EWS #124: Preparing for August 15th

Aug 13, 2022

Alina (0:00:38):
Namaste. Good evening everyone and welcome back to our continuing series, Evenings with Sraddhalu. Namaste Sraddhalu.

[Sraddhalu] Namaste. Happy to be with all of you.

My name is Alina and I'm happy to host this series, Evenings with Shadaloo, every Saturday. Today we will have a very interesting topic, preparing for August 15th. We will take this theme of preparation for ourselves, because this year we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo's birthday. I would also like Sraddhalu to explain more for some of us who don't know the significance of the Darshan. Thank you very much and I'm looking forward to hear.

Sraddhalu (0:01:38):
Yes. The theme for today is the 15th of August and how we have to prepare ourselves for it because of what it signifies. The significance is not merely of a date that is repeating and has repeated perhaps 150 times. There are many anniversaries, there are many centenaries, there are many 150 years, every single day of all kinds of events. Why should this be in some way more important? If there was a special event that took place 150 years ago, why should the date repeated somehow be significant? Is it merely for our understanding or is there actually something happening on that day? And if so, what is it that would happen mechanically just because it's a date because our calendar could be different- you could follow a lunar calendar it would be a different date, isn't it? And equally if there is such a thing, what is it that we should be doing or can be doing? Will that thing be only for this occasion of the 15th August? Does it apply for the 15th of last year or the 15th of next year?

You will notice in the title of the theme I have just put this title ‘Preparing for August 15th’ and I have not put the year and you get a hint that our discussion will be a little more broad and not just for this year. And nevertheless, this year also we will touch upon its importance and as Alina has requested also the value of the darshan itself.

But first we look back; we have to go back to a vision, a perspective which will be as large as possible in which we will be able to fully appreciate the sense of this event and for that purpose we will go back as if almost to the beginning of the sense of Time and the beginning of the Space itself to that where the Divine chooses to burst out into a manifestation of his multiplicity of possibilities from the Oneness as an expression of His delight and thus we have this beautiful universe that exists. Within this universe as everything moves inevitably to rediscover its divinity out of an experience of self-loss, in this movement that we call evolution, there is a persistent upward push of the Divine himself. It is a force that pushes evolution seated in the very heart of the inconscient, in the darkness; “cowled in the darkness” is how the Veda describes Agni, the divine Will which is seated and pushing from deep within. And it is that which from the unformed chaotic mass of inconscient pushes to form particles, combine particles, build atoms, build molecules, build forms of life, build forms of mind and so on, pushing from inside. This Agni, divine Will we will say, is really the burden held by the divine himself who holds the full burden of this in conscience and pushes massively across the universe, everywhere. And where forms are emerging out of that in conscience, the organisation of the form allows a different kind of push and a different kind of experience and expression. As these forms emerge, there is an opening to their higher possibilities. So as life comes through matter, it opens to catching influences from the life world which are already present as subtle worlds. They come to nudge, to push, to pull and assist the emergence of the form. They then come to enter the forms to be able to manifest their possibilities here in matter. And the same when there is the turning to mind and the struggle to emerge, the same; the mind, mental plane leans down to push, to pull and also to manifest.

And now in this present transition from Mind to something greater, similarly there is the struggle of something rising but there is also something from above trying to descend and to manifest. But at each of these transition points, the push from below which is the divine energy that's working to organise things, this push from below can only go so far from an one directional push. It can only push so much and cannot go beyond unless there is the help from the other side to make the breakthroughs. And so each time there is a great breakthrough to be made, there is a help needed from above. And this is where the Divine puts out, sends out or manifests a special concentrated Force to enter into this play of life in the material world, take on a body of the suitable form and then through that push forward to lift not only itself but the mass of consciousness in the collective of that type.

(0:08:05):

I'm using general terms because this applies to all the levels of evolution. In the Indian tradition we speak of the ten avatars. Avatar literally means coming down into material incarnation. The ten incarnations of the divine, each representing a step of evolution. You are familiar with these ten steps, I don't need to go into detail. But you see the last few in particular represent the transition at a human level from animal to human and in the human from the physical man to the vital man to the ideal mind of man which is represented by Rama and Sri Krishna representing a step further into what Sri Aurobindo calls the Overmental consciousness. But the Kalki represents the transition from that, from the Mind to the Supramental consciousness and as it is a very interesting, there is no further tenth, beyond the tenth Avatar, there is no further because beyond that this struggle of emergence from ignorance to knowledge is no more present. With the emergence of the Supramental consciousness, the divine knowledge is fully revealed and the manifestation of divine possibilities, an involution of higher possibilities begins. The avatar is no more needed.

Now all this is to set the base for an understanding of what this Avatar event really represents for us. We have two terms again which we should be clear about- the Avatar and the Vibhuti. The vibhuti represents special emanations from the divine for a specialised narrow work to nudge, to push, to build, to create certain distinct circumstances, to prepare a certain type and so on.

A good example of Vibhuti, for example, in Europe would be Leonardo da Vinci who becomes in a single human being the embodiment of the type of the European mind which has to be developed subsequently through the Renaissance into the modern stage of European development. Another example of a Vibhuti is an aspect of Shakti, the power of the energy of the divine entering into Joan of Arc who comes in to save a country, a nation under development and the fragile stage of its individuality to protect it from invasion so that it may be prepared for something greater in the future where it has to play an important role. She does the work and the power withdraws. Other examples would be great poets or creators of an age of literature for example or an age of science; Shakespeare would be one such again for European / English literature. Or Nichola Tesla would be a good example as a Vibhuti. He is the creator of the age of electricity. Literally everything we do with electricity he foresaw, developed and experimented and sometimes even perfected. To this day subsequently there has been no further improvement in the entire three-phase power supply distribution and generation and motor. No improvement. He did it and after he left nothing more left. That gives you a sense of the power that the Vibhuti represents.

That literally the Vibhuti does something in a brief lifetime that leaves behind such a great change that a century later there is nobody in the human evolution who is able to improve upon it. Imagine what a compression of evolution that represents in a single person and what is manifested.

In India we have various other Vibhutis who have come not only for literature, not only to save the nation, Shivaji would be one of the great Vibhutis, who comes at a time when the whole of India might have been overrun by the invasion of Islam from the Middle East and he comes at a time when there was no hope left and he is able to single-handed literally reverse that whole tide and bring it to a stage where Islam was practically removed from India. All it needed was one more step of the combined combination of the Marathas and the Rajputs to finish that invasion and that's when the British come in, which changes the whole game.

Another example of a great Vibhuti would be Adi Shankaracharya who again comes with a very specific mission literally an embodiment of a special aspect of Shiva and what he achieves in such a short lifespan is unbelievable, not only from the power of knowledge and the spiritual force that he incarnates and expresses, the realisation which he imprints which leaves an impression lasting more than a thousand years. The various other vibhutis of various kinds, we need not go into the list. This is enough to give an impression, an idea of the power that a single vibhuti might have and yet the vibhuti does not know its own divinity because it's a special power incarnated. Sometimes in an evolving human being it enters, seizes and lifts. Sometimes it incarnates as a power, one time manifestation and then withdraws.

