Amrita—

A clear distinction must now be made between the vidya-avidya siddhi which is constituted by the seven chatusthayas & the higher Amrita in which all limitation is removed & Death, etc entirely cease. Only the first will in this life be entirely accomplished.

Let us read it again in the silence of our mind:

Amrita—

A clear distinction must now be made between the vidya-avidya siddhi which is constituted by the seven chatusthayas & the higher Amrita in which all limitation is removed & Death, etc entirely cease. Only the first will in this life be entirely accomplished.

And let us read it yet again if possible in the deep calm of the soul:

Amrita—

A clear distinction must now be made between the vidya-avidya siddhi which is constituted by the seven chatusthayas & the higher Amrita in which all limitation is removed & Death, etc entirely cease. Only the first will in this life be entirely accomplished.

What one feels in it is a vastness of assured spiritual poise. If one is not perceptive to it one need not, in fact should not quote it, quote it with a running commentary along with it.

When given as a quotation in this manner, for instance in a recent biography of Sri Aurobindo, we immediately see that the entire tone and ambiance get altered in a radical way:

…he made a distinction between the “vidya-avidya siddhi which is constituted by seven chatusthayas & the higher Amrita [immortality] in which all limitation is removed & Death, etc. entirely cease. Only the first,” he was forced to conclude, “will in this life be entirely accomplished.”

What do we notice here, in the discursive quotation? Much of that was spiritual in the original has got diluted, has disappeared, simply disappeared; we have presently just a mental non-intuitive statement. It is one good example of how spiritual can become commonplace and clichéd, even banal. This is what we often witness in The Lives of Sri Aurobindo.

We are further told in this presentation of the original text that the Yogi was “forced to conclude” that the higher Immortality would not be entirely accomplished in this life. In the absence of any discussion in the book, this would practically amount to the Yogi’s abandoning the pursuit itself. But the yogically deep and quiet objective tone of the original statement does not give one the impression of somebody being “forced” to do things as a reaction against what was expected to happen but was not happening. In fact the “now” in the Record-entry suggests a pragmatic line of the next action, as could also be seen from the item just preceding this noting, describing faith-bhukti-dehasuddhi. In other words, he set himself to yogically deal with the difficulty.

But, and more significantly, this record perhaps hints at the limitations of the seven chatusthayas themselves, an early yogic formulation by Sri Aurobindo. These limitations regarding the higher Amrita should be seen in profounder context of the issues involved, including his later discoveries attending them. In reality, such were explicitly the questions both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were addressing to themselves, addressing in their long and tireless pursuit. We ought to look into this matter in some detail to understand and appreciate its nature, but here we might quickly suggest that these chatusthayas constituted only a preliminary step as far as the vast and great work was concerned. No doubt, the chatusthayas mark an important step, but we have to be also referentially alert to things that were moving with tremendous speed. There was another pace and another thrust, even as the yoga-tapasya progressed in subsequent years. In so far as the higher Amrita is concerned, what was recorded in 1913 had a relevance to that period only and it cannot be much stretched beyond it; soon it became a matter of the past. Also, it is important to realize that the chatusthayas were a personal record and not necessarily applicable elsewhere.

About the relevance of the time period let us recall a letter from Sri Aurobindo, dated 28 October 1934, apropos of his book The Yoga and its Objects, first published in 1921. We have here an important clarification that, what was held out in the book corresponded solely to an early stage of the yoga-tapasya. He says: “…only a part of it is applicable to the Yoga as it has at present taken form”, that is, in the 1930s. Much will be so during the tremendous 1940s. As this book and the Seven Chatushtayas belong to the same period, 1912-1921, we should be cognizant of the historical perspectives of these several yogic formulations. This should imply that, limitations regarding the higher Amrita were hence onward being appropriately tackled in their several occult-spiritual connotations. We should also be quite aware that the yoga-tapasya towards the supramental transformation was actually waiting for the Mother’s final arrival at Pondicherry, which happened in 1920. That would make a whole difference in the approach. For the larger group pursuit involving the difficulty of the lower nature, and in view of the severe hostility that is there all around, it is very necessary that the psychic being emerges as its unfailing guide. Its role in the collective spiritual undertaking started becoming determinative. Record of Yoga is great but greater things were happening in subsequent years, culminating in Savitri. Of this we do not get much of an idea in the present biography.

RY Deshpande