PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS
OF THE MOTHER
AND SRI AUROBINDO'S YOGA
Asoka K. Ganguli
I. Introduction
THE many systems of Yoga that are practised have union with the Divine as
their primary and only aim. Sri Aurobindo was however not convinced of the entire
efficacy of these systems of Yoga. To him the questions were: how can "a
road of hard escape from the sorrow and the darkness" of the world into
a blissful union with the Divine save the earth? "How shall a few escaped
release the world?" And what about the , 'Life that is left behind on a
fallen earth' , ? These were the questions that frequented his thoughts. Secondly,
if union with the Divine was the ultimate and only goal of Yoga, then there
was nothing for him to do, as the paths to the Divine had already been explored
and set down for us to follow. However, he was convinced of one thing, that
a dark and sorrowful earth could not be the ultimate Divine Plan. He was, therefore,
very resolute that he would not tread any beaten path set by the traditional
systems of Yoga, paths that leave the earth unredeemed. With this aim Sri Aurobindo,
for almost half a century , was intensely occupied with research and experiments
in the spiritual domain to evolve a new world-saving world-transforrning Yoga.
Regarding the object of his Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo writes: "The object of the yoga is to enter into and be possessed
by the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine's
sake alone, to be tuned in our nature into the nature of the Divine, and in
our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine." This is
only the first part of his Yoga, the Ascent to the Divine as has also been the
ultimate goal of all existing systems of Yoga. Regarding the newness of his
Yoga, Sri Aurobindo elaborates: ' 'The way of yoga followed here has a different
purpose from others,-for its aim is not only to rise out of the ordinary ignorant
world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental
power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and
body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life
in Matter. This is an exceedingly difficult aim and difficult yoga; to many
or most it will seem impossible." This statement of Sri Aurobindo formulates
the second part of his Yoga, the Descent, and the most difficult and the trans
formative aspect. ' 'To find the Divine is indeed the first reason for seeking
the spiritual Truth and the spiritual life; it is the one thing indispensable
and all the rest is nothing without it. The Divine once found, to manifest Him,-that
is, first of all to transform one's own limited consciousness into the Divine
Consciousness, to live in the infinite Peace, Light, Love, Strength, Bliss,
to become that in one's essential nature and, as a consequence, to be its vessel,
channel, instrument in one's active nature." We must keep in our mind the
aim and object of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga while we read the Mother's Prayers
and Meditations.
The Mother from her very childhood was
conscious of her mission on earth. She always felt that her advent was to assuage
the miseries and sufferings of this earth. The beautiful experience at the age
of thirteen years is an outstanding testimony of her mission; this experience
has been recorded by her in the prayer of February 22, 1914.* another prayer
of August 11, 1914 the Mother explicitly writes about her divine mission:
' 'Thou who hast not yet manifested Thyself, Thou awaitest the propitious hour
I hast sent us upon earth to prepare Thy ways..." Yes, to prepare the ways
for a ine life on earth is her mission. In the same prayer, addressing the Supreme,
she ltinues, , 'I am the powerful arms of Thy mercy. I am the vast bosom of
Thy mdless Love My arms have enfolded. the sorrowful earth and press it tenderly
to generous heart; and slowly a kiss of supreme benediction is laid upon this
struggling atom: the kiss of the Mother which soothes and heals. ' , This is
her mission; to give refuge to the death-bound earth in her heart of Love. Listen
to Sri Aurobindo:
Love
in her was wider than the universe,
The
whole world could take refuge in her single heart.4
Some of us often feel that if the Mother were the incarnation of
the Divine Shakti, at need did she have of prayers to the Divine? Very true;
the Mother does not have need of prayers for herself. Several reasons may be
attributed as to why she recorded , prayers. The first of these reasons is,
perhaps, the Mother wishes to teach us how to pray to and approach the Divine.
Secondly, men, as Sri Aurobindo writes, are "built on nature's earthly
plan" and
To
be the common man they think the best,
To
live as others live is their delight.
