THE DEEPER RETIREMENT

NOW we come to the most momentous event of 1950 the passing of Sri Aurobindo on December 5. His withdrawal from our view cast over most to us a thick pall of gloom and like a blinding snow-storm it benumbed our consciousness. The step he took was as revolutionary as it was sudden for all of us. Living on the human plane he was always above it. That was why his ways were unpredictable by us humans. We could never even for a moment have the idea that he would, of set purpose, withdraw from his body. He who had saved so many from the jaws of death, how could death touch his person ?

Up to the last day even Champaklal who had been in his personal service for about three decades and whom in the last days the Master had blessed by "drawing him to his heart several times" could not allow the thought to creep into his mind that the Master was taking leave and that the tenderness was his parting gesture.

Another event as great in this disciple's life took place at the very beginning of his connection with Sri Aurobindo. As a boy of 18 in 1921 he had once visited the Master and gone back to Gujarat. A small spiritual group had been set up there by the Maharashtrian Yogi Lele. Some years later it was dissolved and one of its leading members came to Pondicherry to give Sri Aurobindo the detailed report about the dissolution and take instructions for the future. After the necessary talk, with Sri Aurobindo he made ready to go. The plan he had formed was to return with his wife. At the moment of his departure Sri Aurobindo said, "Bring Champaklal also with you." To Champaklal this remembrance of him by Sri Aurobindo and his spontaneous call to him are a most cherished memory.

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This shows how the Master on his own could play a decisive role in the lives of those who were drawn to him.

Champaklal came to Pondicherry in 1923 for good. From the start he addressed Sri Aurobindo as Father and the Mother as Mother. This was at a time when the Mother had not been openly so recognised by all of Sri Aurobindo's followers.

One day, in the early period of his stay, he approached the Mother and said, "I intend to wash my Father's dhoti." In reply the Mother said that she would speak to Sri Aurobindo. At that time the way of life among those who were around Sri Aurobindo was neither meditation nor work. People were living somewhat light-heartedly and by themselves. It was only later, when the Mother took charge of things, that the ideal of service came to the fore. So, when service was not at all thought of seriously, Sri Aurobindo told Champaklal apropos of the latter's offer : "People will laugh at you, joke about you, mock you. Are you ready ? The young disciple was ready. Here was the first example of the body's direct service to the Divine.

Now to return to December 5,1950. All the functions of the 1st and 2nd December were allowed to go on as usual. What powerful hold on the situation was required to let things go on as ever without letting anybody know of the imminent calamity that was to overtake the Ashram ! Reading "The Book of Fate" in Savitri which had created a sensation in the atmosphere the day it was out in typescript, could anyone say that the Master was taken unawares¹ by any kind of illness or did not know the consequences of the course he was going to take to hasten the achievement of his goal ?

In consonance with the usual way of his oceanic calm he did not allow any item of the Mother's programme to be curtailed or

1. When in 1925 R's wife sought permission to come here, the Master spoke to her husband that she would not live more than a year and he should prepare himself to live alone. Actually she died a year after.

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put off. Nor did the Mother allow any leakage of the news or the least indication of the happenings upstairs. On December 3 she did not come to the Playground. This was a new thing. Since the Playground activities had begun, there had hardly been a day when the Mother had not presided over them. This made us enquire what the matter was. A few of us came to know that Sri Aurobindo was not well. But we could never conceive that it might mean anything serious for the person of the Master.

Later it became known that the seriousness of the illness had been kept a secret to avoid any kind of upheaval in the atmosphere. From November 17 the symptoms of the malady had begun going from bad to worse. Till one o'clock on November 24th it was not decided whether there would be Darshan or not. But so many had come for Darshan and would have had to go away disappointed; hence the Master conceded the favour. We were asked to walk past him with quick rather than lingering steps, yet to some of us the penetrating look he gave was unforgettable. It was like passing through the rays of a blazing sun. But it struck none of us that it was to be our last privilege of coming before him.

As the functions of the Education Centre grew in importance, many visitors coming for the November Darshan used to stay on till December 2nd and leave on the 3rd. For them the Mother appeared on the verandah facing the courtyard to see them off. Her face was lit up with the same gracious smile, her movements were marked by the same calm that is her usual feature. All this was sufficient for our hope that there would be nothing serious and whatever suspicion was there, was dissipated.

Who can probe the mystery of why the Master chose to take this grim step? But the calm determination with which the battle was fought was quite characteristic of him. It is recorded in the writings of those who were present at the time. Hence we shall not enter into the details here.

At the request of Nirod a wire was sent to Dr. Sanyal, Professor

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of Clinical Surgery, Calcutta Medical College, then a regular visiting sadhak. On reaching here on November 30 he entered Sri Aurobindo's room and knelt before the Master and Champaklal called out : "See, Sanyal has come." Dr. Sanyal writes in his memoirs. "He opened his eyes fully, looked at me and smiled— Oh, such a smile, serene and beautiful, it carried one to ecstasy, lighting the innermost comers of the heart.

" He placed his hands on my head and lovingly patted it a few times... I asked him what the trouble was.

" 'Trouble ? Nothing troubles me. And suffering? One can be above it.'"

On the doctor's enquiry about the specific difficulties, he answered: "Well, yes, I had some difficulties but they have been relieved, and now I do not feel anything."²

"Not once would he say or at any time indicate that he was uncomfortable or thirsty, but if we changed his position or offered him a drink he smilingly accepted it...