(0:14:00):

But the avatar now, if this is the power of a single Vibhuti, the Avatar represents a far greater, a far more complete manifestation of the divine. Not an aspect, not a special force, not a special project; but as if the whole of the Divine leaning down for the mission of the evolutionary step required at that point. So if you go back to the age of the Rama, the establishment of the age of the Sattvic mind in humanity, not just in India. So the special power and focus was for this but the action is of an entire mass of a collective of humanity. There are perhaps equivalents on various planets for various civilizations or the planetary consciousness of various planets when they come into the mental consciousness. And so you could say that each would have its equivalent of the Rama type of incarnation. Sri Krishna similarly establishes this new consciousness with it a whole new approach to yoga and the awakening of bhakti as a path of spiritual evolution, the organisation of certain possibilities, the effect of which still continues and the revelation of the Bhagavad Gita of which Sri Aurobindo says, which has yet to liberate humanity, that means the mission of Sri Krishna is not yet complete, that work still continues. The Buddha similarly representing a certain possibility of withdrawal from evolution itself to immerse into the Absolute bye-passing evolution.

But the Kalki, especially in this context, which we recognize is the role of Sri Aurobindo's incarnation is to take this mental consciousness to the Supramental as a new step in evolution. For which purpose? It is not only impacting the whole of humanity but in the nature of this action which is not just a rising in consciousness to a new level but not only its manifestation in humanity but its transformation all the way down into the most physical material consciousness. This incarnation is not only for earth it is for the whole of the universe. The reason being, and Sri Aurobindo points out this, so far the incarnation of the supramental consciousness in the physical has not been done, nor its manifestation in the collective consciousness as an evolutionary force in matter has been done. Because he says if it had been done, it would remain as an imprint in the universal consciousness and he says it's been attempted but it has never succeeded.

There have been great yogis, rishis who have risen to the supramental consciousness sometimes stopping on the borderline which is itself so overwhelming that they found passing through that borderline it was passing through the gates of the Sun and you do not return. At other times, they've been content with incarnating that Presence with the physical body supporting it like the wick supports the flame. The body itself consumed in the process and only the flame held to go away eventually leaving behind the material world unchanged.

So Sri Aurobindo, therefore, represents something so extraordinary as to have we can say no precedent even in the universe; and that's quite something when you consider that there are out there billions, trillions perhaps of civilizations which have reached the mental consciousness on trillions of planets in the infinite universe. And many have evolved into the higher ranges all the way perhaps even to the supramental perhaps as individuals perhaps as a collection of individuals but so far none having manifested it into matter in the physical body with the attempt of the transformation of the material consciousness itself which was the first attempt done in this incarnation of Sri Aurobindo.

And so the Avatar, we have to understand, not only establishes a whole new leap of consciousness, not an incremental change, not one of the intermediate gradations of mind, but a leap into the supramental. And the Mother, I think Sri Aurobindo also explains the gap between the mental and the supramental is bigger than the gap between the animal and the human mind. So there is no precedent for such a large leap before. So for such a great leap,  not only for the entering of that consciousness but for its manifestation for transformation of matter and the work done in the physical body which has never been done in the universe and so this new leap of consciousness establishing, initiating a whole new age and a new cycle of the ages we may say, the yuga is a vocabulary we use in Sanskrit, and all the while embodying it in a way that is infused in the collective consciousness of humanity.

(0:19:40):

Again if you look at the Rishis of the Veda, some of them embodied the supramental consciousness; they held it while in the body, incarnated, but they had not plugged themselves into humanity. And so it was left as an impression which touches the human mind as an ideal, as a distant memory- ‘ah yes, it should be possible’, but it is not left as an active force in evolution. What they did was all that was perhaps possible at that time. We should not disparage the value of that phase. But that having been done, this being done now to embody in a body that plugs into the whole of humanity. And the humanity is not just the earth; it also includes similar gradations of substance, mental consciousness and the human species in the way it has migrated to so many other planets in distant times of the past, everything being connected at the level of consciousness, but with a special focus on this earth which was their primary objective.

So we can for the moment ignore the rest, simply look at humanity on earth. And this gives you a glimpse of the sense of the power that the Avatar brings, if a Vibhuti is just a tiny fragment, a fraction of this totality that must come. The initiation of the Avatar's incarnation does not take place one day, okay humanity we need help we call out and from up there something pops down here- ‘I'm here to help’. It doesn't work like that. The emergence of the Avatar itself, remember, is from the Oneness of the Divine at the origin of creation, entering into the multiplicity. As powerful an event as the emergence of the whole universe out of the divine, except that did not take place in Time, but still that event is being replicated at the level of the Avatar’s incarnation but for a narrower focus of an individual in the universe, but the power behind the event is as great.

This is extremely important to understand. And so out of that oneness outside space and time, there is this power that enters into space-time. And this is something so important. It's literally-if you take the surface of a lake and from above a large stone entering the lake, first as it approaches the lake, the water itself feels a tension and as the stone presses the water surface breaks, the stone pushes down and then there's a whole ripple, rippling out into the entire lake or ocean or universe. But what the stone has brought in now stays permanently as part of this. The analogy fails beyond the point.

But an emergence out of space-time into space-time has a similar force which creates enormous pressure inside space-time and creates ripples from the pressure itself. But also in the incarnation as the incarnations locks into matter, there's the rippling out into the material consciousness. But before that there are ripples in the vital, mental and higher planes of that pressure and the pressure itself as it enters pushes out circumstances. They begin to shape, they begin to use the word warp, distort from their current condition to take on a new shape, top-down pressures ripple, ripple and the nature of anything entering from outside space-time into space-time always eternity is represented in form of time and space by ripples, repetitions, rhythms. So there's a rhythming out as this incarnation takes place and as it ripples through the levels of consciousness each of these has these rhythms, rhythms, rhythms and a huge pressure. The likes of which those planes do not have not experienced before. Because each time the Avatar comes, the next Avatar carries and includes the powers of all the previous Avatars and then something new. So each time it is a greater, greater manifestation.

And so as the rippling takes place through the worlds, each of these worlds is stressed and changes are being compelled in them. The mental world is suddenly thrown into a whole agitation of what? Of the very powers the Avatar brings. So suddenly the mental world starts seething with this energy, with this light, with this force. Oh, new world, new consciousness, new step in evolution, future humanity, ideals and all this begins to shake which then reflects in human beings and so you see that whole pattern of the last one and a half centuries. All kinds of thoughts and ideas, what is it, what should we do, how can humanity reach some kind of a perfection, what will be the next step in evolution and so on; and attempts to realise that incarnate that by various partial even very crude attempts including sometimes even perverted attempts and all that is happening.

That's just in the Mental and then the Vital planes similarly; powers and forces which shake up and say, oh such a great power that the supramental represents, how can we capture this or how can we represent it or the impressions of those possibilities attempting to realise. And then finally it hits the Material world not at the time of the growth of the foetus but the moment for us is the moment of the birth when finally the full consciousness may choose to enter or sometimes even gradually extending over time. And therefore the impact in the physical world of that date has a rippling out effect, of which the rhythms we capture as the anniversaries. So we will come back to this a little later.

(0:26:15):

First we look at what this means. I have shown this as an example before: if you take a sheet of cloth and through this sheet a point of pressure comes out. You see, if I pull this cloth and a point of pressure or pull, the entire cloth is being pulled. I will just exaggerate that by twisting the cloth. You see, an entire point is being pulled but as it is pulled, the warp and weft of space and time that is these fibers all are being dragged. This happens on all the planes with the coming of the Avatar warp and weft of space-time pulled, dragged and if the coming of the Avatar itself is this gigantic rhythmic unfolding all those steps in between are also creating rhythms of their various kinds. So what we see is forces of action- pulling, pushing, preparing as if anticipating when a magnet approaches the filings begin to turn already because the field is already touching before the magnet enters in material contact. The field is shaping and in people awakening and those have ripples which create also very interesting alignments of dates, of ideas, efforts, results.