Yet, men may respond "to the touch of greater things" or may be raised
by some uplifting hand "to breathe heaven-air" .The prayers may help
us to breathe and live in atmosphere of divine consciousness. Thirdly, the Mother
herself records in the year of May 17, 1914 the reasons of her prayer: "The
first, as though the power of prayer would not be complete unless it were traced
on paper. The second, as though stability of the experience could not be had
unless I unburdened my mind of it by noting it down in writing." The reasons
given here could very well be occult reasons. when asked about the Mother's
statement of May 17, 1914, Sri Aurobindo commented: "It was not meant as
a general rule-it was only a necessity felt with regard to perticular prayer
and that experience These things in spiritual experience are plastic and variable.
In some conditions or in one phase or at one moment expression may be needed
to bring out the effectuating force of the prayer or the bility of the experience;
in another condition or phase or at another moment it may the opposite, expression
would rather disperse the force or break the stability." The other reason
of recording these prayers could be when men see one like them treading the
high and difficult road, they too may take up courage to follow that high road.
So the embodied Divine must act on this earth in "God's human ways":
If
far he walks above mortality's head,
How
shall the mortal reach that too high path?
If
one of theirs they see scale heaven' speaks,
Men
then can hope to learn that titan climb.
This could be an extremely significant reason for recording the prayers so that
man may aspire to climb to his highest heights: Let us now see what Sri Aurobindo
has to say: , 'The Prayers are mostly written in an identification with the
earth-consciousness. It is the Mother in the lower nature addressing the Mother
in the higher nature, the Mother herself carrying on the Sadhana of the earth-consciousness
for the transformation praying to herself above from whom the forces of transformation
come. This continues till the identification of the earth-consciousness and
the higher consciousness is effected There is the Mother who is carrying on
the Sadhana and the Divine Mother, both being one but in different poises, and
both turn to the Seigneur or Divine Master. This kind of prayer from the Divine
to the Divine you will find also in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata."
(To
be continued next month)
The
Mother's Prayer of February 22, 1914
When I was a child of about thirteen, for nearly a year every night as soon as I had gone to bed it seemed to me that I went out of my body and rose straight up above the house, then above the city, very high above. Then I used to see myself clad in a magnificent golden robe, much longer than myself; and as I rose higher, the robe would stretch,
spreading out
in a circle around me to form a kind of immense roof over the city. Then I would
see men, women, children, old men, the sick, the unfortunate coming out from
every side; they would gather under the outspread robe, begging for help, telling
of their miseries, their suffering, their hardships. In reply, the robe, supple
and alive, would extend towards each one of them individually, and as soon as
they had touched it, they were comforted or healed, and went back into their
bodies happier and stronger than they had come out of them. Nothing seemed more
beautiful to me, nothing could make me happier; and all the activities of the
day seemed dull and colourless and without any real life, beside this activity
of the night which was the true life for me. Often while I was rising up in
this way, I used to see at my left an old man, silent and still, who looked
at me with kindly affection and encouraged me by his presence. This old man,
dressed in a long dark purple robe, was the personification-as I came to know
later-of him who is called the Man of Sorrows.
Now that deep experience,
that almost inexpressible reality, is translated in my mind by other ideas which
I may describe in this way:
Many a time
in the day and night it seems to me that I am, or rather my con- sciousness
is, concentrated entirely in my heart which is no longer an organ, not even
a feeling, but the divine Love, impersonal, eternal; and being this Love I feel
myself living at the centre of each thing upon the entire earth, and at the
same time I Seem to stretch out immense, infinite arms and envelop with
a boundless tenderness all beings, clasped, gathered, nestled on my breast that
is vaster than the universe Words are poor and clumsy, O divine Master, and
mental transcriptions are always childish But my aspiration to Thee is constant,
and truly speaking, it is very often Thou and Thou alone who livest in this
body, this imperfect means of manifesting Thee.
May all beings
be happy in the peace of Thy illumination!