"The Mother came with us into the ante-room and then for the first time declared: 'He is fully conscious within but is losing interest in Himself.' Dr. Satya Sen was restless as energetic treatment could not be instituted. She simply said : " It all depends on Him."

It struck Champaklal that Sri Aurobindo was keeping rather neutral about his illness instead of exerting himself to get rid of it.

2. "It is no doubt possible to draw the illnesses of others upon oneself and even to do it deliberately ... Narayan Jyotishi, a Calcutta astrologer, who predicted, not knowing then who I was, in the days before my name was politically known, my struggle with Mleccha enemies and afterwards the three cases against me and my three acquittals, predicted also that though death was prefixed for me in my horoscope at the age of 63.1 would prolong my life by Yogic power for a very long period and arrive at a full old age. In fact, I have got rid by Yogic pressure of a number of chronic maladies that had got settled in my body." (8.12.1949) —Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother, pp. 286-287.

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So, to confirm his impression he put the Master the question : "Are you not using your Force ?"

The reply came : "No."

Nirod plucked up courage to ask : "Why not ? If you don't use your Force, how is the disease to be cured ?"

The quiet cryptic answer was : "Can't explain. You won't understand."

On December 4th Sri Aurobindo wished to sit up. The doctors helped him out of the bed. To their surprise, "all distressing symptoms had magically vanished. He walked to the arm chair to rest." It raised a wave of joy in the hearts of those present but it was short-lived.

When the news of his passing was broken to us it took our breath away. We were stunned speechless. It looked as if the light of our life had gone out.

From the early morning of December 5,1950 the gates of the Ashram were thrown open for the first time since 1926 ³ to all who wanted to have Darshan and pay their last homage. The news spread all round like lightning. The whole town came pouring in. An unending queue extended from the Master's room up to a good length in the street and continued without a break till about 3 p.m. It happened so the next day too; then hours were fixed two times a day.

The news had caused a tremendous stir all over India. Sri Aurobindo's followers, admirers, disciples, whoever even once had had the occasion to stand before him, rushed by plane, train and car to have his Darshan.

3. In the beginning no one used to keep the gate. Once (1927) a Dr. Sloni went straight up to Datta and worried her with a battery of questions. Then the Mother asked Dyuman if he would take a chair, sit at the gate and watch it. Since then someone or other has been there all the time from 4.30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Since August 1947 there has been an arrange ment for two persons to be there during the day.

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Towards the evening it was heard that the Mother would give a message. The preparations for the samadhi were brought to a standstill. All eyes hung upon the Mother. The air was filled with hope and expectation that some unheard-of thing might happen. Prayers too deep for words surged in every heart to see Sri Aurobindo again in his shining body. At last came the message which was later sent to the Press.

"The funeral of Sri Aurobindo has not taken place to-day. His body is charged with such a concentration of Supramental light that there is no sign of decomposition and the body will be kept lying on his bed so long as it remains intact."

Its immediate effect was unspeakable. With the setting of the sun a profound silence feel over us.

A sadhak was struck by the sharp difference in Sri Aurobindo's looks between the Darshan day of November 24 and the morning of December 5. No trace of weariness, emaciation or dull complexion. Here was a mighty hero, his complexion changed overnight into shining gold, lying in perfect repose as if after a great victory. Not a shade of death. The figure was of Victory personified over Death.

To quote Dr. Sanyal again :

"The Mother whispered: 'As long as the Supramental light does not pass away, the body will not show any sign of decomposition and it may be a day or it may take more days.'

"I whispered to her, 'Where is the light you sepeak of ? Can I see it?' She smiled at me and with infinite compassion put her hand on my head. There he was—with a luminous mantle of bluish golden hue around him."

On the 7th the French Chief Medical Officer felt surprised to see a body from which life had gone looking so bright and life-like; after 55 hours of his passing he certified officially that there was no sign of decomposition in the body.

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That very morning the Mother made the statement:

"Lord, this morning Thou hast given me the assurance that Thou wouldst stay with us until Thy work is achieved, not only as a consciousness which guides and illumines but also as a dynamic Presence in action. In unmistakable terms Thou hast promised that all of Thyself would remain here and not leave the earth atmosphere until earth is transformed. Grant that we may be worthy of this presence and that henceforth everything in us be concentrated to the fulfilment of Thy sublime work."

For 90 hours the body remained intact. On December 9 signs were discovered of the withdrawing of the body's "golden hue" and preparations were set afoot for Samadhi. At that time very few knew about it. Only there was a whisper that the Master would not return to his body. From about 8 o'clock we were allowed to have our last Darshan.

Some months later—next year—we came to know what had passed between the Master and the Mother on December 8 :

"When I asked him to resuscitate he clearly answered: 'I have left this body purposely. I will not take it back. I shall manifest again in the first supramental body built in a supramental way.' "

Mahasamadhi

At 3 p.m. on the 9th the body that had "held this greatness" was laid in a rosewood box, prepared in our Harpagon workshop, lined completely with silver sheet and satin and having at the bottom a velvet cushion. In the centre of the lid, Sri Aurobindo's symbol, all in gold, was fixed with gold screws. His body had been covered with a gold-embroidered cloth. The Mother told Champaklal that after the Indian Consul-General in French India, Mr. Tandon, who had happy relations with the Ashram, had come into the room and seen Sri Aurobindo, Champaklal should put over Sri Aurobindo's face a small similar piece of cloth which had been chosen by her. After this was done, Udar

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screwed down the lid on the box.

