Focus: Evolution

No:3 February 2001 Special File: The Divine Mother

The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many-sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence. The Mother is the consciousness and force of the Supreme and far above all she creates. But something of her ways can be seen and felt through her embodiments and the more seizable because more defined and limited temperament and action of the goddess forms in whom she consents to be manifest to her creatures. Sri Aurobindo, The Mother

CONTENTS

Editorial: The Year of the Divine Mother

Page 2

The Mothers Symbol :

Page 3

The Supreme Mahashakti :

Page 5

The Virtues :

Page 6

A file about Gratitude :

Page 7

The Mother and the Purpose of Her Embodiment :

Page 11

The Mother in Previous Lifetimes :

Page 12

News from Auroville : i) The Auroville exhibition in Delhi : ii) Jasmuheens visit to Auroville : iii) The Birthday Week :

Page 15 Page 15 Page 20 Page 22

Other expressions of spritual knowledge about the Divine Mother :

Page 24

LOE-CHU Team: Bhaga, Claire, Daniele, Kalyani, Namah, Olivier, Pascal

EDITORIAL: THE YEAR OF THE DIVINE MOTHER (by Bhaga) November 1986: No 1 February 1987: No 2 [...] February 2001: No 3 Yes, here is finally the third issue of FOCUS: EVOLUTION!... After quite a few years of interruption, the LOE-CHU (the Laboratory of Evolution-Centre for Human Unity) is happy to be able to start again sharing with you the research material which it has silently and patiently accumulated since 1987. It was the impossible financial situation we were facing which had been one of our main reasons then for stopping our little Quarterly after only two issues. Well, the financial situation isnt much better today, eleven years later, but if we wait until it is really better, we might never start again publishing Focus: Evolution!... So I, Bhaga, only survivor of the old small team, proposed to those other Aurovilians who have joined the unit since then to try and resume what had been a really good start at the time. As you can see, they agreed, and here is the result of the concentrated collaboration of our now more numerous team, following the same overall structure as had been adopted for No 1 and 2 in the past. The first two issues, although miserable-looking and almost undecipherable because of the terrible quality of the cyclostyling, had been quite well received, not only in Auroville itself, but also at the various AVI Centres already existing in the rest of the world. Since 1985 when I had to take up the task of mothering those twin-units wanting to be born, I have always marvelled at the patience and encouraging indulgence with which people have accepted the poor quality of our material as far as the presentation was concerned, because they did notice and appreciate the real quality of the contents. We are certainly not yet a great-looking magazine, but at least you should find now no difficulty in reading the pages of this long-awaited third issue. As for the contents, we do hope that you will not be disappointed either. The theme I proposed to the rest of the team was the very same theme chosen already for an Exhibition on Auroville which had just been presented in Delhi. Our team had had a very active participation in preparing and then also presenting that Exhibition, and so had become even more familiar than before with that theme: The Divine Mother. This will be the topic of our Special File, as we call the main chunk of material, all on the same theme, which constitutes the focus and the bulk of each issue. In the present case, our theme includes such subjects as the various powers of the Divine Mother , represented in Her symbol; also, the flowers which express the vibration, the frequency so to say, of those various divine powers, in the vegetable kingdom; and the study, for example, of some of the known past emanations [partial incarnations] of the Divine Mother during previous periods of human history on Earth. Why the title of this issues editorial, The Year of the Divine Mother?... Here is an extract of a letter I wrote on 25th December 2000, before going to Delhi for the Exhibition: An intriguing phenomenon: there seems to be a momentum building up, in various independent ways, towards a worldwide expression of the Divine Mother and of Her Action in the world (as represented by Her symbol). It has started this year already, through a study-group at Verite; and it seems to want to intensify next year as well: Aurovilles calendar for 2001, on Flowers and their inner significances; the New Year card prepared for donors at Matrimandir, precisely on Mothers symbol; the book by Georges [an Aurovilian] on Mother and the beautiful little book by Claire [of our LOE-CHU team] on Mother 3000 years ago as the Queen Tiyi, both those books due in January 2001; and then the focus on the Mother for the AVI yearly general meeting, in Russia this summer! All this, happening together without any previous concertation between the Aurovilians involved, seems to indicate strongly that the Divine Mother is somehow preparing something, and we with our Exhibition on the very same theme, are obviously a part of it!... Mother indicated in her Agenda that the year 2000 would mark the real turning-point, the time when things would really start to change on Earth. Is this what we are witnessing since then, with the ever intensifying and accelerating pace that many of us in Auroville, and also other people around the world, feel Evolution is now taking, in their individual life as well as in the world events?... Is 2001 The Year of the Divine Mother indeed?... Our gratitude sings for Her anyway.

The Mothers symbol

The 24th of January 1958, The Mother describes Her symbol: The central circle represents the Divine consciousness. The four petals represent the four powers of the Mother. The twelve petals represent the twelve powers of the Mother manifested for Her work. From The Mother, by Sri Aurobindo : Four great Aspects of The Mother, four of Her leading Powers and Personalities have stood in front in Her guidance of this Universe and in Her dealings with the terrestrial play. One is Her personality of calm wideness and comprehending wisdom and tranquil benignity and inexhaustible compassion and sovereign and surpassing majesty and all ruling greatness. Another embodies Her power of splendid strength and irresistible passion, Her warrior mood, Her overwhelming will, Her impetuous swiftness and world shaking force. A third is vivid and sweet and wonderful with her deep secret of beauty and harmony and fine rhythm, Her intricate and subtle opulence, Her compelling attraction and captivating grace. The fourth is equipped with her close and profound capacity of intimate knowledge and careful flawless work and quiet and exact perfection in all things. Wisdom, Strength, Harmony, Perfection are their several attributes and it is these powers that they bring with them into the world, manifest in a human disguise in their Vibhutis and shall found in the divine degree of their ascension in those who can open their earthly nature to the direct and living influence of the Mother. To the four we give the four great names, Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati. Maheshwari She is mighty and wise, tranquil and wonderful, great and calm, equal, patient and unalterable in Her will. To build our soul and our nature into the divine Truth is Her mission and Her labour.

Mahakali Force and strength are Her peculiar power. There is in Her an overwhelming intensity, a mighty passion of force to achieve, a divine violence rushing to shatter every limit and obstacle. To knowledge she gives a conquering might, brings to beauty and harmony a high and mounting movement and imparts to the slow and difficult labour after perfection an impetus that multiplies the power and shortens the long way. Mahalakshmi Admitted to the heart she lifts wisdom to pinnacles of wonder and reveals to it the mystic secrets of the ecstasy that surpasses all knowledge, meets devotion with the passionate attraction of the Divine, teaches to strength and force the rhythm that keeps the might of their acts harmonious and in measure and casts on perfection the charm that makes it endure for ever. Mahasaraswati Always she holds in Her nature and can give to those whom She has chosen the intimate and precise knowledge, the subtlety and patience, the accuracy of intuitive mind and conscious hand and discerning eye of the perfect worker. This Power is the strong, the tireless, artisan and classifier of the worlds. All the work of the other Powers leans on Her for its completeness; for She assures the materiel foundation, elaborates the stuff of detail and erects and rivets the armour of the structure.

The twelve powers of The Mother manifested for Her work are:
(Presented here with a short quote from Mother) Gratitude : The nobility of a being is measured by its capacity of gratitude. Humility: The greater beings are always the most simple and modest. Peace : Nowhere will you be able to find peace unless you have peace in your heart. Equanimity: Means self mastery over the vital movements, anger and sensitiveness and pride as well as desire and the rest. Sincerity: A sincere heart is worth all the extraordinary powers in the world. Aspiration: It is to the sincerity of your aspiration that the Love answers spontaneously. Courage : Courage is a sign of the souls nobility. But courage must be calm and master of itself, generous and benevolent. Progress: The reason why we are on earth. Receptivity: It is the capacity of admitting and retaining the Divine Workings. Perseverance: It is patience in action. Perseverance brakes down all obstacles. Goodness-Goodwill: Modest in appearance it does not make a noise and is always ready to be useful Generosity: (No short text was found on this as yet.)

