March 2022 Newsletter

March 2022 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 36.03 Singapore NEWSLETTER Gods vs Asuras Godhead Pure and perfect, puts forth its force in the world. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Chinese hibiscus, Hawaiian hibiscus, Rose- of-China Large single shell white or very pale yellow gold flower with crinkled petals, a pink centre, and golden anthers and stamens. I use the word Godhead because it expresses at once the essence of Divinity and its powers - it opens the door on both the impersonal and the personal aspects without stressing either. SRI AUROBINDO The Godhead with whom the soul of man has to enter into this closest oneness, is indeed in his supreme status a transcendent Unthinkable too great for any manifestation, Parabrahman; but he is at the same time the living supreme Soul of all things. He is the supreme Lord, the Master of works and universal nature. He at once exceeds and inhabits as its self the soul and mind and body of the creature. He is Purushottama, Parameshwara and Paramatman and in all these equal aspects the same single and eternal Godhead. It is an awakening to this integral reconciling knowledge that is the wide gate to the utter release of the soul and an unimaginable perfection of the nature. It is this Godhead in the unity of all his aspects to whom our works and our adoration and our knowledge have to be directed as a constant inner sacrifice. SRI AUROBINDO

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 Guiding Light of the Month As soon as I have no longer any material responsibilities, all thoughts about these things flee far away from me, and I am solely and entirely occupied with Thee and Thy service. Then, in that perfect peace and serenity, I unite my will to Thine, and in that integral silence I listen to Thy truth and hear its expression. It is by becoming conscious of Thy Will and identifying ours with Thine that there is found the secret of true liberty and all-puissance, the secret of the regeneration of forces and the transfiguration of the being. 11 May, 1913 Prayers and Meditations, The Mother From the Editor’s Desk In last month’s issue of the newsletter, we examined Creatrix poured her divine Love into the dark briefly, the last of the three aids Sri Aurobindo referred Inconscient. It is this Love that is the driving force of to in his book, The Mother. We looked at Aspiration as the development of the world, of its evolution on the something characteriesed by “… a feeling of plenitude, way back, or up, to its divinization. And as all forces of force, of an inner flame which fills you. Aspiration are beings and all beings forces, this Love is a divine can give you joy, but a very special joy, which has no Being ever present at the core of the manifestation, excitement in it.” which some call 'creation.' It is this Being who incarnates in what in India are called the Avatars, the In this issue of our newsletter, we examine an series of direct divine interventions in the unfolding of interesting topic, understanding something of which the evolution.” may cast some light on states of our being and how to invoke the Light to bring about a transfiguration within. In our own lives, both in the inner and outer, the same The theme is “Gods vs Asuras”. forces are found to be operating at every moment. One has also been given the potential to discern between The Mother explains the creation of the Asuras as this and that. Sometimes in life, a clouding comes over forces which were originally of god-nature, four our ‘vision’ and we fail to discern between a dark force essential powers of God of the highest kind. These were and a force from light. It may take life times of trial first in the creation as Truth, Light (Consciousness), and error to realize one’s way forward on the path of Life, and Ananda (Bliss). Since God wanted them to light. With a strong aspiration and a concerted effort exist in freedom and join again with Him in that on our part, coupled with faith and trust in the Divine’s freedom, these powers began to think of themselves as Grace we are asked to put ourselves through a God himself and began to move further and further conscious path of sadhana, cleansing the being of all away from Him, somewhat losing their original quality. obstructions from within and willfully collaborating As a result, each of these powers took over their with the Divine for a life aligned to His will. Here are opposite characteristics. The power of Truth became the concluding words from The Mother: falsehood, “Consciousness-Light became the black inconscient, Life became death and Bliss became its “Attacks from adverse forces are inevitable: you have opposite, suffering.” The Universal Mother then to take them as tests on your way and go courageously produced gods to control the dark forces. This time, the through the ordeal. The struggle may be hard, but gods were given limited freedom. As it is always the when you come out of it, you have gained something, case, there were conflicts between the forces of Gods you have advanced a step. There is even a necessity and Asuras, between forces of Darkness and Light, for the existence of the hostile forces. They make your between the Good and the Bad. As this perpetual determination stronger, your aspiration clearer. “ Let us flip the pages with aspiration. conflict which would lead nowhere, the “…Great www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg Savitri Gods vs Asuras Aspiring he transcends his earthly self; He stands in the largeness of his soul new-born, Redeemed from encirclement by mortal things And moves in a pure free spiritual realm As in the rare breath of a