Extracts from a dialogue with the Mother

[From The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 10]


This morning about eight o’clock, I could have said many things…. Because there came a day when many problems had cropped up as a consequence of something that had happened, then this morning (towards the end of the night), I had the experience that was the explanation. And for two hours I lived in an absolutely clear perception (not a thought: a clear perception) of the why and how of creation. It was so luminous, so clear; it was irrefutable. It lasted at least for four or five hours and then it petered out; gradually the experience diminished in intensity and clarity…. I had just seen many people, then…it is difficult to explain now. But all had become so limpid; all the contrary theories, everything was at the bottom (the Mother looks from above), and all the explanations, all that Sri Aurobindo had said and also some things that Theon* had said were seen as a consequence of the experience: each thing in its place and absolutely clear. At that time I could have said it, but now it will be a little difficult.

Is it not so? In spite of what one has read and all the theories and explanations, something was left (how to say it?) difficult to ‘explain’ (it is not ‘explaining’: that is quite trivial). For example, suffering and the will to inflict suffering, that side of the Manifestation. There has been, of course, as though a prevision of the original identity of hatred and love, because the thing was going to the extremes, but as for all the rest it was difficult. Today it is so luminously simple, yes, it is that, so obvious! (The Mother looks at a note which she had written.) Words are nothing. And then I had scribbled with a pencil that wrote badly…I don’t know if you can see the words. To me they represented something very exact: now they are nothing but words. (the disciple reads):


Stability and change
Inertia and transformation…


Yes, in the Lord they were evidently identical principles. And it was particularly that, the simplicity of this identity. And now they are nothing but words.


Stability and change
Inertia and transformation
Eternity and progress
___________________________
Unity =  . . .


(The disciple is not able to make out the words.)


It was not I who wrote it, that is to say, not the ordinary consciousness, and the pencil…I do not know any more what I have put down. [The Mother tries to read the words, but in vain.] It was the vision of the creation — the vision, the understanding, the how, the why, the whither, everything was there, the whole of it together, and clear, clear, clear…. I tell you, I was in the midst of a golden glory — luminous, dazzling.

Well, the earth was there as the centre representing the creation, and then there was the identity of the inertia of the stone, of what is most inert, and then…


(The Mother tries once more to read the words.)


 I do not know if it will come.


(The Mother goes into a long concentration.)


One might say that…for the convenience of expression, I would say: the ‘Supreme’ and the ‘creation’. In the Supreme, it is a unity that contains all the possibilities perfectly unified, without any differentiation; in creation, it is, so to say, the projection of all that makes up this unity by dividing the opposites, that is to say, by separating them (it is that which has been seized by someone who said that creation is separation): for example, night and day, black and white, good and evil, etc, etc. — all that, but it is our explanation. The whole of it, all together is a perfect unity, immutable and…indissoluble. Creation means separation of all that constitutes this unity — one might call it the division of consciousness. The division of consciousness starts from the unity conscious of its unity, in order to arrive at the unity conscious of its multiplicity in the unity. And then it is this path which, because of its fragments, is translated for us by space and time. For us, such as we are, it is possible for each point of this consciousness to be conscious of itself and conscious of the original Unity. And that is the work which is being done; that is to say, each infinitesimal element of this consciousness, while keeping this state of consciousness, is in the process of rediscovering the state of the total original consciousness — and the result is the original Consciousness conscious of its unity and conscious of the whole play, conscious of the innumerable elements of this Unity. This for us is translated into the sense of time: moving from the Inconscient up to this state of Consciousness. And the Inconscient is the projection of the first Unity (if one can say it; all these words are altogether senseless), of the essential unity which is only conscious of its unity — yes, that is the Inconscient. And this Inconscient becomes more and more conscious in beings who are conscious of their infinitesimal existence and at the same time, through what we call progress or evolution or transformation, become conscious of the original Unity. And that, as it was seen, explains everything.

Words are nothing.

Everything, everything from the most material to the most ethereal, everything finds its place there — clear, clear, clear, a vision.

And evil, what we call evil, has its indispensable place in the whole. It will not be felt as evil the moment one becomes conscious of That — necessarily. Evil is this infinitesimal element looking at its infinitesimal consciousness; but as consciousness is essentially one, it resumes, regains the Consciousness of the Unity — the two together. It is that, yes, it is that which has to be realised. It is this wonderful thing, of this I had the vision at that moment… And for the beginnings (are they the beginnings?), what is called in English the outskirts, what is farthest from the central realisation, that becomes the multiplicity of things, and the multiplicity also of sensations, of feelings, of all…the multiplicity of consciousness. It is this act of separation that has created, that is creating the world constantly and that is creating everything at the same time: suffering, happiness, everything, everything that is created through this…what might be called ‘diffusion’; but it is absurd, it is not a diffusion — we ourselves live in the sense of space, so we speak of diffusion and concentration, but it is nothing of the sort.

And I understood why Theon used to say that we were living at the time of ‘Equilibrium’; that is to say, it is through the equilibrium of all these innumerable points of consciousness and of all these opposites that the central Consciousness is rediscovered. And all that is said is stupid — at the same time as I say this, I see to what degree it is stupid. But one cannot do otherwise. It is something…something so concrete, so true, yes, so ab-so-lu-te-ly…that.

I was obliged to take up some paper and jot it down, and in such a way that I do not know any more what I jotted down…. The first thing written was this:


Stability and change


It was the idea of the original Stability (one could say), which is translated in the Manifestation by inertia. And the growth is translated by change. Then came:


         Inertia and transformation


But it is gone, the sense is gone ― the words had a sense.


         Eternity and progress


They were the opposites (these three things). Then there was a gap (The Mother draws a line under the triple opposition), and once again a Pressure, and then I wrote this:


Unity =  . . . (Three illegible words follow)


And that was a much more true expression of the experience, but it is illegible — I think it was illegible deliberately. One must have the experience to be able to read it.


(The disciples tries to read the words:)


It seems to me that there is a word ‘rest’?


Ah! It must be that. Rest and…


(The Mother goes into concentration.)


Is it not ‘power’?


Ah! yes, ‘Power and rest combined.’


Yes, that is it.

It was not I who chose the words, so they must have a special force — when I say ‘I’, I mean the consciousness that is there (Gesture above the head) it is not that consciousness; it was something that was pressing down that compelled me to write.


(The Mother recopies her note:)


 Stability and change
Inertia and transformation
Eternity and progress
___________________________

Unity = power and rest combined


The idea is that the two combined restored that state of consciousness which wanted to express itself.

It was on the universal scale — not on the individual scale.

I put a line between the two to mean that they had not come together.


But already, often, when you speak of this supramental experience, you say that it is a staggering movement and at the same time it is as though completely immobile. You have said it often.


But you know, most often I do not remember what I have once said.


You say: the vibration is so rapid that it is imperceptible, it is as though coagulated and immobile.


Yes. But this was really a Glory in which I lived for hours together this morning.

And then all, all, all notions, all of them, even the most intellectual, all became as…as though childishness. It was so obvious that one had the feeling: there is no need to speak of it!