If you think about it, many times Sri Aurobindo starts some of his major works with a reference to current ideas. So even in the Human Cycle, the Psychology of Social Development. He refers to this four-stage cycle which some Western thinker has proposed some 20 years before. So, people say, ‘aha, that was not Sri Aurobindo's idea’. No, it is not. It goes well before. There is even the cycle of the four yugas, which is described in the Indian tradition going back several thousand years, which that Western thinker got and tried to represent in a certain way. But Sri Aurobindo points to him because that man attempts to describe it in psychological terms and Sri Aurobindo uses that as a point of support to justify certain things. He didn't need it. But that being there and those ideas already put out into humanity in the collective mind, the higher refined evolved mind of humanity, those ideas already present, they were ready or the mind of humanity was ready for Sri Aurobindo to take it from there to the next level. You see the importance of these.

For the work of the Avatar, it would not be useful if he has to build everything from scratch because then there is not enough time in a human lifetime. His work being concentrated on the particular thing which humanity could not do on its own, all the rest preferably should be done beforehand and made ready. And so as the power of the Avatar descends, all these ripplings out begin to shake and heave and make changes and this is something very important, because he comes not alone, because he is not single, he is a multifaceted infinite potential representing the divine himself all his aspects and powers also radiate out of him and as a rays they as if project ahead to prepare the ground and light up the space of the manifestation and each of these rays you go back to our earlier discussion is a vibhuti.

So in the manifestation of the Avatar, there is as if a radiance of vibhutis as if that come crowding ahead along with and sometimes subsequent to but less after. Bulk of them come ahead as radiances ahead which enter the human field and start preparing the ground with all these ideas, forces, events, organisations, circumstances to make them all ready as far as possible so that the Avatar's arrival has humanity as ready as it can possibly be for him to be able to take on the full burden of his work. To the extent humanity is not fully ready, it's an opportunity lost. So there's this huge pressure of these Vibhutis that come.

Looking back you'll notice particularly just before 1872 which is Sri Aurobindo's birth year, just before that going back a few hundred years even, all over the world circumstances suddenly begin to shift in a way that disrupts the balance. You have for example the European colonisation not only of the Americas but pretty much all over the world that began. There were the invasions in India, there were various other invasions and colonizations, the creation of empires which were beginning going back even a thousand or two thousand years. And all those were necessary as prior reparative steps. Empires rising, falling, rising, falling to build a base for a unification of humanity which would be an essential requirement for the Supramental to manifest. Interesting. Now you see the real sense of the Avatar's descent. It's not about 1872 August 15th only. It's about the whole build-up before that which is the result of the Avatar's descent. To bring humanity to that point and then all the technologies and I mentioned Tesla for a reason because without his establishing the electrical age we would not have the intercommunication that we have today electrically, electronically and so on which makes for humanity to be able to connect with each other in a way that allows for the supramental manifestation to hold humanity as a collective and act upon it.

So now when you look back you see the full sense of the arrival of the avatar and the preparatory pushes of his force even before the actual incarnation. Whatever is necessary for his work, all the powers necessary he brings forward and they pour out as rays ahead and then some as vibhuti stay with him in support, maybe we will touch upon this later and there are a few that follow to consolidate complete little pieces of the work and so on. Not only that because the avatar is not just one, he is the Lord and his creative power the Shakti. They are one in a sense but in the manifestation in space-time the two aspects of consciousness and power of consciousness are dual and so the coming of the Avatar is actually a double action and when incarnated in the human body they may choose to incarnate in two bodies which you see increasingly in the later Avatars, not in the early ones where the aspect of the Shakti is not so prominent.

But increasingly the role of the Shakti and the place of the Shakti it becomes almost equal and this time what we saw was an equal play of both. And the Mother observes that she has never come with so much power as this time. Because this was the nature of the manifestation and the readiness in humanity. So it's not one birth but a double birth that takes place and we see some fascinating.. I spoke of rhythms and the way they interlock and the way it happens simply because of the nature of the manifestation. You find Sri Aurobindo's birth year, Mother's birth year is separated by six years; She is born six years later. Birth month of both is separated by six months. Birth date is separated by six days. Interesting! I think birth hour also there's a separation of six hours and six minutes,–something like that. The details are not important.

The fact that there's this numerical pattern again is representative. It is symbolic of the relationship of their qualities of energy or powers as they incarnate and as I said in space and time it has the effect of creating these ripples which create for these numerical patterns. That's secondary. At best you can say ah that's interesting Wow it reveals oh here's an interesting connection; it doesn't depend on it doesn't need it, the numbers themselves in themselves are only indicative at best.

(0:35:18):

Not only his Shakti comes, there are the secondary Vibhutis and powers, which may not be primary to that purpose, but because there is a certain aspect. Let's say, for this purpose, in this incarnation, the objective was the integration of all previous spiritual experiences into one integral realisation. That means the aspect of the divine in the silence of the Brahman, in the active aspect of the Brahman, in the multiplicity, in the aspect of the lone Onenews,s in the transcendence, in the various specialised aspects of knowledge, Love, beauty, power of the creative word and also all these secondary aspects of the larger purpose all have their force to embody or or manifest with human vessels or vehicles. Sometimes in an individual.

It's quite surprising. Ramana Maharshi embodying, incarnating the experience of the, we will say the silent Brahman perhaps, the Self in its silence. Not only lives barely 20 kilometres away from where Sri Aurobindo is doing his sadhana and they never meet physically. But he leaves on the same year that Sri Aurobindo leaves his body. Interesting. So as if mission accomplished, no more needed, work done, he leaves. They didn't have to meet physically. What he held, embodied was necessary because in the integration of all these experiences, spiritual experiences into one, they had to be fully anchored in humanity in a way that is amplified and then into this one body where they are held in this integration.

Almost as if in preparation for even this to happen, you have Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who in a single being, in a single lifetime embodies the highest truth and realisations of all the religions of his time and traditions and spiritual traditions and all these embodying, incarnating in a single consciousness that says yes they lead to the same. Now it was not important that he spoke that. You didn't need to convince people by words. It was important that he embodied that realisation and that unification which laid the foundation for the unification of religions and the transcendence of religions into a spiritual opening which unifies them in the higher spiritual experience or in the divine consciousness.

And so there is almost as if a timing and I am sure if you looked deeply you would find numerical relationships also in their lives and the patterns of significant dates, not important. What is important is that these were embodied. So you have the powers, aspects, vibhutis and at the same time because the Divine Mother is also mother of all the gods who are all specialised powers of her own energy, some of these at least put out their energies, their vibhutis, their incarnations or their forces sometimes catching an individual or in a collective to manifest their possibilities. All this you can see coming together at the same time in this pressure that is descending and the rays which are radiating to prepare the ground. And then there are the gods who say we want to participate in this but they don't incarnate; so they put out emanations and devotees or powers to participate indirectly or directly as they can.

Now all these are to say that there's such a rich ecosystem possibilities of all possibilities from up there trying to realise themselves, prepare themselves and to participate in this which will happen and especially because in this case it is a unification, it is the integration of everything so far achieved. For which the specialised phases of each of those things achieved had to be done, that goes back a few thousand years. Now there is the full unification into a single, not only realisation of the divine in all its aspects, but now a whole approach of a collective humanity rising to practise a yoga that is integral which is not only integral because it realises the divine in all aspects in an integral realisation but which is integral because it must realise the full divinization of all the parts of human nature for which again there were preparatory movements and ripples, waves building up to come to this.

