AT THE FEET OF THE MOTHER
Ask Alok da

In the Book of Yoga, in Canto 4, Savitri encounters the Triple soul-forces within her. One is Madonna of Suffering (pg. 507), the other is Madonna of Might (pg. 513), and another is Madonna of Light (pg. 520). What exactly are these forces? πŸ“–πŸ”₯πŸ€”[…]

I do not seem to fully understand their significance in the process of spiritual growth of us, human beings. Watching Savitri meet and talk to them feels beautiful, but it helps to know how these forces are part of us and our lives, too.

All I can feel is that these forces are now like shadows that need to grow into their true counterparts of Light.

These are the triple soul forces that we call as Tamoguna, Rajoguna and Sattwaguna. In traditional spiritual literature, they are shown as modes of Nature which are other than the Self, creating a division between the Purusha and Prakriti. Sri Aurobindo bridges this gap by clearly stating that these forces in their origin are divine energies embedded in the Soul. They leap out from there, releasing (visargaha) the divine energies into the world play through the swabhava of the Jiva. The various gods and goddesses all operate according to these three modes. For example, Brahma is Rajoguna, Vishnu is Sattwaguna, Shiva is Tamoguna. They operate and regulate the various powers in the human system as well. The Maddona of Suffering is the power of forebearance and endurance, sahanasakti. The Madonna of Might is the power to meet the challenges and achieve, ikshasakti and kriyasakti, or simply sankalpsakti. The Madonna of Light is the power of knowledge or gyanasakti. They are also operative in the cosmos as the various forms of goddesses that help creation evolve towards its Divine Destiny.

In the narrow ego-bound human consciousness, they undergo a dark deformation, turning into a titan who is in reality the shadow of a god or a fallen angel.Β 

Affectionately,

Alok Da

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