All human reactions, even the highest, the purest, the noblest, appeared so childish!… There is a sentence written by Sri Aurobindo somewhere that was coming all the while to me. One day, I do not remember where, he had written something, a rather long sentence in which there was this: ‘And when I feel jealous, I know that the old man is still there.’ It is now perhaps more than thirty years since I read it — yes, almost thirty years — and I remember, when I read ‘jealous’, I said to myself: How can Sri Aurobindo be jealous? And so after thirty years I have understood what he meant by being ‘jealous’ ― it is not at all what men call ‘jealous’, it was altogether another state of consciousness. I saw it clearly. And this morning it came back to me: ‘And when I feel jealous, I know that the old man is still there.’ To be ‘jealous’ for him did not mean what we call ‘jealous’…. It is this infinitesimal particle that we call the individual, this particle of infinitesimal consciousness which places itself at the centre, which is the centre of the perception, and which consequently perceives things coming like that (gesture towards oneself) or going like that (gesture outward) and all that does not come to it gives it a kind of perception that Sri Aurobindo called ‘jealous’: the perception that things are going toward diffusion, instead of coming in toward centralisation; it was that which he called ‘jealous’. So he said: When I feel jealous (this was what he meant to say), I know that the old man is still there; that is to say, this infinitesimal particle of consciousness can still be at the centre of itself; it is the centre of action, the centre of perception, the centre of sensation….

(Silence)

Yes, I could notice — it is the time when I do all my physical work — I could notice that the whole work could be done without any alteration in the consciousness. It was not that which altered my consciousness; what veiled my consciousness was seeing people: it is when I began to be here and to do what I have been doing every day: projecting the divine Consciousness upon people. But it came back… (how can one say it?) on the borders; that is to say, instead of being within, I began to perceive it, when you asked me. But that feeling is no longer there — there was nothing but that any more! That alone was there, and everything, everything has changed — appearance, meaning, etc.

That must be the supramental consciousness: I believe that this is the supramental consciousness.


But one could conceive very well that for a consciousness wide and quick enough, if I may say so, capable of seeing not merely a bit of the path, but the whole path at the same time…


Yes, yes.


The whole would be a moving perfection. Evil is simply holding one’s vision on one small angle; then one says, ‘It is evil’, but if one sees the entire path…in a total consciousness, obviously there is no evil.


There are no contraries. No contraries — not even contradictions; I say: no contraries. It is that Unity, it is living in that Unity. And that cannot be translated by thoughts or words. I am telling you, it is…a vastness without limits and a light…a light without movement, and at the same time an ease…an ease not recognised as such. Now I am convinced that it is that, the supramental consciousness.

And necessarily, necessarily that must change the appearances gradually.

(Long silence)

There are no words that can explain the magnificence of the Grace, how the whole is combined so that all may go as quickly as possible. And individuals are miserable to the extent to which they are not conscious of it and take a false position in regard to what is happening to them.


But what is difficult to think is that at each moment it must be…it is the perfection.


Yes, that is it.


At each instant, it is the perfection.


At each instant. There is no other thing…when I was there, there was no other thing. And yet, as I have told you, it was the time when I was physically extremely busy — all the work was being done, without disturbing anything; on the contrary, I believe I was doing things much better than usual…I do not know how to explain. It was not, as it were, a thing ‘added’: it was quite natural.

Life as it is can be lived in that consciousness ― but it is then lived quite well! Nothing needs to be changed, what is to be changed changes itself quite naturally.

…Well, this sort of a very quiet perception of what is still not all right — a pain here, a difficulty there — very calm, very indifferent, but it is perceived (without its taking any importance), and even that gone, wholly swept away!…I hope it won’t come back. It is really…this, I understand, it is a transformation. One is conscious in a golden vastness — my child, it is wonderful — luminous, golden, peaceful, eternal, all-powerful.

And how it is coming…. No word is there to express it indeed, this wonder regarding the Grace…. The Grace, the Grace is a thing that surpasses all comprehension, with its clear-seeing kindliness…. Naturally the body had the experience. Something had happened that I will not tell you and it had the true reaction; it had not the old reaction, it had the true reaction — it smiled, with the smile of the supreme Lord — it smiled. That was there for a whole day and a half. And it was this difficulty which enabled the body to make the last progress, enabled it to live in this Consciousness: if all had been harmonious, things could have lasted still for years — it is wonderful, wonderful!

And how stupid men are! When the Grace has come to them, they push it away, saying, ‘Oh! what horror!’… That I have known for a long time, but my experience is…dazzling.


Yes, each thing is perfectly, wonderfully what it ought to be at every moment.


Quite so.


But it is our vision that is not attuned.


Yes, it is our separated consciousness.

The whole has been brought with lightning rapidity towards the consciousness that will be the Consciousness of the point and of the all, at the same time.

(Long silence)

(The Mother finishes recopying her note.)

There, now I am writing today’s date.


It is the 19th.


19 November 1969, supramental consciousness.

(Silence)

The first descent of the supramental force was a 29, and this is a 19… The 9 is something to note there…. So many things there are which we do not know!

(Silence)

I have already had the experience, partially, that when one is in this state of inner harmony and no part of the attention is turned towards the body, the body works perfectly well. It is this… ‘self-concentration’ which upsets everything. And this I have observed many times, many times…. In reality one does make oneself ill. It is the narrowness of consciousness, the division. If you let it work, there is…everywhere there is a Consciousness and a Grace that do everything so that all may go well, and it is because of this imbecility that all goes wrong — it is strange! The ego-centric imbecility, it is that which Sri Aurobindo calls ‘the old man’.

It is truly interesting.


* The Mother’s teacher of occultism at the turn of the century, before meeting Sri Aurobindo.

Discussions with Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

              What is your view of Kundalini? What I have been taught is that the whole process of Kundalini, is that it rose from the lower chakra and came up to the top of the head. And then…we were in another state of consciousness; and the lower sexual energies ― whatever ― were transcended. Hasn’t that always been a traditional part of yoga?

 

Well this I find a very interesting question because, you see, you’re getting into…they call it Kundalini Yoga, but really the basis of this is the Tantra. Tantric Yoga, a very old path, an interesting path. Dealing with the Shakti, the Divine Mother. Very interesting this, because apparently this is a path that accepts the Mother, that accepts Matter. It deals with that. But yet, you understand that the whole process is to come up and out. So, basically it’s using this energy to project oneself again out. Because your body then becomes the image of the cosmos. It becomes that thing. And you are doing the same thing. You are projecting yourself out. And you do attain this higher consciousness, this Brahman Consciousness. Surely.

 

This is a part of Sri Aurobindo’s work — precisely this Ascent and Descent. And this is the important key because then it is contained in the body. Now, the discoveries that I have made are certain key points where these two things join, and what happens when they join. So, in this work, for example, you don’t experience the rise of the Kundalini as such, which you may experience in other paths, when really you can feel it. In this, you may and you may not. But you do experience the centres. At certain points they become active. And the difference is because at the same time, simultaneously you are experiencing the Descent. And the Descent is your protection really. The Descent is what keeps you in the body.

 

           The descent of ‘What’?

 

That’s a good question too, because you see you experience it as a descent of the light, as a descent of the force, the peace, whatever. The only difference is that when it is combined with this other movement, it is always dynamic. This is the point. So, it is contained in the body, and this makes it a dynamic aspect of the Divine Consciousness. You feel it as a Grace, you feel it in many ways. Usually people who are doing this Yoga physically feel a force, coming in and descending. Of course there are different degrees. We can go on saying, well the Supramental Descent, YES, but wait. Because that requires an integral process also. So, there are different degrees of this descent of energy, force, Divine Consciousness…whatever you want to call it. Depending on what you are able to receive, and also depending on the total conditions that allow for this. So, it’s a force. Call it Consciousness, that takes forms according to your particular needs, your particular stage of evolution. You may call it the Divine Grace. I mean, the Dove coming down…that photo of Agni-in-the-Core in The New Way. The impression is that. But of course there you have geometrically this combination, that you do not have anywhere else.