And using a path which is integral which includes all the facets of the different principles along which yoga can be performed, realised, practised. So it goes back to all the yogic traditions and their specialised paths and schools which have been preparing the ground for this. Now you see, you get a glimpse of, and I have to say even this is only a glimpse, of the scope, the scale, the complexity of what the Avatar's manifestation represents. And in this case, the most complete Avatar to date, after which there is no more a need for an avatar. Now you see how important that is.

And you get a sense, you begin to have a sense. I'm still going to add two more levels to this complexity. I said there are the gods who rush. There are the yogis, who having done their work and have withdrawn and are perhaps assisting humanity from their station in some world, they see this happening. This is brilliant light that is descending, the whole world is shaking because of the intensity of that light and power and say, ‘Oh my God, what an extraordinary event which is about to manifest, I must be there for this opportunity’ and they rush to take birth. So you have as if the best of humanity rushing to take birth to participate in this extraordinary opportunity.

But at the same time you have the other beings, the Asuras who say that kind of power I need to own, I need to possess, I need to control, I need to use for myself. They too rush. These are great asuras. They have great powers almost they could have been as great as the gods but they serve the power to themselves, for their own egocentric objectives. So they also say we need to participate for their objectives. And then there are the gradations of Rakshasas and other demonic types who say that we need to stop because it means the end of us. All these forces of darkness then try to coalesce around that space to prevent. In anticipation they sow seeds of confusion, during the manifestation they sow seeds of distraction and assault and aggression and attacks against the light and afterwards they again bring in confusion to try to distort and bring turbidity into the light, all of which we are seeing today.

(0:42:56):

Now you see the fullness, scope of the multifaceted play of forces around this time and the incarnation of the Avatar. And all this began from the Source because in the unfolding scheme of things, there comes this rhythmic poise where Nature is unable to push on her own, from the push from below to the evolution. It has taken the maximum it can and needs the help and so across time, across space there is this answering response of the Divine that comes to enter to seize upon Nature and lift Nature and to assist in the transformation and divinization. And all this is happening at the same time in a short span of a human lifetime; well this preparation going back a few thousand years, ripples continuing for a few thousand years after perhaps. Over the next centuries we will still see the consequences of this Event still unfolding because it says if they have acquired a tremendous form and force on the higher gradations of consciousness but not yet got sufficient embodiment in human collective consciousness even some individuals occasionally but not yet fully in the collective. And so these forces are still working to create their own centres of collective realisation: aspects, facets, powers, sometimes even distortions, sometimes asuric energies trying to do their own thing, take these truths and warp them to suit their own purpose, all that happening at the same time.

While Sri Aurobindo is writing about the Sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn, you have in Nazi Germany, Hitler declaring the Sun children which were a distortion of that idea, who would be their future and the future of humanity at the same time. While Sri Aurobindo is speaking of the supramental Sun, here you have the elite occult group around Hitler speaking of the black Sun and the realisation and manifestation of the black Sun in human evolution. Interesting. Where Sri Aurobindo is speaking of a divinized supra-human, supra-mental being you have Nietzsche all the way through into the Second World War, the vital aggrandized Superman, which in fact was one of the objectives even of the Nazi occult elite to create that or to embody that. And they went through their own fascinating exercises and experimentation in this purpose; but not a spiritual content, an occult, vital, warping, distortion of a truth glimpsed to be reduced now to an asuric intention.

This being an extraordinary opportunity now for the evolutionary leap, something more happens. All of us who were, let's say, in the intermediate worlds, having completed a life in a period of rest which can be from human standpoint anything from two years to 100 years depending on the soul's evolution and choice. All of us see something extraordinary happening. This is the time we need to take birth now. Catch this moment for our evolution. We can't miss this. It's all of us plunging to take birth. And among these are everything from the most ordinary human types to the very special types and you will find Sri Aurobindo referring to the sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn. And it's quite fascinating when you read that text from this viewpoint and I will just read a few lines from Savitri, where he is already describing this whole chaotic passage of the breaking down of an age and the building of a new. So he says:

“A giant dance of Shiva tore the past;

There was a thunder as of worlds that fall;

Earth was o’errun with fire and the roar of Death

Clamouring to slay a world his hunger had made;”...

That's really the destructive passage of the end of an age and beginning of another. And then he says:

“I saw the Omnipotent’s flaming pioneers

Over the heavenly verge which turns towards life”

So, you know, you can live in the heavenly verge and there's that edge which turns to life. Just there.

“Come crowding down the amber stairs of birth;”

Very suggestive. It's not like one or two said, okay, let's go down. They all say, wow, what an opportunity and they come crowding down the stairs which are quite narrow because you don't need more than a few at a time to come down. They all rush through and the stairs are crowded with their feet rushing and what are they going to do?

“Forerunners of a divine multitude,”

They are not going to be the divine multitude, they are the forerunners but they come to participate.

“Out of the paths of the morning star they came

Into the little room of mortal life.”

They live in this widened consciousness but this little room.

“I saw them cross the twilight of an age,

The sun-eyed children of a marvellous dawn.”

The marvellous dawn has been initiated in a sense by the Avatar’s coming. They are still too close to the event but the dawning has begun. It's still behind the screen of confusion but through it you can see the light, you can perceive something shifting in massive ways. But the twilight of an age where the darkness ends, the dawn has not yet begun and there is the,  sandhi is the term in Sanskrit, yuga sandhi, the joining point of two ages which is characterised by chaos. Because one age is finished and you see only the destructive end, the other age is just barely starting, you only see a chaotic confusion of its beginnings and so it's primarily chaos with the two overlap. And then he describes them, you've all read the passage:

“The great creators with wide brows of calm,

Messengers of the Incommunicable,

The architects of immortality.

Into the fallen human sphere they came,

Faces that wore the Immortal’s glory still,”

Let's skip lines.

“Lips chanting an unknown anthem of the soul,

Feet echoing in the corridors of Time.”

Now you get an idea of what that means. This coming in the passage from the higher ranges of Time or from even from the timeless into this mortal time, ripples out in Time, creates these rhythms and ripples. So their feet echoing. The echoes are heard before they come, the echoes are resonating while they are there and after they pass the echoes continue.

“Their tread one day shall change the suffering earth

And justify the light on Nature's face.”

This is just one example of this crowding hours that come rushing down and we ourselves, all of us, we said this is the opportunity of lifetimes, of centuries, of millennia, of ages of cycles past where we have participated in such efforts in the past but without the certainty of realisation and fulfilment.

(0:53:29):

Recall Mother's words to the children in the ashram school and the sadhakas also. She said, “we have been together many times”. She said, “you don't remember, but I remember.” And in all those past attempts, some of which were destined to fail, but they had to be made to keep alive the ideal,- she says this. And this is one example of the Sun city which was created in Egypt by Akhenaten and the new religion that he tried to create. She said it was destined to fail, it was known but it had to be done to keep alive the ideal and innumerable times before and after that these things have been done. Every time that we came to participate, those of us who find ourselves called to this ideal we have been before. We are not called just this time. It's a soul call, a soul's recognition goes back many lifetimes.

