It is possible to look at Sri Aurobindo in context of the future of humanity but
that should be primarily done recognizing him as a Master-Yogi and perhaps not
so much as a traditional or professional Master-Philosopher appealing to the
rationalist of the western kind. It is justifiably said that Sri Aurobindo
gives us a framework of thought, as well as pragmatics of psychology, that
carries us forward in becoming a better acceptable individual and a better
organised collectivity. Due credit is also at times given to him as a Master-Critic
for giving us a creative expression which is futuristic, uttering the Word of
the Spirit. His writings do mark “a blueprint for a destiny which he announces
as a life divine”.
But in order to get to this life divine, the life divine something else,
something radically different from all these things has to happen. Sri
Aurobindo not only does posit “Supermind as the ontological foundation of
superman”; he “travels furthest from the western tradition of philosophy as
speculative metaphysics and brings to its disciplinary formulations” the power
of the spirit itself. That’s perfectly true. Yet there is also a tendency to
contextualize his ‘philosophy’ within the history of western formulations. By
doing so is seen his contribution towards the future of humanity unfolding its
secret potential. But perhaps that sounds more a hard-core rationalist’s
imposition on what lies beyond the restricted boundaries of the rationalist.
That is not to say that rationalism has to be discarded; that is only to assert
that, possibly, rationalism has a positive ability to outgrow itself. It is
this aspect we generally tend to forget. There is a superior mode of logic, a
superior mode of rationalism, intuitive rationalism to begin with, that makes
existence meaningful. Indeed, there’s the Logic of the Infinite and it’s that
which should be incorporated in our curriculae. If this is accepted then there
is really no need to justify, à la
Was Sri Aurobindo sent to align himself with the modes of Thought, Occidental
or Oriental, Modern or Ancient, Transient or Perennial? Revelatory or
Ratiocinative? We seem to be quite busy ‘reconciling’ Sri Aurobindo with the
stiff traditionalist notions of ours, traditions belonging to the various
schools, metaphysical or dārshanic. It therefore comes as a great surprise, a
puzzling surprise to read something of a different kind in the context of what
the Mother proclaimed categorically in her message dated 14 February 1961:
“What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world’s history is not a teaching, not
even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme.” What is
meant by a direct action from the Supreme? “What was this decisive action and
what does it mean for humanity’s future? This is the question left for us to
fathom in our grappling with the future of humanity.” But how do we answer it?
“Of course, the scope of such a statement as the Mother’s opens the doors on
the invisible occult action of Sri Aurobindo. To acknowledge such an action is
a matter of faith, and perhaps faith is a critical component in orienting
ourselves towards the future, but a more active aspect of such orientation
needs to be an informed understanding of Sri Aurobindo’s contribution towards
the future through his more visible expressions, particularly his writings. So
what does Sri Aurobindo give us in his writings, that help in orienting us
towards the future? Sri Aurobindo provides us with a comprehensive map towards
the future—diverse yet integral—every part of which is pregnant with the
fullness of the whole, in keeping with the perfection of a self-existent and
accomplished consciousness presaging the vision of human fulfillment.”
To see the direct action of the Supreme, we are told here in the pragmatics of
things to go by Sri Aurobindo’s “more visible expressions, particularly his
writings.” Does it mean that he came to write those thirty volumes of the Birth
Centenary? That will be an extraordinary way of reading the Mother’s revelation
about the birth of Sri Aurobindo the Yogi par excellence. If we are not going
to go by the “more visible expressions”, then we will be dubbed as credulous
people who, at the best, go by faith—and there cannot be reconciliation between
faith and reason. If we push this line of argument further, then we will be
told that all those ‘followers’ who adhere to the Integral Yoga of Sri
Aurobindo are ‘patronized’ by the founders of this Yoga, that it has become a
despicable religion, abhorrent to the founders themselves. But we must
recognize that Sri Aurobindo’s writings are a byproduct of Sri Aurobindo’s
birth, something that has happened functionally in the sequel of the direct
action from the Supreme. It was certainly not to justify the ways of God to
Man—which might come about incidentally.
But what is the direct action? in what context? It is of course to open “the
doors on the invisible occult”. If we miss this cardinal fact then we
altogether miss the meaning of Sri Aurobindo’s birth, the process and purpose
of Avatarhood itself. Sri Aurobindo came, and bore wounds difficult to heal,
“attempted all and achieved all”, not perhaps so much for man but more, and in
every respect, for the Divine. Didn’t he say, “My Yoga is for the Divine”? He
came here to do the Yoga of the Supreme himself. If we ignore this central
truth of his birth then we fail to see his writings also, and then any attempt
to juxtapose him with this or that thinker, or with this or that social
philosophy, or with this or that formulation of ours becomes our happy pastime.
And there are more serious things to do and our task lies in preparing
ourselves to do them. We need not so much of Expositional Sri Aurobindo but
more of Applied Sri Aurobindo.
It’s a pity that The
Lives of Sri Aurobindo is deliberately silent about these matters. There
are superficialities aplenty in it but not to touch the core issues amounts to sheer
distortion. It is that which hurts most the perceptive student of the Vision
and Work of Sri Aurobindo. In fact it causes a deeper harm in putting him off
from possible spiritual help and guidance from him. But if there’s the sincere
call for such a life, it is always there to take him on the upward path.
RY Deshpande