Before the box was brought down, Nolini offered Pranam to the Mother; then the others who were present did the same. The gesture signified that although Sri Aurobindo was not physically present the Mother was there as a complete embodiment of the Divine and that in her he still stood amongst us. We had been taught by Sri Aurobindo himself that his Consciousness and the Mother's were one. Even while he was in his body, he had placed the Mother in the forefront: she was the life and light of the Ashram just as she is to-day.

At 5 p.m. the box was carried to the ground-floor by several sadhaks and laid in the vault specially built and kept ready from the 5th in the centre of the Ashram courtyard.

Udar who was put in charge of all arrangements had been instructed by the Mother that Champaklal should be the first to place his offering of a potful of earth upon the slate of the vault of the Samadhi. He was followed by Nolini and then, one by one, most of the Ashramites. Mr. Tandon was also present. He and the Head of the French Settlements were the first to offer their wreaths at the Samadhi.

The ceremony was free from any sectarian or religious rite. Dumb spectators, we looked on. The last symbolic homage was a scene of massed silence within and without.

The whole earth's plunge into darkness after sunset synchronised with the completion of the samadhi and symbolised our condition. Who knew how long it would have taken us to come out of the gloom, how long human feelings would have swayed the atmosphere, if the Mother's Force had not filled it ?

In the midst of our overwhelming sense of loss we gathered from her the assurance that the Master had not yielded to crass casualty but had sacrificed himself for the cause he had come to fulfil. Hence, knowing the deep secret, she stated: 'To grieve is

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to insult Sri Aurobindo. He is with us conscious and alive."⁴

She also declared : "The lack of receptivity of the earth and men is mostly responsible for the decision Sri Aurobindo has taken regarding his body. But one thing is certain; what has happened on the physical plane affects in no way the truth of his teaching. All that he has said is perfectly true and remains so. Time and the course of events will prove it abundantly."(8-12-1950)

Before dwelling on these matters further, it is necessary to take a look at the background of the 'Service' tree under which the Master's body rests. Why was the place, where the 'Service' tree stands, chosen for the Master's resting-place, why did the Mother take such particular interest in this tree and look to its growth with such tenderness ? Again, how is it that this plant commanded so much devotion of the sadhaks right from its transplantation as a sapling from the Colonial Garden ? Let us find the answer for ourselves.

When the Ashram was taking form there was no space, no courtyard, no garden in the centre of the main buildings, as we see to-day. The old building that was there in the centre was pulled down except for the small room which was utilised for long as the Flower Room. Later, it was made into a raised platform for flower pots. After the Master's passing, the platform was dug up, a very deep vault was built in, to serve as the repository of the material frame of the Master.

The present 'Service' tree on which poem after poem has been written was planted in 1930. It was not flourishing well; so the foundation of the old building was removed to the last brick and new earth, leaf-mould, etc., were put in. There was no hired labour in those days except for a few hands for domestic work. The

4. This calls back to our mind what she had said much earlier in the same year : "It is the devil of depression and despondency that we shall slay to-night so that all those who have the sincere will to get rid of this disease will receive the necessary help to conquer."

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sadhaks alone removed the debris, pulled out the foundation with heavy crow-bars. Their palms covered with blisters, they went on, caring nothing for the physical strain till they changed the site into a smiling garden. The determination to do the Mother's will was their only incentive.

Whatever structures were there to the south of the newly laid-out garden were demolished and turned into a courtyard.

After the demolition of the original Flower Room the 'Service' tree was given free scope for expansion and some of its branches hung so low that sadhaks had knocks on their heads while passing below them. When permission was sought for pruning big branches the Mother sent for the man in charge and pointing to the tree said, "See how nice it looks!" This was sufficient to indicate her mind.

Shortly afterwards, on her way back from the 'Prosperity' she halted a moment and turning her eyes to the tree admired its growth and beauty.

"But people complain of their heads being hurt," said someone standing by.

"They must learn to bend their heads," came the answer.

Later, when more and more branches hung low, covering a larger and larger area, the Mother spent a lot on erecting a cement framework to support them but did not allow a single branch to be lopped off.

While the earth around its foot was being dug a root or two was cut. When this was reported to the Mother she expressed her strong disapproval by saying that no root or branch of this 'Service' tree should be cut.

After the celebration of the Golden Day when the Champak tree to the east of the Reading Room was fast decaying, it was removed with the Mother's permission. And when suggestions were made for planting another Champack tree or one of 'Patience" or "Realisation", the Mother favoured only some tender

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plant. Perhaps she did not like another big tree to block the majestic view of the 'Service' tree.

About twenty days before the passing of Sri Aurobindo a sadhak, who has been here for long, dreamt that Sri Aurobindo had come out of his room into the open and was sitting at the foot of a big tree, leaning against the trunk, with his legs stretched in front. Very much surprised, he asked the attendants, in the dream itself, why the Master was there. They replied that form that time on he would only be there. Unable to make out the meaning, the sadhak thought it to be a distortion or an impure expression of his own mind, and put it aside to be forgotten as soon as possible, not to be spoken of to anybody, not even to the Mother. Then in those historic days, from the 5th to the 9th December 1950, he had the Darshan of the Master, a number of times daily, in the room where the Master lay at rest; but he remembered nothing about the dream. At last when he saw the Master's body being placed in the vault beneath the 'Service' tree, the dream flashed before his eyes, and this time the meaning seemed to be clear. Some days later when he got an opportunity he told the Mother of his dream, and she said that it was truly premonitory.