There are others who will see this, hear this and say, duh, what? I don't understand, not interesting. That's different. But for those of us who say, yes, of course, it is call and we have been before in these efforts and then Mother says, “you were all promised that when the time comes for the fulfilment, you will be given a chance” and then she says, “you don't remember, but I do and that's why you're here”,- and this applies to all of us, all of us including those of us listening to this because this interests us because it resonates with a deep call of the soul's aspiration. We have been given the chance, we are here. Some of us even maybe have been there in the physical lifetime at that time coming again and I would suggest we will come again and again at very short intervals as quickly as possible to catch this moment of opportunity of the evolutionary leap. When everything in Nature has prepared itself to leap, Nature herself is in this readiness and then there is this action from the divine to assist nature make that leap and right here we are.

So Sri Aurobindo writes in his very important description of what is titled the Hour of God. He says, “There are moments when the Spirit moves among men and the breath of the Lord is abroad upon the waters of our being; there are others when it retires and men are left to act in the strength or the weakness of their own egoism.” And then he says the first period, “the first are periods when even a little effort produces great results and changes destiny”, you make this little bit and you'll have, ‘wow so much’ and destiny is changed. And then, “the second”, he says, “are spaces of time when much labour goes to the making of a little result.”

Look back at history, you see this everywhere. Look back at this time of the last 100 or 150 years and you see how rapidly changes have been made. Disruptive changes as we say in the current vocabulary of technology that from the point where that disruptive change takes place you cannot predict what the future will be like. And it's not technologically alone; they are disruptive changes in the mindset of humanity, in the values by which we live and technology reflects that or only gives an opportunity for that shift of mindset to now coalesce around a focal point for expression and organisation of life. The mobile phone, if you think about it, had it been brought out a hundred years ago what would it be used for it would be a novelty. They would play with it, set aside or maybe use it for just like a telephone. Today because of the need of the human mind and the collective linkage, it becomes an opportunity to connect with all and relate to the world in a way that we would not have been interested in doing barely 50 years ago.

So we have to understand it's not technology which creates a disruption, it's the disruption in consciousness which uses technology as a support to articulate, organise itself. And so 15th August 1972, we have this physical incarnation and the rippling effect and December December 1950 when there is the withdrawal from the physical world but still leaving behind the action of the Shakti working in the physical consciousness for physical transformation till 1973. You see all the huge human progress in the 100, 200, 300 years before, within that time from 1872 to 1950 in every field and then 1950 onwards suddenly a collapse and then as if all the progress somehow we are unable to make and at best we are only modifying existing changes. And still significant changes in the spiritual plane in the mental plane because of the work being done on those levels but on a physical level it's as if physical science, even physics has come to a halt after 1950 or rather whatever progress took place could be hidden and buried inside by an elite group that do not want humanity to participate- they could not do it before 1950, but after 1950 they could.

It's just an example of how the physical incarnation has this ripple effect and when the Mother had to withdraw, one of the last warnings she gave; she said, “I cannot promise that the divine will find this humanity worth saving”. It doesn't mean it will be elimination of humanity, it means this present way of living which has to change either goes through a massive collapse and something new emerges or it goes through a very dark patch. And she spoke of this; she said, “I hope it will not so”. She said, “Humanity has to consent to change, otherwise it will be by crashing circumstances, crushing effects that the change will be made”, and then she said, “I hope it will not be through one of those dark nights of humanity”. If we do not consent to change, the crushing circumstances would be one of those dark nights and you look at European history, what they call the dark ages and you see how dark that can be and there was a force which actually held back progress and light and the development of humanity by organised structure. There it had taken on the form of the the organisation of the church machinery and its interests. But the same is happening today in through other forms of technological, I would say imprisonment of humanity and the mind of humanity through the media and social controls and such fear and so on. And that danger is far greater now but equally close and possible as the possibility of humanity awakening.

Which will it be?

Our choice, the consent. When we look at Sri Aurobindo's life, we see this very interesting pattern of the ripples of the dates and the rhythms appearing in many times in many ways. One of those you see particularly during the Second World War where he was intervening on many events and you have a series of events around the 15th of August or on the 15th exactly. Fascinating- the Japanese surrender; there were at least three great battles where the victory took place on 15th of August during the Second World War itself. There is the independence of India, there is the independence of Korea, Bahrain just as all on 15th August. Why? It's quite unusual that so many took place on that date. The wars starting on or around 15th or on or around 21st February or victories also sometimes on the 21st February, the Mother's birthday. So all of these, you see, are interesting.

I don't pay too much attention in that; at best as I said indicative and there's one very interesting event during the Second World War because Hitler was convinced that the supermind that he was dreaming, of the vital Nietzschean Superman, was already incarnated in a human body on earth. He believed it had already happened and he was looking for this Superman. He sent out his teams who went all over the world looking for the Superman. They even went to Tibet and there was one group that came in a German U-boat all the way to Pondicherry and towards the end of the Second World War the U-boat came out, surfaced on the Pondicherry coast and switched on a searchlight on Pondicherry town, straight down the ashram road and there were people of that time still remember, still some people are alive I've heard it personally from some of them, who said, it was as if it was daytime in the middle of night. Such was the power of that one such light from one U-boat at that time.

What were they doing here? Because they were preparing for the takeover of the world including India but why did they spend so much time in Tibet and India? Because they were looking for the superman and so Hitler was tuned in because he was a good medium, he was tuned in unfortunately to the wrong forces. But he was tuned in picking up these things and he declared not once but several times that he would conquer England soon and once he declares this year by 15th August, I'll conquer England and I'll be sitting in England on 15th August. Why 15th? He could have said just August. He could have given any date. No one fixes, no military strategist declares a fixed date in advance. It's the most stupid thing you could do. But he does it and why? This date attracts him and then as he attempts that, he has such a severe setback.

Oh that is reported to Sri Aurobindo and Sri Aurobindo jokes, but with the power of the Avatar he says, “he does not know that it is my birthday”. Just that- the punch that he releases as Hitler's forces move to that operation that he had planned and he was so certain of the power of his forces, so well organised that he could predict a date, he has such a huge setback that finally on the 15th of August of that year when he planned to be in England, he writes in his diary notes, the worst day of my life. So this is just to give you a sense of the play of the dates and numbers. But finally it is a struggle of powers.

(1:02:03):

If you look at the meaning of the date in this sense, as a rippling off, a rhythming out of an event that is so powerful, then each of those dates is as if a partial birth or as if the rhythm of that imprint of incarnation into matter repeating like an echo or a force repeating. Now an echo is not a good analogy because an echo is a mechanical repetition. These are conscious powers manifesting in consciousness and therefore their rhythms represent conscious manifestations rhythming out. But as I said earlier, the date is indicative. It's rather if all of us forgot that date for some reason, the power would still rhythm out but may or may not fix on that date. If tomorrow the scientists decide that okay because of change in Earth's spin rotation we're going to remove one date from the whole year or we are going to reset the calendar which was by the way done at some point a few centuries ago. They knocked out 15 days just like that to reset the calendar to match the astronomical positions. That was in Europe.

If they did something like that, to the Force it wouldn't matter. It would just be a rhythming out and since it is not fixed on the physical sense of time it aligns naturally to the receptive call in humanity. If the receptive call, if somehow all of us said okay today we are going to invoke. Today is the 15th and our calendar has been changed by some intervention. Well the fact that we turn to call, the rhythm would come and hit at that time. Or if we postpone, sorry there was a COVID break, we have a week or two of shutdown, we come out of that shutdown and say now we will observe. To the Force it makes no difference. It's a realignment in the physical time it does not matter. The Force aligns to the receptive call of the consciousness.

