Many people who have followed only the Truth in Life are altruistic and fully involved in work, and unselfishness to a level is developed as well. Why doesn’t Sri Krishna or any other God choose them like Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were chosen? We have Mr. M, Mahavatar Baba, also. But the elaborate level of work given by Sri Aurobindo has not been done by them.
One could answer this question in different ways. But first, we need to draw a distinction between a sattwic, selfless, honest person and a spiritual seeker. A sattwic righteous person is often too satisfied with his goodness and, if he is intelligent, even more satisfied with his understanding and knowledge acquired through books and reason. This satisfaction with one’s goodness and intellectual capacity itself becomes a bar to higher seeking. But of course, if such a person who is at once highly intelligent, as well as selfless beyond measure, consciously aspires towards spiritual life, more so not a spirituality to escape from the world but to make this world perfect, then no doubt such a person becomes a very powerful instrument of the Divine Purpose in the world. Such people are, however, very rare. Most human beings mean by selflessness working for a high mental ideal, but ideals and idealism cannot uplift the human soul beyond a point. Idealism cannot remove the veil of Ignorance which is the main cause of all human suffering and evil and pain. This partially answers the question about what is special about Sri Aurobindo. A little look at his life, as described in ‘Sri Aurobindo – His Life Unique’, by Rishabhchand, gives us a glimpse of the human personality of Sri Aurobindo. To quote from one of his letters to his wife, Mrinalini Devi.
‘I have three madnesses. Firstly, it is my firm faith that all the virtue, talent, the higher education and knowledge and the wealth God has given me, belong to Him. I have the right to spend only so much as is necessary for the maintenance of the family and on what is absolutely needed. Whatever remains should be returned to the Divine. If I spend all on myself, for personal comfort, for luxury, then I am a thief. Up till now I have been giving only one-eighth of my money to God and have been spending the rest of it for my personal happinessβthus trying to settle the account and remain immersed in worldly pleasures. Half of the life has already been wasted; even an animal feels gratified in feeding itself and its family.
I have realised that all these days I had been pursuing the life of the animal and of the thief. Having realised this, I have felt much repentant and have grown a repulsion for myself; no more of it,βthis sinful act I abandon for good. Giving the money to the Divine means using it for works of dharma. I have no regrets for the money that I gave to Sarojini or to Usha, because helping others is dharma, to protect those who depend on you is a great dharma, but the account is not settled if one gives only to oneβs brothers and sisters. In these hard days, the whole country is seeking refuge at my door, I have thirty crores of brothers and sisters in this countryβmany of them die of starvation, most of them weakened by suffering and troubles are somehow[p.351] dragging on. They must be helped.
What do you say? Will you be, in regard to this, the copartner of my dharma? We will eat and dress like simple people and buy what is really essential, and give the rest to the Divine. That is what I would like to do. If you agree to it, and can make the sacrifice, then my urge can be fulfilled. You were complaining, βI could not make any progress.β Here is a path to progress that I point to you. Would you proceed in that path?
The second madness has recently taken hold of me; it is this: by any means, I must have the direct experience of God. The religion of today, that is, uttering the name of God every now and then, in praying to Him in front of everybody, showing to people how religious one isβthat I do not want. If the Divine is there, then there must be a way of experiencing His existence, of meeting Him; however hard be the path, I have taken a firm resolution to tread it. Hindu Dharma asserts that the path is there within oneβs own body, in oneβs mind. It has also given the methods to be followed to tread that path. I have begun to observe them and within a month I have been able to ascertain that the words of the Hindu Dharma are not untrue. I am experiencing all the signs that have been mentioned by it. Now, I would like to take you also along that path; you would of course not be able to keep up with me as you have not yet acquired so much knowledge, but there is nothing to prevent your following me. Anybody can have the realisation by following the path, but it is left to oneβs will to choose to enter the path. Nobody can force you to enter it. If you are willing, I will write more on the subject.
The third madness is this: whereas others regard the country as an inert piece of matter and know it as the plains, the fields, the forests, the mountains and the rivers, I know my country as the Mother, I worship her and adore her[p.352] accordingly. What would a son do when a demon, sitting on his motherβs breast, prepares to drink her blood? Would he sit down content to take his meals or go on enjoying himself in the company of his wife and children, or would he rather run to the rescue of his mother? I know I have the strength to uplift this fallen race; not a physical strength, I am not going to fight with a sword or a gun, but with the power of knowledge. The force of the kαΉ£atriya is not the only force, there is also the force of the Brahmin which is founded on knowledge. This is not a new feeling in me, not of recent origin, I was born with it, it is in my very marrow. God sent me to the earth to accomplish this great mission. At the age of fourteen the seed of it had begun to sprout and at eighteen it had been firmly rooted and become unshakable. Listening to the words of Aunt N you thought that some wicked person had led your simple and good-natured husband to the evil path. In fact, it was your good-natured husband who brought that person and hundreds of others to that path, be it good or evil; and he will bring thousands more to it. I do not say that the work will be accomplished while I live, but it will certainly be accomplished.’
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/09/letters-to-mrinalini#p16)
In this letter, confiscated by the British and hence now public, one can see not only a tremendous aspiration to find and see God face to face but an equally powerful aspiration to work for the good of the nation and the world. Such a combination is extremely rare. I have read the lives of saints and sages, including that of Mahavatar Babaji and several others, but nowhere one finds this Fire of aspiration that is not interested in personal Moksha or Nirvana and having had these high, profound experiences, yet wants to strive for perfecting the world.Β
Mr M and others, of course, stand nowhere in comparison either from the human or the spiritual point of view. Sri Aurobindo’s inner and outer stature dwarfs almost all the past and present spiritual personalities except Sri Krishna. I am not saying this as a devotee, but impersonally and having read a lot of works and the lives of others. But to discuss that will be too vast a subject. However, you can have a little glimpse of it in the series of talks on Glimpses of Sri Aurobindo’s life on Auromaa, as well as the talk on Sri Aurobindo as the Kalki Avatar.
Of course, one can very simply say that he is the Man of Destiny, as indeed all great beings are, chosen by the Divine who knows best. After all, why was Arjuna chosen above Bhisma, Yudhisthira, Vidur and others for the Gita? One can only say, ‘the spirit bloweth where it listeth.’
Basically, one has to only read the lives of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother to understand that such a Light and Compassion and Love, such a many-sided spiritual personality fusing harmoniously the Divine and the human has never manifested before.Β
Affectionately,
Alok Da
