…once he had got a clear conception of his business, he proceeded in it with astonishing rapidity, sureness and tact. The clear-cut ease and strong simplicity of his movements were almost Roman; no crude tentatives, no infelicitous bungling, but always a happy trick of hitting the right nail on the head and that at the first blow. Roman too was his principle of advancing to a great object by solid and consecutive gradations.

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There is a vociferous and strident lobby of intellectuals, of the self-righteous western brand, who persistently downgrades the traditions of India, not understanding the well-founded principles on which its society and social organizations are built. With the least perception of things it quickly equates Sanatan Dharma and Hindutva, and the Religion followed by the common Hindu people, to arrive at fallacious conclusions, without realsing that that is in the very nature of things so, that the conclusions will be misleading. But what is essential to recognize is that there is a cosmic movement of evolution of consciousness taking its soul,—not only it as an individual but also as a group or collective being,—towards the possibilities of divine expression in the dynamism of life; it is to that it lends itself. That is its fundamental urge, its glory, the raison d’être for serving the cause of higher working. There is at times an attempt to redefine some of these terms but the formations are so fixed in the reasoning, but palpably not reasonable minds of these people, that the effort proves futile. Not that they do not understand it; they do. But there is stubbornness, an obstinacy to oppose it as a mechanism for self-defence and self-preservation. When the contact with the inner springs is absent there is always this frustrating dryness, and maybe nothing much can be done about it.

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One of the aspects Sri Aurobindo saw in the nation was the sound foundation of its society governed by the principles of the spirit in its fourfold working. In it came together the faculties of knowledge, valour and strength, commerce and mutuality and relationship of harmony, and perfection in work. Even as these ensued from the great manifesting power of the spirit, they in turn become in the vast cosmic and individual working methods of attaining oneness with the same spirit. It is a oneness not in the passive sense, a quiescent union, but a dynamic oneness to make as though that spirit grow more and more in the possibilities of the Infinite. They become for the seeker of that truth yogic paths of Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, or Karma Yoga, or they combined in different ways depending upon the nature of the individual, his swabhāva. The revelation of these aspects made to us by Sri Aurobindo even in his early writings of the Karmayogin establishes the solidity of this social order itself, order in its true meaning and import that dismiss the crudities that have got accrued around it or have been attributed to it. In its authentic formulation it gives us a wholesome system which should really become the mode of organization of the collective life. Its truthful universality is not restricted to a particular epoch of time or a particular geographical region but to the psychological dimensions of the spirit working out its own expression in the cosmic manifestation. To be in tune with it is the desideratum of the spirit itself.

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Robert Lee Frost (26 March 1874 – 29 January 1963) was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. A popular and often-quoted poet, Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

Frost was 86 when he spoke and performed a reading of his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on 20 January 1961.


Robert Frost with Jackie Kennedy at the time of the inauguration


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Sri Aurobindo saw history unfolding in cycles, where the symbolic or intuitive age is followed by the typal age of ethical and philosophic ideals. In India the former corresponds to the age of the Vedas, while the latter corresponds to the time of the development of the Upanishads. When ritual rigidity and external worship of forms prevail, the living force of spiritual and ethical truths degenerates into fixed formulas and precepts. The separation of humanity from the sacred and numinous is then complete as the conventional age sets in. All the major cultures and religions of the world have gone through such phases, and society has been shaped accordingly.

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Let us dwell for a while more on the issues connected with India’s unfortunate angst-ridden independence and the events during the Second World War. There are deeper yogic aspects connected with it and it is with them that Sri Aurobindo was, among other important things, very much occupied. Connected with them is also the Mother’s work both on the occult and physical planes; it continued even after Sri Aurobindo’s withdrawal in 1950. Maybe we could as well have a look at her role also, the invisible role she played in 1971, in the liberation of Bangla Desh. It is of course to be well understood that what we have here in these articles are in the nature of quick jottings rather than presenting fully developed dissertations expatiating several arguments that could arise in this regard. But the series of posts under the current title India’s Independence and the Spiritual Destiny—we already have nine and at least as many will follow in the developing sequel—when read together should provide the necessary linkages. The other series under the heading Sanatan Dharma running concurrently should supplement the theme in another fruitful manner. It is hoped that the readers of the Mirror will have patience enough to go through these articles carefully to offer their views in the furtherance of the themes which are of capital importance in the organization of our collective life, nationally as well as globally. A deeper study is needed to explore in several dimensions the human potential and the human destiny waiting upon us; participation in it by alert perceptive minds must prove rewarding.

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Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy by François le Moyne (1737)

And here’s Plato’s Cave:


It was a good mirror when the times were bright
Reflecting upon thoughts that had no trace
Of a cloud, clarity had given it grace
That could even to unfathomable night
Impart contents in big measures of light.

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In India, just as naturally and inevitably, the administration remained with the noble. The old Hindu mechanism of society and government certainly did prescribe limits certainly had a basis that was stable and normal; but it was too rigid, too stationary: it bound down the burgess and held him in his place by an iron weight of custom and religious ordinance. The regime that overthrew and succeeded it, the Mussulman regime, was mediaeval in character, fluid certainly, indeed in a perpetual state of flux, but never able to shake off the curse of instability, never in a position to prescribe limits, never stable, never normal. In such a society the qualities which make for survival, are valour, dexterity, initiative, swiftness, a robust immorality, qualities native to an aristocracy and to nations moulded by an aristocracy, native also to certain races, but even in those nations, even in those races, alien to the ordinary spirit of the burgess. His ponderous movements, his fumbling, his cold timidity, his decent scrupulousness have been fatal to his pretensions, at times inimical to his existence. Accordingly in India he has been submerged, scarcely existent. Great affairs and the high qualities they nourish have rested in the hand of the noble. We had then our nobility, our class trained and experienced in government and affairs: but to them unhappily we could not possibly look for guidance or even for cooperation. … The old nobility was quite as helpless from decay and dotage, as we from youthful inexperience. It was foreign energy that had pushed aside the old outworn machinery, it was an alien government that had by policy and self-will hurried us into a new and quite unfamiliar world.