 

          We were talking about the spiritual ‘supermarket’ that exists in the United States. There is so much. Could you say a word; How does one find the right path? How is one directed to find the right path for himself?

 

Well, you know, that is why in India they consider that in a lifetime when you find your real guru, that is the most blessed lifetime; and that is why they revere the Guru — because of this. Because it is not easy. And you may pass many lifetimes and you don’t come upon it. It is really a supreme grace when you come to the point that you have met your master you see? And what can I say? It is not something that anybody can impose. The only thing that you can do is to put yourself inwardly in the condition to receive. And it will definitely come. Now, a way that you can go about this is this opening to the Divine, and this conscious call, this conscious offering of yourself for this purpose: that you be given this grace. There is really nothing else that you can do, to leave yourself inwardly prepared. That doesn’t mean to become stupid and accept anything, because one of the sayings of Sri Aurobindo is that people came to the Ashram for his work, they came to lose the ego but the first thing they lost was their common sense!

 

(Laughter)

 

This is certainly what happens in America! Not only America. All over! You know, when people start justifying things. There’s a breakdown of a certain ashram, and then you hear all of these justifications: Well, the Guru really meant this and he…What? He meant what he meant! Unless you really have a perception to see that this is a certain strategy…. But mostly in these movements things are very clear. You have to be very careful and be discriminating.

 

          And also it seems, at least in this country, many movements start out quite pure, and then these energies come into them….

 

In our latest newsletter, the Vishaal [1/2, June, 1986] I discuss this situation, especially in terms of eastern teachings that have come here. I was talking about movements coming from the East and getting swallowed up…

 

          And good teachers becoming really corrupted.

 

It is remarkable, what goes on. Because they are coming here and they are confronting a power that is the contribution of the United States to this world process. And they are confronting it here, really the heart of materialism. I mean in its purest sense. As a solution. As a poise. As opposed to Spirit. Solution, on the material plane. This emphasis, this focus on that. And they come here, and they tell you — all of them — (again we come right back to the same problem) they tell you: It’s an illusion.

 

Buddhism is very strong in this country, and though the Buddha didn’t preach that, this was the general outcome of his teachings. That it is an illusion and you must accept it as that, and be done with it as soon as possible. So, they come here and they think that they are going to save everyone. What are they basically preaching? Again it is some otherworldly reward, or state…. And again, because they are not…it is an escape process and they are not poising themselves properly to deal with this phenomenon that is the United States, they are undermined in this. And they succumb to this. They must. Again, it is almost mathematical. They have to succumb to that. They think they are going to bring eastern spirituality here, and what happens is they don’t have the power, they don’t have the poise to withstand this impact. And these collapses come; they are overtaken. Because they are denying the truth in this. Constantly. So that denial leaves them vulnerable. And the process goes on.

 

This is why the solution has to be this real integration of what the East represents and what the West represents; and that is then something higher. It is not taking this and taking that and putting them together. It’s this higher thing that integrates those two. And that is what we are in the process of bringing down, and discovering: this higher poise that brings about integration. If you ignore that, if you ignore that there is such a possibility of doing such a thing, you get lost over here, you get lost over there. It is inevitable. And money! That’s the key to it.

 

          That doesn’t make the philosophies bad, it’s just somehow they don’t travel very well. I wonder how effective the eastern philosophy is in the West, at all.

 

They’re ineffective. Certainly they are not the solution. I don’t mean to sound intolerant, but I am just telling you the fact which I think you can see for yourselves: that we haven’t found a solution. Of course people are very disturbed because then they say, ‘Well, the problem is that we must find a western solution.’

 

          Yoga for the West.

 

Yes, you know, it goes on and on like this. But it’s all the same thing. There is a universal work, there is something that goes beyond this kind of division. And this is what is being born today. This is mainly the reason for this interchange: so that everybody is ready for it.

 

          A lot of people have had very significant and powerful experiences, no matter how impure the teaching was by the time they got it. It has helped them on. I have had experiences that have helped me on my path, to get to a point where I am receptive to other things.

 

Yes, this is it. And exposed you to things. Thirty years ago young people did not even know the word yoga existed. They didn’t know what it was. The terminology. If you are interested in astrology: look how many people can now appreciate better the Gnostic Circle because they know that something like the 12 zodiacal signs exist. They know the symbols. Before this wasn’t possible.

 

          Another thing we were discussing was our relationship to the religion we were brought up in. And all three of us said we were no longer very interested in Judaism. And yet, what was the significance of having incarnated in Jewish bodies? Do we have to come to terms with that in a certain way, or are we free to become yogis or whatever we wish? Do you see a conflict there?

 

There’s the same conflict that anybody would have who was born…I mean, I was born into a Catholic family and, well, I don’t find any traces of that at all. However, culturally of course there are, and we carry that along.

 

          Spiritually, do we have to come to terms with this spiritually in any given incarnation?

 

No, I really don’t think so in terms of spirituality; but, you know, when you do find your way, there is that immediate recognition. As happened to me, for example. The language was the one. You understood it right away, you vibrated to it. And this had nothing to do with what a Catholic…but it wasn’t Hindu also. It was Sri Aurobindo’s language which was also new. This work is as revolutionary in India as it may be anywhere else. In India the only difference is that they’ll all sit and say, Yes, Yes…because the Hindus accept absolutely anything! Everybody says yes-yes-yes, but nobody does anything! So they all agree, and you don’t get any flak. It’s all wonderful, and the Divine is wonderful, and everybody is so full of bhakti. That’s it. And they mean it sincerely. It is not a pose; in every fibre of their beings, they are the most tolerant people in the world.  I mean they really feel everybody is an avatar or Mohammed or Jesus or whatever.  Mohammed they have a little bit of difficulty with.                                                             (Laughter)

Jesus is not an Avatar to them.

 

Yeah but they can accept Jesus.  Mohammed is a little bit violent; chopped off a lot of heads there and destroyed a lot of Temples and all that.  With Christianity the main problem there was the British Raj, otherwise there would be no problem at all with the religion as such.

That’s the difference in India where yes, of course everyone accepts, but you know they will have [unclear speech here].   But at the same time those are the foundations of Hinduism.  They are, and they carry them forward.

 

But you see, in India too they have moved away from this, and they have not accepted this solution here. They have finally come to that grand proclamation that material creation is an illusion. That was the height of what they reached, until Sri Aurobindo came along. It was in the Middle Ages that they reached that; and believe me, it is such a strong imprint that it seems almost impossible to get over it.

 

          You’re talking about the Lila?

 

Yes, it is supposed to be an ‘illusion’.

 

So, the problems for everybody in this respect are the same. The Jewish problem is very interesting because of the condition of western society — Jewish and Christian at the same time. Again you have to look at these things: What are these religions, what are these peoples? I have written many chapters on this in the third volume of The New Way, on the Jews and the Arabs and this development of the mental and the vital. Each one representing that. Now, it seems crazy: How can a people represent this? Well, you take the Arabs, — just to give you a little detail of the Arabs representing the vital being in the world sense. And isn’t it clear: ENERGY. Look at what they did to the world in 1973. That turned everything upside-down. They had this ‘black gold’, and everything was in reaction to that. And you take it just in terms of animal symbols too, because you have the Horse that represents that vital energy from very ancient times. And you have the most magnificent horse that came out of the Arab world: the Arabian, and the Thoroughbred.

 

Little things like that will give — apart from the characteristics of the race, of the religion that formed out of it — the nature of the race. And then you have the Jewish, of course, that represents the mental. Very clear. You see?

