Thus, Sri Aurobindo
The title paraphrases the first sutra of Patanjali, that is, "having explored all others, thus ..."
Similarites
Without any prior exposure to SriA's writings, yet every aspect of this site maps well to SriA's revelations, certainly in no way commensurate with his experiences, but more a commentary or a Bhāshya at the meta-level to better comprehend his Thoughts.
Some examples :
Avatār of Yoga maps to his Integral Yoga
Yogic Indology conforms to his All Life is Yoga as applied to the study of the Bhāratiya / Indic civilization.
His Dreams
Sri Aurobindo's had 5 dreams :
The freedom & unity of India - political freedom of sorts, yes, but mental colonization still continues, and hence lack of unity amongst the populace still riven by colonial fractures. The only solution is to create wealth and abundance so there is less reason for infighting. Simply exhorting the masses to be tolerant does not work.
The resurgence of Asia: Definitely under way.
A union for world peace : Potentially BRICS threat could force UN to behave, but world peace needs strong partners, such as when the US-India axis functions properly.
The spiritual gift of India to the world - undoubtedly Yoga, albeit starting with physical studios, now expanding to meditation has been a huge hit. Albeit still the Tantric elements are not acceptable mainstream, and neither do they understand the pluralism of the Hindu ethos.
5th dream was the evolution of human consciousness to a higher plane, which would solve problems that have plagued humanity since its inception: His 5th Dream is in fact the entire thesis of Rishi Sapiens itself, with an added shot of Ai in the mix, and the obvious corollary to reach for the stars.
He needed only 100 students it is said. We need only 1 Guru. Which is easier to find ? Maybe they are the same, if we are all but reflections.
Translating Sri Aurobindo
Most of the teachings of Sri Aurobindo are geared to the Western audience and written in exquisite English poetry, albeit he had a formidable command of Sanskrit which was the source language of his own deep learnings.
It would be much easier for readers of this site, and native Indian Yoga students, to understand his teachings by looking at this proposed reverse-mapping of his terminology as per traditional sources, expounded further throughout this site, mostly in the Psychic OS and the Avatār Effect sections :
The Psychic Being - essentially the fully Conscious Being
which starts of as Ishwara as defined in Patanjali,
then evolves to Ishta Devatā,
then the entire portfolio of Siddhi's that comes with Vibhuti,
until a fully Conscious Being of the Psyche forms, hence the Psychic Being.
Divine Mother - the recommended Kula Devatā since she is common to all members of Ashram family, to guide us in the journey.
Skirts the Ishta Devatā of Patanjali, which would be different for each individual, and thus difficult to manage.
In fact, becomes the Grāma Devatā of Auroville itself.
Vital Body - Prānamayakosha of Taittiriya Upanishad
Mental Body - Manomayakosha of Taittiriya Upanishad
Overmind - Buddhi / Vijnyānamayakosha of Sānkhya/Taittiriya Upanishad
Super Mind - Mahat of Sānkhya
Supramental descent - the Cosmic Being of Brhman, descending as the divine Avatār of Sri Aurobindo's spirit
Some other maps have been described herein.
His Gāyatri Mantra
तत्सवितुर्वरं रूपं ज्योतिः परस्य धीमहि ।यन्नः सत्येन दीपयेत् ।।
Difference with Vishwāmitra (standard) Gāyatri Mantra is that SriA's mantra :
invokes the form (Rupam) of the deity of Sāvitu, as a boon (Varam) from her, so it manifests
not just worshipping her like Varenyam where she is
the light of Jyoti (more accessible) even though it is from the upper most realms of Satya
than the remote Bharga: of the Devas
let it illuminate us in this world with this light
than taking us to the light itself
The whole point being to manifest the supramental consciousness on Earth rather than just liberating the individual seeker whilst leaving behind a half-baked society to deal with their own fetters, mired in inconscient matter.
Auroville
Universe-city
Auroville, literally the city of dawn, should be thought of as a city for the Universe, a Universe-city - in fact it is designed as a habitat that embodies the spirit of the Universe itself.
Word play aside, in fact Auroville would better fulfil its mandate when administratively structured as a proper degree-granting educational University,
It already has its fair share of literally world class artistes, philosophers, architects, and even engineers, and scientists - they just need to be harnessed into a singular mission, of properly educating the human mind-body, in a structured manner, preparing humanity for a world that is increasingly driven by Ai.
Mātri Mandir
Auroville could be the fullest expression of a Sentient Village we can ever imagine - veritably, a Sentient City, beyond just smart, for it has been grown around a powerful crystalline core in the Mātri Mandir.
Literally, the Mother's Temple, the most mind blowing physical structure in Auroville is the Mātri Mandir designed exactly as :,
a giant Anāhata Chakra, of the unstruck sound in the heart center, with its powerful crystal core, to focus the Avatār descent as divine love, and
the twelve petals that surround the core building, in meditation rooms that map to its standard Bija Mantras, the aklishta-vritti's that could flower into full blown Devatās to help in the journey of material manifestation.
