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Sri Aurobindo Centres

Seeds of the Future

Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is not just an individual yoga done for individual salvation by seekers who progressively withdraw from the world in a silent and solitary contemplation of the Divine. It is a world including, world transforming yoga which, by the very nature of the goal placed before it has to have a double movement, an individual progress spearheading the group life and a collective progress completing it. It is a collective yoga so to say whose earliest seeds can be seen in Sri Aurobindo’s letter to Motilal Roy on 03rd July 1912

‘1) To reexplain the Sanatana Dharma to the human intellect in all its parts, from a new standpoint. This work is already beginning, & three parts of it are being clearly worked out. Sri Krishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the process & origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed & the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He has also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore to reexplain the whole Vedanta & Veda in such a way that it will be seen how all religion arises out of it & is one everywhere. In this way it will be proved that India is the centre of the religious life of the world & its destined saviour through the Sanatana Dharma.
2) On the basis of Vedic knowledge to establish a Yogic sadhana which will not only liberate the soul, but prepare a perfect humanity & help in the restoration of the Satyayuga. That work has to begin now but will not be complete till the end of the Kali.

3) India being the centre, to work for her restoration to her proper place in the world; but this restoration must be effected as a part of the above work and by means of Yoga applied to human means & instruments, not otherwise.

4) A perfect humanity being intended society will have to be remodelled so as to be fit to contain that perfection.’

We can call it as the vision and mission document of Sri Aurobindo. He elaborates the collective part later in a letter to Barin in April 1920.

‘I want a community based upon the Spirit and giving form to the unity of the Spirit. This idea Motilal has taken up under the name deva-saṅgha (divine community). I have spoken in my English writings of the “divine life”. Nolini has translated this as deva-jīvana. The community of those who want the deva-jīvana is the deva-saṅgha. Motilal has begun an attempt to establish this kind of community in seed-form in Chandernagore and to spread it across the country. If the shadow of the fragile ego falls upon this sort of endeavour, the community turns into a sect….

You will perhaps ask, “What is the need of a saṅgha? Let me be free and fill every vessel. Let all become one, let all take place within that vast unity.” All this is true, but it is only one side of the truth. Our business is not with the formless Spirit only; we have to direct life as well. Without shape and form, life has no effective movement. It is the formless that has taken form, and that assumption of name and form is not a caprice of Maya. The positive necessity of form has brought about the assumption of form. We do not want to exclude any of the world’s activities. Politics, trade, social organisation, poetry, art, literature—all will remain. But all will be given a new life, a new form…..

If we are spread out everywhere as individuals, something no doubt will be done; if we are spread out everywhere in the form of a saṅgha, a hundred times more will be accomplished. But the time has not yet come for this. If we try to give it form hastily, it will not be the exact thing I want. The saṅgha will at first be in a diffused form. Those who have accepted the ideal, although bound together, will work in different places. Afterwards, bound into a saṅgha with a form like a spiritual commune, they will shape all their activities according to the Self and according to the needs of the age. Not a fixed and rigid form like that of the old Aryan society, not a stagnant backwater, but a free form that can spread itself out like the sea with its multitudinous waves—engulfing this, inundating that, absorbing all—and as this continues, a spiritual community will be established. This is my present idea; it is not yet fully developed. What is being developed is what came to me in my meditations at Alipur. I shall see what shape it finally takes later. The result is in God’s hands—let his will be done.’

The Mother on her own side wrote a similar vision and mission document before meeting Sri Aurobindo on 07th May 1912 revealing a striking similarity to Sri Aurobindo’s Mission.
‘The general aim to be attained is the advent of a progressing universal harmony.

The means for attaining this aim, in regard to the earth, is the realisation of human unity through the awakening in all and the manifestation by all of the inner Divinity which is One.

In other words,—to create unity by founding the Kingdom of God which is within us all.

This, therefore, is the most useful work to be done:

(1) For each individually, to be conscious in himself of the Divine Presence and to identify himself with it.

(2) To individualise the states of being that were never till now conscious in man and, by that, to put the earth in connection with one or more of the fountains of universal force that are still sealed to it.

(3) To speak again to the world the eternal word under a new form adapted to its present mentality.

It will be the synthesis of all human knowledge.

(4) Collectively, to establish an ideal society in a propitious spot for the flowering of the new race, the race of the Sons of God .

The terrestrial transformation and harmonisation can be brought about by two processes which, though opposite in appearance, must combine—must act upon each other and complete each other:

(1) Individual transformation, an inner development leading to the union with the Divine Presence.

(2) Social transformation, the establishment of an environment favourable to the flowering and growth of the individual.

Since the environment reacts upon the individual and, on the other hand, the value of the environment depends upon the value of the individual, the two works should proceed side by side. But this can be done only through division of labour, and that necessitates the formation of a group, hierarchised, if possible.