Others too had premonitions. On the 5th itself (December 1950) just before dawn, a young girl, a sadhika in the Ashram, saw in a dream Sri Aurobindo telling her that he was going away. She actually began to weep on hearing such shocking news, but Sri Aurobindo asked her not to weep and told her to speak about it only to her uncle, another old sadhak. She awoke and sat up owing to her strong emotion. Then she heard somebody calling her. She came out and was told by a fellow sadhak that the Master had passed away and that she could go and have the last Darshan.

B's husband came here in 1949. It is through him that she came to know about the Ashram, and settled here. At the time of the Master's passing she was at her own place. One day she had

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heard in a dream her husband saying. "Baba has passed away."

The Master has gone but he has not left us. His samadhi is our "temple of delight"—a shrine emanating light, guidance and strength to the erring and the lost. In the beginning there was an idea of erecting a kind of monument but from the very next day the devotion with which the members of the Ashram began to pour there heart's prayers and offer flowers was such that the idea was dropped. From early morning to eleven in the night there burn incense sticks. The pattern of decoration and the flowers composing the pattern are changed twice a day. That helps to keep up the freshness. On Darshan days as well as on December 5 and 9 the Samadhi is spread over with rose petals.

Sri Aurobindo's departure from the earthly scene gave rise to a spate of questions and speculations as to the future of the Ashram. There was a fear in some minds that the Mother would not consent to keep her own body. Dr. Sanyal's talk with the Mother did much to remove the fear:

"In my foolish way I voiced my apprehension for her health and the strain she put on her fragile frame. She smiled at me and asked, 'Do you think I get all this energy from my frugal meals ? Of course not, one can draw infinite energy from the universe when needed.' She also added, 'No, I have no intention of leaving my body for the present. I have yet a lot of things to do. So far as I am concerned, I am in constant contact with Sri Aurobindo."

Here two other statements of the Mother deserve special mention : "Our Lord has sacrificed himself totally for us......He was not compelled to leave his body, he chose to do so for reasons so sublime that they are beyond the reach of human mentality.... And when one cannot understand, the only thing is to keep a respectful silence."(26.12.1950)

"We stand in the Presence of Him who has sacrificed his physical life in order to help more fully his work of transformation.

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" He is always with us, aware of what we are doing, of all our thoughts, of all our feelings and all our actions." (18.1.1951)

These forceful truths did much to tone up the atmosphere.

They sounded in our hearts like hymns and gave us a new lease of life. Automatically, effortlessly we began to feel ourselves in-drawn. Meditation grew spontaneous. Slowly our minds got rid of the idea that the Master had gone. During our Pranams at the Samadhi and in our visions and dreams he appeared again and again, illumining our consciousness.

To give a few instances. H was feeling much depressed. All of a sudden at night on December II he heard a voice — "Do not feel disheartened. I am hear and everywhere." This was followed by a peace and serenity together with a fragrance of incense. The whole atmosphere grew beautiful and blissful. All his feeling of agony was gone once and for all.

Three or four days after the Master's passing, a sadhak saw white rays of light shooting up like a searchlight from the face of the Master from within the depth of the Samadhi and the place round the face was illuminated.

A little boy of 7 or 8 after receiving blessings from the Mother came to the Samadhi for Pranam. He did not raise his head for long. His father waited and waited for him. Then he came up to his father and asked, "What does the word tapasya mean ?"

"Why do you put this question ?" asked back the father.

"I was calling to Sri Aurobindo, 'Get up, won't you, how long will you sleep ? Then I heard his voice, 'Do tapasya for me, then I will get up'."

Towards the end of January 1959 an inmate of the Ashram, while standing near the Samadhi with closed eyes, saw Sri Aurobindo emerging from it in a golden colour.

On August 15, 1959 when the Mother appeared on the Balcony for the Darshan, X saw, a little higher up in the air, the full figure of Sri Aurobindo in a sitting position, just above the

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spot where the Mother stood.

A visiting sadhak from Jalandhar in course of a talk said, "It is my experience that now answers to problems are given the moment one stands in reverence before the Samadhi. Actually at times one hears a voice."(24.4.1961)

When Departmental heads used to send their reports they often mentioned in them various matters. Once in August, 1961 there was some misunderstanding between Y and Z. Everyday Y used to stand before the photo of the Mother and pour out his heart whenever possible. That day he could not do so. The thoughts of the misunderstanding hovvered over his mind.

Next day, at about 4.30 a.m., he saw in a dream a note of about 10 lines scribbled in pencil. When he woke up, all he remembered was that it said he was not in fault. He realised that there is an eye that sees all we do, and an ear that hears all we say.

W went up to the Mother with the hope of receiving a reply to his letter written a day before his birthday but there was nothing of the kind. This caused some depression in his mind. Next morning while he was offering Pranam at the Samadhi, head bent down, he saw the Mother in her usual form, saying to him: 'Why worry ? I'm not displeased with you!"

Now when letter-writing has stopped and the Mother's talks have stopped, inner communications have not. Those who have developed an inner life feel no void.

The Master's Photo

At the instance of Dr. Sanyal the Ashram photographers were called and permitted by the Mother to take the last pictures of the Master.

