning. It
is there, but the
problem that is posed is
this: Is a general
evolution of all
possible, which is not
in consonance with
Darwinian Theory of
Evolution? The concept
of
Sarvamukti,
general higher
evolution, bristles with
difficulties. That is,
firstly an individual
must change himself and
then others could follow
the course of Evolution.
I consider that the
individual must change
himself first. The
nucleus of a new higher
Evolution is dependent
on the human
individual’s individual
evolution spiritually.
For this one must know
one’s real nature.
Svadharma
understood in the
highest sense. Is it not
then clear that each man
must follow his
svadharma?
Everybody who reads the
Gita thinks that he is
an Arjuna. But fighting
is not the duty of
everybody in the world;
certainly not the duty
of philosophers. That is
not their dharma at any
rate. One has to know
one’s
svadharma and act
accordingly. Sri
Krishna himself says:
“If you refuse to fight
now, you will fight
later. Your
Svabhava will
make you do it.” That is
very important. So if I
want to-day to fight, I
don’t know whether I may
not run away from the
fight as soon as its
starts. That is why I
say any nation, which
does not give to their
people, the freedom for
Svadharma and
Svabhava, will
not prosper. Therefore,
I hold that Sri
Krishna was right in
asking Arjuna to fight.
Do not say that Gita is
only telling me this and
I am only to fight. Even
if a nuclear bomb comes
here, I am not going to
fight. I may not fight.
There may be no need to
fight. What I am saying
is that one has to find
out the Divine in
oneself and that is a
path that leads to good
conduct and this is
unique in Hinduism. Sri
Aurobindo emphasizes
this aspect that Divine
multiplicity is
something, which you
must revere as a unique
universal fact. The
individual is the
universal; the universal
is the individual,
provided at this point
you make yourself a
perfect instrument,
delegate or part of the
supreme consciousness of
God.
Now, as for
the transformation, Sri
Aurobindo says we have
gone so far up to this
point in Natural
Evolution. The truth of
Natural Evolution should
be sought in
Spiritual Evolution that
is underway. We find
that, that with all our
religions for the past
5,000 years, nobody
seems able to transform
or bring God to Earth.
Some say that the best
that a man can afford to
do in this world is to
get himself liquidated
for ever, having no
rebirth. That may be a
very easy solution. We
cannot have a future
here. Why should we have
a future here, when
there are other worlds,
which are much better?
Surely, I admit that. I
do not like to leave my
country. We are a people
who are having what we
may call a “land-love”.
Why should I go away?
Can I not make my house,
which is dusty and
stupid, much better?
Well, let me ask that
question. So also, I ask
of the human being “Can
he not be changed for
the better?” God has
given me some
transcendent
desires, which the
artharthis (material
mindedness) cannot
fulfil. It is here that
Sri
Aurobindo’s emphatic
assertion that there is
a way and manner, the
very Gita way and the
Gita manner, comes in.
God descends to lift up,
rescue and transform the
human world into
Divine World–or a world
that reveals the Eternal
Divine Laws. This is
possible because the
Divine is all love and
love is the only thing
that descends or
condescends to transform
the human process of
Evolution. God’s love
for man is something
very different from
man’s love for God. With
the best of intentions
man asks something of
God. Even if he says “I
do not want anything
from you”, he
lurkingly wishes
something to be given in
return for his offering,
for his prayers or
surrender. It may be
just ecstasy that he
craves. Therefore, I
consider that true
Bhakti seeks of Bhoga of
the Divine Form. It is
an enjoyment of God
through
Yajna and Yoga.
The three yogas in the
light of God’s yoga
become the divinised
Yogas of Love (Bhoga),
yoga and
Yajna. Thus the
defects of commission
and omission in Karma,
Jnana and Bhakti Yogas
transcended. For when
you surrender your love
not for the fulfilment
of your limited
personality, but by the
entire offering of it to
God for His fulfilment,
what happens to you?
There, God reveals his
love to you by giving
Himself to you. He takes
up his residence in you
consciously and moulds
it and changes you
wholly. He wants to see
whether by giving all
the ecstasies of
Bhoga, Yoga and
Yaga He can make
you feel yourself with
Him. The order of the
Yogas gets reversed, if
I may say so, and all
knowledge and works
proceed on the basis of
Love or full enjoyment
of God’s Nature. You see
that the Divine action
is from top to bottom
and not from bottom to
top. This is what we
mean by descent (avatarana),
which transforms the
individual and leads to
his ascent or evolution.
He must act in you. What
is the vehicle of His
action? What is the
particular structure
that He creates within
you, that structure
which will act through
you? In earlier
evolution, up to man,
the human
finite rational
mind with all its
logical dialectical
patterns and
characteristics was
created by God through
which knowledge flowed
to man of higher things.
Now, Sri Aurobindo says,
the Divine has got His
own Divine Mind through
which He acts. That is
what I call, the
apprehension by man of a
particular structure,
which acts universally
in all men. On the other
hand, you want some
clarity on the
operations of the
super-mind, through even
your mind, or your ego,
which the supermind has
begun to use. In the
case of the human mind
or manas, it is a
delegate of the ignorant
ego. It is doing the
functions of the finite
ego. This position is
altered. The supermind
becomes the ruler and
your finite ego becomes
the ruled. A new
function is taken over
by the ego. It becomes
the instrument of the
Universal Supermind of
God. That is why I say,
“the Supreme Mind is the
mind of God, acting
through me”. Why I
should say, the mind of
God? For, we cannot
extricate a structure
from a function and a
structure–a particular
shape or pattern or
logic of the infinite is
necessary for
functioning as Infinite
or instrument of the
Infinite. This is the
rationale for
postulating the actual
existence of the
Supermind. Another
question has been
raised. Whether this
Supermind will be
inherited as in the case
of the human mind in a
biological sense? I
emphasise the Divine is
much bigger than any
mind – even the Divine
Mind, because Divine is
Divine and Infinite and
it is merely something
projecting in a
universal way which will
act as a common Mind for
every soul which has
offered itself to Him.
