Wednesday, December 09, 2009

The Lack of Yogic Progress in Auroville

The lack of progress in the yoga described by Raman Reddy in his recent posting to Aurora Mirabilis Blogspot* is an unfortunate but predictable situation. What else would you expect when the Auroville elites refuse even to consider two thirds of the yogic formula given forth as an aid to securing the Integral Realization. Having rejected the contributions of the Cosmic and Individual powers of the Supramental Line, they are left with only the Transcendent realization and virtually no way to achieve it. Simply put, they have locked themselves out of the house of the Spirit and have thrown away the KEYS to the Kingdom. Perhaps they should re-consider what Sri Aurobindo wrote about this path of yoga:

“…The distinction between the Transcendental, the Cosmic, the Individual Divine is not my invention, nor is it native to India or to Asia -- it is, on the contrary, a recognised European teaching current in the esoteric tradition of the Catholic Church where it is the authorised explanation of the Trinity, -- Father, Son and Holy Ghost…
In the practice of yoga there is a great dynamic difference in one's way of dealing with these three possible realisations. If I realise only the Divine as that, not my personal self, which yet moves secretly all my personal being and which I can bring forward out of the veil, or if I build up the image of that Godhead in my members, it is a realisation but a limited one. If it is the Cosmic Godhead that I realise, losing in it all personal self, that is a very wide realisation, but I become a mere channel of the universal Power and there is no personal or divinely individual consummation for me. If I shoot up to the transcendental realisation only, I lose both myself and the world in the transcendental Absolute. If, on the other hand, my aim is none of these things by itself, but to realise and also to manifest the Divine in the world, bringing down for the purpose a yet unmanifested Power, -- such as the supermind, -- A HARMONISATION OF ALL THREE BECOMES IMPERATIVE. I have to bring it down, and from where shall I bring it down -- since it is not yet manifested in the cosmic formula -- if not from the unmanifest Transcendence, which I must reach and realise? I have to bring it into the cosmic formula and, if so, I must realise the cosmic Divine and become conscious of the cosmic self and the cosmic forces. BUT I HAVE TO EMBODY IT HERE, -- OTHERWISE IT IS LEFT AS AN INFLUENCE ONLY AND NOT A THING FIXED IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD, AND IT IS THROUGH THE DIVINE IN THE INDIVIDUAL ALONE THAT THIS CAN BE DONE.”         
Sri Aurobindo, -- Letters on Yoga, SABCL Vol. 22/24, p. 509-10


Indeed, the Individual SOUL is the KEY to the Integral Realization. It must be sought out FIRST and established as the proper foundation before any ascension into vertical dimensions can begin. As Sri Aurobindo explains:

“FIRST, there must be a conversion inwards, a going within to find the inmost psychic being (Soul) and bring it out to the front, disclosing at the same time the inner mind, inner vital, inner physical parts of the nature. Next, there must be an ascension, a series of conversions upwards and a turning down to convert the lower parts.” Sri Aurobindo - Letters on Yoga, December 2, 1946, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, India, 1946, Planes and Parts of the Being. p. 251

But how is this ‘conversion inwards’ to the Psychic Being or Soul to be achieved? What kind of yogic process would take us on this inner spiral, this centripetal movement into a ‘center that holds’? Is there perhaps a cosmological formula given out by the Vedic Rishis that might give us access to these hidden dimensions within? Yes of course, says Sri Aurobindo:

‘It is when the nine-months’ sacrifice is prolonged through the tenth, it is when the Navagwas become the ten Dashagwas by the seven-headed thought of Ayasya, the tenth Rishi, that the Sun is found… but what is meant by the figure of the months? For it now becomes clear that it is a figure, a parable; the year is symbolic, the months are symbolic. It is in the revolution of the year that the recovery of the lost Sun and the lost cows is effected, for we have the explicit statement in X.62-2… “by the truth, in the revolution of the year, they broke Vala”…’

‘The expression in the hymns, daso maso ataran, indicates that there was some difficulty in getting through the full period of ten months. It is during this period apparently that the sons of darkness had the power to assail the sacrifice; for it is indicated that it is only by the confirming of the thought which conquers Swar, the solar world, that the Rishis are able to get through the ten months…’

‘I hold for you in the waters the thought that wins possession of heaven by which the Navagwas [nine] passed through the ten months…’ (V.45-11)

‘This victory is won in twelve periods of the upward journey, represented by the revolution of the twelve months of the sacrificial year, the periods corresponding to the successive dawns of a wider and wider truth, until the tenth month secures the victory…What may be the precise significance of the nine rays and the ten is a more difficult question which we are not yet in a position to solve.’   
Sri Aurobindo, The Secret of the Veda, 1915.

The fact of the matter is that Sri Aurobindo never did solve this question because it was not in the job description of the Transcendent Divine to unveil the particulars of the Individual SOUL. It is exclusively the work of the Individual Divine who has given out in impeccable detail the Vedic formulas for the realization of the Soul or Psychic Being. Of course the Auroville elites have rejected out of hand anything Thea has to say on the matter. As Paulette declares:

“I refuse to read anything coming from Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, Wilkinson or their few associates… and I have been instructed by the Auroville Working Committee, as well by the Auroville Outreach Media, not to entertain with such people any discussion whatsoever, on any topic.”

Preferring an intractable ignorance to the Keys to the 'Future Realization', Paulette and those she presumes to lead will wander aimlessly in the pursuit of a yogic ideal that they cannot possibly attain. She has provided us with an excellent example of this confusion in her postings to the ‘Mirror of Tomorrow’ and ‘Aurora Mirabilis’ blogs where she discusses what she believes to be her realization of the Soul or ‘Psychic Being’. In these postings, entitled ‘I was left free to grow at my own pace and rhythm’, Paulette has put herself forward as an authority on these matters presumably to promote her books and guide others on the path of realization. But from what she writes, it is clearly evident that whatever she has realized, beyond her own imaginings, is NOT the Psychic Being and will only add further confusion to the Auroville and Ashram communities. It is yet another example of the blind leading the blind straight into the ditch of an erroneous and impotent orthodoxy.


Raman Reddy's posting to Aurora Mirabilis Blogspot:  http://auroramirabilis.blogspot.com/2009/11/barin-ghose-dilip-kumar-roy-and-anna.html#comment-form

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