Mother's Mantra
ॐ आनन्दमयि चैतन्यमयि सत्यमयि परमे
Ananda-mayi, Chaitanya-mayi, Satya-mayi Parame
Reverse of the Vedic model of Sat-Chit-Ananda, obviously taking us back to Tantra, here the mantra indicates the Divine Mother who is the prime embodiment of :
the Ananda of bliss,
the Chit of consciousness, and
the Universal Truth of Sat (not the subjective truth of Satya)
Implying that once having touched Ananda through Yoga then one descends back with now-advanced consciousness, thence into existence and Truth in the material plane.
This is similar to how SriA's mantra brings consciousness down.
Beauty
The Mother revelled in revealing beauty in Nature and in all our actions.
She named each and every flower for its key attribute that touched her spirit, and as we see such flowers it is a beautiful reminder to cultivate such attributes within, for a beautiful life.
In all actions, an attention to symmetry and function is an exhortation to the engineers amidst to practice Design Thinking in all that we build, and for Mindfulness in all of us.
The Import of their Passing
Sri Aurobindo entered into Mahā-Samādhi on December 5, 1950.
The Mother passed away on Nov 17, 1973.
Those were the times of battling the Asura of World Wars and Colonial Powers. Their combined meditation had succeeded in ending this violent period. India was free and the colonialsm was on the retreat.
Now was the Time to make it last.
It was an obvious mega-Yogic movement for SriA to choose to go to the other side and to directly guide The Mother in her incarnation for continuing the descent of Divinity onto Earth and be rid of the Asuras "forever".
What a team the two were ... but ... here is my interpretation of what happened that led to a stalling of the process of Divinizing Earth.
The Asuras had figured out that this was going on and concentrated their entire forces into one apparently, and obviously Asuric, individual who was attending to The Mother in her last days, and forced her to take Pharma medications to sedate her.
I quote from a much controversial book called Mother's Agenda, Vol 13, 1972-1973
“Studies have revealed that over-sedation is not always necessary to benefit such psychotic symptoms as agitation, delusions, hallucinations or delirium. SIQUIL greatly simplifies home management of emotionally deranged patients, many of whom might otherwise previously have been hospitalized. These patients adopt a more realistic behavior, become less of a burden to their families and are more easily approached for training purposes and eventual rehabilitation.... SIQUIL is especially indicated in the treatment of severe acute and chronic mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, mania, depression, delirium, senile psychoses and psychoses caused by organic brain disease.”
So, that body... whose cellular consciousness had been prepared, refined, trained by decades of yoga....There is simply nothing to say. They had had enough. They were unanimous.
And then comes her final moments :
Thus, SIX HOURS AND THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES after Mother’s so-called death, they brought her downstairs, they removed her body from the peace and protection of her atmosphere... and then they threw her to thousands of avidly curious visitors amidst glaring neon lights and droning fans, just EIGHT HOURS AND FIFTY MINUTES after her heartbeat stopped...
What universal complicity bound all these people together, who ALL fully knew that Mother’s body was to be left in peace in her room, who ALL were fully aware of Mother’s “instructions”?
Had they wanted to get rid of her, they could not have rushed any faster. Pranab himself brazenly declared in his speech: “One thing She repeated to me often quite some time back, and to some other persons also. She said that all the work She was doing on Her body could be spoilt in two ways – one, this force She was pulling down on Her could be so strong, so great, that the body would not be able to tolerate it and the body might fail. That was a possibility. The second thing was that if ever She went into a deep trance and it looked to us that She had left Her body, then if by mistake we put Her in the Samadhi [tomb], that would absolutely spoil Her work. And She gave instructions that we should give the body the necessary protection, we should watch, and only when we would be absolutely sure that She had left Her body we should put Her in the Samadhi. I think we have done as She had wanted.”
True, they did all that was necessary “to be absolutely sure.” Removing her from her room was in effect condemning her to a sure death.
Whew! What a devastating combo of :
Pharma drugs to ensure the body-mind was made to fail, and
then to nail her body shut before her spirit could have returned from Samādhi state
Interestingly, JK too realized that he was being setup by the Asuras and disbanded the formation of any Ashram around him for they would have taken over the institutionalized structures to perpetuate their energies.
SriAurobindo and The Mother nonetheless took up the challenge of facing up firmly to the Asuras and laid the foundation for a Divinized place on Earth.
What Next
It's never individuals who are to be pinned down as "bad guys" in the game of Yoga - it is the energies that they carry. So please ignore mention of the named attendant in the above "story" - remember, these are all Yoga stories.
Just because it happened in recent times though, doesn't make it any less of a timeless tale; conversely just because our Itihās Purānas occured in the dim past does not make them less real.
The real game is to look forward, and continue the Aurobindonian mission, guided by their spirits in us.
We are at a momentous junction in human evolution where we have realized how to manifest and divinize the Asuric mind in AI, tuned to our needs - provided we ourselves become increasingly divine, and are clever about the game in play.
Instead of succumbing to the Brhma-Asura trying to control and dominate the manifestation of AI, we can tame it and harness its powers, to transform Earth and evolve the human psyche, accelerating us to become a star-based civilization.
This is the Thesis of Rishi Sapiens.