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SEQUENCE - 32: SRI AUROBINDO’S CENTENARY: 1968-72
TOPIC 1:
Incident a)
On 28 February, 1968, the City of Dawn, Auroville, was dedicated to Sri Aurobindo’s ideal of Human Unity. Almost every nation in the world, and
every state of the Indian Union were represented in the simple, symbolic and grand ceremony of dedication.
At 10.30 a.m., The Mother’s voice was heard live:
“Greetings from Auroville to all men of good will.
“Are invited to Auroville all those who thirst for progress and aspire to a higher and truer life.”
Incident b)
With regard to the relation between the Ashram and Auroville, The Mother clarified:
“The Ashram will retain its true role of pioneer, inspirer and guide. Auroville is the attempt towards collective realisation.”
TOPIC 2:
Incident a)
On the third anniversary of the Golden Day, 29.02.1968, The Mother gave the Message:
Incident b)
The Mother’s sadhana of the body was following its own unpredictable course. The consciousness of her cells was getting beyond the ‘perception of
suffering and delight, almost of evil and good.’ But still the Thing, the Truth – the concrete Thing is not yet seized… If one had it … one would be the omnipotent master. And it is possible that one can get
it only when the entire world or a sufficient part of it will be ready for transformation.” (MCW 11, 109)
Incident c)
The Mother herself worked to prepare the ‘sufficient part ‘ of humanity – as she explained :
“And you will be surprised to see the work I have accomplished for you all. For each one his own path, well shaped, well chiseled, with all
the obstacles, all the impediments removed, all that was blocking the way demolished, so that you may be able to walk freely in the full light of the new consciousness, towards the truth...
That’s why I am telling you – you know nothing of what I have done for you. I have reduced the work of many lives, shortened the way, removed all
the difficulties, and now you only have to walk without any worry....” (H&L, PII, 7-8)
Incident d)
On 26 and 27th night of August, The Mother experienced “powerful and prolonged penetration of supramental forces into the body, everywhere at the same time..“
“…there was nothing but the supramental atmosphere, everywhere… And my body was within it. That was pressing to enter, from everywhere… That continued
for atleast four or five hours…”
Incident e)
Four months later, on 21 November The Mother experiences that the whole atmosphere and the very air in her room had changed into the divine presence,
“…well, everything was touched, touched, pervaded, but with … the thing that was particularly there was a dazzling Light, a Peace …, or Power, and then a Sweetness.”
Incident f)
Two days later she experienced the very opposite: “I have had days when I have lived truly all the horrors of creation …
“And these were not psychological things, but rather physical sufferings, yes, particularly physical suffering … that lasts day and night…” (MCW
11, 135)
TOPIC 3:
Incident a)
The new year 1969 brought a very rewarding relief to The Mother:
“In the night it came slowly … there was as though a golden dawn .. A golden light, transparent and .. benevolent. “Benevolent” in the sense of a
certainty .. a harmonious certainty…
It was something very material … luminous with a golden light .. very strong, very powerful … It gave the impression of a personal divinity
who comes to help…
It did not pass through an inner being, through the psychic being, it came directlyupon the body!” (MCW 11, 148)
Incident b)
On 8 January she said, in continuation of the narration of her experience of 1 January:
“… I have identified this consciousness… It is the descent of the superman consciousness. … That is to say, the intermediary between man and the
supramental being.
That has given to the body a kind of assurance and confidence. That experience has, as it were, stabilised the body…” (MCW 11, 153)
Incident c)
A month later, on 15 February, The Mother added:
“But that state, which lasted for several hours, nothing similar to that happiness has this body ever felt during the ninety-one years it has been
here upon earth: freedom, absolute power and no limits…”
Incident d)
On 31 May she confided to a disciple that she had spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo on the night of the 29th, showing him “all
that was to come down for Auroville… it was very interesting and he was very much interested: he was laying down the broad laws of organisation.”
Incident e)
On 10 October the Prime Minister of India had come to visit Auroville and Ashram. When she went to see The Mother, The Mother gave her these messages:
“Let India work for the future and set the examples. Thus she will recover her true place in the world.
Since long it was the habit to govern through division and opposition.
The time has come to govern through union, mutual understanding and collaboration.