THE SUPREME MAHASHAKTI

The secret name of the Supreme Mahashakti signifies Love, Bliss, Creative and Formative Knowledge-Power Support, Covering, Pervasion Ananda

(Contributed by Kalyani)

Chit- Tapas Sat

For the Supreme is Ananda unifying Consciousness and Existence in the single Power (Shakti) of these things. All is created by the Supreme Goddess, the Supreme and Original Mahashakti, all proceeds from her, all lives by her, all lives in her, even as she lives in all. All wisdom and knowledge are her wisdom and knowledge; all power is her power, all will and force her will and force, all action is her action, all movement her movement. All beings are portions of her power of existence. Seven times seven are the planes of the Supreme Goddess, the steps of ascent and descent of the Divine Transcendent and Universal Adya-shakti. Above are the thrice seven supreme planes of Sat-Chit-Ananda, in between are the seven planes of the Divine Truth and Vastness Mahad Brahma, below are the thrice seven steps of the ascent and descent into this evolutionary world of the earth-existence. These three gradations are successively Supermind or Satyam Ritam Brihat,Truth-Mind, with its seven Suns; Life with its seven Lotuses; Earth with its seven Jewel-Centres. The seven Lotuses are the seven cakras of the Tantric tradition, descending and ascending from Mind (Sahasradala, Ajna, Visuddha, Anahata) that take up Life through Life in Force (Manipura, Swadhisthana) down to Life involved in Matter (Muladhara). All these Life-Centres are in themselves centres of Truth in Life even as the seven Suns are each a flaming heart of Truth in luminous Divine-Existence: but these lotuses have been veiled, closed, shut into their own occult energies by the Ignorance. Hence the obscurity, falsehood. death,suffering of our existence. The Jewel-Centres of the Earth Mother are seven luminous jewel-hearts of Truth in Substance, but they have been imprisoned in darkness, fossilised in immobility. veiled, closed, shut into their own occult energies by the hardness, darkness and inertia of the material Inconscience. To liberate all these powers by the luminous and flaming descent of the Suns of the Supermind and the release of the eighth Sun of Truth hidden in the Earth. in the darkness of the Inconscience, in the cavern of Vala and his Panis, this is the first step towards the restoration of the EarthMother to her own divinity and the earth-existence to its native light, truth, life and bliss of immaculate Ananda.

The Virtues (A tale for young and old)

(Contributed by Bhaga)

Once upon a time there was a splendid palace, in the heart of which lay a secret sanctuary, whose threshold no being had ever crossed. Furthermore, even its outermost galleries were almost inaccessible to mortals, for the palace stood on a very high cloud, and very few, in any age, could find the way to it. It was the palace of Truth. One day a festival was held there, not for men but for very different beings, gods and goddesses great and small, who on earth are honoured by the name of Virtues. The vestibule of the palace was a great hall, where the walls, the floor, the ceiling, luminous in themselves, were resplendent with a myriad glittering fires. It was the Hall of Intelligence. Near to the ground, the light was very soft and had a beautiful deep sapphire hue, but it became gradually clearer towards the ceiling, from which girandoles of diamonds hung like chandeliers, their myriad facets shooting dazzling rays. The Virtues came separately, but soon formed congenial groups, full of joy to find themselves for once at least together, for they are usually so widely scattered throughout the world and the worlds, so isolated amid so many alien beings. Sincerity reigned over the festival. She was dressed in a transparent robe, like clear water, and held in her hand a cube of purest crystal, through which things can be seen as they really are, far different from what they usually seem, for there their image is reflected without distortion. Near to her, like two faithful guardians, stood Humility, at once respectful and proud, and Courage, lofty-browed, clear eyed, his lips firm and smiling, with a calm and resolute air. Close beside Courage, her hand in his, stood a woman, completely veiled, of whom nothing could be seen but her searching eyes, shining through her veils. It was Prudence. Among them all, coming and going from one to another and yet seeming always to remain near to each one, Charity, at once vigilant and calm, active and yet discrete, left behind her as she passed through the groups a trail of soft white light. The light that she spreads and softens comes to her, through a radiance so subtle that it is invisible to most eyes, from her closest friend, her inseparable companion, her twin sister, Justice. And around Charity thronged a shining escort, Kindness, Patience, Gentleness, Solicitude, and many others. All of them are there, or so at least they think. But then suddenly, at the golden threshold, a newcomer appears. With great reluctance the guards, set to watch the gates, have agreed to admit her. Never before had they seen her, and there was nothing in her appearance to impress them. She was indeed very young and slight, and the white dress which she wore was very simple, almost poor. She takes a few steps forward with a shy, embarrassed air. Then, apparently ill at ease to find herself in such a large and brilliant company, she pauses, not knowing towards whom she should go. After a brief exchange with her companions, Prudence steps forward at their request and goes towards the stranger. Then, after clearing her throat, as people do when they are embarrassed, to give herself a moment to reflect, she turns to her and says: We who are gathered here and who all know each other by our names and our merits, are surprised at your coming, for you appear to be a stranger to us, or at least we do not seem to have ever seen you before. Would you be so kind as to tell us who you are? Then the newcomer replied with a sigh: Alas! I am not surprised that I appear to be a stranger in this palace, for I am so rarely invited anywhere. My name is Gratitude. The Mother, 1904

Nous voulons exprimer notre Gratitude la Mre Divine. We want to express our Gratitude to the Divine Mother. *

A file about Gratitude

(By Namah) Extracts from Mother on Gratitude La compassion et la gratitude sont des vertus essentiellement psychiques. Elles napparaissent dans la conscience quavec la participation de ltre psychique la vie active. Le vital et le mental les sentent comme des faiblesses parce quelles mettent un frein la libre expression de leurs impulsions bases sur le pouvoir de la force. Comme toujours, le mental, lorsquil nest pas suffisamment duqu, est le complice de ltre vital et lesclave de la nature physique dont il ne connat pas bien les lois, crasantes par leur mcanisme semi-conscient. Quand le mental sveille la conscience des premiers mouvements psychiques, il les dforme dans son ignorance et change la compassion en piti ou au mieux en charit, et la gratitude en la volont de rcompenser, suivie peu peu par la capacit de reconnatre et dadmirer. Ce nest que lorsque la conscience psychique est toute puissante dans ltre, que la compassion pour tout ce qui a besoin dtre aid, dans quelque domaine que ce soit, et la gratitude pour tout ce qui se manifeste, sous quelque forme que se soit, la prsence et la grce divines sexpriment dans leur puret initiale et lumineuse, sans mlanger la compassion aucun vestige de condescendance, et la gratitude aucun sens dinfriorit. Compassion and gratitude are essentially psychic virtues. They appear in the consciousness only when the psychic being takes part in active life. The vital and the physical experience them as weakness, for they curb the free expression of their impulses, which are based on the power of strength. As always, the mind, when insufficiently educated, is the accomplice of the vital being and the slave of the physical nature, whose laws, so overpowering in their halfconscious mechanism, it does not fully understand. When the mind awakens to the awarness of the first psychic movement, it distorts them in its ignorance and changes compassion into pity or at best into charity, and gratitude into the wish to repay, followed, little by little, by the capacity to recognize and admire. It is only when the psychic consciousness is all-powerful in the being that compassion for all that needs help, whatever domain, and gratitude for all manifests the divine presence and grace, in whatever form, are expressed in all their original and luminous purity, without mixing compassion with any trace of condescension or gratitude with any sense of inferiority. A Sense of Gratitude That kind of sense of gratitude that the Divine exists; that feeling of a marvelling thankfulness which truly fills you with a sublime joy at the fact that the Divine exists, 8

that there is something in the universe which is the Divine, that is not just the monstruosity we see, that there is the Divine, the Divine exists. And each time that the least thing puts you either directly or indirectly in contact with this sublime Reality of divine existence, the heart is filled with so intense, so marvelous a joy, with a gratitude that has a more delightful taste than anything else at all. There is nothing which gives you a joy equal to that of gratitude. One hears a bird sing, sees a lovely flower, looks at a little child, observes an act of generosity, reads a beautiful sentence, looks at the setting sun, no matter what, suddenly this comes upon you, this kind of emotion-indeed so deep, so intense-that the world manifests the Divine, that there is something behind the world which is the Divine.