Mother spoke of this many times. She said you know you people… she even uses this phrase, sometimes mischievous, she says joke and she said disrespectful even, she used the word that it was disrespectful and she said. People asked “why do you do this Durga Puja and Lakshmi Puja?” She says, “because it amuses you my children.” And they say, “what? you do it because it amuses us?” She says, “okay, I was a little disrespectful, but yes because you want it.” And she said, “as far as Kali is concerned she comes sometimes a few days before, sometimes a few days later but because you want it on that date, well I call her on that date”.

You see, for the spiritual consciousness the dates are not important. Rather if we were in tune we would feel the call, the emergence of the descent of the force and say wow and that would be your darshan. But because we are fixed with our calendar mind and the physical mind, okay we prepare ourselves, we think of that date, we align ourselves and so the Force comes on that date.

From the point of view of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, it is the date they choose for the darshan. Not you choosing, they choosing. Why do they choose that date? Because they say, oh you want it here, okay we give it here. So this is just to set first a backdrop of the manifestation of the Avatar and the importance of 15th August and I don't put a year to it. I'm not particularly concerned about this 150th anniversary as I've spoken before but again because we give it importance and because on a national level there's an awakening.

Interestingly it is 75th year of India's independence; so all over India there is this huge push by the government, by people to, of an excitation to celebrate 75th anniversary and over that they are told oh it is also 150th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo. Nobody cared for 149th, nobody will care for 151st. But it's 150, so somehow it's come into the national consciousness. That's an opportunity to enter, bring a light into the mind of the collective and it will happen, something will happen. So to that extent the 150th anniversary is important because people woke up remembering, otherwise the number is not important. If they wake up on the 151st, with greater awakening and interest, it would be even more important. So 150 is not important, the awakening and receptivity in the collective, that is important.

Even if the disciples of Sri Aurobindo, you know, it's become a routine. It's a darshan day. Okay, you go to Pondicherry or you sit, you do a prayer, you listen to some music, have a lecture, go home, feel good, perhaps you received something. But you receive something because that day you woke up and prayed and concentrated and tried to receive something, you were open. If you did that the next day, you will get it again. And if you did it every day, you would get it every day. But we don't because well, that's a darshan day. I've actually been to some places where I met people they said, oh we look after the Sri Aurobindo centre in the city. I said, “wow what do you do?” Oh we meet four times a year on the darshan dates and we pray, we concentrate, we meditate and that's it. Well you come on that date you will get it on that. You come every day, not to the centre but in opening to the divine you will get it every day.

So understand here the importance of the human receptivity from the divine consciousness. She is ever-present, ready to pour. It's only a question of you waking up to listen and so the 150 is important from that point of view because people have woken up and are thinking actually and perhaps wondering who is this Sri Aurobindo and let me read up a little bit about him. I know nothing and in that attempt perhaps something else might use that turn of consciousness to bring in a certain light. So I have no doubt that the date will be important because of this reason and it will have its ripple effect in the national consciousness.

But bulk of India will not even know that it happened because of that opening. They would just say, oh since 75th anniversary of India's independence there's a change in the collectivity, a greater openness, a greater awakening, a greater unity, a greater force of idealism, something. They wouldn't even know that it was in fact that momentary turn of the collective consciousness to receive a higher light.

(1:08:39):

So having said this, it sets a base for now reading something from Sri Aurobindo. Before 1926, 24th November, which was the formal date when the ashram was established and Sri Aurobindo withdrew from direct public contact, meeting people at first only for three times on the Darshan special dates and then later four times. Before that he was, well, every day available. But there were certain events when they had more close personal meetings and especially 15th August was a special day. Not only because it was his birthday which was the superficial part but because on that day there would be this huge downpour of energy and you have some of the descriptions of people at that time saying how the whole air would be as a full of delight and blissfulness and they would feel lifted in a kind of a light and they didn't know why. Of course, they knew it was the 15th, but the Force itself manifesting with such intensity. So on the 15th, he would meet them all. They would have a meditation. They would meet twice and the second time they would have more of a conversation and chat.

So 1923, Sri Aurobindo meets on his birthday, 15th August and he speaks to them and he says, “Formerly we used to celebrate the event of my physical birth in a ‘Vital’ manner. There was the seed of the inner Truth in it, but the manifestation was vital.” What does that mean? Typically what people do on birthdays, sing, dance, blow out cake, eat food, feel good, that kind of thing,- that's your vital. Okay, something more subdued in the ashram context but nevertheless it was primarily vital Oh! Sri Aurobindo's birthday, excitation- seed of inner truth, but. Now, he says, “Now, I wish that if the day is observed, it should be in keeping with the Truth it symbolises.”

So no more vital.  What is the Truth it symbolises? The Supramental Truth. How would you observe this date to symbolise the Supramental Truth? That should be the way we observe it.

“You all know of the Supramental Truth that has to descend into our life. This day, that Truth is symbolised.” Now, here we have the true sense of the 15th of August, every year. The Supramental Truth is symbolised on this date. And then he says, “But there are several obstacles in the way of its coming down. There is the Mind and the mental ideas that grasp at the Truth coming from Above and try to utilise the Truth for their own aims.”

And he gives examples of all that. We don't go into it, that's not so important right now.

And so he says, “In order that this Higher Truth may be able to work in its purity, one has to open oneself to the greater Power above, to give oneself up to it and remove all that stands in the way of the Higher Truth. The capacity to surrender consists in these three things.”

I'm going to re-read but this is literally going into the very essential foundations of the Yoga itself: “the capacity to surrender consists in these three things.” What are they? “One has to open oneself to the greater Power above, to give oneself up to it and remove all that stands in the way of the Higher Truth.” If you think about this a little more deeply, it corresponds to the three things he speaks of aspiration, rejection, surrender, in a different sequence. If you dwell on the sense of the experience, opening, giving yourself, removing all that stands in the way.

It can be taken as a single movement, can be taken as three steps of a movement but the poise that you enter as a result of this is a state of consciousness of an alignment to the Lord,  to the Divine Mother that allows Her to pour into you, to fill you, to shape you, to change you, to transform you, to lift your consciousness. The three things needed by which all that can be done by the action of the Shakti and the realisation of the divine Will in us. Think about it and he just gives it in just one simple statement like this. And all this is not happening just in a vacuum; you could have done this a hundred years ago, you could do it after a hundred years.

There is something more important which is in the context of the Avatar's manifestation. And of this, I read the next part. Sri Aurobindo says, “I have been working all these years to meet the obstacles and remove them and prepare and clear the path so that the task may not be very difficult for you.” See the removal of obstacles itself he is working to clear the path and make that happen in us. “As for my helping you in that task, it all depends upon your capacity to receive the help. I can give any amount that you can take.”

What a statement! It is infinity speaking to the finite vessels. I can give any amount that you can take. How much can you? Then he says, “There is an idea that today every sadhaka gets a new experience.” Because it's 15th August, we have come, we are open. He says, “That depends upon your capacity to receive the Truth in yourself.” You will get only according to your capacity and what is that capacity dependent on? On this, three things which is the capacity of surrender which we spoke of earlier: open yourself, give yourself, remove all that stands in the way. So then he says, “Real spiritual surrender is of course quite another matter. But if any of you have experienced even a degree of it, even some faint reflection, then the purpose of the 15th will have been served.”