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There are periods in the life cycle of a nation, critical moments, when it is in deadly peril, when its very existence is threatened, attacked by enemy forces either from within or from without. Such was the case when, for example, Britain was invaded by the Spanish Armada or when France was being subjugated by England. Those were very anxious times, but in each instance the soul of the nation came for¬ward and inspired the nation to react and go through the ordeal and survive. Jeanne d'Arc may be considered as the embodiment of France's national soul, as on a still earlier occasion that same soul embodied itself in St Genevieve. But a nation may fall on much more evil days, namely, when it loses contact with its very soul, goes astray, its life movement taking a wrong curve. A nation can deny its soul, even as an individual may and the result is disaster. Germany is a terrible example of such a tragedy in our own day.

India is offering a spectacle, of another tragedy. What is happening here is the attack of a disease that is convulsing the body politic: it seems to be a cancerous disease, the limbs seeking to grow independently at the expense of each other. The patient is passing through a very critical period and it is indeed a question of life and death. But we hope—we are sure—that the soul of this ancient nation will assert itself and through whatever vicissitudes re-establish health and harmony: for that soul's mission is yet to be done. ~ The Mother

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Apropos of Chaturvarņa in Sanatan Dharma, Paulette has sent me the Mother’s talk dated 25 August 1954 bearing on this theme. The same is being posted here now. Our sincere thanks to Paulette not only for this, but also for the significant comment she has made in this regard: “As for the system of Chaturvarņa, streaming from the Virat Purusha or Universal Spirit and codified by Manu, it was strictly related to the individual’s swabhāva, one’s inborn nature, the truth of one’s being, which determined one’s belonging to a specific varņa. As such, Chaturvarņa has nothing to do with the perversion of the caste system, rigidly established on heredity instead of one’s inner predisposition. As Sri Aurobindo points out, the betrayal of Chaturvarna is a major cause of the present degeneration.”

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The concept, if it can be called so, of the four aspects of the Mother as given to us by Sri Aurobindo is not altogether new. But it puts in focus the active powers that are presently operating in this creation. In the Vedic tradition,—and also of the Gita,—it is the Purusha who is represented in his several expressions for upholding the universe. But Sri Aurobindo sees them as mights, powers, aspects of one transcendental Shakti. That these are soul-forces operating in the cosmos is what is being revealed to us in this formulation, the true basis of splendid and well-thought Chatrurvarņa system, it conducting the harmonious functioning of the social order.

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Ascending Taibai peak from the west,
I reach the summit in the sunset.
The morning star speaks to me,
Opening the gate of Heaven.
I wish to go with the wind,
Emerge from the floating clouds,
Raise my hand to touch the moon
And travel over all the mountains.
Once I have left Wugong,
When shall I return again.

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But what is justice? Is it right to go on harping on the injustices of the past such as colonialism in order to deliver justice? For example, does “justice” demand that developing countries should be allowed to pollute the atmosphere to the same degree that the industrialised world did before they agree to move on climate change? Can “retribution” be regarded as a form of justice? Are any means legitimate in pursuit of a perceived “just” goal? These were some of the issues Prof Sen dealt with as he argued for a new way of looking at justice. A point he repeatedly emphasised was that harking back to the past in search for justice would not do. The starting point for any discussion should take into account the reality that “we’re where we are today” and then ask: where do we go from here and how?

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After the Surat Congress in December 1907 Sri Aurobindo, at the request of Tilak, visited a number of places in Maharashtra and addressed public meetings. On 15 January 1908 he gave a speech in Girgaum, Bombay, explaining the National Movement that had set in Bengal a few years earlier. In Bombay Sri Aurobindo dwelt specifically on Education, as he was specifically requested to expound on the theme which was actively being pursued in Bengal. The desire was to understand the purport of this new trend and what precisely it conveyed, the true sense of education rather than it becoming mechanical, its role in awakening the sleeping consciousness of the people. The speech was reported in a Marathi newspaper and was received very appreciatively. The text of the original in English does not exists, and the following is a translation of the address as was reported by the paper.

Along with this speech we also reproduce two extracts of an earlier unpublished article which now appears in Bande Mataram, CWSA, Vol. 7, pp.1114-16.

We then trace the early history of singing of Vande Mataram in national conferences. There have been oppositions to it right from the beginning and differences continue to be there even today. The hardened sectarian and religious sentiments that got behind it have clouded our thinking and now it has become nigh impossible to plead for the values of the spirit it invokes; it is a prayer to divine powers to build national quality and character in the strength of the soul dedicated to them. It is a secular prayer and there is nothing ritualistic or religious in it. Sri Aurobindo had spoken about it as the Mantra given to awaken and rejuvenate a Nation, and it did it in no uncertain manner. There was another Mantra that had to be given and perhaps it has yet to await its great moment when the life of a nation, the collective life, opens to the verities of the higher manifesting will and force. For that to happen we must engage ourselves in the tapasya of the transformative power of the spirit, and there is no way other than that.

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Much depends upon the river’s drift:
The paddy-green or the bird-song,
The bankless solitude of love,
Or behind the bright poppies
Gleaming images of the unborn world.

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A few more taxes, a few more rash interferences of Government, a few more stages of starvation, and the turbulence that is now religious will become social.

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