It is not, I think,
perfectly correct to say
that when we speak of an
inheritance of
biological
characteristics, there
is no inheritance of
acquired characteristics
of spiritual life also.
I will only say that we
are unable to say about
spiritual things,
because it depends upon
conscious acceptance of
the Divine in one’s life
by each.
Samskaras in
Hindu Religion played
this role for mind and
for the birth of the
Divine Mind in us. Our
Western friends are yet
to tell me about how
mind is getting
inherited at all in the
human species, because
they are under the grip
of a new famine, the
famine of spirituality,
being essentially
materialistic in their
approach. That is why I
hold they are not the
persons to explain to me
what my spiritual
situation is, what the
human situation is and
so on, because I find
that on every point they
are wrongly approaching
the problem. The lower
law cannot explain the
higher phenomenon.
Consciousness cannot be
explained by
Unconsciousness.
A point was
raised with regard to
the rationality of the
concept of Avatar. It
has been said that the
order of the Ten Avatars
shows ancient’s
knowledge of the
evolutionary process.
Here again, we should
not accept that it is
mere Natural Evolution.
Even Prof. Haldane has
not given his full
credence to this. Well,
I do not think Sri
Aurobindo himself
depended upon this
explanation very much.
The real argument hinges
on the transformation of
the man made by the
Descent of God in a
plane of being so as to
being about the
evolution of a mental
structure, appropriate
for a higher kind of
life, not by the
individual and not
through a resistance or
reception to the
environment or as a
response to the
challenges of new
situations. The
Divine has provided
earlier the type of
mind which creates its
structure for each level
of Evolution. To-day we
have the Divine
providing the
Supermind which creates
its functional structure
for a higher humanity.
It must be inheritable
by future Humanity
through such
integration as have
achieved with It. There
is a need for a
consciousness that can
accept a profounder
concept of
Spiritual Evolution,
which is an extension of
the Natural Evolution,
in a sense, even
modifying our views of
it.
Sri
Aurobindo’s main thesis
is very similar to that
of theosophy on certain
lines. There is no
contradiction so far as
the main points are
concerned. I have only
to say that the
formation of what is
called the Supermind,
which is very different
from what Mr.
Fitche or
Nietzsche or any other
person from the West
thought about it, is a
Structure with its own
unique functions and
laws. This may be called
the Mother also or
Mother-Consciousness.
There is appropriateness
in it. The
appropriateness lies in
this, that just as the
human race was mothered
by the mind - manas and
has become manava,
so also the Supermind is
the womb of those
willing loving minds,
which will be
transformed and be made
divine. Our Mind has to
be born anew of it. This
is a very important
point, because many
people who think that
evolution is coming from
below do not know that
Sri Aurobindo emphasized
that the Avatar concept,
even by the formation of
the higher levels of
consciousness, is much
more important and in
fact the precursor of
the ascent of the lower.
The Higher attracts the
lower to Itself, even as
if something magnetic is
placed above, the lower
jumps to it. I consider
that seventy five years
ago this has been
already postulated by
the great masters of the
Theosophical Society and
later on continued with
such profound luminosity
and conviction of the
traditional style of Sri
Aurobindo. I hold the
view was open to the
question that it was
non-traditional and
unorthodox in the Hindu
Sense; but even that
particular charge cannot
be
leveled against
Sri Aurobindo. For,
however much, he may
differ form
Sayana (and Sri
Ramanuja differed from
Sankara and
Madhva still more
from Sankara – that did
not make them alien to
orthodoxy), Sri
Aurobindo has been loyal
to the Ancient
Prasthanas of
Vedanta. It was as much
our part of the
tradition and Sri
Aurobindo has given us a
renewed tradition. For
the confirmation of his
Spiritual Truths Sri
Aurobindo went to the
Vedas, Upanishads, the
Gita and above all he
went to the Agamas,
namely the Tantras
and in one of his
biographical incidents
it is narrated that he
taught some of his
disciples the
Bhagavatsastra
Pancharatra. Sri
Aurobindo taught us to
actually see that the
Divine descends in each
one of us and actually
acts within us.
Regarding
Sarva
Mukti, that it is
what all will evolve to
have, he was speaking in
a sensible way. He was
quite certain that if a
few people will take to
this new sadhana,
this evolution will lead
to the general spiritual
evolution. All
evolution, including
natural evolution
started with a change or
mutation in some
individual or
individuals and later
was by a process of
inheritance biologically
proliferated and become
general. Thus a few
individuals will form
the nucleus of a Race, a
New Race. The Divine
Humanity will mean
Heaven on Earth –
Infinite Consciousness –
Bliss here by the
transformation of the
Earth or
finite consciousness and
Ignorance. Here, there
can be Heaven. Our Great
Acharyas have
spoken that where
God is, there is their
Vaikunta. They did not
want to go to the other
world. This truth Sri
Aurobindo has reaffirmed
with great beauty and
power. Therefore, I
salute the Great Teacher
who has given me, in my
own life, some
aspiration to realize
what the great teachers
of the past have told us
and has added just that
little force, may be a
mighty force, by which
my life may be
completely transformed
and made Divine. I only
hope and pray that it
will be Humanity’s good
fortune too. Earn the
measure of that great
man’s blessings for
humanity, by which he
brought the Supermind
into himself and has
striven to have his
Yoga spread to all so
that he who goes for it
and who is fit, can
accept it and grow in it
into the Divine
Nature in all his parts.