(1:15:55):

Now we have to keep in mind these are not exact words of Sri Aurobindo, they are as recalled by one of the disciples and so approximately, not precisely the exact words, but something in this direction and he was reasonably accurate. I think this is from Anilbaran's recollections or was it? Let me see, maybe, sorry A.B. Purani's recollections. So A.B. Purani was very accurate to this, in this respect.

Next year 1924, 15th August, again they have a meeting and he says, “It has become customary to expect some speech from me on this day. I prefer to communicate through the Silent Consciousness because speech addresses itself to the mind while through the Silent Consciousness one can reach something deeper.” This again tells us something very important. You could go and say okay speech, speech, I'm going to listen and think. Useful if nothing else; that's what we're going to see in much of mass of India if it remembers 150th anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, oh ok,-it will be in the mind.

But as a disciple, even as a devotee, and the distinction is very important, a devotee is one who has devotion, a disciple is one who follows a discipline to put into practice what the master teaches. So as a disciple, but even as a devotee, you want to receive as deeply as possible in your inner layers. The mind being only one of the layers and even there is the inner part of the mind of which we are not mostly conscious. We want to receive as completely in all the parts. What's the best state of receptivity for that? If you are in an excitation of movement, you get nothing. If you become very quiet and still in all the parts, all these parts become very transparent and into them the light can pour through, the force can pour through without distortions, without reflections, without ripples, warping, transparent, still, silent, entirely aware, entirely opening, entirely giving yourself. And you've removed already the distorting elements as far as possible.

So he says, “through the Silent Consciousness one can reach something deeper.” And then he says, “We are practising together a Yoga which is quite different in certain essentials from other methods which go by the same name.” And then he discusses the old methods, new methods, old yogas and the distinction of his yoga. I won't go into that. But towards the end of this he says, “We have to bring down the Higher Power to the physical plane and govern the most external detail of life by it. Mind cannot govern them. We have to call down the Higher Light, Power and Ananda to transform our present nature. This requires an essential utter sincerity in every part of the being, which can see clearly all that is going on in the being and which wants only the Truth and nothing but the Truth.”

This is the poise of the receptivity. And then he says, “The second condition of the Light coming down and governing even the smallest detail of life is that one must grow conscious of one's divine personality which is in the Supermind.” He speaks of the collective aspect of the particularly the ashram life, where he says “...we have arrived at some kind of solidarity so that we can mutually help or retard our progress.” And this is the dimension of collective life; more strongly felt in the ashram and Auroville where the collectivities are actually formed in a framework, elsewhere felt in a smaller scope in various centres and in our individual and other collectivities of life.

So he says now, “The conditions for the transformation of our being are the opening of ourselves to the Higher Light and an absolute surrender.”-- So this you see corresponds very closely to the previous year's message. “This brings about the transformation, so that if there is an essential sincerity, the opening to the Light and surrender, and a gradual growth of consciousness on all the planes, we can become ideal sadhakas of this Yoga.”

(1:21:00):

1925, again same day, special occasion. There is a whole discussion about what is the necessary condition for the Supramental to manifest. And one of the disciples says it means we have to create the necessary atmosphere to bring down for the Supermind to come into the physical plane. Sri Aurobindo responds, “That is the whole attempt. You ought to help in it by creating the necessary condition, if you want it to be done this time.” That is the whole point of course of the collectivity of the ashram to create a receptive base of humanity into which this could happen, because otherwise the gap between the supramental and the human mental consciousness is so different. The power is so great. It is infinity entering a finite bowl. You can't hold it unless the bowl itself prepares and acquires some degree of an intermediate opening to infinity. Now, Sri Aurobindo says “you ought to help in it by creating the necessary condition, if you want it to be done this time” and then he says something very important.

Pointing to himself he says, “There is the centre. You can take from it but we must all be on the same side if we want to succeed. If you give room to hostile suggestions, you retard your own progress and also the general advancement.”

What are the hostile suggestions? In some other part of the discussion, he says the suggestion that ‘oh it's not possible, it's too difficult, it's far away, it won't happen this time or it has failed, I can't do it, it won't be done’, all these various things. Even particularly he speaks of the formation of the more what we call the modernised mind which is sceptical and doubtful and says is it even possible, is it even real, can it even be done in such a short time. All that he says prevents, retards your own progress and also the general advancement.

Again, later in the conversation a disciple asks, “what is our place in the yoga?”- that is what is our responsibility as sadhakas. Sri Aurobindo says, “Well, you can help the attempt by one-pointed aspiration. You should reject everything that stands in the way of fulfilling this ideal. But, if instead of doing that, you go on accepting the suggestions of the hostile forces and repeat their mantras which give you and others the idea that it is not possible, then you help the hostile forces.”

Disciple asks, “What should be done to reduce the resistance of the physical nature?” Sri Aurobindo: “You must have an integral aspiration for the Truth.” He speaks of the importance of this blind faith. He says, “That faith is not, really speaking, blind. It is the memory of the soul.”...”Faith is much more necessary to bring down the Supermind.” And then he speaks of four conditions which indicate that the time is ripe for the realisation of the Supramental on earth. He describes the four conditions in humanity.

The first of these he says that the physical world has increased: “Firstly, the knowledge of the physical world has increased so much that it is on the verge of breaking its own bounds.” We see that with the cutting edge of science going beyond physicality into artificial intelligence in even consciousness in physics, in quantum processes and so on. That means it is ready for the supramental, something a breakthrough beyond the physical. “Secondly,” he says, “there is an attempt all over the world towards breaking the veil between the outer and inner mental, outer and inner vital and even the outer and inner physical. Men are becoming more ‘psychic’.”

So again it's basically this opening into the subjective age of which we have spoken before. I don't go too much into depth. This turn also to as if go deeper into behind appearances levels of reality. The readiness of something, some receptivity. Third, this is interesting: “Thirdly, the vital is trying to lay its hold on the physical as it never did before. It is always the sign that whenever the Higher Truth is coming down, it throws up the hostile vital world on the surface, and you see all sorts of abnormal vital manifestations, such as an increase in the number of people who go mad, earthquakes etc. Also, the world is becoming more united on account of the discoveries of modern science – the aeroplane, the railways, the wireless telegraph, etc.”-- to which we can add now the internet, the mobile phone, computers, variable devices by which we are as if plugged in into the world. And then he says, “such a union”, union of the world in this way, “Such a union is the condition for the Highest Truth coming down and it is also our difficulty.”

And finally the fourth he says, “Fourthly, the rise of persons who wield tremendous vital influence over large numbers of men.

These are some of the signs to show that the universal condition may be more ready now.”

(1:26:49):

Having said this, we recognize that there is an opportunity, something is happening already. 1926, we have the last of these conversations, because after that, August 26, 1926, and then from November on he withdrew from the direct contact. So here he starts in a very different mood. Remember already at that point the descent of Sri Krishna into the physical in his body was imminent, it was on the brink. So now 15th August 1926, Sri Aurobindo says, “I shall say a few words today about the 15th of August”-- he doesn't say his birthday, about the 15th of August. First he gave a negative answer the day before saying it all depends on the value you give to it. But now he says, “I shall now speak about the positive side of the matter….I shall not refer to the personal aspect for obvious reasons. But I shall say something in general with regard to what it can and ought to mean in regard to the Yoga, the common object we all have in view.”

