March 31,
2001
Sri
Aurobindo says that Nature, having exhausted all its efforts to unite India
territorially, resorted to the device of foreign invasion. We are unaware of
the devices Nature had employed until then, as we do not have that global
vision that penetrates Time. We see civilisation moved from central Asia to
Greece and from there to Rome. The spearhead of advancing humanity continued to
move to Europe, to England, to USA and to Japan. This can only be understood as
the receptivity of a segment of humanity becoming exhausted and the Force moving to a more conducive spot, which,
in the context of the latest developments, admits of a greater advance. The
points of life once closed to the Force do not seem to have opened ever again
except when Japan threatened USA with her imports, and US rose to the occasion
by resilience.
Whether it is Bengal, which was faced with
a famine once and communal carnage again, but failed to ask for His help, or
whether it is the devotees forgetting to invoke His blessings, the rule so far
witnessed seems to be that, “once closed, closed forever.” Of course, we do
understand the other side of the evolution where, this denial changes into a
new possibility of continued growth. He who shuts out grace in one area
opens in a wider area apparently opposite to the first and appearing to be
negative. When a sadhak on a
property refuses to work and idles away his time, he does shut out the grace to
convert itself into higher income. But the grace abides. It raises the market
value of the property abnormally. He, who had Mother’s darshan and enormously
prospered in his inner domestic life and outer material life, finds his
receptivity exhausted, starts worshiping a vital being, ruins himself until he
destroys himself. But the darshan and the force only waited for the field to
clear the vital forces or weaken them to reappear as a surge of progress in the
next generation. The question raised above is what is the choice at such moments
for one who is in the same field, either as an observer or participant.
The
question is, is there not an attitude at all times that will be according to
Her and end in the vision of the marvel? If so, is there a choice to be
effected by one who observes or participates? What is that choice?
India was not united in spite of the
unification of the foreign rule for 100 years. She is still divided. We see her
spirituality extending her influence beyond her borders. A bright boy who has
turned truant can fare better even if he loses his education. If his truancy
continues and he destroys his career by dissipation, we may consider that his
lessons will be of use later to his soul or to those around him. If a nation
becomes corrupt, we may hope it will quickly outgrow corruption compelled by
the advancing needs of the population to which corruption is a bar. How are we
to understand Mother’s view about ashram and Auroville, the institutions She
founded?
To say that
saving the truant by another or by himself or his walking into the society for
a wider experience are two possible options is no answer. The participating
observer needs to act, to make his choice. Is his role limited to acquiring
greater clarity? Suppose he too is responsible, how can he discharge his
responsibility?
Surely each
time he gains in clarity, it helps avoid the catastrophe. Should he persist in
gaining greater clarity each time? The observer, whether it is Mother or
another, can bring Herself to accept the course the other is pursuing, but I am
sure they will not accept the consequences of their choice. A man or an
organisation, wilfully ruining himself by idleness, vengeance, betrayal,
assertion, faces the consequences of his own act. What is the role of the
observer? Is he to continue to observe with increasing clarity?
Mother has
said She had learnt to be pleasant to all such cases. It means She accepted on
Herself the consequences of their acts. The observer accepts in his surface
mind the subliminal joy the other seeks. Only when they too realise on their
surface the same thing, the Marvel will reveal itself. Is it true that the
observer’s surface can see the Marvel even when the other does not see?
Conquering
the seven Ignorances calls for going below the surface, rising again, seeking
the knowledge of the soul in its Non-Becoming, dissolving the ego and the
practical ignorance. He calls this the conscious method of spiritual evolution.
In the face
of a situation of continued truancy and dissipation, the choice to be effected
may send one to the depth, but will it reveal the marvel of the other soul
consciously evolving?
If the
vision of the Marvel awaits below the surface, the answer will be satisfactory.
Mother and Sri Aurobindo have not spoken in that strain. Is there NOT a
choice for us?