| The Advent of Sri Aurobindo |
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By Dr. Karan Singh Humanity today is at a crucial crossroads in its long and tortuous history upon this planet. After billions of years of evolution humanity has reached the stage where science and technology has given it tremendous power, power which can be used to eradicate poverty and suffering and misery from the face of this earth, or power that can be used to destroy all life on the planet. We live in an age of bewildering change, between a collapsing past and an indeterminate future. Before we know it, the present has collapsed and the future is upon us in a sort of avalanche which bewilders and disorients many people. Indeed it often appears that we are adrift on a limitless sea without any clear sense of direction or any guidelines to show us the way. It is at times like these, times of great change and transition and conflict, that we turn to the great spiritual figures that have illuminated the path of mankind down through tortuous corridors of time. And when we look around us, we find in Sri Aurobindo a towering figure on our political, literary, intellectual and, above all, spiritual landscape, not only for India but for the entire humanity. So vast and varied has been his contribution to so many different fields of thought and action, so immense and profound the corpus of work that he has left for posterity, so holistic and inclusive his approach – "All life is yoga" – that it is a privilege to write about him. What has become of the vision of Sri Aurobindo, who wrote in the white heat of the Bengal Anti-Partition Movement "India is rising, not when she has risen to trample upon the weak, but to shed the light of the eternal dharma that she has nurtured in her breast for the welfare of humanity?" Are we moving in this direction? The Mother was once asked, how to bring out the needed cohesion and faith in the country. And she answered, and I quote "by following Sri Aurobindo’s teachings". His Independence Day message on August 15, 1947, needs to be read and re-read and its significance explained to millions of his compatriots. India needs the conviction and faith of Sri Aurobindo. This message which is in the nature of a Last Will and Testament, has five dreams. The first of the dreams, he says, was "a revolutionary movement which would create a free and united India. India today is free but she has not achieved unity". And he ends by saying "but by whatever means, in whatever way, the division must go, unity must and will be achieved for it is necessary for the greatness of India’s future". Now how will this unity be achieved? It does not seem to me as if there is going to be a political reunion of the countries that once formed the Indian sub-continent. But in the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), there are the seeds of a unity very much in the way the European Community has finally overcome its animosities and centuries old hatreds, and is rapidly becoming a single economic and political unit. The development of the European Community is the sort of model that perhaps could be followed in SAARC, if only we are able to sort out our problems with our neighbours. I come from Jammu and Kashmir. In fact it is over the State of Jammu and Kashmir that we have our conflicts, both with China and with Pakistan. Could it be envisaged that in the same way as this beautiful state has become a source of discord between these three countries, one day perhaps, by the divine grace, it could become a source of concord? Could the high swayed seat of Sulaiman which Sri Aurobindo talks about, the temple of Shankaracharya, the great Goddess Sharada, the great ice-lingam of Shiva in Amarnath, the shrines of Maqdoom Saheb and Chirar-i-Sharif, the great Sufi saints who are buried in the Kashmir valley, could there be a spiritual renaissance which could enable this to become the focal point for a new unity in this region? To my mind this is the only way in which the vision of Sri Aurobindo could possibly be fulfilled. Secondly, he says, "another dream was for the resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia, and her return to her great role in the progress of human civilisation. Asia has arisen, large parts are now quite free or are at this moment being liberated. Its other still subject or partly subject-parts are moving through whatever struggles towards freedom". That is true. Since Sri Aurobindo wrote, almost all the countries of Asia have achieved freedom, and some have made remarkable progress. I visited China, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, and it is astounding to see the sort of progress that those countries have made compared to our situation, and therefore I think the vision of an awakened and freed Asia has been fulfilled. The third dream, Sri Aurobindo writes, was " a world union, forming the outer basis of a fair, brighter and nobler life for all mankind. That unification of the human world is under way. There has been an imperfect initiation, organised but struggling against tremendous difficulties. But the momentum is there and must inevitably increase and conquer". This is also true. As one travels throughout the world, year after year, one can see the process of globalisation taking place before our very eyes. Today whether it is politics or economics, communication or industry, commerce or culture, the world is being unified in a way which could hardly have been imagined when Sri Aurobindo wrote. Impelled by science and technology, the barriers of race, of nationality, of religion are breaking down and human beings are being united in an extraordinary way. But the problem is that although the global society is developing, a global consciousness which could support that society, has not as yet emerged. And that is where Sri Aurobindo’s yoga and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram can play such a vital role in the growth and development of a global consciousness which would underpin and support this global unity, a global dharma which would enable the human race to move peacefully towards unification. Fourthly, Sri Aurobindo says in his message, "another dream, the spiritual gift of India to the world has already begun. India’s spirituality is entering Europe and America in an ever increasing measure. That movement will grow amid the disasters of time. More and more eyes are turning towards her with hope, and there is even an increasing resort, not only to her teachings, but to her psychic and spiritual practice". Well, I agree that Indian spirituality is entering Europe and America, but it also seems to me that India’s spirituality is leaving India! Sri Aurobindo did not mention that in his great vision perhaps because he assumed that India would be the Guru of Nations. But are we capable of being the guru of nations the way we are going today, sinking in the morass of corruption and violence and hatred? Is this the way that we will be the pathfinders to the future? Is this the message of spirituality that we are giving to the world, when we do not seem to be able to sort out our own problems, when ancient hatreds and animosities which we thought were long since dead are arising again with renewed vehemence, and when the whole structure of the Indian spiritual tradition seems to be in danger? So here is challenge to us. Certainly more people are practicing yoga in California than in India. And certainly both Hindu and Buddhist meditational techniques are becoming popular in the West. But it seems to me with exceptions like the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, in India we are fast losing touch with the inner spirit. And this is where the whole question of education and of getting our younger generation exposed to the rich and varied cultural and spiritual tradition of this country comes in. And the fifth vision, Sri Aurobindo says: "The final dream was a step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and larger consciousness and begin the solution of the problems which have perplexed and vexed him since he first began to think and dream of individual perfection and a perfect society. This is still a personal hope and an ideal, an ideal which has begun to take hold both in India and in the West on forward looking minds. The difficulties in the way are more formidable than in any other field of endeavour. But difficulties were made to be overcome and if the supreme will is there, they will overcome. Here, too, if this evolution is to take place, since it must proceed through a growth of spirit and the inner consciousness, the initiative can come from India, and although the scope must be universal, the central movement may be hers". And he concludes his message into a small but very touching sentence, "such is the content which I put into this date of India’s liberation. Whether or how far this hope will be justified, depends upon the new and free India." As we move through this tumultuous century, which has seen so much suffering and so much achievement, let us mobilize our inner and outer resources, let us make a final attempt to break the barriers that surround us and to move towards that inner light. It is going to be a difficult and dangerous path, as again the Upanishads have taught us, sharp like a razor’s edge – kshurasya dhara nishita duratyaya – but that is the only way we can go. there are no soft options left, either for the individual or for the society. We have to go across that difficult and dangerous path, then alone can we reach the great purusha shining like a thousand suns beyond the darkness. Vedahmetam purusham mahantam aditya varnam tamashah parastat tamaiva vidit watimrityumeti nanyah pantha vidyateyanaya. |