...Till November 1950, Sri Aurobindo's photo in only four poses taken in 1919 was available. According to Dinendranath Roy who was with Sri Aurobindo at Baroda his complexion was dark. So too says Rassendren who used to visit Sri Aurobindo

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during his pre-siddhi days: "He looked exactly as seen in his old photos." Hence a surprise awaited a visitor when he came for Darshan and found his complexion golden and his figure majestic in contrast with his earlier pictures.

G.V. Subbarao in his reminiscences says :

"It was in October, 1923 that I first saw Sri Aurobindo... He was dazzling bright in colour—it was said that, in his earlier years, he was more dark than brown—and had a long, rather thin beard which was well dressed, with streaks of white strewn here and there. The figure was slender.. but a bit more fleshy. The eyes⁵ were big and elongated., and their looks were keen and piercing .. His voice was low, but quite audible, quick and musical... He was fast in his flow, clear like a crystal and analytical.. In a fifteen minute talk, he gave me his philosophy in a nutshell. He was simple and courteous, outspoken and free in his interrogations. It seemed as though he could know a man by a sweep of his eyes and read men's minds from a survey of their photographs."⁶

In those days no one could take Ashram pictures or of any of its activities without permission. Several times an attempt was made to take a photo of the Mother and of Sri Aurobindo but none could succeed. As a rule, the Mother would not let anybody take her photo. Whatever photos are seen in old albums were

5.a) How he impressed those who came into contact with him can be inferred from what the English Principal of the Baroda College said to C.R.Reddy :

"So you met Aurobindo Ghose. Did you notice his eyes ? There is mystic fire and light in them. They penetrate into the beyond." And he added, "If Joan of Arc heard heavenly voices, Aurobindo probably sees heavenly visions." (Quoted in Sisir Kumar Mitra's The Liberator p.44)

6.Life of Sri Aurobindo by A. B. Purani.

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taken by unauthorised persons. C took two photos of the Mother when she started going to the Tennis Ground, but very few knew about them. The only available photos of the Mother were those taken in Algeria, Japan or elsewhere.

There is in the Rabindra Sadan collection at Santiniketan a group photograph including the Mother and the Poet taken in Kyoto.

It was in April 1950 that a world-famous photo-journalist, Henri Cartier Bresson, of Magnum Photos, came with his wife to Pondicherry in the course of his Indian tour. On his desiring to take the photos of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, he had the permission.

He photographed Sri Aurobino in as many poses as he chose and the Mother as well. Before him none from outside could have free access to Sri Aurobindo's room for such purposes.⁷

It is also a significant fact that but for this photographer the world would have had no picture of Sri Aurobindo or of the Darshan Day after the Siddhi and before the Samadhi.

One can now understand why the taking of photos, consistently refused for 30 years, was at last allowed only in the year 1950.

But this photographer kept all the negatives in his possession and they were received by the Ashram after long negotiations and with great difficulty — a thing not expected. Besides, without the approval of the Ashram some photos were published in a European magazine.

Consequently, none of these pictures were available immediately after Sri Aurobindo's passing. We could have only those

7. In 1946 Sri Aurobindo's room underwent thorough repairs. At that time, 20 years after the Siddhi, Some masons and labourers were allowed in. We all entered it on December 5, 1950 when he passed away. To-day (1968) more than 20 years later, the room remains as fresh, neat and tidy as at that time.

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that had been taken by the Ashram photographers just after that event.

To us the photos of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are not mere pictures of the physical form. They enshrine their living Presence. Hundreds of instances can be quoted of how people feel not only their Presence but also their touch in them.

A visitor from Kanpur saw an autographed photo of the Master in a small local shop, just kept there for decoration. Again and again he requested the shopkeeper to part with it to him for payment. The owner went on increasing the price every time it was asked till it was raised to Rs. 100/-. The only cause of the Kanpur man's eagerness for this particular photo was that it bore the autograph of the Master — the autograph in which he saw his Presence.

To quote the Mother:

"Every book, because of the words contained in it, is like a little battery of forces. People do not know it... In the same way, in every image, in every photograph, there is an accumulation of forces, a little accumulation representing the force of him whose image it is, his nature and his powers, if he has any. And if you are sincere and have an aspiration, you emanate a certain vibration and the vibration of your aspiration goes and meets the corresponding force in the book or in the photo and it is a higher consciousness that gives you the answer...

"Each book of his (Sri Aurobindo's) contains symbolically, potentially what is there in him."⁸

Several albums were prepared from the negatives bought from Cartier Bresson. Those who had these albums from the hands of the Mother received the following words from her pen addressed to them in their individual names :

"Let this album be for you the sign of His constant Presence."

To a few of the Ashramites she gave gold rings with the

8. Bulletin, August, 1960, p.59.

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Master's emblem engraved on them. Since then this emblem has been in growing use.

The Growth after 1950

After the observance of 12 days' silent abstention from normal activities, the Mother resumed her work on December 17 and everything went on as usual. Even the Darshan days were observed without any change and the attendant atmosphere remained charged with an indefinable consciousness as before. The benignity of the Mother's Presence given Darshan and blessings appeared to be of the Two in One. She brought, as she continues to bring, the living reality of Sri Aurobindo's Presence in herself. Sri Aurobindo's physical absence is in fact his omnipresence. So complete is her oneness with the Lord that once we heard that Sri Aurobindo himself gave the Darshan Blessings through the Mother's hands.