 

So right now they are at each other’s throats, and rather than be integrated…

 

There is no solution.

 

 There can’t be a solution.

 

On that level there is no solution. Only when the higher ‘thing’ manifests.

 

 But wouldn’t you have thought it would have happened earlier when there was the transition from the vital to the mental, rather than at this point, when we are in the transition from the mental to the spiritual?

 

No, because now we are going into these higher levels where this is possible. Before it wasn’t at all. You have to complete these circles before you get to the point where you can…

 

          But it is more possible?

 

Well if it is not possible now it is not going to be possible at any other time! Because it is one way or the other now. Remember, it is the 9th Manifestation. That’s the key. It is the 9th Manifestation. From the 9th you extend your boundaries. And that is exactly what is happening now. Then you go to the point of integration and unity, — the 10th, 11th, and 12th.

 

          I have another question which is, how, if at all, does this teaching deal with the concept that there are souls that incarnate on other galaxies,  and then come to Earth; either as rescue souls, or whatever, at certain points in evolution here.

 

Oh gosh, I have had to deal with this problem….

 

(Laughter)

 

          I can see it’s not one of your favourite subjects!

 

(Laughter)

 

No, I…again, it’s slightly irrelevant, in a sense. You know, anything is possible. Well, I certainly believe that we are seeing something from outer space, that the people that are seeing these, are seeing. But the question is, What are we seeing? Where is it coming from? Is it coming really from another galaxy? Or is it from another dimension that now has taken this form, because we are in this Age. There are so many descriptions of things in the Bible; of visions that people have, or angels. Well, now people see a man from Mars, or something else, from Sirius, or some other galaxy. Much of this is conditioned. So, there is something behind it all, you see. But people have to realise that the form that it takes is very largely conditioned by our stage of evolution. We are in the space age; so obviously we like those kind of solutions. That’s one aspect.

 

The other aspect is; what has that got to do with the Earth, really? I think that again this is a solution from outside. This is saying, ‘well we are going to be saved by something from outside.’ I know that that is not so.

 

          When I ask, I’m not coming from that point. I almost didn’t ask, because I felt, it really is not relevant. There still is the work that needs to be done here. But I do think it’s relevant, on the other hand, because while you were talking…you know when it came into my head actually? It was when you were talking about the human being evolving and at certain points in the life if the right choice is not made, then these crusts will develop. It occurred to me that perhaps a soul…I’ve been told that I am a soul that came to this Earth during the Atlantean era and that I was from a place called ‘Arcturus’.

 

You too!  (Laughter)  Great!… I’m not ridiculing this, I just find it interesting.

 

          It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s not useful for me to know that. But it still is perplexing because it makes me want to know, do souls incarnate on Earth and take part in the cycle and then just go off somewhere else?

 

Well, they may. But honestly I’ve dealt with this VERY DEEPLY lately. I can’t tell you how deeply I’ve dealt with this very galaxy!

 

(Laughter)

 

And I have great respect for certain people…prominent ones from that galaxy! But the point is that…they don’t have the answers. And why? Because they really are closed in that perception that they have come and that they are bringing something, and they have a special mission to help. They are involved in this whole lifting off the planet when the axis…. Well, now what happens here again is that they have not understood what the nature of the work is, what the Earth as a planet signifies, and what its purpose is in the solar system. And that’s all I’m concerned with.

 

If you’re coming from Arcturus and you’re going to help, that’s well and good; but you’ve got to do this. Whatever you bring from Arcturus is not going to be any solution here at all, because, you see, it is the total conditions at each moment; and you cannot reproduce those any place else. Or else you don’t come into this body. Then you really come in a space suit, or whatever, with all your gear, and you go back again. But you cannot reproduce this. The work must be done in the body, and rooted here and with all the solutions that all the totality of these conditions can provide. And they cannot come from outside.

 

They may be souls that are evolved, in a certain sense they have experienced different things, and have a certain maturity and wisdom; but those people are still infants when they come into this. Because the conditions are different. And require different solutions.

 

Again, I find this another escape. It is fascinating because it’s a wave going through the United States. You get these communications, from automatic writing, or whatever, and people believe absolutely anything that comes through. And it’s all very flattering…probably they even told you that you have a mission, you’re going to do this, that and the other. That is usually the way it goes on. It was obviously an ‘evolved’ soul that has come back. Nobody was just a little sweeper, a garbage collector, or something like that. It’s something very grand sounding. And as you said very rightfully, So what?

 

There you are, stuck in that body, with all your complexes or your whatever…and you’ve got to deal with that, and how are you going to deal with it? It doesn’t help you in the least to know these things. Even if it were true. And most people that really are that, don’t bother with it. In fact, they don’t even know. And it never comes to them. It may very well be, but it’s just that somehow these things then take possession of people and they deviate from the…

 

          That’s right. This came through a psychic and I had put off going to a psychic for a very long time because I saw a lot of people using information that came from psychics as a way of avoiding responsibility for their own lives and dealing with external solutions.

 

How did she get this, by automatic writing?

 

          She has a source. It comes through a source, and she is a channel.

 

Well, it’s the same thing.

 

          Right. But I had the same response which was, on one level, this was very interesting, but it doesn’t really change what…you know, it doesn’t change…

 

And the point is that it may not be true, and then you are carried…. Usually it is not true. Usually it’s imaginative, and there are beings that are playing a lot of games in other dimensions. You know, they are communicating a lot of things to create a very big confusion.

 

And why? Why is this taking place? Because really, now comes the crunch! Everybody wants to stamp their own image on what is taking place here. It is not even wicked, as such. It’s just that there are forces, as there are forces that work for the destiny of the Earth itself, in attunement with the Earth’s soul, there are forces that have a completely different purpose; and would like to see their solutions, or their image stamped upon this, in total ignorance.

 

You know, what I find very interesting is that some of these psychics, for example, are contacting people who lived here and have died, right? They have their sources and they contact those people, and they have their ‘friends’ on the other side, or whatever. And somehow, just the fact that it’s a disembodied entity, makes everything true! If they had a limited consciousness here, they’ve got the same limited consciousness on the other side. They may know a few other things, they may be able to predict, on a very limited scale, happenings; because they can manipulate certain forces and allow for things to happen. But this is all on a very, very limited level. And this is the danger, because if you know this, and if you deal with this consciously, it can be very interesting. If you don’t, it can be extremely dangerous. Really dangerous. Or else just distracting.

 

          Can all the comments that you’ve just made be applied to Ramtha?

 

I’ve heard that name, among all the…on the West coast, isn’t it? I’ve heard through another person, who has a different ‘source’ (!) I haven’t read the writings of this Ramtha, so I can’t comment directly; I would have to see them. Somebody said it was awful, and this, that and the other. There were things apparently that were positively awful! I’d have to see it myself. But, I can say that usually the level of these things is very old — old consciousness. This is what I have felt of any of those communications that I have picked up. It is an old, old consciousness. And it really has nothing to do with the real work.

So it’s a problem, because some people are greatly uplifted by these things. For some people it is their only contact with something out of the material, something which they can term ‘spiritual’. And they don’t see the limitation. In India people understand this in very great depth: the occult planes; how these forces work. Tantra deals with that.

 

So in India they make a clear distinction between occult practices and spiritual practices, while in America they don’t understand this at all. And therefore they just push it [the distinction] aside.