stratosphere; A last end of far lines of divinity, He mounts by a frail thread to his high source; He reaches his fount of immortality, He calls the Godhead into his mortal life. All this the spirit concealed had done in her: A portion of the mighty Mother came Into her as into its own human part: Amid the cosmic workings of the Gods It marked her the centre of a wide-drawn scheme, Dreamed in the passion of her far-seeing spirit To mould humanity into God’s own shape And lead this great blind struggling world to light Or a new world discover or create. Earth must transform herself and equal Heaven Or Heaven descend into earth’s mortal state. But for such vast spiritual change to be, Out of the mystic cavern in man’s heart The heavenly Psyche must put off her veil And step into common nature’s crowded rooms And stand uncovered in that nature’s front And rule its thoughts and fill the body and life. Obedient to a high command she sat: Time, life and death were passing incidents Obstructing with their transient view her sight, Her sight that must break through and liberate the god Imprisoned in the visionless mortal man. The inferior nature born into ignorance Still took too large a place, it veiled her self And must be pushed aside to find her soul. 3

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 Sri Aurobindo Godhead He is the one Existence: he is the original and universal Delight that constitutes all things and exceeds them: he is the one infinite Consciousness that composes all consciousnesses and informs all their movements; he is the one illimitable Being who sustains all action and experience; his will guides the evolution of things towards their yet unrealised but inevitable aim and plenitude. To him the heart can consecrate itself, approach him as the supreme Beloved, beat and move in him as in a universal sweetness of Love and a living sea of Delight. For his is the secret Joy that supports the soul in all its experiences and maintains even the errant ego in its ordeals and struggles till all sorrow and suffering shall cease. His is the Love and the Bliss of the infinite divine Lover who is drawing all things by their own path towards his happy oneness. SRI AUROBINDO Godhead Poem by Sri Aurobindo I sat behind the dance of Danger's hooves In the shouting street that seemed a futurist's whim, And suddenly felt, exceeding Nature's grooves, In me, enveloping me the body of Him. Above my head a mighty head was seen, A face with the calm of immortality And an omnipotent gaze that held the scene In the vast circle of its sovereignty. His hair was mingled with the sun and breeze ; The world was in His heart and He was I: I housed in me the Everlasting's peace, The strength of One whose substance cannot die. The moment passed and all was as before; Only that deathless memory I bore. SRI AUROBINDO www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 The Four Asuras There is an important part of the Cosmic Tradition that has not yet been touched upon: the explanation of how a world like ours is the result of God's workings and can only be such a result, as there is nothing else but God, or That, or the Divine, or the Supreme. The Mother talked about this chapter of the 'very old Tradition' several times, always emphasizing that the story, as narrated by her, sounded like a children's tale, but that its symbolism was profound and referred to the actual facts. Once it so happened that 'God' decided to exteriorize himself 'in order to know himself in detail.' To that end he first manifested his Consciousness, which is the Universal or Divine Mother, and ordered her to make a universe. The Universal Mother emanated four beings, representing the four essential powers of God (and therefore of herself): Truth, Consciousness (that is Light), Life, and Ananda (which means Bliss).* Those four beings 'were indeed altogether very high beings, of the highest Reality.' But God had also expressed the wish that his manifestation should be based on freedom. 'He wanted all that went forth from him to be absolutely independent and free so that it might unite with him in freedom, not through compulsion.' Because of their freedom, those high and essentially godlike beings each deemed themselves to be the very Godhead himself, which of course is an absurdity, for the Divine is One. This meant that, in a manner of speaking, they distanced themselves from their origin, thereby turning into its opposites. Truth became Falsehood; Consciousness-Light became the black Inconscient; Life became Death; Bliss became Suffering. (One finds in this story the elements of many great traditions all over the world, although most remember only part of it. The Bible, for instance, mentions only the Being of Light.) The Universal Mother, upon seeing this, was greatly disturbed and turned to God, asking him to come to her aid. God said to her: 'Start again, but this time try to do it in such a way that the beings are less independent' And it was thus that the Great Mother created the gods. 