A year after the Master's withdrawal, the Ashram activities began to expand beyond expectation. It was quite evident the forces that were released were at work in every quarter. The whole block of the Education Centre buildings, the Library buildings, the Exhibition Hall, a big plot on which stands the Theatre Hall of the Education Centre, a Swimming Pool on the international pattern, the purchase of Le Faucheur Gardens, the Lake Estate, the expanded Transport Service, the installation of the Power House, to name a few, are some notable signs of the forces released in the most external field.

The flowering of the creative impulse of the Ashram is also not negligible. There has been a new tone, a new voice in every sphere — no harping on the glories of the past⁹ that was India.

9. "The traditions of the past are very great in their own place, in the past, but I do not see why we should merely repeat them and not go further. In the spiritual development of consciousness upon earth the great past ought to be followed by a greater future"—Sri Aurobindo.

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Life is being seen in a new aspect from a new angle.

To-day, sitting at the feet of the Mother, we feel we are under the shelter of a kalpataru, a wish-yielding tree. All our needs are met by unseen hands, our troubles and problems are solved by an unseen power. The Peace and Protection, we enjoy are incomparable. The zephyr that blows here makes us sense an ever-present spring. The flowers that bloom here are not just the concrete expression of the tapasya of trees and plants. They are free gifts of the Mother of an Eternal Springtide.¹⁰

What Sri Aurobindo has done for his disciples in the spiritual sphere is very little known. Even in the Vedic age one had to practise great tapasya; only then one could be deemed fit for yoga. But Sri Aurobindo did, as it were, his yoga for us ! Like a father distributing his hard-earned riches among his ignorant children, this Prince of givers brought down his wealth only to give it away to us.

For full eight years, every night, when the whole world and we his disciples enjoyed repose in sleep, he read our letters, answered our questions, turned over the pages of numerous reports,¹¹ corrected poems of the Ashram poets. Once a boy fell ill. The doctor was asked to send a full report. The Master gave directions even as to what food the boy should take and what he should avoid.

And in return for his gifts, what could we give him ? What have we but the dirt and refuse of our nature ? He never tested us, never judged us. But however vast the ocean from which it draws, the pitcher can take only the measure of its capacity.

10."The Divine does the sadhana for the world and then gives what is brought down to others. Naturally, the Mother does the sadhana in each sadhak—only it is conditioned by their zeal and their receptivity."— Sri Aurobindo.

11.Once D sent a report of 40 pages. In those days he used to send his reports twice a day. For a few days he did not send them. The Mother said that Sri Aurobindo inquired why he had not sent his report book.

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Sri Aurobindo's compassion was as limitless as his consciousness. Even cats and dogs of the Ashram had their share in it. A puppy called by the Mother "Goldie" was given to a sadhika at her request and, when grown up, it carried in its mouth a basket of flowers every day from her garden into the Mother's room and then would pass into Sri Aurobindo's Presence to receive pats and caresses. Often it would lie down below the Master's bed.

We have it from the Mother, as reported by Nolini Kanta Gupta, that, "In the whole creation the earth has a place of distinction, because unlike any other planet it is evolutionary with a psychic entity at its centre. In it India, in particular, is a divinely chosen country," a devabhumi, land of gods. And what about Pondicherry ?

When Sri Aurobindo came here "it was absolutely dead"¹² and now it is reckoned by the Mother as "a place of Realisation."¹³ Its glory lies in the fact that it is not only Sri Aurobindo's sadhanabhumi, seat of Sadhana, siddhibhumi, seat of victory, but also the centre of the Supramental Manifestation. If the Ashram is the world-shrine of worship, the spot selected for Sri Aurobindo's Samadhi is its centre—the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Lover of Humanity

Dr. C. R. Reddy, Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University, hailed Sri Aurobindo as one of the "Saviours of humanity who belong to all ages and all nations, the Sanatanas who leaven our existence with their eternal presence..."

For forty long years Sri Aurobindo did not step out of Pondicherry, yet he is hailed as a lover of humanity. Why? By isolating oneself from society can one serve humanity ?

12.Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother, p. 331.

13.Bulletin, February, 1960.

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Sri Aurobindo's way of work was quite out of the common. He believed more in the power of silence than in that of speech. The world is already "deafened by words"; its one and only need is action. All his life we see Sri Aurobindo engaged in ceaseless action, beyond human eyes, through his spiritual force for the salvation of mankind.

From the outset he was a revolutionary of the first order. He was for all-round and total revolution. Even in the spiritual field he has made new departures, broken age-long conventions and struck out a new path of sadhana. He wanted to pull humanity out of its old rut and infuse into it a new consciousness.

I carry the sorrow of millions in my lonely breast.¹⁴

Man is generally confronted with two kinds of problems, outer and inner. To meet his outer problems he needs bread, money and all that the earth can give. But having amassed all that, he sees his hunger on the increase. Further, nothing can help him to free himself from disease and death and subjection to all kinds of ills.

So he thinks the problem is inner and not outer. Hence we find the rise of religions. Then comes science with all its marvels. Marvellous are man's achievements. But what a pity that when he should walk on the earth like a god, he finds himself in fetters of his own make.

The present world is not void of power or destitute of means 14 million dollars are spent per hour on armaments. And yet our lives have become a tangle. All are eager to get out of the tangle but an utter helplessness has seized humanity.