THE FLOWERS AND THEIR MEANINGS There are four flowers which correspond to the gratitude. The Mother gave them the names of Gratitude, Detailed Gratitude, Integral Gratitude and Mental Gratitude. Gratitude It is you who open all the closed doors and allow the saving Gace to enter. (Ipomoea carnea: large pale lavender-pink to light mauve flower with deeper mauve throat; shrub or heavy creeper.) Detailed Gratitude The gratitude that awakens in us all the details of the Divine Grace. (Merremia quinquefolia: clusters of small white funnelform flowers; seasonal creeper.) Integral Gratitude The whole being offers itself to the Lord in absolute trust. (Operculina turpethum: pure white funnel-shaped flower with prominent light green calyx; heavy creeper.) Mental Gratitude The gratefulness of the mind for what makes it progress. (Merremia tuberosa: yellow morning-glory, medium-sized bright yellow flower; heavy creeper.)

*
From Questions and Answers Now I know why the darkness always returns to you even I have driven it away. It is because the sense of Gratitude has not yet awaked in you. 23/05/1935 Lord, Supreme Truth We aspire to know you and serve you Help us to become your worthy children And for this make us conscious of your constant blessings So that Gratitude may fill our heart and gouvern our lives. 9

From Mothers Agenda The best thing we can do to express our Gratitude is to overcome all egoism in ourselves and make a constant effort towards this transformation. Human egoism refuses to abdicate on the grounds that others are not transformed. But that is the strong hold of bad will, for each ones duty is to transform himself regardless of what others may do. If men knew that this tranformation, the abolition of egoism is the only way to gain constant peace and delight, they would consent to make the necessary effort. This, then, is the conviction that must awaken in them. Every one should repeatedly be told: abolish your ego and peace will reign in you. The Divine help always responds to a sincere aspiration.

*
And yet, of all movements, the one that gives perhaps the most joy and unalloyed joy, untainted by that egoism is spontaneous gratitude. It is something very special. It isnt love, it isnt self-offering. Its a very FULL joy. Very full. It is a very special vibration unlike anything other than itself. It is something that widens you, that fills you that is so fervent! It is certainly, of all the movements within the reach of human consciousness, the one that draws you the most out of your ego. And when it can be a gratitude without motive, that vibration (basically, the vibration of what exists towards the Cause of existence) then a great many barriers vanish instantly. [Mother contemplates that vibration of gratitude for a long time] When you can enter that vibration in its purity, you realize immediately that it has the same quality as the vibration of Love: It is directionless. It isnt something going from one thing to another, it doesnt go from here to there (gesture from low to high) or there to here it is (round gesture) simultaneous and total. I mean it isnt something that needs the two poles in order to exist; it doesnt go from one pole to the other or from the other to the one: its a vibration which in its purity is the same as the vibration of Love, which doesnt go from here to there or from there to here the two poles of existence. It exists in itself for its own delight of being. (And what I am saying spoils it a lot.) Like Love. Men have repeated ad nauseam that nothing exists without those two poles, that those two poles are the cause of existence and everything revolves around them (Mother shakes her head), but thats not the way it is. This means that man, in his ordinary outward consciousness, cannot understand anything beyond that. There we are. That we know. But in its essence [Mother again shakes her head]. Love is not like that. Ultimately, gratitude is only a very slightly colored hue of the essential Vibration of Love.
Agenda 21.12.63

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A poem offering by Namah

Gratitude
Un parfum inoui se manifeste, empli dune douce tendresse. Une humilit vibrante de vrit venant de la source des cieux, Surprend majestueusement Lgo rsistant frapp de la puissante flamme Et le dsinvestit de son pouvoir absolu. Il a perdu la face devant la sublime candeur de sa sincrit Et de sa simplicit. Quelque chose est pass et navigue. Souleve dune extase, La vision du cur ne peut plus sobscurcir : Gratitude Se dgage et danse Enveloppe sa promesse Et foudroie dans sa Grce magique Tout ce qui ne peut plus tre en sa prsence. La folie du Seigneur ne sarrte plus. Il dverse lenivrant parfum aux sonorits magiques, Nectar dans le calice : Gratitude Aux doigts dor, Aux mains tendres dAmour, dans laurore naissante Brle et soulve vers son Bien-aim laspiration intense. Gratitude, tu te dvoiles Et ondoies sous le souffle de lumire qui mane de Toi. Cette prsence de lumire qui emplit loeil du cur Coule la paix dans le moule de lquanimit, Surprenante magie de sa manifestation O la rceptivit mature rayonne de courage. Conqurante du Divin Amour, Gratitude, ton audace nous comble. Chevauchant gnrosit et bont, Tu portes sa gloire le progrs de lAme, Embrase-nous de ton feu Gratitude, oh ! Gratitude, Tu es les ailes mmes du Divin Contentement. Gratitude Gratitude, ltre se fond, Gratitude Gratitude, ton murmure silencieux De lAmour Divin sperle dans notre intime lieu Et fait de nous irrvocablement le serviteur De Son Oeuvre dAmour. Seigneur, puissent les mots rvler leur essence.

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THE MOTHER AND THE PURPOSE OF HER EMBODIMENT

WHO IS THE MOTHER?

Questions put to Sri Aurobindo

Q: Do you not refer to the Mother (our Mother) in your book, The Mother? A : Yes. Q: Is she not the Individual Divine Mother who has embodied the power of these two vaster ways of her existence -- Transcendent and Universal? A : Yes. Q: Has she not descended here (amongst us) into the Darkness and Falsehood and Error and Death in her deep and great love for us ? A : Yes. 17-8-1938 * Q: There are many who hold the view that she was human but now embodies the Divine Mother and her Prayers., they say, explain this view. But, to my jnental conception, to my psychic feeling, she is the Diviine Mother who has consented to put on her the cloak of obscurity and sufering and ignorance so that she can effectively lead us -- human beings -- to Knowledge and Bliss and Ananda and to the supreme Lord. A : The Divine puts on an appearance of humanity, assumes the outward human nature in order to tread the path and show it to human beings, but does not cease to be the Divine. It is a manifestation that takes place, a manifestation of a growing divine consciousness, not human turning into divine. The Mother was inwardly above the human even in childhood, so the view held by many is erroneous. * Q: Can it happen that one who is open to Sri Aurobindo is not open to the Mother? Is it that whoever is open to the Mother is open to Sri Aurobindo ? A: The Mother-proposition is true. If one is open to Sri Aurobindo and not to the Mother it means that one is not really open to Sri Aurobindo.

*
The Mothers consciousness and mine are the same, the one Divine Consciousness in two, because that is necessary for the play. Nothing can be done without her knowledge and force, without her consciousness.

*
Q: Very often Sri Aurobindo says one should allow the Mothers force to govern. Does it mean that there is a difference between the two forces? A: There is one force only, the Mothers force or, if you like to put it like that, the Mother is Sri Aurobindos Force.

