Pondicherry
The
Mother was back in India, back in Pondicherry , that small town
in the South-East where Sri Aurobindo had been pursuing his integral
yoga-path since 1910. Her return was now final and she was never
again to leave India, the country of her choice. Her relationship
with Paul Richard was at this stage coming to a breaking-point
since she could follow her destiny now and establish an ever closer
collaboration with Sri Aurobindo. It was probably clear to Paul
that the Mother was now completely giving herself to Sri Aurobindo
and that there was a kind of collaboration and development in
their relationship which he could not follow any more. He could
recognize Sri Aurobindo as a great yogi and sage, but he did not
want to become his disciple and may have tried also to draw the
Mother away from him. But this effort was bound to fail and so
he left Pondicherry .He kept travelling for some time in India,
but later he went to America where he founded a Centre of Asian
Studies.
The Mother had foreseen this development in
a significant vision which Sri Aurobindo once related to a disciple:
"The Mother (Mirra), Richard and I were going somewhere.
We saw Richard going down to a place from which rising was impossible,
Then we found ourselves sitting in a carriage the driver of which
was taking it up and down a hill a number of times, At last he
stopped on the highest peak. Its significance was quite clear
to us."
The Mother and Miss Hodgeson were at first staying
in some Guest Houses, before moving into the Bayoud House at rue
St, Martin, On 24 November 1920 there was a heavy tempest in the
town and a flood-like rainfall, The roof of a godown opposite
the Vinayak temple had collapsed owing to the heavy rain, When
Sri Aurobindo was informed that the roof of the house in which
the Mother was staying was not safe either, he asked her and her
English friend to move into his own house at rue François
Martin. Since then the Mother has always been staying in the same
house as Sri Aurobindo, wherever it might be. She was now doing
intensive Yoga with him and the sadhana was brought down from
the mental to the vital plane. As a result the Mother experienced
a visible physical change: ". ..after a month's yoga I
looked exactly eighteen. And someone who had seen me before, who
had lived with me in Japan and came here, found it difficult to
recognize me. He asked me, 'But really, is it you?' I said, 'Of
course!' "
A similar surprise was experienced once by Ambubhai
Purani who had seen Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry in 1918. When
he came back in 1921, he noticed a clear change in Sri Aurobindo's
complexion. "What has happened to you?" he exclaimed
in astonishment. Sri Aurobindo explained to him that a great transformation
took place in the nervous system and even the physical system
when the higher consciousness came down to the vital plane. Purani
also saw the Mother now, for the first time. "She was standing
near the staircase when Sri Aurobindo was going upstairs after
lunch. Such unearthly beauty I had never seen -she appeared to
be about 20 whereas she was more than 43 years old. "
Later on, when the yoga was brought down to
the physical plane, this extraordinary manifestation of youth
in the Mother came to an end, since considerable obstacles had
to be worked out and dealt with in the physical being which resisted
transformation. But this was the proper work of Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother to prepare even the physical plane, which had been
hitherto neglected by the yogis, for the descent of the supreme
Light. It was an extremely difficult undertaking, a struggle with
the element 'Earth', a fight with the forces of the world. They
got a little foretaste of the upcoming difficulties during the
episode of the 'stone-throwing', which took place by the middle
of DecembeI 1921. Datta (Miss Hodgeson) had scolded a cook named
Vatel for bad behaviour. Vatel wanted to take revenge for this
reproof and made contact with a black- magician in the town. After
some time stones suddenly started falling into the courtyard,
even though no one was seen. The police were called, but they
could not be of any help in the matter. Finally, when the hail
of stones became too dangerous, the Mother went into deep meditation
to find out the cause. She discovered three vital entities which
were held under a magical charm. She sent them away and they never
came back. After the magic had been broken, the black- magical
force rebounded on the originator with a kind of boomerang effect.
Vatel became very ill and had to be taken to hospital. When Sri
Aurobindo was informed that the cook was dying, he said, "Oh!
just for a few stones!", and Vatel was cured the same evening.