 

Now in this Yoga you don’t. You cannot say, I want only the spiritual and not the occult, because the occult practices are dealing with that Cosmic Body of the Mother. That is where all of that is going on; and that’s a very important part. But you see, it can be that ‘maya’, that temptress, that illusion; in terms of the Rig Veda, she is called ‘Diti’. Or it can be Aditi, the Mother of Light, the Mother of Unity, the Mother of Bliss. So, you have these two things, and it is a very fine line. One of the most difficult experiences is when you see these two sides of the thing, — the dark and light of the same Mother, and you don’t know what the ultimate solution is.

 

So, it is not possible to say: Just leave it all aside. I think what really one has to say is, ‘Be very careful and find a guide who you can trust in these matters, if you really feel…’ If it is not your destiny to go along that way and you really want a spiritual level, it’s best then just to leave it alone because it can lead you astray. And if it is your destiny that you work on a more integral thing, then it’s good to have somebody who knows about these things, as a guide. And usually the people who are serving as mediums are not very evolved in that way. They are usually just channels through whom this is coming. So, between you and that disembodied entity, whoever, you have got to rely on your own discrimination. And most of us simply do not have the knowledge.

 

          I saw part of the ‘Ramtha Tapes’, which are being circulated in this country. It was very interesting to watch just what happened to the woman when she became that, and the way she spoke. A lot of what was said was said in humour, almost in a flippant way. There was a great deal of flippancy. But, oddly enough, some of Sri Aurobindo’s teachings were presented.

 

They do. They do.

 

          It’s not the old teaching. There are new teachings coming through, about the evolution of the new body. It got so silly…a really mixed bag.

 

That is the whole problem. These entities do have access to certain information. Everybody is now onto the thing about the new body. It’s clear that something has happened, cosmically, let’s say, to allow these things. But it is what you said: a mixed bag. That’s the problem. That’s the most serious problem, it is that how are you going to distinguish? And one thing is a contact like that. Another thing is really getting involved. Now I know this because I have dealt with this thoroughly. I’ve done this myself, and I know it thoroughly, how it works. And I know the point at which you have to be very careful, because, yes, so many things come through that are simply astounding. But it’s a mixture. In the experiences that I had it wasn’t so much the mixture; that wasn’t the problem. But I could see…. I received years ago volumes of things, that today people are publishing. Well, I destroyed them all because I said, what’s the point, what am I going to do with this. It was like a weight. So one day — I was in India — I just made a bonfire of the whole thing! It wouldn’t have occurred to me, ever, to publish these things. Yet these people go on doing it. Well, it can be very important for your own personal development. I had a particular contact, and of course it identified itself as the Divine Mother…well, but I had to test it constantly, and really put itself and myself through very difficult situations, in order to be able to come to the truth of what was behind it, how it functions. For your own personal development, if you have a contact like that, sometimes it can of course be very important. But the way it is being used today is simply another ego manifestation. Usually the solutions are old, as I say. They may say some things…and they usually say what you want to hear. I mean, it is very clever manipulation that is very difficult for people to deal with. We don’t know how. We don’t have that knowledge.

 

Tantric yogis, for example, can deal with those things, but they go through very long and severe initiations, a whole process that allows them to do this. And still there is always a danger, still. But because they do worship the Mother, the Shakti, they have to deal with that. They cannot…because, as I say, all of this is taking place within the cosmic body: the Mother, within that Cosmic Body. And if you are following a path like that, you invariably come to this point, when you have to discriminate. But you make a discrimination. And you know what is coming from an even higher source.

 

So, that’s all I have to say. Each case is very individual in this. You have to go into it, you have to see what it means for that person. What I always say is, ‘All right then, MOVE ON.’ That was interesting, it mentioned Sri Aurobindo, it might have reminded you, might have been a source to remind you of something. But you move on to more solid work. But I find a lot of these people don’t because they are flattered and they create then a whole cult around this. This is happening in America.

 

          Including a lot of money.

 

It’s phenomenal the money that people pour out because of these kind of…

 

          The spiritual teachings I received from Indian teachers always said that you can’t take money for teaching about God. You know, that knowledge has to be given free. Or if there is some, it is minimal, just so that the teacher can continue to function. But I always feel that when people come to teach about God and they say the seminar about God is $400…. There is something not quite right about that!

 

There was one who had a happy balance in all this, to whom I was rather close at one time. I may disagree with some points, but in this…. That was Krishnamurti. I think he handled that beautifully. You know, he was involved with a lot of money always because the people he was with had money. And he lived the best…I mean, his attire, everything. It was always the best. Yet, at least all the times I saw him, in Rome and Gstaad, of course we didn’t have to pay to go. He had money, because he started schools, so he needed it for that. But he kept a happy balance in this; he dealt with it in the right way.

 

You need money. You have to have it, to publish books, to do this, that. I had a terrible conflict in the beginning, where I thought, Well, money, that’s out, that’s really awful. And of course I had a shock to see the Mother dealing with money. I thought, at that time, that it should have been like Ramakrishna…who couldn’t even touch a coin, because if he touched it his fingers BURNED! It was awful.

 

Well, that was totally stupid, also. It was obviously something unresolved in me at that time, that couldn’t deal with this problem. So, there has to be a balance. Sure. Money represents something. We can’t deny it; and we have to deal with it, I won’t say spiritually, but we have to understand what the force is and why these movements get so much. How is it that they can draw in millions, they become multi-million dollar organisations. And at that point the whole thing is lost.

 

But I think in a case like Krishnamurti’s, for example, whatever he started out with he did not lose. Whether one agrees with what he says or not, is a different thing. But that never contaminated it, this contact with money never did. And he had very rational, very sane dealings with people that followed him. There was never a difficulty, never the scandals that come out…. First class, you know.

 

That was Krishnamurti’s destiny. It was that from the beginning; in fact, that was why he was able to handle it so well.

 

          It’s gotten out of hand in this country.

 

Of course. But everything in that sense has gotten out of hand.

 

          I think part of the reason is that people are so desperate for an answer, they’re willing to pay and they think…

 

          …the more they pay, the more true the answer will be.

 

          It follows from that that we are imbalanced, that we work from the left hemisphere of the brain, altogether, in this country?

 

Well, I really can’t go into that deeply. I think that there is a certain amount of truth in that, but I would say that we are functioning from half levels of both. You know what I mean? This is more the answer, that there is a distortion on both. Because if you really go into it, in the areas that each hemisphere governs you find the same kind of distortion. So, I would say that we tend to think of it now in terms of the left being prominent. But, only apparently, really; only on the surface is that true. I think that the problems we face as a society are projections from both sides that are simply not integrated and in harmony, because, again, something else….

 

This is where Sri Aurobindo’s teachings come in, very strongly. This whole matter of a manifestation of what he calls the Supermind, which is something beyond all of this; that is, that would be the governing principle of a new race. And that is why all of this is breaking down now, you see, because this higher principle must come in and establish itself. And then put into right perspective everything. Every part of the being, governed by both — the more emotive and the more intellectual — what we call the mental and the vital.

 

          There is a lot of confusion in this area. For instance in India they talk of the mind; but what I think they’re referring to is a mixture of the emotions and the intellect…

 

I think there is a confusion. I agree with you…they often refer to mind also as the spirit. Like the hymns that Vivekananda, that Ramakrishna used to chant, you often find them translated as, ‘O Mind, soar above’ and so on. And there it clearly gives the impression of the spirit. This is what they mean. These are the technicalities that at some point become important to clarify. In the beginning it is just semantics; it is unimportant. But when you get into the Yoga very seriously, at some point you really have to start defining. You want to know what you are dealing with, what Mind is, what Consciousness is, what the Soul is. Make distinctions between these things. Right now it is very interesting the work they are doing on the brain. I think it is extremely interesting, but I think that, again, it’s like everything else: it’s just the beginning. There are very big possibilities of discovery, as yet not really fully understanding…

 

*********

 

 

Change and Stability — the heart of the ‘New World’

I write these lines in the United States of America, the nation whose coming into existence changed the face of the world. For a new world was indeed born, where new energies could find their freedom of expression, largely unburdened by the weight of past traditions.