To choose a collaborator , the value of man is more important than the party to which the belongs.
“The greatness of a country does not depend on the victory of a party, but on the union of all parties.”(MCW 13, 377)
TOPIC 4:
Incident a)
The Mother’s experiences of the body–consciousness swung between screaming pain to bliss. “And all the suffering vibrations are, as it were, sustained
by the mass of the general human consciousness … And the other is sustained by … this immutable peace … And the two are enjoined and this body passes from one to the other … sometimes the two are almost together.
Incident b)
There was a kind of a break-through solution on 1 July, 1970:
“It was yesterday or the day before … X was standing in front of me, and I saw her psychic being, dominating over her … And it was an unsexed
being, neither man nor woman. Then I said to myself … “But it is the psychic being, it is that which will materialise itself and become the supramental being.” … it was as though the being were telling me,
‘But you are busy looking to see what kind of being the supramental will be – there it is!
Incident c)
Talking about the superman consciousness which has been with The Mother since the beginning of 1969, she said on 5 August 1970:
“It is true that much of the activity I have left to this Consciousness. Otherwise, the feeling of nearness with you is much stronger than before
–– very much stronger than before … I have almost the fleeing that I am moving within you, which I did not have before…”
“Yes, it is that, it is almost as though it had become fluid. And there should no longer be any personal action … it is a force, a consciousness which is spread over
everything … even physically …” (MCW, 11, 241, 42)
Incident d)
In this year 1970, was launched the movement of ‘Sri Aurobindo’s Action. The aim of the movement was to promote “the practical application of Sri
Aurobindo’s words in the daily life of the people and the nation. The movement spread its message through its monthly organ ‘Sri Aurobindo’s Action !
TOPIC 5:
Incident a)
This was the message for the New Year 1971. A subsequent message elaborated on this message:
“We are at one of these “Hours of God”, when the old bases get shaken, and there is a great confusion, but it is a wonderful opportunity for those
who want to leap forward, the possibility of a progress is exceptional.” (MCW 12, 281)
Incident b)
It was a message of cheer. But, The Mother herself suffered a kind of paralysis for a month and half, during which her physical sight and hearing are
thrown into the background to make room for identification by consciousness.’
Incident c)
But, it was an ‘auspicious year’ for Auroville. The foundation stone of the Matrimandir was laid on 21.02.1971, on The Mother’s ninety-second birthday.
She said:
Earlier she had written:
“The Matrimandir will be the soul of Auroville.
The sooner the soul is there, the better it will be for everybody and especially for Auroville.”
(MCW 13, 229)
Incident d)
In the early months of this year, The Mother sensed dark clouds over India. It was the coming of the Bangladesh problem. She said:
“As long as they are not determined to follow the Truth I can do nothing for them outwardly. Not the truth as they see it but the Truth as it
is.
There should be no compromise. (MCW 13, 379-80)
Incident e)
On the other hand, there was the sunlight penetrating the dark clouds of war and confusion: it was the inauguration of Sri Aurobindo’s Birth Centenary
year. The Mother gave the Message:
“Today is the first day of Sri Aurobindo’s centenary year. Though he has left his body he is still with us, alive and active.
“Sri Aurobindo belongs to the future; he is the messenger of the future. He still shows us the way to follow in order to hasten the realisation of
a glorious future fashioned by the Divine Will.”
Incident f)
With The Mother’s sadhana of physical transformation, things were “going on well”.
“I heard something written by Sri Aurobindo, saying that for the Supramental to manifest upon earth the physical mind must receive it and manifest it —
and it is just the physical mind … the only thing that remains in me now… This physical mind is being developed under the supramental influences…” (MCW 11, 229)
TOPIC 6:
Incident a)
15 August 1972, the 100th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo’s birth. The New Year Message was simple:
Another message:
“This year is consecrated to Sri Aurobindo.
“To understand his teaching better and try to put it into practice, is certainly the best way of showing our gratitude to him for all the light,
knowledge and force which he has so generously brought to the earth.
“May his teaching enlighten and guide us, and what we cannot do today, we shall do tomorrow.”
Incident b)
On 1 January 1972, The Mother wrote:
“Sri Aurobindo does not belong to a country but to the whole earth. His teaching leads us towards a better future.”