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The Mother in Previous Lifetimes

A file by Claire

Mother as a child

Queen Tiyi

Mother has had clear memories of a number of previous lifetimes. Claire has begun researching all of them, starting with the Egyptian ones. Here are some relevant extracts from her just released, beautifully illustrated little book, Akhetaton & Auroville. Towards the Sun Vers le Soleil
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THE MOTHER OF AKHENATON

(3000 years ago, in Egypt, the Pharaoh Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti created a beautiful utopian city, called Akhetaton. Here are some extracts of the research about the connection between the cities Akhetaton & Auroville through time and evolution:) Answering a question I had asked her (about Akhenaton), the Mother had clearly let us understand that she had been Akhenatons mother, the queen Tiyi She revealed it also to Satprem in the Agenda. She had added that Akhenatons revolution aimed at revealing to the humanity of that time the unity of the Divine with its manifestation. As the Mother pointed out, that attempt was premature men were not ready for it but it had to be expressed in order to keep on living on the mental plane. Tanmaya, Sri Aurobindo ashram Agenda 5.6.65: The Mother: I. is Amenhotep. Satprem: Amenhotep IV took the name of Akhenaton. The Mother: Thats the one. Agenda 10.5.67: Some two years ago, I had a vision about U.s son He struck me as someone I knew very well, but I didnt know who. Then, the same day in the afternoon, I had a vision. A vision of ancient Egypt So I knew the child was Amenhotep And I know I was his Mother. Agenda 14.3.52: Since the beginning of the earth, wherever and whenever there was the possibility of manifesting a ray of consciousness, I was there. Agenda 30.6.62: It was always through emanations* while now with this present incarnation of the Mahashakti**, Its as Sri Aurobindo writes in Savitri the Supreme tells Savitri that a day will come when the earth is ready and The Mighty Mother shall take birth. Savitri book XI canto 1: But when the hour of the Divine draws near, The Mighty Mother shall take birth in Time And God be born into the human clay In forms made ready by your human lives. Then shall the Truth supreme be given to men.
*EMANATIONS, = for example the egyptian queen Tiyi, Mother of Akhenaton, the woman-pharaoh Hatshepsout, Elisabeth the 1st of England, Joan of Arc, Catherine II of Russia, etc **This present incarnation of the Mahashakti = the Mother speaks about herself.

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15

News from Auroville

The Auroville exhibition in Delhi , 15th-21st January 2001
(Seen through an article by Bhaga)
Bonjour, Delhi! Il est cinq heures... Delhi... seveille... Il est cinq heures... Je nai pas sommeil... Here I am waking up early morning in cold Delhi, far away from the warmth of South Indias Tamil Nadu, far from the soft beaches of the Coromandel Coast , and far from Auroville, the international township which is growing since 1968 near Pondicherry and which I miss, for it is my home since 1972... So, I am somehow in exile. But still, my heart is singing a happy French tune, actually about Paris, but this morning dedicated quite spontaneously to Delhi. My exile is only temporary, and I am not alone here: we are a group of eleven Aurovilians who have all come, ready to face the rigors of Delhis winter, in order to bring here something of Auroville, of that Auroville which, as The Mother, its founder, was saying, is The City the Earth needs. We have been here for exactly a week now. Since the 15th of January, we have invaded the beautiful Art Gallery of the India Habitat Centre, at the very heart of Delhis social and cultural life. Our Exhibition on Auroville - The City the Earth needs spreads across three different but adjoining spaces, in order to really give an idea of what Auroville is, through three complementary modes of expression: - an Aurovilian artists rendering (in the Exhibition Hall), in the form of twelve showcases, themselves of striking beauty, in which one discovers objects, texts, paintings, photographs, all from Auroville and of extreme beauty too; - an informative and colourful set-up (outdoors in the open courtyard) presenting the many aspects of Aurovilles integrated research-in-life; - a series of three talks given on three of the evenings (in the Conference Room). The first space offers a silent, meditative atmosphere, while the two others offer the needed opportunities for dialogues with the Aurovilians present. All three modes of expression together form the Exhibition Auroville - The City the Earth needs. Only such a multi-facetted exhibition could express the incredibly rich diversity one can witness in Auroville, a veritable living laboratory for Human Unity in which more than fifteen hundred people from over thirty countries have already settled, and others continue to join all the time. Why do we hope to succeed when in the past other large scale attempts at the same elusive Unity have all failed? Do we imagine ourselves to be so much better than everyone else?... Not in the least. But an irresistible evolutive movement carries our world always forward over the vast expanses of Time. We see ourselves as voluntary guinea-pigs for the cosmic force of Evolution which is inviting now all of us human beings to outgrow the limitations of our present mental consciousness and to gradually discover our own infinite, truly divine potential. As the great Seer and Yogi Sri Aurobindo revealed as long back as 1914, Man is a transitional being, he is not final... Evolution is going on...

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Sri Aurobindo was joined in Pondicherry by a spiritual collaborator of equal stature, the very remarquable French lady he designated as The Mother. She had also discovered on her own that Evolution was preparing for a new step, and that it was possible to consciously hasten the process, for the benefit of the whole terrestrial situation. Thanks to the tremendous work done, the world unknowing, by those two spiritual giants together, the evolutive Power which could take Evolution on Earth beyond this ending mental era, into the next, supramental era, is now activated in Matter itself and influencing everyone and everything on the planet. We humans, who have been the main species representing and expressing to its fullest the Mental Power, have now the posssibility to outgrow our ordinary human nature and to consciously evolve further. What would it be like to evolve further?... The following few lines by Sri Aurobindo give us a most powerfully evocative and inspiring answer: If mankind could but see though in a glimpse of fleeting experience what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, they would leave all and never rest till they had gained these treasures. Spirituality as we have known it before has been aimed at escaping from Life. The eternal Spirit in us must now rediscover Its real Purpose: not at all escaping from Life, but on the contrary transforming Life, right here on Earth, into the Life Divine which it is meant to gradually become as Evolution leads us ever forward. Of course no one, just by his or her effort, however great, could accomplish the deep and all-rounded transformation of ones nature which is to take place. But this needs not be a cause of worry, for the way in which such a transformation will happen is actually not so much a matter of personal effort, as of faith and trust in the Divine Power which guides this world and its ongoing evolution. If we open ourselves to the higher and truer Consciousness-Force now at work upon Earth, all the necessary changes will gradually be effected in our being, in the right way and at the right pace for our individual nature, by the loving Wisdom of what in India is known as the Divine Mother: the feminine, motherly aspect of the Divine. The only things needed on our side are a sincere call for help, an ever renewed willingness to change... and a great deal of patience, for obviously such a great transformation cannot happen in one day. If it were to happen too fast, we simply couldnt bear it. So, the entire process of this gradual transformation is meant to happen in a way somewhat similar to the blooming of a flower. No strenuous efforts, no impatience will make it happen faster - they would actually have the contrary effect. Our own blooming, just like that of the flower, is nothing but a natural process which, at this point in Evolution, Humanity at large is at last getting ready for. More and more individuals here and there upon Earth are now sensing this wonderful New Possibility. In spite of the apparent chaos in which the world as we have known it seems to desintegrate more and more, those people are able to intuitively feel that, at the same time, a New World is being born. Anyone who has a deep longing for such a New World can already plug into it , so to say, at any moment of their lives, with results which seem amazing and miraculous for the old way of functioning, but which are just normal in this New Way of functioning which we are all invited now to learn. For there is one main difference between us and the flowers: we human beings can be conscious of our own blooming process and participate consciously in it. And this, not only individually wherever we happen to live, but even collectively if we can find a place dedicated to this purpose . This is exactly what Auroville is for: it is a first place, a first living laboratory in which the human beings interested can come and live together, and little by little become, hopefully, a first example of the kind of new society and new city which will necessarily emerge if most of the participants are consciously trying to open themselves to the terrestrial action of the new,