The Mother's arrival in Sri Aurobindo's house entailed
several changes in the household. His disciples had so far been
living rather freely and without constraints. Sri Aurobindo did
not interfere much with what they were doing, since he was immersed
in his own sadhana. Properly speaking, he was not yet playing
the role of a guru and therefore at this stage we can only speak
with reservation of'disciples'. The Mother became part of this
community now and the whole household was newly arranged by her.
Books were nicely stacked in cupboards and everything found its
right place. At the same time collective meditations were begun
in which Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, the members of his group as
well as visitors took part. All these changes and the new discipline
made some disciples revolt and grumble, but the Mother was, in
course of time, more and more accepted and recognized. Sri Aurobindo
left to her increasingly the charge of the household and he also
told seekers who turned to him for guidance that he would help
them 'through Mirra'. Her devotion and respect for him gradually
brought about a change in the relations between Sri Aurobindo
and his disciples. Nolini Kanta Gupta, who had known Sri Aurobindo
even from the time of his political activities and was later to
become the Secretary of the Ashram, writes with reference to these
early times, "the Mother taught by her manner and speech,
and showed us in actual practice what was the meaning of disciple
and master. .. It was the Mother who opened our eyes... "
It was at this moment that the foundation of
the Ashram was laid, even though it was not consciously planned
or discussed. Things took their own course and there was an organic
development. It is characteristic of the Mother that even at this
stage she already included in these developments members of the
animal and plant world. A well-kept garden took shape in the courtyard,
and some cats which received the Mother's special attention found
their way into the small community. She had special food prepared
for them and gave them special names. These were not ordinary
cats which came here to the Mother. There was one cat which used
to bring all its kittens to the Mother, as soon as they could
use their eyes, and drop them at the Mother's feet, as if to seek
her blessings for them. Another cat took part in the collective
meditation and its body used to shake and tremble, whilst its
eyes remained closed, as if it had some visions.
One day a cat named Kiki happened to play with
a scorpion and got stung. It quickly ran to the Mother and showed
her the paw which was already dangerously swollen. "I took
my little cat -it was really sweet -and put it on a table and
called Sri Aurobindo. I told him, 'Kiki has been stung by a
scorpion, it must be cured. ' The cat stretched its neck and looked
at Sri Aurobindo, its eyes already a little glassy. Sri Aurobindo
sat before it and looked at it also. Then we saw this little cat
gradually beginning to recover, to come round, and an hour later
it jumped to its feet and went away completely healed. "
We can see from a report of Champaklal how far the
Mother went in her care for these representatives of the animal
world. "During those early days, she herself used to prepare
a pudding. Of that pudding she would put aside a small quantity
in a small dish; she would add a little milk to it and stir it
with a spoon till it became liquid and consistent. She showed
me how to do it and was particular that no grains should be left
unmashed. ..And do you know for whom this part of the pudding
was meant? For cats. Later on I learnt that they were not really
cats but something more. "
Meanwhile, Sri Aurobindo was forging ahead with his
sadhana. His object was the attainment of Supermind, anew global
Truth-Consciousness which alone could solve the problems of the
world. In the spiritual history of mankind this consciousness
had so far been experienced only individually by a few Vedic rishis,
but it had not been established as a cosmic principle in the earth-consciousness.
And this was exactly what Sri Aurobindo wanted to do. He said
more than once that his life would only be fulfilled if he could
achieve a new realisation for the world: he had not come in order
to merely repeat the realisations of the past. In April 1920 he
wrote in a letter to his brother Barin:
"Without reaching the Supramental it is impossible
to know the ultimate secret of the world. The riddle of the world
cannot be solved without it.
"But its attainment is not easy. After fifteen
years, I am just now rising to the lowest of the three layers
of the Supermind and trying to draw up all my movements into it.
But when the siddhi is complete, then there is no doubt that the
Divine will give the Siddhi of the Supermind to others through
me with very little effort. Then my real work will begin.