Straight away it's not about his birth date, it's about the Yoga that he is speaking and the importance of 15th of August. “What that object – that Yoga – is, you know in principle, it is the bringing down of a Consciousness, a Power, a Light, a Reality that is other than the consciousness which satisfies the ordinary man upon earth – a Consciousness, a Power and Light of Truth, a Divine Reality which is destined to raise the earth consciousness and transform everything here.”

Again he describes the various conditions. He says, “Once this Consciousness, the Power, descends it is there for all time and every day for those who are willing and fit to receive it. But we have attached a special importance to this day and it is justified if we live in the light of the Truth it symbolises.”

We can go back to his comment three years before, the Truth that 15th August symbolises. “For this day, we can fix a mark in the stage of the individual and general progress. It is a day which ought to be a day of consecration, of self-examination and a preparation for future advance, if possible, for the reception of a special power which would carry the work of advance.” So, I am going to re-read this. Because I wish we could all focus on this, on the 15th of August and not waste time and squander our energies by going all over the place and talking and greeting each other and expecting socializations, which is such a huge distraction from this.

I read again, “It is a day which ought to be a day of consecration, of self-examination and a preparation for future advance, if possible, for the reception of a special power which would carry on the work of advance.” This back to the earlier discussion, open yourself, give yourself, remove the impediments, receive what is poured down and let that work in you for the year to follow. “This can only be done in each individually if he takes up the true attitude and lives on that day under the right conditions. That was what I meant when I spoke the other day. It is we who can make it a decisive day in this sense. And it is we who can help to fulfil it.” – You see how important this is. It's finally the choice we make. This is the choice required.

And in preparation for this, what do you do? This also he explains: “There must be a consecration from beforehand and a looking inward on the past to see how far we have reached, what in us is ready, what in us has not yet changed and has yet to be changed, what stands behind waiting for a complete transformation; what still resists and what is still obscure. There must be the aspiration, a calling down of the Power to effect the change which we see to be necessary.”

Aspiration, the calling down of the Power. But all this with a prior consecration and a prior inward introspection and preparation. So it's as if you're looking into yourself, you see what is done, what has not been done, what needs to be changed, what needs to be worked about and then bring all this forward in an opening and a self-giving and an aspiration and the calling down of the power to fill you and now to work on all this which you have introspected upon and therefore which is richly conscious and ready to be given and can now be given fully for the direct action of the Shakti working on it. This is central to the sadhana and the prior preparation makes this possible. It's not that you wake up suddenly that day and say okay now what's happening, what do I do, I open. There has to be the build-up of the prior preparation. So let's start today the 13th and we have two days. Let's start this work today.

(1:33:09):

Then he says, “All this we cannot do if we throw ourselves out on this day. But only by an intense concentration so that the internal being is ready, and turned upwards to receive the Light. In proportion as we admit an externalising movement, we disturb the higher working and waste the energy needed for the work of inner change. Whatever is done other than on ordinary days should be done either as a part of the movement itself, or as something which is held on the outskirts of the being and cannot disturb the inner movement.” It's okay you still have to do certain things but that's done in this way. “And all the customary circumstances of the day must be used for advance.” So customary– we go to Sri Aurobindo's room, we receive a message, we put our head on the Samadhi or now it is so crowded we avoid going on that day, we do it the day before or we go in the evening or we go the next day; almost customary. But if you can bring into it the spiritual intent, then it will be valuable. Use every customary event for advance. Even if there is a customary sweet distributed in the dining room, you receive the sweet and you eat- ah Sri Aurobindo's birthday, use for this advance. He continues, “And if you came to me in the morning, it should not have been in fulfilment of a customary ceremony, but with your souls and minds prepared to receive. If you listen to me now and if it is merely something that touches your mental interest and satisfies a mental interest I would rather remain silent. But if it touches somewhere the inner being, the soul, then only has this day a utility or a purpose. And the meditation too ought to be done under such circumstances that even if nothing decisive descends there would be a certain infiltration the results of which would come afterwards.”

Now for those of you who are in Pondicherry you know what this means and it's a very chaotic scene out there unfortunately, very disturbing; if you can hold this inner poise, pass through, cut through that chaos, focus on what needs to be done. Do not get distracted in programs and activities unless you are able to maintain this poise during those. If you are going to Sri Aurobindo's room or the Samadhi, hold this poise, return with this concentration. If you are elsewhere at one of the centres, concentrate in this way even as you go to the centre. If you are at home, you are perhaps the most fortunate because you can be free of all this. Can be if you choose to. Concentrate in preparation in this day. Gather, centre yourself. If you like, place before you the photograph of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as if you are going for the darshan because the darshan is not you seeing them, it is them seeing you. That's when there is the transfer of the blessing.

Prepare yourself for the darshan in the way he says. When you have come prepared with this, as you go, you open yourself before them. You give yourself entirely, as entirely, as completely as you can. And then you receive their light, their force, their love, their bliss and let them work in you, shape you, change you. Let them form in you the new rhythm of your spiritual movement to begin as if a new birth from that day. That would be the spiritual poise and you could do this sitting at home. It does not matter where you are in the world.

We come back to the text. He says, “That is the one meaning of the 15th of August from the point of view of our Yoga.” There is more he says about the spiritual poise and I think it is worth reading, at least a part of it: “The third thing to remember is that if all is to be changed and done then there must be complete surrender with no reservation in any part of the being, no compromise with the old customary thoughts and human ways of doing things. Wherever anything is reserved, it means the Truth is not accepted and we shall commit, again, the old mistake of partial achievement and transformation. We should leave no room, no field for the indulgence of ignorance. For us there can be no compromise between falsehood and Truth, between the Supreme and the lower nature.

It is by remembering these things that we have to take stock of our work, to see how much is to be done, not in any spirit of pessimism, but because the way is long and hard and cannot be done by a miracle. It can only be accomplished by a large and thorough movement, each step you have to take as a mark, as an encouragement, for a step towards the Beyond: on one side, no lack of resolution and zeal for the victory to be won,”- that's the enthusiasm you keep, “on the other, no hasty impatience or depression, but the calm certainty for the Divine Will, the calm will that ‘It shall be done in us’ and the aspiration that ‘It may be done for us, so that it may be done for the world’.”-- These words as Sri Aurobindo spoke them in the way it is transcribed by memory, 1926, 15th August, he set the standard for all the 15th August, for every year.

It is the full power of the transcendent Divine pouring through as the Avatar, rippling through universal space-time continuum and incarnating as an individual in the human body on the 15th, and the impact of that rippling through in the rhythm every year, that we are aligning ourselves to. And these words come from him as guidance of the meaning of the 15th of August, the truth that it represents and the means by which we are to put ourselves in relation to that truth to make the most of that opportunity. For the rest, he communicates through the silence.

And so we will remain in silence. Together, all of us present today in this concentration, collective concentration and aspiration to prepare ourselves for the 15th and to make a little effort to be able to put into practice the guidance He has given us so that he may be able to act in us through his Shakti, the Divine Mother, to do the work that he has promised when he said, how much can you take? I'm willing to give you everything. I'm willing to give you as much as you are able to take and so we will concentrate for a moment in this quiet aspiration and with the resolution to make the necessary effort over these next 48 hours, but it won't stop with the 150th anniversary, it won't stop with just the 15th of August. What we hold as a poise should be for us at least a small repetition every day in the smaller rhythm of our evolution, a step every day and then every year a relook at the past growth necessity for the future and a special concentration for this power to infuse into us to give us the push for the rest of the year of the same work to continue every day.

(1:42:29):
Namaste.