'But as the first four had come before them, at every step the gods ran into them, and so it was that the world changed into a battlefield' between gods and demons, Good and Evil, as all the great traditions tell. Time and again the gods have to do battle with the first four Asuras and with their emanations for the Asuras had the power to multiply into 'cascades' of millions of lesser beings who resembled them and assisted them in their work. If the world had to continue like this, it would never turn godlike, it would never become its divine Origin again. But when she emanated the gods, the Great Creatrix poured her divine Love into the dark Inconscient. It is this Love that is the driving force of the development of the world, of its evolution on the way back, or up, to its divinization. And as all forces are beings and all beings forces, this Love is a divine Being ever present at the core of the manifestation, which some call 'creation.' It is this Being who incarnates in what in India are called the Avatars, the series of direct divine interventions in the unfolding of the evolution. The Mother https://motherandsriaurobindo.in/_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/- 07%20Authors%20from%20Auroville/Georges%20van%20Vrekhem/- 01%20English/The%20Mother%20-%20The%20Story%20of%20Her%20Life/- 016_The%20four%20Asuras.htm www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 Questions & Answers Sweet Mother, when one realises the Divine, does one no longer have enemies? Ah, indeed! Why? I believe it is rather just the opposite. Is it because there are adverse forces? Yes, surely. The earth is full of adverse forces and of men who respond to these adverse forces; usually, the more one realises the Divine, the more enemies does he have around himself. Do they act against the Divine? Oh, yes! At least they try. I don’t know if they succeed, but they try. They try, they have always tried. Why? The Divine hasn’t done anyone any harm! [Laughing] You think one acts against others only when they have done some harm? Usually it is just the contrary. Can you tell me why the strong use their strength against the weak? It is not that the weak have harmed them, but simply because they have the strength and wish to use it for their own ends and want to compel the weak to obey their force, so they beat them; when they have a chance, they ill-treat them. It is not because the weak have made mistakes; it is because they want to use their strength for their own purposes, for the satisfaction of their desires. Suppose, for instance, that there are forces in the universe which are accustomed to govern, as there are certain asuric forces governing the earth. They do not want to lose their authority. So all who put out a force which could compel them to withdraw, they attack with as much strength as they have. They do this to keep their power. But it is not because these people… in fact, you understand, it is not that they are wicked or bad. It is because the light and power they represent are completely opposed to the power represented by the other forces. Mother, it is said that something of the Divine is there even in the Asuras. Naturally! Then, when the Divine fights the Asura, what does the Divine in the Asura do? He goes back into the Divine. But you know the story? He is re-absorbed by the Divine, as in the Ramayana; that story is quite true in this sense. If the Divine were to withdraw from the Asura, the Asura would dissolve, wouldn’t he?—the Divine who is in the Asura? I know people who have rejected their psychic being and who still continue to live; and yet, logically it would seem that a human being without a psychic being would die, still they continue to live. And perhaps it would be necessary in order finally to dissolve these asuric forces in the world—perhaps it would be necessary for the Divine to withdraw his whole creation into himself, because these are at the very origin of the creation. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 Then the transformation cannot come about unless the Divine withdraws into the Divine? That, why, that is Pralaya! It is not transformation, it is the dissolution of the earth. It is said that there were six creations, that is, six exteriorisations of the universe, and that six times the universe went back— it is recounted in the scriptures, you know—went back into the Divine. But it is said that this is the end. It is evidently one ending, but it is not the completion. It is because the creation lacked something and it was necessary to withdraw it and remake it. And it is said that our present creation is the seventh, and being the seventh it is the real one, that is, it is the final one, and it will not be withdrawn again, that it will continue to be transformed and become more and more perfect, so as not to have to be withdrawn. How far is what is said true? We shall see! But the last six times, is that what happened? The first six, yes, it is true. Even the order is given, the order in which… Because each creation is built on certain attributes, and the order of these attributes is given. I know them, I have written them somewhere. But I don’t have it with me. So I can’t give it to you, I would make a mistake. But one day I could bring you the paper on which it is written. All that I know is that this time it is the creation based on equilibrium. But a special equilibrium, for it is a progressive equilibrium. It is not a static equilibrium. The attribute of the present creation is equilibrium; that is why it is said that in this creation, if each thing is exactly in its place, in a perfect balance, well, there is no more evil. What is evil?