At the time of Sri Krishna, a crisis like that of Kurukshetra was one which occurred on a rare occasion. In fact, such a crisis hardly occurred even in centuries. At present, before one crisis is resolved ten others crop up,in its place.

These are the products of an over-developed mental

14. More Poems, p.55.

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civilisation. According to Sri Aurobindo, no one is to be blamed for that. At the present stage of evolution, this is bound to happen. The solution can come only from higher sources.

And what Sri Aurobindo's solution is we have already seen.

A Rishi is he who sees hundreds of years ahead. The Ramayana is said to have been written long before Rama was bom. Sri Aurobindo saw that darkness could not be removed by darkness. Service to humanity, change of Government, etc., are temporary adjustments. Even world organisations are not enough. They are only patchwork on an old garment.

Sri Aurobindo is not against science but it must serve a higher purpose. He wants a new way of living, a new order of things. Man must learn to submit to the rule of God.

This change cannot come by human effort however great. Again and again the Master has said the solution can come only from a higher source. He did so much to lead humanity to a higher destiny. But why is there no sign of a new dawn ? Must the world remain doomed to suffering for eternity ? Is there no purpose in creation ?

Volumes have been written as answers but still the issue remains unresolved. Sri Aurobindo's speciality lies not only in explaining the position but also in acting out what he has said. He came not merely to teach but to act, to achieve, to fulfil and hew out a new path for others to follow.

We have the Mother's assertion :

"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."¹⁵ Why then was there no radical change in the world situation after the Second World War ? His reply can be found in his own words :

"My present effort is not to stand up on a high and distant Supermind level and change the world from there, but to bring

15. Bulletin, April 1961, p.69.

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something of it down here and stand on that and act by that; but at the present stage the progressive supramentalisation of the Overmind is the first immediate preoccupation and a second is the lightening of the heavy resistance of the Inconscient and the support it gives to human ignorance which is always the main obstacle in any attempt to change the world or even to change oneself.

"I have always said that the spiritual force I have been putting on human affairs, such as the War, is not the Supramental one but the Overmental force, and that when it acts in the material world it is so inextricably mixed up in the tangle of the lower world forces that its results, however strong or however adequate to the immediate object, must necessarily be partial." This letter was written to the Editor of Mother India a

"That is why I am getting a birthday present of a free India on August 15, but...in two packets as two Indias..." ¹⁶ (7-7-1947)

By the by, in order to have the Master's voice recorded, a request was made to him to give his radio broadcast message of August 15,1947 in his own voice. But the request was not granted.

When D. K. Roy asked in an interview whether there was no way of release from the underworlds of pain and misery, the Master said softly:

"I too wanted at one time to transform through my yoga the face of the world. My aim was to change the fundamental nature and movements of humanity, to exile all the evils which afflict helpless mortality...

"I didn't realise then that in order to help humanity out it was not enough for an individual, however great, to achieve an ultimate solution individually : humanity has to be ripe for it too. For the crux of the difficulty is that even when the Light is ready to descend it cannot come to stay until the lower plane is also

16. Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother, p. 245.

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ready to bear the pressure of the Descent."¹⁷

This explains in his own words why Sri Aurobindo wanted to dig up the roots of evil and ignorance and flood the depths with the supernal Light. It was to this that all his energies were directed. No sacrifice he considered too great for it and he actually paid the price with his life.

Before 1926, in his evening talks Sri Aurobindo spoke to a visiting sadhak that if the inconscient refused to change he would leave the body.

"Would you then reappear in another body ?"

"Yes."

"In India ?"

"Why talk of India, Bengal, Pondicherry ? It is for the Divine to choose time and place."¹⁸

By his sacrifice Christ had given birth to a new humanity, a new civilization. How Sri Aurobindo's sacrifice is going to help a new creation, a new Heaven on a new Earth, time will show.

The task of the world-redeemer is hard because "this world is in love with its own ignorance."

He must call light into its dark abysms,...

He must enter the eternity of Night.

Then shall be ended here the Law of Pain...

He dies that the world may be new-born and live.¹⁹

No greater sacrifice could be conceived by the human mind than the sacrifice which the Master made to hasten the reaching of its goal by the collectivity. On his work he concentrated his whole energy for 24 years, shutting himself up in his room, denying himself even fresh air, sunlight and moonlight; and when on the point of achieving the final success, he sacrificed himself. In this context let us listen to the Mother:

17.Among the Great by Dilip Kumar Roy, pp. 219 & 220.

18.Sris Chandra Goswami in the Bengali monthly—Sabyasachi.

19.Savitri.

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"Sri Aurobindo has given up his body in an act of supreme unselfishness, renouncing the realisation in his body to hasten the hour of the collective realisation. Surely if the earth were more responsive, this would not have been necessary." (12-6-1953)

His body remaining intact for ninety hours under the action of the supramental light symbolised the secret victory of his work. Having drunk up the poison, Shiva-like, of the Inconscient, he awakened the possibilities of the kingdom of Heaven on earth. The highest aim of his life was to bring the light down into matter. This he has done. That was no doubt the first phase of his victory. Its further manifestation and expansion is left to the domain of the Mother.

Sri Aurobindo was once asked : "In a review article on your book The Riddle of This World, a Swami has remarked that you have the boldness to say that you have done what the Vedic Rishis could not do. What is the truth in this criticism ?" Sri Aurobindo commented:

"It is not I only who have done what the Vedic Rishis did not do. Chaitanya and others developed an intensity of Bhakti which is absent in the Veda and many other instances can be given. Why should the past be the limit of the spiritual experience ?"