I am not in a hurry to accomplish my work. "
In 1926 already three or four women belonged
to the group and they meditated regularly with the Mother. There
was now an increasing number of disciples who approached her to
seek her guidance. It was obvious that Sri Aurobindo was more
and more withdrawing, leaving to the Mother not only the outer
organisation, but also the responsibility for the inner sadhana
of the disciples. Some time in these months it also happened that
he did not call her any more 'Mirra', but 'Mother'. Even earlier
the disciples had noticed that he often uttered the name 'Mirra'
with a slight hesitation and was stopping, as it were, with the
M. Then finally the great moment arrived when the predestined
name came over his lips, but we do not know the exact date.
During his evening talks in 1926 Sri Aurobindo emphasized
occasionally the importance of a link between supermind and mind
proper. He called this link 'overmind' which, in an image that
the Mother once used, stands as far above mind as the moon above
the earth, whilst supermind in this image corresponds to the sun.
At the beginning of November the possibility of the
descent of such a higher consciousness was hinted at in the talks.
There was some kind of expectation in the air and the pressure
of the higher Force became more and more strong and almost unbearable.
Finally came the day of the great event, 24
November 1926. It was in the late afternoon that the Mother
had all the disciples called for a special gathering. Some were
busy with their work and others were walking at the beach. At
about 6 o'clock all had gathered on the verandah in front of Sri
Aurobindo's room. On the wall behind Sri Aurobindo's chair there
was a black silk curtain showing three Chinese dragon: ,, The
tail of each dragon reached up to the mouth of the other . There
was an old prophecy in China that Truth would manifest on earth
when the three dragons would meet: they symbolise the regions
of earth, mind and sky.
Whilst there was a deep silence, the disciples
felt the pressure in the atmosphere. Some saw a flood of Light
rushing down from above. Then Sri Aurobindo and the Mother came
and a meditation was held. Thereafter the two avatars blessed
their disciples, and again there was a short meditation. They
all felt distinctly that something special had happened, the atmosphere
was so much charged with vibrations of Light. When Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother withdrew, Datta spoke in a moment of inspiration,
"The Lord has descended into the physical today. "
Later on, Sri Aurobindo explained the significance
of this descent: "The 24th November 1926 was the descent
of Krishna into the physical. Krishna is not the supramental Light.
The descent of Krishna would mean the descent of the Overmind
Godhead preparing, though not itself actually, the descent of
Supermind and Ananda. Krishna is the Ananda- maya; he supports
the evolution through the Overmind leading it towards his Ananda."
The next nine or ten months were marked by spectacular
events. Almost every day there were 'miracles' and time passed
like a divine dream. Meanwhile, Sri Aurobindo had completely withdrawn
in order to prepare the manifestation of supermind through his
inner concentration. Exactly 24 disciples had been present on
November 24, and Sri Aurobindo gave them explicit instructions
to take guidance from the Mother, since he would now do all the
work through her. In the following quotation the Mother reports
about developments after the descent of overmind into the physical:
"Suddenly, immediately, things took a certain
shape a very brilliant creation was worked out in extraordinary
detail, with marvellous experiences, contact with divine beings,
and all kinds of manifestations which are considered miraculous;
.. One day, I went as usual to relate to Sri Aurobindo what had
been happening -we had come to something really very interesting,
and perhaps I showed a little enthusiasm in my account of what
had taken place -then Sri Aurobindo looked at me. ..and said:
'Yes, this is an Overmind creation. It is very interesting, very
well done. You will perfonn miracles which will make you famous
throughout the world, yQU will be able to turn events on
earth topsy-turvy, indeed,...' and then he smiled and said: 'It
will be a great success. But it is an Overmind creation.
And it is not success that we want; we want to establish the Supermind
on earth. One must know how to renounce immediate success in order
to create the new world, the supramental world in its integrality.
,
"With my inner consciousness I understood
immediately; a few hours later the creation was gone. ..and from
that moment we started anew on other bases."
For
More Details see :
All
extracts and quotations from the written works of Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother and the Photographs of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo
are copyright Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry -605002
India
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