The impression of a new and vibrant vitality is unmistakable in America, as anyone coming from an older, ancient civilisation can affirm when entering within the borders of this vast country. Indeed, one feels ‘burdenless’, and this creates the impression that anything is possible in the United States, the impossible appears totally possible, the attainable is there for all to attain. This is so largely because one is free of the weight of the past.

In terms of the new way, this condition is especially meaningful. I have delved deeply into the question of ‘time energy’. By specific yogic processes it was discovered that the experience of time ― the lived experience of conscious awareness, on this planet, in our particular physical bodies ― revolves around the question of energy, much as all else in this universe. Time is energy, or the executive force of Consciousness. As Sri Aurobindo wrote in Savitri: ‘The executor of my will, eternal Time.’

But an experience lived in an unconscious state, with half or more of the energies of the being asleep, results in the fact that time begins to condense energy within one’s consciousness-being. Consequently, one way in which we can describe the ego is by this formulation: the ego is the pivot formed by those accumulated, unresolved substances that come into being because of a wrong poise of the consciousness of the individual, whereby the time energies of the past form a ‘knot’ and pull the being off centre. That is, one lives one’s life pivoting this off-centre, which is the dross of our experience in time. The past becomes thus our prison. It is the burden we carry and which nails us to our cross in the lowest chakra.

Certain Yogas have sought to release this energy by various techniques which would bring about enlightenment. Tantra is one such path. The rise of the Kundalini in Tantra Yoga is one method to bring about a release. But there are certain limitations in the Tantric and Kundalini Yogas which I have described in the third volume of The New Way. Suffice to say here that seers have long been aware of this ‘knotted energy’ — or the coiled Serpent at the base of the spine. The ego’s pivot, and hence the pivot of the present human race, is the sex centre. Consequently, we have the Left-Handed path of Tantra which seeks to utilise the sex act for the attainment of its highest goal.

This is the situation for each human being born in a human body on this planet. But it is also applicable to nations. Some nations are tremendously burdened by the past, to such an extent that in order to free themselves from these shackles, they do so by seeking to obliterate them completely. China is one example offering this type of resolution, in that it has dramatically cut away its past and introduced a new order. But there are others as well. In the Middle Ages we find that Islam stepped in to fill a void it had created by a similar act of cutting away the existing order. And what was once there, a force of the new, has today become a conservative power of the past.

The United States of America does not have this burden, but because of this we find an interesting situation prevailing, perhaps even more interesting in view of the astrological sign that rules the nation, — Cancer. This sign describes the ego pivot, given the present condition of the race. That is, it is the sign that describes where and when the separation occurs in the evolution of consciousness that permits an individual to emerge. In our present condition of incompletion and unenlightenment, and our difficulty in dealing with time energy in a manner which would allow for a gnostic race to come into being, Cancer thus describes the ego pivot. Hence it is the sign of the past in astrological tradition, and also the
‘end of life’ period and the ‘tomb’. Its hieroglyphic symbol pictures the void we orbit as a race, an ‘empty centre’. And indeed the past is cancer hieroglyphlike a black hole; it consumes precious time energy, the lack of which keeps us from enjoying a state of immortal being.

America is representative of this condition because though she does not carry the burden of the past, yet she pivots a certain void. Other nations fill that void with traditions that have accumulated and which eventually become forces of inertia. This, however, the United States has not been permitted to do. The nation has only a short history of barely 200 years, and this short span covers precisely the period of history that saw tremendous upheavals the world over with respect to tradition and continuity.

America is indeed part of the ‘new world’. But in the context of this work, we may use this term as synonymous with ‘the new creation’. That is, this is a global condition and the time of the discovery of America marked the period when a ‘new world’ was being born on Earth, involving the whole planet. The coming into being of the United States as a nation in 1776 (a year of 3 power according to the mathematics of unity) was part of the foundation-laying for a new world order. But an essential ingredient in this order is a vision of oneness and unity. When these become firm pillars of our seeing and are applied to international affairs, then a new world order will take the place of the divisive oldness we live at present.

This vision of oneness and unity must permeate all aspects of life, the individual’s daily experience as well as relations between nations. Similarly, it must refashion our vision of the zodiacal wheel. For the condition that assails us of an incomplete experience of time, forces a separative vision of the wheel; and this creates a fragmented view of the zodiacal signs, whereby each is analysed in isolation of the rest. But with the new perceptive faculties now emerging, such as the Mind of Light, (see TVN 0/2, December 1985) this limitation is overcome. Accompanying the vision of planetary oneness there is a seeing of the integrated, united zodiac. Thus Cancer is no longer a sign separate from the rest, since that would then describe the ‘void’ central to the old creation and hence be productive of the off-centre pivot in the individual; and consequently it would be the sign representing the ego. Any nation, therefore, ruled by Cancer during times when these perceptive limitations prevailed on Earth, would suffer also from the severe limitations the ego would impose. (The several bouts with isolationist policies that the United States has experienced would indicate the old poise and an ‘unintegrated’ Cancer influence.)

However, the United States of America is one of the nations at the forefront of the new world order, and she came into being precisely when those first foundations of human unity and global oneness were being laid. The last three centuries of this millennium are ushering in a radically different harmony among nations and individuals; and the final three decades of this century are carrying this process to its culmination. Consequently, America’s rulership by Cancer carries a different significance. The void is still central, this is a fact, but not having tradition to fill it, the nation has come to express another attribute of the sign: Change. The result is a country caught up in a process of compulsive change, attempts to fill the void. The economic system America champions in the world is also strongly coloured by this factor, since the consumerist society is one that feeds on this need. New products must be churned out with relentless fury to replace old ones; and this, when accompanied by sophisticated marketing and advertising techniques, drives the public to desire ever better products with an insatiable appetite. The new technology is heightening this condition because daily new inventions render obsolete those of yesterday. The consumer is thus driven along on the crests of this compulsive wave of change.

Yet this situation lies very close to the key purpose for America’s existence, her true dharma, we may say. It is a very special attribute that she offers the world and represents her contribution to the symphony of nations, and in particular for the new world order that is upon us. This drive to renew, rather than a clinging to tradition and the ways of the past, is the expression of her Cancer heritage. But since this is a harmony of the One and the Many, one cannot appreciate this heritage and contribution unless the vision of oneness replaces the old seeing. Thus Cancer in the new holistic vision would not be the ego, if taken in conjunction with the other signs, all constituting one evolutionary ‘journey’, one united and connected process. More pointedly, Cancer must be viewed in conjunction with the sign that stands opposite on the wheel, Capricorn. We then find that these two poles form one axis, so to speak. Capricorn then fills that void with the stable core that it provides, for that is its dharma; while Cancer offers to Capricorn the essential ingredient it needs: the drive to renew, to change, without which the stability of Capricorn would become its power of undoing by virtue of a stagnation of energies.