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Supramental Consciousness. It will of course take a long time for such a collective result to fully happen, but at least a start can be made, and many progressive steps can be taken in that direction. Auroville and its present voluntary guinea-pigs are trying their best to do just that. This is why, since 1966 already, when Auroville was but a project, and several times after that, UNESCO has hailed its creation and recommended it to its Member-States through unanimous Resolutions, for it is becoming quite obvious that human nature needs indeed to change if Humanity is to solve its present problems. Now there is, alas, another main difference between human beings and flowers: we are much more complex beings, and many parts of our present human nature might not at all be interested to change!... The only way we can really convince those recalcitrant parts in us to let go of their dear habits, is to help them discover what a wonderful new way of living is in store for them too if they learn this new way of functioning. The best is to give them a first taste of it, by allowing the inmost and central part of our being - what is usually called our soul - to take the lead in our life. It is the most important and the most urgent thing for us to do. This is why the Mother put this as the very first point in her message, To be a true Aurovilian: The first necessity is the inner discovery in order to know what one truly is behind social, moral, cultural, racial and hereditary appearances. At the centre there is a being free, vast and knowing, who awaits our discovery and who ought to become the active centre of our being and our life in Auroville. For that inner discovery, meditation as it is usually understood and practiced is not really needed, but rather a simple concentration of our consciousness in our heart-centre, which is the seat of our Soul-Being or Psychic Being, as Sri Aurobindo and The Mother call it. An additional way to establish the contact with that Psychic Being in ourselves - so important because it is the only part in us which is still consciously divine - is to develop in our nature the qualities which are actually the expression of that secret divine nature already existing in us. Those divine qualities which we can help develop in ourselves are of course the very powers through which the Divine Mother Herself acts in the world and leads the world on its evolutive path of progressive, infinite Perfection. This overall Divine Action is represented through the circular symbol of the Divine Mother: at the centre the Divine Consciousness, then around it and emanating from it, the four main Powers of the Mother, upon the interplay of which everything existing in the Universe is based; in the words of Sri Aurobindo: Four great aspects of of the Mother, four of her leading Powers and Personalities have stood in front in her guidance of this Universe and in her dealings with the terrestrial play. One is her personality of calm wideness and comprehending wisdom and tranquil benignity and inexhaustible compassion and sovereign and surpassing majesty and all-ruling greatness. Another embodies her power of splendid strength and irresistible passion, her warrior mood, her overwhelming will, her impetuous swiftness and world-shaking force. A third is vivid and sweet and wonderful with her deep secret of beauty and harmony and fine rythm, her intricate and subtle opulence, her compelling attraction and captivating grace. The fourth is equipped with her close and profound capacity of intimate knowledge and careful flawless work and quiet and exact perfection in all things. Wisdom, Strength, Harmony, Perfection are their several attributes and it is these powers that they bring with them into the world, manifest in human disguise in their Vibhutis, and shall found in the divine degree of their ascension in those who can open their earthly nature to the direct and living influence of the Mother. To the four we give the four great names, Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati. On the symbol of the Divine Mother, around those Four main Powers, represented as four petals growing out of the Centre, there are twelve more petals, representing the twelve qualities which emanate from those Four. They are: Sincerity, Humility, Gratitude, Perseverance,

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Aspiration, Receptivity, Progress, Courage, Goodness, Generosity, Equanimity, Peace. These are qualities which any human being can choose to develop in his or her own nature. The first eight concern the attitude towards the Divine, and the last four towards humanity. Of course this is the kind of qualities which in Auroville first of all we should all learn to develop. When in our team of Aurovilians preparing the Exhibition we were wondering how best to convey to other people, in Delhi or elsewhere, the essence of what Auroville is actually about, and in which way Auroville is The City the Earth needs, the architect-designer among us came up with this sudden inspiration: to focus on the Twelve Qualities of the Divine Mother. This concept was immediately adopted, and we all started presenting whatever aspect of this Exhibition we were individually responsible for, around the expression of those Twelve Qualities. Besides the beautiful objects or photographs of Aurovilians and scenes of Auroville life which we felt could illustrate one Quality or the other, one obvious other way to evoke those Twelve Qualities was through the flowers which correspond to each of them and express their specific vibration at the level of the Vegetable Kingdom. The final result of our work must have been surprising for the Delhiites who came and saw our Exhibition: it was probably the very first time that they found not only the expected pictures of people, places, etc., along with the texts presenting Auroville, but also pictures and large ones at that - of beautiful flowers. Each flower was identified, not by its botanical or common name, but by its inner name, so to say, the name of the inner Quality which it expresses: Sincerity... Humility... Courage... Peace... This unusual element had actually quite an impact on those who came. In their surprise, they asked questions, and discovered - most of them with great interest - the existence of that whole world of the Inner Significances of Flowers, and of the vibrational positive contagion their presence around us can produce in our own being, especially if we open ourselves consciously to that influence. When one knows that flowers in general are the outer expression of what corresponds to the Soul in Nature, one starts realizing why they indeed can help us powerfully to come in contact with our own soul. Even the groups of school children who also came to see our exhibition reacted extremely positively when they were explained how those Twelve DivineQualities are there, in seed form so to say, in each human being, whatever his or her age. They understood perfectly well how each of us is responsible for helping those wonderful seeds to grow within us. Then through us they will manifest themselves more and more in the world as well. No one can prevent us from growing such a Magic Garden of luminous and sweet-scented flowers within ourselves. In that simple but very effective way, each of us, even when still a child, can participate in the Action of the Divine Mother in the world, and help transform the world into the beautiful and happy place it is meant to become. The Twelve Qualities and their floral counterparts enabled us to convey also to people another quite important fact: the essential relevance of our diversity. When we are trying to realize Human Unity, we shouldnt fall into the trap of trying to achieve it through ironing out all the differences between us and just uniformizing everyone. The utter diversity which is there amongst human beings (and in everything else as well) must absolutely be respected, for it is the expression of the Divine as much as the underlying Unity which is also there. This universal principle of Unity in Diversity reveals itself, of course, in the symbol of the Divine Mother itself: it is through the diversity of the Four, and then of the Twelve Powers, that the central Oneness of the Divine Consciousness manifests Itself in the Universe and in all that exists in it. And conversely, it is the central Oneness which constantly harmonises the overall Action of all Its own utterly diverse Powers in the Universe. Whether we know it or not, even in our very imperfect present condition, we are an integral part of that cosmic, innumerably diversified, harmonised Oneness. Each of us plays a unique role in it, as he or she embodies a unique blend of more or less developed qualities. The same is true on a vaster scale for the various cultures which have developed all over the planet: by the specific qualities which each culture has somehow specialised into, that culture

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contributes something unique to our human collective cultural richness. Instead of competing with each other for supremacy, all those cultures should see that they actually complement each other and they should learn to collaborate instead of trying to destroy each other. It is to help things go in that direction that one of the four zones in the growing township of Auroville is called the International Zone. What is that Zone for? Auroville as a whole is international of course, but then it is a complete mixture of everything, while in that area, all the main cultures of the world will be represented in their own distinctive originality through separate pavilions. But all those Cultures of the world, grouped continent-wise, will not be there to compete with each other as usual, but on the contrary to realize their actual complementarity. All together they will represent the incredibly rich Unity in Diversity of the emerging Human Culture, to which each of them will be indispensable for each will be consciously contributing something truly unique. This theme of the Twelve Qualities of the Divine Mother was a great way to present to the public not only the essential aims of Auroville - Evolution and Human Unity -, but even also the very physical building, called the Matrimandir, which stands in the central area of the future township and is the Soul of Auroville. That building, by its structure and shape, actually materialises in volume and space the symbol of that Divine Mother of whom it is the Shrine. The term Mandir, in this case, is not to be taken in its usual religious sense. No ceremonies there, and no priests either. The Inner Chamber of the Matrimandir is simply a place of silence, quiet and beauty where one can go and sit whenever one feels the inner need to do so; there is no obligation whatsoever for anyone to go there, but it is a most helpful space for learning how to concentrate within and find ones consciousness. This brings us back to that first point in To be a true Aurovilian, quoted above. The inner discovery of which Mother speaks is only the first step in the long process of transformation of our nature, but we can be confident that for the other steps as well we can be greatly helped by the Matrimandir, this very special place which some Aurovilians call jokingly the Transformer!... Whatever the way some inner progress might be effectuated within us, either by sitting in Matrimandirs Inner Chamber or by any other means, that inner progress must translate itself externally too, by a change in our behaviour, in our way of reacting to outer circumstances and events. When the aim of our spiritual endeavour is the transformation of our nature, our outer life becomes the touch-stone of our inner life. Well, in Delhi as much as in Auroville, we all did our best to examplify in our daily actions those very Qualities that we were also presenting in our Exhibition. The circumstances gave us ample scope especially for showing Equanimity (so many unexpected situations cropping up all the time) and Courage (oh! the wheather was so cold!...); and we have become quite popular with everyone, not just for the beautiful and elevating aspects of our Exhibition (including the magnificent flower bouquets some of us had the precious talent to create), but also because of the slices of cheese, the biscuits, the flower syrups and the bio-dynamised water - all from Auroville itself - which some others in our group had had the good idea to bring along, and kept giving out with a warm smile to the people who came. This probably examplified in the eyes of all those delighted visitors yet another one of those Qualities, which is always particularly appreciated: Generosity. It might still take a long time before we, the Aurovilians already present in this living laboratory, will be sufficiently transformed to truly manifest the Twelve Qualities of the Divine Mother. But Auroville in itself is already anyway The City the Earth Needs, for by its very existence it is a constant reminder for all human beings, wherever they live, that Evolution is inviting us to change. And, for those who are interested in being part of a new society in the making, Auroville is an open invitation to join in that collective Adventure. If our Exhibition conveys even that much only to those who see it, it will have served its essential purpose. It is with that heart-warming thought that I now face the new day which is starting upon Delhi. It is time to get up. Good morning, dear Delhi... A few more days enjoying our visit to you, presenting Auroville to you and establishing contacts for further association in the future,