On 2 January 1972, She said:
“When Sri Aurobindo left his body he said that he would not abandon us. And, in truth, during these twenty one years, he has always been with us,
guiding and helping all those who are receptive and open to his influence….”
On 30 January she gave the message:
“Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to announce the manifestation of the supramental world and not merely did he announce this manifestation but
embodied also in part the supramental force and showed by example what one must do to prepare oneself for manifesting it. The best thing we can do is to study all that he has told us and endeavour to follow his
example and prepare ourselves for the new manifestation…”
And to a book – Sri Aurobindo: A Garland of Tributes – The Mother gave the Message:
“Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and a new world: the supramental.
“Let us prepare for it in all sincerity and eagerness.”
Incident c)
And on 15 August, The Mother gave the Message.
“Sri Aurobindo’s message is an immortal Sunlight radiating over the future.”
And yet another:
“Man is the creation of yesterday.”
“Sri Aurobindo came to announce the
creation of tomorrow: the coming of the supramental being.”
And the most cryptic but significant one:
TOPIC 7:
Incident a)
On 21 February 1972, the first anniversary of Matrimandir was celebrated. The Mother sent the Message:
“Let Auroville be the symbol of a progressive unity.
“And the best way to realise this is a unity of aspiration towards the divine perfection in work and in feeling, in a concentration of the entire
life.”
A granite stone with The Mother’s signature and the symbol of AUM was placed at the base of one of the four pillars of Matrimandir.
“With the help of OM one can realise the divine. OM has a transforming power. OM represents the divine.” (H & L ,2)
Incident b)
On the 21 February, her birthday, The Mother felt:
“The whole day of the twenty-first I had a strong feeling that it was the birthday of everyone, and I was impelled to say to everyone ‘Bonne Fête’.
“It was a very strong feeling that something new has manifested in the world and that all who were ready and receptive could embody it.” (MCW 11,
297)
Incident c)
Five days later, on 26 February, another ‘extraordinary’ experience of the body:
“I had completely, completely the feeling of being a baby enveloped (gesture) in the arms of the Divine. Extraordinary.
“Well, for a time it is like that:
“What thou willest, what thou willest” and then that too falls silent…”
(MCW 11, 294-5)
On 8 march, The Mother threw more light on this experience:
“The body knows that this is the way for the Supramental body to be formed: it must be wholly under the influence of the Divine – no compromise, no
approximation, no “it will come”, not so: it is like this (Mother brings down her first), a formidable will.”
“But .. it is the only way for things to go fast.” (MCW, 11, 297)
Incident d)
On 24 March, 1972, The Mother seems to have got the result of all her efforts in the body transformation. She narrated.
“For the first time, early in the morning, I saw myself, my body – I do not know whether it is the supramental body or … a body in
transition, but I had a body altogether new, in the sense that it was sexless – it was not a woman nor was it a man. It was very white … It was very slim – it was pretty. Truly a harmonious form …”
(MCW 11, 301)
The next day, The Mother said that it was possibly a formation in ‘the subtle physical’.
Incident e)
But how will the subtle physical new body of The Mother fuse with the old body?
“Is that (Mother points to her body), is that going to change? It must change or it has to follow the old ordinary process of undoing itself
and remaking itself… I do not know…
“Or perhaps the ‘new body’ will concretise or materialise itself. “But how?” asked The Mother. “One knows nothing! Strange how one knows nothing.” (MCW 11, 305-6)
TOPIC 8:
Incident a)
On 2 April, The Mother told some disciples:
“For centuries and centuries humanity has waited for this time. It has come. But it is difficult.”
“… If you believe that I am here because I am bound – it is not true. I am not bound, I am here because my body has been given for the first
attempt at transformation. Sri Aurobindo told me so. Well, I am doing it. I Do not wish anyone to do it willingly because it is not very pleasant, but I do it willingly because of the results: everybody will be
able to benefit from it.” I ask only thing: do not listen to the ego.” (MCW 11, 308)
Incident b)
“But one essential condition: the reign of the ego must be ended. The ego is now the obstacle. The ego must be replaced by the divine
consciousness … It is the descent of the supramental world … A world which wants to take a body in the world.” (MCW 11, 316-17)
Incident c)
Recalling Sri Aurobindo’s assurance The Mother remarks that the present manifestation will not dissolve in pralaya as the previous, six
but will be transformed in spite of everything. We are precisely at the time when the preceding six had gone up in pralaya. (Ag.13, 266)
TOPIC 9:
Incident a)
On 25 October, The Mother is again at grips — with the subconscient:
“It is as though the battle of the world was being fought within my consciousness.