India is known to be ruled by Capricorn, and within the symphony of nations she does provide us with that stable core, which has resulted in the fact that India has given the world so many philosophical systems and spiritual paths and leaders. But a harmonious interchange between these two nations, India and America, is essential now, especially for the latter, which has yet to fulfil her dharma. The United States may have been born as an independent nation in 1776, that year of 3 power, but her journey in the discovery of her soul is still incomplete. Likewise, though India — the new India — was born in 1947, also a year of 3 power, she too awaits the moment of her psychic fulfilment.

Both nations have reached a very important crossroads, and this has become especially apparent to me in my recent travels in the United States. But opposing any true expression of the American soul are forces of inertia which are making a concerted effort to fill that central void. The rise of conservatism in this decade, accompanied by a phenomenal increase in fundamentalism, indicates that occult forces are seeking to draw America away from her true destiny, — a destiny which in fact she has not yet fulfilled.

This of course may be said of all nations: none have fulfilled their destinies. It may be said of the entire Earth. The planet stands at a formidable crossroads: on one side lies collapse, caving in of energies, destruction, and on the other we find the new creation which the Earth is meant to house and which is the true and sole reason for her existence. This planet is to provide the physical base for this evolution to a higher species and a gnostic society.

The turning point America (and India) faces, is thus the same the whole Earth faces. What is going to emerge? Out of this great churning will the Earth’s soul be victorious and her child live and take his place in the complete harmony of the System? Or will the forces of Inertia prevail and cast this new creation into the black hole of the past, aborting the birth of the One Earth and the harmonious interrelations between nations and between individuals?

It is clear that this crucial juncture is upon us as a species, as a planet. There is no longer any possibility of an individual salvation, — read ‘escape’. It is abundantly evident that isolated parts cannot disengage themselves from this decisive reckoning. Thus the critical juncture that America faces expresses the turning point of our entire civilisation. What is to come? What is, in the first place, the real nature of the victory?

This may be said to be the central issue of the present discussion, and about which we seek to be very clear. At stake is the destiny of an entire civilisation. But more than that, it is the destiny of a planet. The decisive moment of which we are witnesses and participants, concerns the unveiling of the Earth’s soul.

In our racial memories we carry truth-seeings of our planetary psychic being. These have been conveyed in various ways and handed down throughout the Ages, — in epics, myths, or in records left by individual seers of their truth perceptions which all traditions have preserved. These are veiled prophetic glimpses, of seeings into that soul dimension. Yet the difference with our times is of capital importance. We are now living the actual Birth, a condition which the world has not known prior to our Age. Or if it has in the endless recurring cycles of Time, that event has receded deep into our collective unconscious. We have lost the living and conscious connection with that planetary condition. Some attempt to reconstruct this past, to ferret out traces of cultures and civilisations which seem to indicate that the Earth has known the full birth of her soul. But I am not especially concerned with what might have been thousands of years ago. I am solely concerned with the actual birth we are living now; and I realise that the times we live in are, for this reason, the most glorious and exciting that our race has living memory of. We are experiencing that great Birth. We have the possibility to be conscious participants in this unique event. For out of the labour pains of our times, the new creation emerges. Can there be any more sublime grace than to be offered by destiny the possibility of a conscious participation in this revolutionising happening?

An event of such phenomenal importance and proportions is clearly a global involvement, concerning nations and individuals. Therefore, if one observes world events with the eye of a new Seeing, enlightened by this faculty of clear vision, they take on a different meaning. We view them in a new perspective. Accordingly, this introduces a heightened sense of responsibility. For example, the turning point that the United States faces becomes a matter of deepest concern for all nations and people. We cannot stand aloof from the consequences a wrong turn at this stage would signify. In addition, a true spiritual insight reveals that the old methods for dealing with our problems are not adequate to influence events and people or change the course of destiny during this entirely new Birth. To seek to usher in the new Creation requires a new way, a new process. And this is what we are concerned with primarily. It is more than clear that the right course is not going to be found in the old paths of the spirit, nor through the already outdated solutions science and political ideologies provide. Rather, it is abundantly clear that a new consciousness has to come into being which can deal with the tremendous mental development of the human race, — the major conditioning factor of our civilisation. That is, a supramental change has to come about — or rather, is coming about. And we seek to become more conscious instruments in this great Change.

However, this requires special Knowledge. In my travels in America, I have been able to observe that there exists a decided immaturity in questions of Spirit. Unlike India where for thousands of years sages, seers, and yogis have been exploring all the existent dimensions open to the individual in his or her quest for Truth — from the highest reaches of the spirit, down through the innumerable occult planes and into the physical — , America is barely at the first portal in this investigation. Consequently, I have found that this lack of a precise Knowledge about those subtle, occult dimensions and the forces working therein has placed in jeopardy the realisation of the country’s higher potential. I feel that this matter is serious enough to merit a somewhat detailed discussion, and it is my hope that an explanation of the nature of the problem will help to arrest an incipient wrong turn and guide those individuals who could provide a certain amount of precious energies for the great Change back to the safe and real path of the Earth’s own way.

A great wave is sweeping over America, dispersing energies and creating a considerable amount of confusion among seekers regarding the nation’s true role in the new dispensation that the Earth stands poised to experience. This is occurring because, as mentioned, there is very little real understanding of the true nature of the occult dimensions that surround us,  — those subtle dimensions with their respective forces, entities, and so forth, that ‘fold into’ the physical, and permeate it. These entities seek to mould the consciousness of the people in ‘their own image’, quite simply. Yet they have no real role to play in this manifestation; or rather, no directional role.

This has presently reached alarming proportions. One of its main expressions is the rampant influences these occult forces have acquired by means of mediumistic channels — be this either through automatic writing, the pendulum, the planchette, or simply a ‘source’ speaking through a sensitive, all of which are means to receive ‘messages’ from disembodied entities. There are many ways to receive such communications, but the actual methods are unimportant. The resultant communications are, however, a matter of deep concern to anyone knowledgeable about such matters.

The position needs to be explained in greater detail. In an integral path, and above all a supramental manifestation which presupposes an integration of all levels of the being, from the subtlest realms of the Spirit to the densest dimensions of material creation, it is not possible to brush aside the occult realms and all their intermediate planes as ‘illusory’, or to consider them plagued by the scourge of impermanency and hence to be dismissed as unreal. This has been done in the past. In fact, all spiritual disciplines and philosophies have propagated this view in one way or another. They all prescribe an extra-cosmic apotheosis, and in so doing the question of knowledge about the occult planes becomes irrelevant, since the Cosmic Body of the Mother is dismissed as ‘unreal’. The aim is to escape those subtle as well as physical planes, which are labelled Illusion, or Maya. This attitude is reflected in zodiacal tradition by the aforementioned separation between Cancer and Capricorn. By this divisive view, Cancer then becomes Diti of Vedic tradition, the Mother of darkness and division. Aditi, the unifying Mother, only comes into being when this point is joined in the perceptive vision to Capricorn.

In calling creation ‘illusion’, this has not freed the race from an interpenetration by the occult forces of this physical dimension. In fact, today we find that this disregard fostered by the spiritual authorities has created fertile ground for occult forces to influence happenings on the planet and they have come to wield considerable power over people, especially those engaged in a quest for Truth. It is not that those forces can effectively impede the new Birth, or even that they care to do so. What is happening, however, and which is truly lamentable, is that channels that could serve the Divine as instruments for the Supramental Change are being taken over by these powers of lesser significance; and worse yet, they are cajoled into believing that they are those chosen instruments utilised for this change.