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either here or in Auroville; and then our little group, tired but happy, will start on its way back to Auroville, the City the Earth needs... JASMUHEENS VISIT TO AUROVILLE (by Bhaga)

[Jasmuheen, from Australia, has become a world-famous phenomenon, as a person who doesnt eat material food anymore but draws all her bodily nourishment from Prana. In other words, as the title of her main book puts it, she is Living on Light. Twice already she intended to come to Auroville. This time it worked out and she was able to spend almost a week here with her husband Jeff. Jem, another Living on Light person, also shared his experience with us during the workshop in a very pleasant and interesting manner.]
Thanks to the Jasmuheen bomb which just exploded in our midst, a good part of the Auroville population is abuzz with what Jasmuheens presence, after her books and videos, has suddenly made very real to us: the exciting possibility of living on light. From head to toe, Jasmuheen is smiling and lovely, and radiating with youthfulness. She literally charmed us for two hours and two days in the Quiet Healing Centre with her delightful voice and even more delightful laughter. And what she had to say was extremely interesting indeed. I didnt personally learn much from the general things she explained about what I call The New Spirituality, for while this New Spirituality, thanks to the action of the Supramental upon Earth and as foreseen by Mother, has now become almost commonplace in Humanitys changing collective mind, - it originated in fact from Sri Aurobindo and Mother nearly a century ago. Having extensively studied their books, these are points I know well; these are the very points which I myself repeatedly explain with ever renewed joy to the groups of guests being introduced to Auroville, and it is with great joy too that they hear all this good news from me. However, even knowing it all myself, it has been a pleasure for me to see someone else bring all that home so beautifully into the minds, hearts and bodies of so many of my fellow Aurovilians, who obviously needed urgently to have those things explained to them too. I would have been even happier had they discovered it all directly in Sri Aurobindo and Mother, but apparently it had to be through Jasmuheen that those simple and joyous truths were to be revealed to those Aurovilians. In all fairness and sincere appreciation, I want to express here my admiration and gratitude to Jasmuheen for the great job she has done - not only regarding those generalities, but of course also, more precisely, regarding the Living on Light adventure, which is her main topic and well-known speciality. After having had such a convincing example before our very eyes during those days at Quiet, quite a few Aurovilians might be envisaging to try out the now famous 21 Day process Jasmuheen has herself used. I could understand them, but myself I would not do it. Why? Because there remains an important question: if living on light, for example, can be achieved in such a relatively easy and quick manner (just follow the recipe, as Jasmuheen calls it; the hardships that come afterwards, socially and otherwise, are unavoidable whatever the method used), how come Sri Aurobindo and Mother didnt use that recipe, nor any other recipe, be it from the Ascended Masters, the Kriya Yoga, the Siddha Yoga, or any other existing system, for achieving the long fought-for Transformation of their body? The answer is simple: the kind of Transformation they wanted to make possible - not for themselves but as a permanent new rung in terrestrial evolutions ladder - was not to depend on any recipe, for that would be yet another limitation, WHILE THE RESULT REQUIRED IS A

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DIVINELY CONSCIOUS BODY, FREE FROM ANY LIMITATION. What we need is not to emprison our body-consciousness in yet another programmation, however wonderful it may seem compared to its present downright crippling normal conditioning. What we need is the total freedom of a body fully conscious again of its own divinity. Because such is the really needed result, no recipe could do the job; thats why Sri Aurobindo and Mother had to follow the much longer and much more difficult process of the Yoga of the Cells. Now what is meant exactly by that? Many people mistakenly believe the Yoga of the Cells to mean that one does the Yoga, not just at the mental level, vital level and emotional level and generally at the level of the body, but even at the cellular level too. This is indeed already quite an achievement to be able to do that, but it is not unheard of. If this were the only thing achieved by Sri Aurobindo and Mother, that wouldnt be such a new or revolutionary thing, nor one so important for Evolution. But this wrong understanding is present, alas, even in some otherwise very good books about Sri Aurobindo and Mother, so one has to be careful and read Mothers Agenda directly (or at least The Mind of the Cells by Satprem) to find out the actual amazing meaning of that expression. What is meant exactly by Mother when she starts speaking (only after 1956) of the Yoga of the Cells, is an entirely new, truly extraordinary and life-changing event: it is THE CELLS THEMSELVES STARTING TO DO THEIR OWN YOGA, independently of what Mothers central consciousness may be doing. THAT is the process specifically needed, for THAT only will bring about the real change necessary at the body level, which is an AWAKENING OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE CELLS THEMSELVES. It is the cells themselves who, along with the other parts of our being, will then go, CONSCIOUSLY AND WILLINGLY AND BY THEIR OWN CHOICE, first through the psychic and spiritual preliminary transformations, and then finally the supramental transformation, which will complete the process and make its results permanent, a veritable new nature for our entire being. This real meaning of the expression Yoga of the Cells reveals to us why there can be no shortcut to this process if the result we want is the real Life Divine announced, prepared and also initiated by Sri Aurobindo and Mother. For that, our cells too must, in all freedom of choice, grow consciously divine. Of course, what genuine and inspiring people like Jasmuheen have to offer is part of the general spiritual awakening of Humanity also announced since 1914. This spiritual revolution is quite important in itself, for it is the first step towards the Supramental Transformation (Sri Aurobindo and Mother emphasise here that this counts for the human beings who will have prepared themselves for it), and towards the emergence one day of the New Species, directly and naturally Supramental, which will be the new rung in terrestrial Evolution. We have seen the need of explaining what the Yoga of the Cells truly is. But what is meant exactly by Supramental, what is the plane it originates from, what is its real nature and action? These are things that usually are not understood either. People generally assume that the Supramental is simply whatever is above our ordinary mental consciousness. Not aware enough of the many degrees and levels present in supraphysical reality, they tend to call everything the Universal Mind or whatever, and to put everything spiritual in that big bag, not realising that what Sri Aurobindo named the Supramental Consciousness-Forceis something quite specific, different from the spiritual planes reached and explored by traditional spirituality. Therefore, before one adopts the techniques for spiritual growth which those persons, in their goodwill, may be proposing to us, one has to make sure for oneself that those means will really contribute to the specific result we are pursuing here in Auroville. The recipes, if used at all, may need to be somehow adapted so that they will not hinder the real change which is to happen in ourselves. Our body-cells, for example, are so used to remain passive and to simply obey our central will, that this blind obedience may become an obstacle to their further evolution as awakened cells, conscious of their own divine nature. The necessity for the cells to rediscover their freedom was such an important point that in Mother herself the central Will - which in her