The action of the members of the group should be threefold:

(1) To realise in oneself the ideal to be attained: to become a perfect earthly representative of the first manifestation of the Unthinkable in all its modes, attributes and qualities.

(2) To preach this ideal by word, but, above all, by example, so as to find out all those who are ready to realise it in their turn and to become also announcers of liberation.

(3) To found a typic society or reorganise those that already exist.

For each individual also there is a two of old labour to be done, simultaneously, each side of it helping and completing the other:

(1) An inner development, a progressive union with the Divine Light, sole condition in which man can be always in harmony with the great stream of universal life.

(2) An external action which everyone has to choose according to his capacities and personal preferences. He must find his own place, the place which he alone can occupy in the general concert, and he must give himself entirely to it, not forgetting that he is playing only one note in the terrestrial symphony and yet his note is indispensable to the harmony of the whole, and its value depends upon its justness.’

Tree of the New Creation

The main work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother was to establish the Supramental Consciousness as the new principle or driving force of evolution upon earth. Its purpose is the progressive transformation of man, at first within, and then outside, until the very body is transmuted into a new divine body eventually, giving birth to an entirely new species, the supramental race of the future. The process had been initiated by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It has hence entered into an irreversible phase since the Supramental Manifestation of 29th February 1956. This evolutionary emergence, like all evolution is a many step, many stage process, the first of which is the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the last as of now is Auroville. The Ashram is indeed the foundation of this next future. It is where the roots of the Supramental tree of the New Creation lie, right below the samadhi, intertwined with the roots of the Service tree that keeps guard over. The divinely humanly divine bodies of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother charged with the Supramental Force are there as the firm base for the tree of New Creation to bloom. Their life is the breath giving it the power to grow, their consciousness is the secret sap running through the tree, nurturing it and, their Divine Love is what nourishes it. The main body of the Ashram is like the trunk of a tree supporting many branches and twigs and flowers and fruits upon it

The Spiritual Commune to a spiritual centres

But the tree has to spread from this strong base. It is for this purpose that the Mother initiated several sub-projects to support the main work. One such major project initiated in 1960 after the Supramental Manifestation was one leap year old was the Sri Aurobindo Society. It was like another trunk spreading out from the main trunk making the tree visible to the outside world as well as providing shelter to many homing birds and drawing several others to take refuge below the tree that whose branches began to extend beyond the boundaries of Pondicherry. With the opening of branches a two way process began. It brought resources such as wealth and expertise as well as goodwill (which counts in its own right) from all over the world to the ‘place of central influence’ or the main yagya Vedi so to say that the Sri Aurobindo Ashram is. At the same time the knowledge and the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother began to reach out to the world at large through books and disciples deputed by the Mother for this work. The purpose was not any propaganda or an evangelistic fervour to recruit or convert others. Sri Aurobindo’s path is neither a new religion or narrow sect. These things are contrary to the spirit of a spiritual movement and a yoga that draws its breath from the Sanatana Dharma breathing in it a new Force and giving it a new form appropriate to the Yuga Dharma.

The purpose of these centres were / are twofold. First, these centres served as a means of providing the needed physical base and support for Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s Works, teachings and vision to reach far and wide, ‘to make known’ as the Mother said. It is akin to a new product with the potential to save mankind being available to those who of their own freedom would be drawn towards it. Not all can dash to pondicherry and breath the Ashram atmosphere but something of the Ashram, something of its Divine ambience could reach out to the world through books, photographs, cards, Ashram products, engagement with the disciples sent by the Mother. This would serve as a means to engage humanity with the New Consciousness and prepare it for the New Creation. It also generated a goodwill among sections of humanity who in turn engaged in the Yoga – yagna through the offering of work and money. The centres enlarge the circle of humanity gathered around the Mother in a common aspiration and an uplifting ideal thereby turning the individual yoga into a collective yoga. Secondly some centres owing to the sincerity of some of the members and the Divine Mother’s Grace become miniature yagya vedis in their own right. This is especially true of centres where Sri Aurobindo’s Sacred Divine Relics have been installed. These are real ‘power spots’ or to use a modern metaphor hot-spots linked to the main channel through which the Supramental Consciousness is gaining more and more foothold upon the earth and igniting earthly spaces with the supramental Light and sowing the seeds of a New Creation amidst the common masses of humanity. Seen thus it is an extraordinary work whose impact can be felt only by those who have been blessed to witness how the Mother’s Work and the New Creation is unfolding all over.