But there are some who can dive into the mysteries : let us hear the reading of Sri Anirvan, himself a Yogi:

"...Disease, decay and death might be attacked as perhaps had been done by the Buddha, with the spiritual forces. One cures the diseased mind and thus cures the diseased body : modem therapeutics knows something of the trick. The conquest of decay and death on the same lines might be looked upon as a case of extension of what has already been achieved. At least the adventure is worth while.

"But the conquest of death is a problem that can be solved on a cosmic level alone. There must be a complete reversal of the present plan of life evolution on earth before this can be achieved.

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Sri Aurobindo saw this and launched into the bold adventure of tackling the cosmic forces. He has been ridiculed and abused for this and often branded as a heretic. 'It is against God's plan,' said they. 'No, it is just making way for the inevitable and fulfilling His plan,' was his reply to the charge.

"There is no denying the fact that Sri Aurobindo is the first sacrifice in a noble cause. His death very forcefully reminds one of the saying of the Rishi of the Purusa-suktam : 'The gods, as they spread the web of sacrifice, tied the Purusha Himself to the post as the victim.' And if death, as the Upanishadic seers speak of it, is the concentration of a final illumination of the Heart, Sri Aurobindo's death has been like an explosion illuminating the horizon of the distant future and its impact on the living has been and will be far-reaching in its results."²⁰

Now one question remains to be discussed. Before that let us turn to a sadhak's vision in 1951. He saw a golden statue of Sri Aurobindo seated in a huge chariot, made all of gold, pulled by people in a procession. Each of them had a flag made of gold. At the same time he heard a voice, "He will be recognised as an Avatar who came to free humanity from disease, decay and death."

Surely this story belongs to the realm of visions and dreams. However may one assess its objective value, none can dispute its subjective import. But a question may arise : how is one to believe that the work on which Sri Aurobindo spent all his life was the work of the Avatar ? Here it is necessary to have clear ideas about an Avatar.

The popular idea is queer. If one does not exhibit super-human powers and perform miracles, one is nothing of the kind.

The Avatar's function, in Sri Aurobindo's view, is to quicken or push forward the pace of evolution and to fulfil a set purpose. Otherwise an Avatar would be reduced to a miracle-monger. To quote the Mother:

20. Asia, Quarterly, Saigon, 1951.

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"To go up and down and join the top to the bottom is the whole secret of realisation and that is the work of the Avatar."

According to Sri Aurobindo, man is not bound to remain where he is to-day in his evolutionary stage. As he has progressed from the Stone Age to the Iron Age so will he advance towards the Age of Gold. Could even the wildest optimist have imagined the progress man has made within the last 15 or 20 years ?

The sky that is overcast with war clouds at the moment will have to clear before the growing light of the new consciousness. It is a question of time. God is never in a hurry to satisfy human impatience.

Sri Aurobindo's lifelong tapasya and his sacrifice give us the assurance that the day is not far off.

India's Home Minister Sardar Patel's death in 1950 plunged the country headlong into grief and the general feeling was that India's backbone had broken. Nobody disbelieved the news of his death, nobody mistook it. But Sri Aurobindo's withdrawal could hardly be believed. With their eyes and ears open, people spoke to one another, "Is it true ? Is it ever possible ? No, it can never be..."²¹

Sri Aurobindo's works had created a conviction, the fire sparks of his thoughts had kindled a hope in the world that he would live as long as he willed or till his work was done. Even in the minds of those who did not understand him, these thoughts had gained the upper hand. In the world of thought, is this not Sri Aurobindo's initial victory ? If by the power of thought alone, he could bring about such a change in the human mind, how much more would be possible with the manifestation of the Supermind ?

21. "In December 1950, he died. I was the first to be told about it in Delhi on the telephone by our Consul General. For two hours my mind went blank. I did not know why.

"There was only a vague sense of being stunned. I did not feel like this even when Gandhiji who was certainly very near to me, died; and I saw him dying..."—K. M. Munshi.

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The rise of a new humanity, a new civilisation, a new literature, a new order of things, a new age—can all these pass for common events of life ? The answer may not rest with the present generation but with the generations that follow. Theirs will be the privilege of recognising whether the one who heralded this era will be called an Avatar and his age will be named after him or not.

Time was when India had achieved a conquest of the world. It was a conquest not by the sword but by thought. A day will come when Sri Aurobindo's revelation will revolutionise the world and change the whole structure of mental civilisation.

The Ashram where Sri Aurobindo's thoughts and visions are realising themselves will one day be hailed as unique²² in the history of mankind and people from all over the globe will be longing to visit it as a place of pilgrimage.

22. Posing the question, "And what for did our Rishis desire acquisition of Illumination and of Power ?" C. R. Reddy himself gives the answer :

"Not for looking at themselves as in a mirror and sitting brooding on their own beauty like a silly girl; and not to let power remain a bare possession without fruitful application. It was for helping the world and for using them as stages in their yet further progress to the rank and region of the Devas, that they sought Light and sought Power, sought Omniscience and Omnipotence.

"And now we can in some small measure understand the nature of this extraordinary Ashram in which life and the joy of life are mingled in happy union with spirituality and spiritual progress. It is dug out of the Vedas and planted in Pondicherry."

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