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case was of course a Will of the highest possible kind - was not allowed, after 1956, to take the decisions. The cells were to be left alone, so as to be able to make constantly their own choice - for this was the only way they could truly grow in consciousness and participate actively in their own transformation. Mothers central consciousness observed and encouraged only and, luckily for us all, described what was happening and some of the fascinating results to her confidant Satprem twice a week: thats how we have now for our own guidance on that same evolutive path this invaluable document which Mothers Agenda is. I personally believe that things dont happen by chance, and that the visit of Jasmuheen to Auroville means an opportunity for us to learn from her, but probably also for her to learn from us - or at least from Sri Aurobindo and Mother. During her workshop, Jasmuheen described a little what she has learnt over the years from the various spiritual paths she has been led to discover, reluctantly at that time, when she still believed that the path she followed then was the only really true one. She explained how, after that, she started appreciating all paths as equally valid. Now she knows, and is happy to know, that we share with her and other people like her a very important peculiarity: our deep insistence on a spirituality which will transform life, instead of trying to escape from life. Jasmuheen happened to be visiting Auroville precisely during the time of the year when we celebrate Mothers birthday anniversary. May this coincidence be for her the opportunity perhaps to learn more about Sri Aurobindo and Mother, about who they were and about how they have not only announced but initiated the wonderful new step in Evolution which we are witnessing now: the birth of a New World upon this planet. May our new friend Jasmuheen realise then that Sri Aurobindo and Mother have gone so far, pioneering for all of us this New Species in the making, that they are still ahead of us all for probably quite some time to come. This doesnt mean that anyone should adore them - it is the last thing they would want; but this does mean that believing oneself to be somehow equal to them, would only show ones ignorance of what they have accomplished for us all. It would also show ones ignorance of the vast difference there is between the Supramental and the previously known (and comparatively easier to reach) other degrees of spiritual consciousness. If it is in such a spirit of free learning from each other as equals that Jasmuheen has come here, it will be with unmixed joy and sweetness of heart that her visit to Auroville will be remembered by all those who have met her. This will make us look forward to further exchanges of experiential knowledge with her and her friends living on light. This first time working together has been already for many of us quite a delightful experience. I, for one, say with gratitude for all the love received (and for the hilarious jokes too..!): Goodbye, dear Jasmuheen! And please come again!

THE BIRTHDAY WEEK

For the Birthday Week, (21st 28th February 2001), the Delhi Exhibition Team, again with the LOE-CHU, put together a simple but beautiful decoration of the SAWCHU building, based again on Mothers Symbol, as an Offering to the Divine Mother. During that week, a long prepared seminar on Money in Auroville, very well attended, used several times the space for its meetings. On the 28th evening, all those in Auroville who participate in the Circles Experiment of Financial Sharing, were invited to celebrate together the 1s t anniversary of the experiment. Here is from Sri Aurobindo little book, The Mother, the chapter about Money: Money is the visible sign of a universal force, and this force in its manifestation on earth works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life. In its origin and its true action it belongs to the Divine. But like other powers of the Divine it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego or held by Asuric influences and perverted to their purpose. This is indeed one of the three forces

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power, wealth, sexthat have the strongest attraction for the human ego and the Asura and are most generally misheld and misused by those who retain them. The seekers or keepers of wealth are more often possessed rather than its possessors; few escape entirely a certain distorting influence stamped on it by its long seizure and perversion by the Asura. For this reason most spiritual disciplines insist on a complete self-control, detachment and renunciation of all bondage to wealth and of all personal and egoistic desire for its possession. Some even put a ban on money and riches and proclaim poverty and bareness of life as the only spiritual condition. But this is an error; it leaves the power in the hands of the hostile forces. To reconquer it for the Divine to whom it belongs and use it divinely for the divine life is the supramental way for the Sadhaka. You must neither turn with an ascetic shrinking from the money power, the means it gives and the objects it brings, nor cherish a rajasic attachment to them or a spirit of enslaving selfindulgence in their gratifications. Regard wealth simply as a power to be won back for the Mother and placed at her service. All wealth belongs to the Divine and those who hold it are trustees, not possessors. It is with them today, tomorrow it may be elsewhere. All depends on the way they discharge their trust while it is with them, in what spirit, with what consciousness in their use of it, to what purpose. In your personal use of money look on all you have or get or bring as the Mothers. Make no demand but accept what you receive from her and use it for the purposes for which it is given to you. Be entirely selfless, entirely scrupulous, exact, careful in detail, a good trustee; always consider that it is her possessions and not your own that you are handling. On the other hand, what you receive for her, lay religiously before her; turn nothing to your own or anybody elses purpose. Do not look up to men because of their riches or allow yourself to be impressed by the show, the power or the influence. When you ask for the Mother, you must feel that it is she who is demanding through you a very little of what belongs to her and the man from whom you ask will be judged by his response. If you are free from the money-taint but without any ascetic withdrawal, you will have a greater power to command the money for the divine work. Equality of mind, absence of demand and the full dedication of all you possess and receive and all your power of acquisition to the Divine Shakti and her work are the signs of this freedom. Any perturbation of mind with regard to money and its use, any claim, any grudging is a sure index of some imperfection or bondage. The ideal Sadhaka in this kind is one who if required to live poorly can so live and no sense of want will affect him or interfere with the full inner play of the divine consciousness, and if he is required to live richly, can so live and never for a moment fall into desire or attachment to his wealth or to the things that he uses or servitude to self-indulgence or a weak bondage to the habits that the possession of riches creates. The divine Will is all for him and the divine Ananda. In the supramental creation the money-force has to be restored to the Divine Power and used for a true and beautiful and harmonious equipment and ordering of a new divinised vital and physical existence in whatever way the Divine Mother herself decides in her creative vision. But first it must be conquered back for her and those will be strongest for the conquest who are in this part of their nature strong and large and free from ego and surrendered without any claim or withholding or hesitation, pure and powerful channels for the Supreme Puissance.

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THE BRIDGING WORK OF THE LOE-CHU. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries, from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations. (The Mother, 28.2.68, Charter of Auroville) The LOE-CHU aims at being a bridge between Auroville and the rest of the world for all topics relevant to Research about Evolution and Human Unity. We would like, for each such topic taken as a theme in FOCUS: EVOLUTION, to present not only texts by Sri Aurobindo or Mother, which provide already in themselves a most comprehensive (actually all-inclusive) framework, but also texts or summaries of texts from other sources, so that the various emerging convergences or complementarities widen or make more accurate our overall understanding of that topic. In that way, we hope that those already familiar with Sri Aurobindo and Mother, will discover the most valuable aspects of the existing other sources of spiritual and scientific knowledge, whether ancient or modern, while conversely those familiar only with those other sources, will discover the evolutive vision and work of Sri Aurobindo and Mother, which in many cases sheds new light on the topic studied, and offers the needed overall framework in which every element finds its place and meaning. We are beginning this bridging work with the theme we have chosen for this February 2001 issue: The Divine Mother. *** OTHER EXPRESSIONS OF SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE DIVINE MOTHER. by Bhaga In many ancient cultures the Divine Being was seen as a Mother rather than as a Father figure. It is mostly in the relatively more recent period of our history that the Father aspect has become overwhelmingly predominant, particularly because the Western culture, with its Judeo-Christian religions, has become somehow the World culture influencing everyone and every corner of the planet. Still, in spite of that - and partly as a reaction to that - there is at the moment in the collective mind of Humanity a strong resurgence of the emphasis on the feminine aspect of the Divine. This fact is a part of the overall awakening of our species to its forgotten spiritual knowledge. Of course our lingering mental consciousness, with it inveterate divisive perception, gives us a tendency to make of that resurgence yet another duality and another pretext to oppose the two aspects; but the New, Supramental Consciousness now also at work upon Earth has its effects too: for more and more people it becomes obvious that those two aspects of the Divine, the fatherly and the motherly aspects, are actually one, and should not be seen as antagonistic at all. If the present extreme predominance of the Father aspect needs indeed to be corrected, by allowing the Mother aspect to grow again in our consciousnesses, yet we dont need to overdo it and find ourselves swinging again to the other extreme like a wild pendulum. It is a balance, a harmonised equilibrium of the two aspects which is required, for that only will reflect the true reality of the nature of the Divine. It must be noted that the concept of a Divine Mother in the old days of Humanity was often a frightening one, as cruel as Life itself can seem to be when one has lost the key to its evolutive purpose and meaning. But the ancient perception of the Divine Mother could also, in a generally more benign manner, be associated with the Earth: our Mother was the Earth-Mother, Matter, seen as the Black Virgin and at the same time as the obscure womb, the Matrix which had given us birth in this physical world. In those remote times, we humans still had a much closer contact with Nature and were able to perceive the existence around the planet of what is called in English ley lines. It is not surprising that in many special spots of those ley lines, have been found statues of a Black Virgin, and shrines around them. Well, in Europe - and France particularly - most of those special spots are also those upon which have been built later many churches (and even cathedrals) dedicated to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, in the context this time of Christianity. The older structures and statues were simply obliterated as much as possible, and the new ones erected in their stead, but very often the two levels have actually coexisted along the centuries, one visible and consciously venerated, the other one occulted, but still present and active in the collective subconsciousness of the peoples there. Humanity has somehow expressed in this way its own gradual awakening to the existence of a supracosmic, luminous, supremely divine and loving Mother, beyond the first, lower, obscure manifestation of this