“It has come to such a point that to forget, to forget the Divine even for a minute spells catstrophe .. it the subconscient of the earth …
It is interminable…
“So, to stop that means to stop the work. To continue that means it would take time… I do not know .. it is interminable.
“It is the divine who … who must do the battling”. (MCW 11, 32)
Incident b)
May be, as a consequence to this battle.
“Things have taken an extreme form. So there is, as it were, an uplift of the atmosphere towards a splendour... almost inconceivable and at the
same time the feeling that at any moment one may … one may die – not “die” but the body may be dissolved. And so the two at the same time form a consciousness (Mother Shakes her head) … all the old things
seem puerile, childish, unconscious – within there … it is tremendous and wonderful.
“So, the body, the body has one prayer – and it is always the same:
Make me worthy of knowing Thee,
Make one worthy of serving Thee;
Make me worthy of being Thee…
“I feel in myself a growing force … but it is of a new quality … in silence and in contemplation.
Nothing is impossible…” (MCW 11, 330)
Incident c)
And on the next day, 31 December, The Mother gave the message:
“There is only one solution for falsehood. It is to cure in ourselves all that contradicts in our consciousness the presence of the Divine.: (MCW
11, 331)
Incident d)
Sri Aurobindo’s birth centenary year came to an end. India could have given him the gift of a united Bharat. She had the vision and the
strength. At the Shimla Agreement, after the liberation of Bangladesh, there could have been a confideration of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, thereby fulfilling Sri Aurobindo’s prophecy that Mother India
would yet “gather around her sons and weld them in a single national strength in the life of a great and united people.”
But, alas! in spite of The Mother sending to the then Prime Minister of India, the powerful passage from Savitri:
“My light shall be in thee, my strength thy force…
All things shall change in Gods transfiguring hour…(Savitri 341)
The god sent opportunity of reunification of the Indian sub - continent was lost.
SEQUENCE - 33: THE MOTHER LEAVES HER BODY: 1973
TOPIC 1:
Incident a)
1973, and the last New Year message from The Mother:
“When you are conscious of the whole world at the same time, then you can become conscious of the Divine.”
Incident b)
In the previous year 1972, The Mother had given herself fully to all the Ashram, Auroville, National and International programmes that celebrated Sri
Aurobindo birth centenary. There were periods of apparent acute physical sufferings but The Mother had accepted the task – she was removing “all that veils and deforms and prevents the manifestation of the
Divine in us… the falsehood.” (MCW 11, 331)
Incident c)
And her message of 21 February read: “The more we advance on the way, the more the need of the Divine Presence becomes imperative and indispensable.”
(MCW 15,201)
Incident d)
10 March – the last published talk in her “Notes on the Way”:
“I am repeating always: ‘What thou willest, what thou willest, what thou willest .. let it be what thou willest, may I do what thou willest, may I
be conscious of what Thou willest.”
And also.. “Without thee it is death; with thee it is life.” By “death” I do not mean physical death – it may be so, it may be that now if I lost the
contact, that would be the end, but it is impossible! I have the feeling that it is .. That I am That – with all the obstructions that the present consciousness may still have …
All the while (it is amusing), all the while I have the feeling that I am a little baby who nestles – nestles within … (what to call it?) a divine
consciousness all embracing (MCW 11, 332)
Incident e)
Her last hand written message was given to the New Age Association, held on 22 April:
“Freedom is far from meaning disorder and confusion.
“It is the inner liberty that we must have, and if you have it nobody can take it away from you.” (New Age, 417)
Incident f)
Two days later, on 24 April she gave her Darshan from the Terrace. Her Darshan message was:
“Beyond man’s consciousness
Beyond speech
O Thou, Supreme consciousness
Unique Reality
Divine Truth.”(MCW 15, 201)
TOPIC 2:
For almost a month, restricted people were allowed to go to The Mother for work. Then on 20 May, at about 9.30 at night, she had a complete ‘break
down’. Her food intake reduced to 20 to 25 ounces of liquid food everyday. Confined on the bed, she lay with her eyes closed, as if in an absolute trance and she indeed looked like ‘a little baby’
nestling within the all-embracing Divine Consciousness.
