It is true that Sri Aurobindo gave the names Krishna and Kali to the Master of the Integral yoga and His Power, as he writes in one of his letters.
‘It is then that in the One we must see the Master and His Power,—Krishna and Kali as I name them using the terms of our Indian religions; the Power occupying the whole of myself and my nature which becomes Kali and ceases to be anything else, the Master using, directing, enjoying the Power to his ends, not mine, with that which I call myself only as a centre of his universal existence and responding to its workings as a soul to the Soul, taking upon itself his image until there is nothing left but Krishna and Kali.’
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/36/to-the-mother-and-paul-richard#p36)
He further clarifies this in another essay on the Spirit and the Power that drives Time along its roads.
‘In all movements, in every great mass of human action it is the Spirit of the Time, that which Europe calls the Zeitgeist and India Kala, who expresses himself. The very names are deeply significant. Kali, the Mother of all and destroyer of all, is the Shakti that works in secret in the heart of humanity manifesting herself in the perpetual surge of men, institutions and movements, Mahakala the Spirit within whose energy goes abroad in her and moulds the progress of the world and the destiny of the nations. His is the impetus which fulfils itself in Time, and once there is movement, impetus from the Spirit within, Time and the Mother take charge of it, prepare, ripen and fulfil. When the Zeitgeist, God in Time, moves in a settled direction, then all the forces of the world are called in to swell the established current towards the purpose decreed. That which consciously helps, swells it, but that which hinders swells it still more, and like a wave on the windswept Ocean, now rising, now falling, now high on the crest of victory and increase, now down in the troughs of discouragement and defeat, the impulse from the hidden Source sweeps onward to its preordained fulfilment. Man may help or man may resist, but the Zeitgeist works, shapes, overbears, insists.
The great and memorable vision of Kurukshetra when Sri Krishna manifesting his world-form declared himself as destroying Time, is significant of this deep perception of humanity. ‘
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/13/the-greatness-of-the-individual)
Clearly, he is referring to the Immanent Divine, Vasudev, who dwells within all creatures. It is not merely Sri Krishna, the Avatara of Dwapara, whom we know and who no doubt had a great influence on Sri Aurobindo’s initial sadhana. It is the immanent Divine within man and the power that moves Time that Sri Aurobindo is referring to as Krishna and Kali. Krishna is the Divine Presence within everything and Kali is His dynamic Power needed for the change.
As far as his yoga is concerned, he did not ask his disciples to concentrate upon Sri Krishna or Kali since his yoga went further beyond them. So, as far as his disciples are concerned, it is only Sri Aurobindo and The Mother to whom we have to turn. Here is a letter clarifying our work, what we have to do.
‘Please initiate me into a tangible form of Yoga. I make this assurance that I shall follow your instructions to the very letter and refer to you my doubts and difficulties on the way.
There is no method in this Yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eyebrows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one’s own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother’s Power and Presence.’
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/32/calling-the-mothers-force#p17)
Affectionately,
Alok Da
