However, he died in Kashmir, possibly under political circumstances, which raises confusion in my mind: why did the Divine not protect him?
Had he lived, India might have taken a different course, and he could have even become Prime Minister. It seems a misfortune for the country. I do not doubt divine grace, but such incidents sometimes create confusion.
There are plenty of such instances, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy, who, despite his personal deficiencies, was a good divine instrument but was killed. Such instances are there in the Mahabharata as well. It naturally raises the question of Divine Omnipotence in some minds. But what we need to understand is that the Divine does not act in a vacuum. There is something called as the human will, – individual and collective. It has been deliberately left, to a limit of course, to allow the freedom to evolve (or destroy oneself). This is the very nature of a creation meant to be evolutionary. Other worlds where there are no sudden unexpected dangers and things are fixed in scale are typal worlds. But Earth is a special field chosen for the most special favorite of the Divine, the human soul. Its prize through the long and dangerous journey, often hazardous, is to grow consciously one with the Divine, something denied even to the gods. Hence the difficult preparation. That is why we see the Mahabharata and the humiliation of the Pandavas repeatedly until the day of reckoning. Sri Aurobindo describes it in the very beginning of his Essays on the Gita. The Divine does not keep intervening arbitrarily at every little juncture. He aids from behind, pushing people and things yet allowing each one the necessary freedom until there is readiness and things are ripe for the full fruition of the Divine Will. That is why the Lila is called as a play where it is certain that the Divine Omnipotence and Omniscience will eventually fulfil, but it takes into consideration all the conditions of the play that have emerged in the course of time. He doesn’t bulldoze and flattens all that resists to change, but allows time and opportunity to accept the Will. If the refusal is obstinate and a deadlock is reached, then a swift bulldozer swings into action and things change suddenly. The night is needed so that we learn to aspire and be ready for the day. That is why Sri Aurobindo withdrew from politics. We may ask whether it would not have been better if he continued? Well, Sri Aurobindo himself answered that one of the reasons for his withdrawal was that India and Indians were not ready for the kind of politics and governance he wanted to manifest. His going behind the scenes was to prepare, a long preparation indeed, before the Divine Will is ready to manifest in Bharat.
Besides, in the Divine working, nothing is lost or wasted. Those who died struggling for freedom return in new bodies, strengthened by the experience of sacrifice. Their death itself becomes a means to prepare others. Mata Sita’s sacrifice prepares the earth for the redemption of women. The tragic note on which the Ramayana ends still prepares mankind for the ideal of Ramrajya one day. The Divine Omnipotence is there, no doubt, but it does not ignore the conditions of the play. It gives a full chance to play out the different possibilities through which mankind is prepared. And when things are ready, then Ravana, Kansa, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, the British and other empires collapse like a house of cards.
What is needed therefore is to prepare ourselves for the divine future lest we are found not ready. Rest will be taken care of by the Divine, who knows the Play and the rules of the game that He himself has set for His own incalculable purpose.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