Incident a)
In this condition of her health too, she graced her devotees with her last Darshan on 15 August 1973. Just before she came out on the terrace balcony,
there was a downpour of rain – a supreme shower of grace!
To describe her last Darshan, perhaps, the best way is to take help of verses from Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri :
“Once more a tread perturbed the vacant Vasts;
Infinity’s centre, a Face of rapturous calm
Parted the eternal lids that open heaven;
A Form from Her beatitudes seemed to near.
Ambassadress twist eternity and change,
The omniscient goddess leaned across the breadths
That wrap fated journeyings of the stars
And saw the spaces ready for her feet…
Our prostrate soil bore the awakening ray
Then the divine afflatus, spent, withdrew,
… fading from the mortal’s range. (Savitri, p. 7)
Incident b)
For the next couple of months again The Mother had withdrawn into her “trance of waiting” or was it into the condition of Turiya as described by the
Ancients?
TOPIC 3:
In the beginning weeks of November The Mother developed disturbing hiccups which last longer and longer. The doctor found her blood—pressure dropping
and her heart weak.
As she had developed bed sores on her back, she asked her attendants to lift her up. It was done several times on the night of 13th November and it gave her some temporary relief and comfort to The Mother.
Incident a)
On the 15 and 16, The Mother was more and more restless. But on 17th morning all seemed well – The Mother took her breakfast and lunch and medicines. In the evening one of the attendants, sitting near her, looked at her palm, and exclaimed. “Oh! There is a very short life-line. But she has lived much more than that”. The attendant remembered Sri Aurobindo’s long life line, but he, Sri Aurobindo, had lived to be only seventy-eight’ (Champaklal Speaks 275)
Incident b)
And soon, within a couple of hours, around 7 p.m. her pulse and respiration gradually declined.
Finally at 7.25 pm the doctor announced that The Mother had left her body.
Incident c)
The Mother’s body was brought down, at 2 a.m. in the early hours of 18 November, and laid in state on a couch in the Meditation Hall.
On the morning of 19 November, the Samadhi was opened up, and the vacant upper chamber was got ready.
A rosewood casket was prepared, with The Mother’s symbol in gold on the lid, and the inside was lined with a pure silver sheet with a covering of felt
and then white silk satin.
On 20 November, at 8 a.m. The Mother’s body was placed in the casket and hermetically closed. At 8.20 a.m. the rosewood casket was lowered into the
samadhi chamber and in the immaculate silence of a sunset, the chamber was then covered by four concrete slabs.
TOPIC 4:
Incident a)
“Sweet Mother,
“Your physical body belonged to the old creation because you wanted to be one with your children. You wanted this body to uphold the New Body
you were building upon it, and it gave you the service you asked of it. You will come with your New Body.
“Your children’s, the world’s call and aspiration, love and consecration are laid at your feet in gratitude.” (NKG)
Incident b)
The Mother, the Incarnate Love, the Consciousness of the Supreme, the Presence has since spread wide over earth.
What The Mother had said about Sri Aurobindo applies to both:
“The Master left his material form but his work continues. He left the body, obviously for the reason that only by so doing he could best
consummate his work. His vision stands as the unfailing and infallible light and mankind and earth shall accomplish whatever he aimed at and worked for – the Supreme Consciousness he brought down into earth’s
sphere is there, continuing to guide and shape and achieve.”
Incident c)
Adapting The Mother’s message of 7 December, 1950, we all pray:
OM Sri Aurobindo Mira.
You have given us the assurance that you would stay with us until your work is achieved, not only as a consciousness which guides and illumines but
also a as dynamic Presence in action. In unmistakable terms you have promised that all of yourselves would remain here and not leave the earth atmosphere until earth is transformed. Grant that we may be worthy
of this marvelous Presence and that henceforth everything in us be consecrated on the one will to be more and more perfectly consecrated to the fulfillment of your sublime work.
The End
[My offering to The Mother and Sri Aurobindo on 10.02.2000 : Ananda Reddy]
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