I must point out that this is not a new phenomenon. In India the role of these forces has long been accurately known. But what is new is the all-pervasiveness of the happening. Yet Tantra, for instance, is a specialised Indian path with a specific body of knowledge concerning those occult realms. Indeed, any path that places the Divine Mother on its central altar of worship — such as the Tantric and ancient Vedic — perforce has to accept the reality of those innumerable occult dimensions that constitute Her consciousness-being. In her cosmic form she is the Body of the Absolute; and even as our own physical bodies contain subtle as well as denser material sheaths, so too does the Cosmic Mother’s ‘body’ embrace these same dimensions in macrocosmic proportions. Consequently, in the Supramental Yoga, in which the union with the Divine Shakti is paramount, it is not possible to either deny or ignore the existence of those occult planes with the forces that inhabit them.

However, it must be cautioned that an even more finely honed discrimination is required in this new path, insofar as it harmonises both the individual and the collectivity and by consequence it integrates all aspects of existence. This means that in the Supramental Manifestation, we cannot disengage the individual from the circumscribing collective consciousness. It is all one. Thus the phenomenon of communicating with the occult entities we are describing is of major concern to us since it is a primary influence today in the nation that has a special role to play in the dawning new creation.

These occult forces are seeking to gain influence on Earth by usurping certain channels, and especially by using the extensive communications network for the express purpose of extending their influence as widely as possible. At stake is the destiny of the planet. Is she to be the home of the supramental creation and thus fulfil her true destiny, or are those forces going to succeed in disfiguring the message and usurping the individual channels and moulding the vision into their lesser image? Each force in those planes attempts to do just that. The proverbial war between the Dark and the Light revolves finally around this conflict: the dark simply represents those forces of Inertia which strive to impede the forward movement and the establishment of the New. They are those blocked energies of the Past that resist change at all cost. And the seeker today faces an arduous task, for those influences come under the guise of the Good. It may also be said that as far as those entities are concerned, given the limited knowledge they possess, they are good. But as far as this work is concerned, though we must agree that a certain goodness exists, in the context of the new creation, what does ‘good’ really mean?

The point to bring forth here is that what may have been valid and true in ages past is not necessarily the light of today. Quite the contrary. Or what might be valid and true for another galaxy in another star system, may not be relevant and healthy for this planet, Earth. But let us briefly analyse this situation.

The Supramental Creation is a thing indigenous to planet Earth. Therefore it emerges from this planet’s own consciousness-being and in harmony with her own evolutionary laws. Via these laws that new creation comes into being, therefore resulting in an expression of the Earth’s particular and unique inherent Truth-essence, — not something imposed from outside, no matter how romantic such interventions may appear to our fanciful and imaginative tastes. It may be safely stated that the salient feature of this new creation is precisely a society in which each individual and every aspect of that society expresses their inherent truth of being.

One aspect that is perhaps the central ingredient in this evolutionary development is the gestation and birth process. The cycle of 9 is thus fundamental and it is the means used to create a new blueprint of the new consciousness to establish new ‘forms’. Therefore to expect that this new world is to come into being on Earth through channels external to that process and through guidance from other galaxies, or by the help of guidance from the occult dimensions through any particular ‘source’, is to fail to understand the real process and its full mechanism for introducing change.

The forces in these other dimensions are typal entities (see TVN 1/3; Sri Aurobindo on the Supramental Evolution). They are not engaged in this sort of evolutionary process. Yet they do seek to spread their ‘word’ on this planet, in this physical dimension, a fact which is made especially evident today by the great proliferation of mediums and ‘sources’. But lacking the capacity to discriminate on those planes, the seeker in America is being drawn into an area of occultism that can be extremely dangerous for the layman who has no secure grounding in the knowledge required to deal with those planes and forces. This situation has long been appreciated in India, and from very ancient times a distinction was made between spiritual attainments and the occult. In addition, it has always been recognised that to attain any proficiency in occultism a specialised preparation is required, and, in particular, the guidance of a trusted and reliable master or guru, to assist the disciple in the early stages in order to avoid a catastrophic possession by the forces operating in the occult planes.

To illustrate, I would like to reproduce a portion from a Tantric text that deals with this matter. It cautions the seeker on the spiritual path and lays bare the dangers one faces. The same advice can be extended to seekers in America, who unquestioningly accept all that comes through occult channels. The passage is from, The Ten Great Cosmic Powers, by S. Shankaranarayanan, (Dipti Publications), page 2:

‘…There is a regular hierarchy of Gods, some of whom are far above the highest heavens of human reach. But there are also Gods and Goddesses closer to the human level. They are more readily accessible to those who aspire to them and in some cases the seeker on the Tantric path looks to the aid and lead of these deities in his effort. They are endowed with capacities and powers beyond normal human possibility, but they are not at all for that reason divine in nature. There are higher and lower classes of them, ucca and ksudra Devatas. Those that are nearest to the earth-plane, swarming in the vital world overtopping the physical, are usually of the latter type. They respond very readily to the approaches of those who seek their help but they do so mainly for their own purpose, namely, to get hold of the particular human vehicle and convert it into a centre for their activity on the earth. They may and do answer the call of the seeker in the beginning, but in the end they let him down, rather roughly, once their purpose is fulfilled. The seeker is mislead, his inner progress comes to a standstill if it does not end in disaster. The Kshudra Devatas mislead the seeker with petty glamorous gifts, induce a false sense of progress and siddhi, prevent the dawn of real Jnana [knowledge] which would expose their whole game and succeed in enslaving the man for their purpose at the cost of his soul which is betrayed into misadventure.’

In addition to the above, I would like to draw the reader’s attention to the article that appeared in this Newsletter, 0/3, February 1986, on Pendulums, Planchettes and Automatic Writing.

To conclude, it is clear that the time has come for the American seeker to extend his or her boundaries, to begin to forge truly secure foundations in a more central domain of Truth-Seeing. During my travels it became apparent that a certain saturation had taken place; it was abundantly clear that something else has to manifest now, something that represents the culmination of two decades of intense involvement with the paths of the Spirit, something that in fact can reconcile the two poles of existence — the material and the spiritual — and which are translated into our life on this planet as the presently antagonistic poises of change and stability. For us at this time, one of the most relevant attributes of the Supermind is its inherent harmonisation of these two aspects of universal manifestation, and the new way has evolved as a tool to apply this higher principle in our individual and collective lives. This path is universal in its scope, as well as the language that characterises it, and by means of which it extends its influence in the world. It was born on Earth and is of the Earth. There is no question of its subjugation to the dictates of beings from other galaxies, or entities from the occult dimensions; nor is it dependent on sanction from disembodied spirits whose consciousnesses ‘on the other side’ retain the same limitations as when they were embodied on this planet. Nonetheless, this is indeed a vision connected with certain higher planes of consciousness, those realms of the Truth-Consciousness, as Sri Aurobindo described them. But these are intrinsic parts of the Earth’s own inherent truth of being. The Supermind is the mode by which the connection with the Absolute is made, as it is for each individual born on this planet.

India can provide the central stable core with its spiritual foundation and mature knowledge and wisdom born of the ages.  But America must contribute the element of change and force of renewal, an element which is essential in any creation in matter.  A forging of an axis of this sort, balancing change and stability, is the means by which an integrated new creation, expressing itself individually and collectively, can come about and hasten the establishment on Earth of the life divine.


Kodaikanal, August, 1986





A silent Cause divine…

A silent Cause divine
Has settled in my heart
From where a laughter mocks
The busyness without.   

No movement now,
Mobility coils out from one point:
A vibrant core of quiet joy,
A snow-white ocean of fathomless Power.

Gone, gone the asking
Gone the yearning.
Nothing but that Cause remains.
Silent, impeccable and alone. 


Aryaman
3 September 1986