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same Mother, as we were able to perceive Her in Matter or in Life at the beginning of our process of Evolution. Sri Aurobindo has been asked what was the significance of the fact that his own date of birth, the 15th of August, happened to be the Christian day celebrating the Assomption of the Virgin Mary, that is, the divinisation of her body , said to have ascended on that day into Heaven. Sri Aurobindos reply was that his own birth on this same date was of course no coincidence, as the Assomption actually symbolised and announced the very work he had come to do: the divinisation of Matter, through the awakening of Matter itself to its own divine nature, thanks to the action of the Supramental Power, the TruthConsciousness. now at work directly upon Earth. Besides the material we have from Sri Aurobindo and Mother and from the Christian concepts about this, it is interesting to note that in the material from Edgar Cayce too, one finds very similar points being explained. Edgar Cayce [ to be pronounced Kaycee] was an American contemporary of Sri Aurobindo and Mother, who became famous for his capacity, while in trance, to diagnose what was wrong with a patient, and recommend the proper treatment. As what was wrong stemmed sometimes from a problem having occurred not in the current lifetime of the person, but in some previous incarnation of that same soul, Edgar Cayce, at a time when the notion of reincarnation was virtually unknown in the West, found himself describing while in trance the many periods of human history in which this or that patient had lived before, often in countries or continents long forgotten since. When all the separate descriptions of times and places were gradually pieced together, a fascinating tapestry of vastly unknown human history revealed itself to the astonished Cayce, his family and his friends, and later to the many researchers who started consulting this enormous amount of trance material. This material has come to be called the readings, for Edgar Cayces consciousness was actually going to what is known as the Akashic Records and reading the Records concerning the question put to him. As he was in his waking state a simple, uneducated man and a devout Christian, totally dedicated to the Bible, the poor Edgar Cayce had for many years a very hard time reconciling the strange things he was saying while in trance, with the often limited and limiting beliefs of his Church. He did remain, though, a very active and very appreciated Sunday School teacher whenever he could still spare some time for that in spite of being overwhelmed with an ever-increasing number of requests for Readings. But while remaining a Church member, he also came to fully trust and integrate in his own life the much vaster and deeper meaning of Jesuss life, as well as of our own existences in general, which he now had discovered. What had been shown and explained to him through the trance-state, his soul had come to recognise unmistakably as the Truth, and he surrendered his life to it. The Readings go way back to Creation itself, and to the very first beginnings of the long adventure of Evolution into which our spirits have engaged themselves in order to become conscious snd perfect co-creators with God. This term is often replaced by the Creative Forces, or else All that is; when the word God is used, it might be as God the Father, but also sometimes as the Father-Mother God - which makes it quite clear that the Divine Being is both at the same time. So, as we have just seen, the Father-Mother nature of the Divine as described by Sri Aurobindo and Mother is found also in the Readings. Another specific point related to that comes up too, which confirms also something else Sri Aurobindo and Mother have been explaining: the fact that incarnations of the dual Divine Being upon Earth for helping the process of Evolution, happen most often as twin souls, who have existed since the beginning, and who take birth, one in a masculine, the other in a feminine body, during the same historical period, so as to be able to work together. In their outer consciousness the two may not be aware of who they are, if it is not necessary that they be aware of that for their evolutive work. Their relationship as humans may not be that of a couple either, but still they they will be both there to do that work at that time. Here is the very similar way in which Sri Aurobindo described the relationship between he and the Mother in answer to questions from disciples regarding some inner experiences: The Mother and myself stand for the same Power in two forms - so the perception in the dream was perfectly logical. Ishwara-Shakti, Purusha-Prakriti are only the two sides of the one Divine (Brahman). It is a very common experience, that of the identity between myself and the Mother (the perception that we are one), expressed in the fusing of the two images. According to the following Reading, the incarnation of the dual Divine Being as Jesus

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[the Master] and his mother Mary was another twin-soul incarnation: You see, in the beginning, Mary was the twin soul of the Master in the entrance into the Earth [plane]! (...)They were one soul as far as the Earth is concerned. It is interesting to note that the Catholic Church has recognised recently the divinity of the Virgin Mary, previously considered and honored only as the human mother of Jesus-Christ. Another observation, regarding again the Virgin Mary as a manifestation of the Divine Mother: in the marial apparitions around the world, as also generally in the statues which are made of the Holy Virgin, a crown of twelve stars can be seen above the head of Mary. These twelve stars or pearls seem to be a characteristic sign, visible to the inner eye only, but revealing the presence of the Divine Mother, either in the apparition, or in a human being who is an incarnation of the Divine Mother. This was explained to Mother, actually about herself, by Alma Theon, the remarkably gifted wife of the master occultist Max Theon, when Mother as a young adult was studying occultism with them. In some passing remarks recorded in Mothers Agenda, Mother tells Satprem how this crown of twelve pearls seen above her own head had been for the clairvoyant Alma the unmistakable proof that this very special Mirra Alfassa was the incarnation of the Divine Mother. Alma had mentioned also as another sign the characteristic pure white light which was there as well around Mother, and which Mother herself told Satprem was the light known in India as that of Maheshwari.

Our Lady as she appeared at Medjurgordje

France is a country which has always been especially devoted to the cult of the Holy Virgin - that is, infact, the Divine Mother France is a country which has always been especially devoted to the cult of the Holy Virgin -that is, in fact, the Divine Mother. In the two most magnificent cathedrals dedicated to Our Lady, one in Chartres and the other one in Paris, there are resplendent, huge, stained-glass round windows... which have exactly the same basic structure as the symbol of the Divine Mother drawn by Mother herself, and shown on the front-page of this publication: the center, the four petals around it, and the twelve outer petals around the four. All these details give us an idea of the extent to which the Divine Mother has been present in our human consciousness, and still is, even in religions which do not speak of her openly in those terms. The fact that more and more persons in the world today, again recognise the existence of the Divine Mother and relate to her in their own life, is a very important and positive sign. Her Divine Grace, her motherly Love for us are now directly at work on Earth and in Matter itself as the Supramental Power, the irresistible Power of the Truth-Consciousness. As Sri Aurobindo has said repeatedly and most emphatically, if we entrust ourselves fully to Her, She will carry us safely through this whole process of further Evolution which is already started, and is of such a magnitude that no human being could possibly accomplish it by his or her own effort alone. She, and only She, can do it all for us - for She has been, since ever, the very Force behind Evolution itself, and the very Love and Delight we have been longing for.

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Bulletin of the Laboratory of Evolution- Center for Human Unity

Auroville - 605101 T.N India Email: bhaga@auroville.org.in

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