The larger spiritual community

At the same time it would not be correct to say that the officially recognised Sri Aurobindo Centres are the only points of contact with the Supramental Force. There were centres that came up even before 1950, for example the centre in Ramgarh about which Sri Aurobindo is reported to have remarked as ‘their foothold in the Himalayas.’ We see also a number of centres and study circles in several other places which are independent of the Sri Aurobindo Society and have been blessed by the Mother. However the Sri Aurobindo Society has a special place since the Mother has been designated as its permanent President and continues to be so. It is a sweet feeling to know that one is part of an organization whose President is the Mother. Besides these centres, there are number of study circles and places dedicated to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo in some way or the other. And then of course there are other places that are directly or indirectly dedicated to or open to and engaged in some way with the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It is a whole panorama of Sri Aurobindo’s Action that is difficult to narrate in a brief writeup on the subject. The flowers and fruits are yet few but one day the tree and all its branches will be covered with rich and variegated foliage as well as unique fruits and flowers of the New Creation in the form of its evolving members.

Finally we have Auroville which can be considered as another side trunk of the tree of New Creation. India being a fertile soil for spiritual sprouting, the majority of Centres were in India or supported by Indian families in foreign lands. Of course quite a few exceptions have been there, especially in the United States of America where the soil of the Western mind tilled and upturned by Swami Vivekananda and other spiritual Masters from India has opened to Sri Aurobindo in its own unique way. Nevertheless the world at large especially the Western mind had to be included in the process of transformation. Before Swami Vivekananda, the yogis of India kept the Western world generally at arms length for a number of reasons. But the time had come to break the barriers and include everyone and everything that was ready to be integrated in a world embracing and world transforming yoga. The world could not be deprived anymore of the sap of the New Creation. Children of the Mother from all over the world were to come together and gather around Her to build the scaffoldings and ramparts of the New Creation.

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is the firm foundation laid on the seat of tapasya of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the house of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother where the first Rays of the Supramental Light and Consciousness descended upon earth. The Sri Aurobindo Society and all the other various centres are like so many annexes in the ever expanding many tiered mansion of the New Creation each serving some utility in the process of building the New Creation. Auroville is the experimental School attached to the main mansion where humanity from various places is being brought together to learn and discover the ways of human unity based on this New Conception of life and by engaging in the Divine Work become dynamic collaborators in the manifestation of the New Creation. Each has its own unique place and work.

A silent inner revolution

Many are the ways in which the Supramental Consciousness is going to work. As Sri Aurobindo foresaw, the New Light will use several means and spread into the old life through a number of islets thereby percolating into the entire earth. One cannot restrict the Truth to act in the way that the human mind may prefer or imagine. It is rather likely to use anything and everything including opposition to the New Consciousness to end up opening the inner doors of man to greet the New Dawn. The key therefore is to open oneself to this New Consciousness more and more and let our life be governed by the New Light. The way to do so is to turn towards Sri Aurobindo and the Mother with a completest possible self giving to them and their work. The only thing to safeguard against is the play of the deceptive ego and self aggrandisement using the Divine as a cloak to satisfy one’s desires and ambitions. The Centre must be the hearth of a perfect sincerity, a yagya Vedi of the New Creation, the altar of the Divine Mother. A perfect sincerity of each of its members will ensure the maximum collaboration.

Let us meditate upon these luminous words of the Mother. In a message given to a Centre, she wrote.

‘To open a centre is not sufficient in itself. It must be the pure hearth of a perfect sincerity in a total consecration to the Divine.

Let the flame of this sincerity rise high above the falsities and deceptions of the world.’

It is the same everywhere. The fundamentals do not change with the change of the fièld. Whether it be an intense place like the Ashram or a wide diffuse space such as the Centres and Auroville. She made it clear.

‘After all, the whole problem is to know whether humanity has reached the state of pure gold or whether it still needs to be tested in the crucible.

One thing is evident, humanity has not become pure gold; that is visible and certain.

But something has happened in the world’s history which allows us to hope that a selected few in humanity, a small number of beings, perhaps, are ready to be transformed into pure gold and that they will be able to manifest strength without violence, heroism without destruction and courage without catastrophe.
But in the very next paragraph Sri Aurobindo gives the answer: “If man could once consent to be spiritualised.” If only the individual could consent to be spiritualised… could consent.1

Something in him asks for it, aspires, and all the rest refuses, wants to continue to be what it is: the mixed ore which needs to be cast into the furnace.

At the moment we are at a decisive turning-point in the history of the earth, once again. From every side I am asked, “What is going to happen?” Everywhere there is anguish, expectation, fear. “What is going to happen?…” There is only one reply: “If only man could consent to be spiritualised.”

And perhaps it would be enough if some individuals became pure gold, for this would be enough to change the course of events…. We are faced with this necessity in a very urgent way.

This courage, this heroism which the Divine wants of us, why not use it to fight against one’s own difficulties, one’s own imperfections, one’s own obscurities? Why not heroically face the furnace of inner purification so that it does not become necessary to pass once more through one of those terrible, gigantic destructions which plunge an entire civilisation into darkness?

This is the problem before us. It is for each one to solve it in his own way.

This evening I am answering the questions I have been asked, and my reply is that of Sri Aurobindo: If man could once consent to be spiritualised….

And I add: Time presses… from the human point of view.’

Affectionately,

Alok Da