—it is things not in equilibrium! There is nothing that is bad in itself, it is only the position which is wrong, which is not the true position. Then what is the position of the Asuras? To be taken back into the Divine. There were four great Asuras. Out of the four, two are converted. They are taking part in the divine work. The other two are holding out well. How long will they hold out? We shall see. So, they have the choice between being converted, that is, taking their place, poised, in the whole totality or else being dissolved, that is, being reabsorbed into their Origin. There is one of them who has almost attempted conversion and not succeeded. When it had to be done, it seemed to him quite unpleasant. So he has put it off till another time. As for the other, he refuses to try. He has taken up a very, very important position in the world, because people who don’t know things call him “Lord of the Nations”. In fact, I was speaking a while ago about the forces which govern the world and don’t want to give up their rule at all. They are perfectly satisfied with it—it is not that he does not know that his end will come one day, but still he always postpones it as long as he can. But as they do not have human dimensions, it can go on for quite a long time, can’t it? As long as they find somewhere upon earth a human consciousness ready to respond to their influence, they will remain. So you can imagine the problem! Now it is not through individuals, it is through nations that they exert their influence. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 Which are the two forces that are already converted? Do you know the four Asuras? No. I don’t know them. Do you know what the origin of these four Asuras is? [To another child] Who knows this? You had once told us in class. Yes, surely; that’s just why I am asking you about it, to find out if you remember the things I tell you! You said there were four divine forces: Love, Light, Truth and the opposite of Death. And what? [Another child, laughing] Life! Ah! Then these four forces separated from the Divine and changed into falsehood… Yes, it is something like that! It is something like that! Light or Consciousness, Ananda or Love, Life and Truth. Then Light or Consciousness became Darkness and Inconscience. Love and Ananda became Hatred and Suffering, and Truth became Falsehood, and Life became Death. Well, it is the first two… but not exactly in the same conditions. The first is converted and works, but he has refused to take a human body, he says it is a limitation in his work; perhaps one day he will take one, but for the time being he refuses. The second is converted and has of his own will been dissolved. He has dissolved into his origin. And the last two are holding out well. The one of Death tried to incarnate. But he could not get converted. He tried to incarnate, which is something very rare. But it was a partial, not a total incarnation. That is difficult for them, a total incarnation. Human bodies are quite small, human consciousnesses are too small. As for the other, he has emanations which are very active in certain human bodies and have played a big role in the recent history of the earth! Don’t the Asuras quarrel among themselves? Oh yes, oh yes! Just like men who are under asuric influences. They are the worst enemies among themselves. We must say it is a blessing, for if they had an understanding, things would be much more difficult. Perhaps it is so just because it is a law of equilibrium that governs the world. It is in order to lessen the strength of their influence. But still… That Lord of Falsehood has truly a lot of influence. This is what catches you with a contagion as strong as that of contagious diseases. Stronger still! www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 Sweet Mother, did not Falsehood try to incarnate? He sent emanations upon earth but I don’t think that was with the purpose of conversion. Anyway, he did not succeed in it. But why is man a centre of attraction for the adverse forces? He is so limited! Yes. Also they do not usually work upon one man. But they try to get hold of the earth-atmosphere, you understand, and without getting hold of men, they can’t get hold of the earth-atmosphere, because it is in man that the highest terrestrial force manifests. As for taking a human body for conversion, that indeed is quite… the answer is quite simple. It is because in man there is a psychic being and there is no Asura who can eternally resist the influence of the psychic being, even were he to refuse as much as he could to surrender and bind himself closely. That’s exactly the contradiction of their existence. Sweet Mother, Sri Aurobindo has said that one can pass from human love to divine Love. He was speaking of human love manifesting as Bhakti, as a force of devotion for the Divine, and he says that at the beginning your love for the Divine is a very human love with all the characteristics of human love. He describes this very well, besides. Yet if you persist and make the necessary effort, it is not impossible for this human love to be transformed into divine love through identification with what you love. He has not said that the love between two persons can change into divine love. It is not that at all! He has always said the opposite. He spoke about someone who had asked him about devotion, you know, about the sadhak’s love for the Divine. At the beginning your love is altogether human—and he speaks of it even as commercial barter. If you make progress, your love will change into divine love, into true devotion. Why do we sometimes have a special preference for a certain chapter, for instance, the one on sincerity or aspiration? You mean the desire to read it? Because one probably needs what is in it! If you have an attraction for something, usually it is that you need to read it, and it is exactly the thing you need to understand which comes to you. You can use this even with an altogether material method which I have often given you. See, you concentrate—if you have a difficulty or want to be helped, you concentrate and then insert a marker in a book and you alight upon the thing which is the answer to what you have asked. That is the most material means; but if the mind is well disposed, then, quite naturally, when it reads the titles, it will say, “Oh, this is what I want to read”, without even knowing what is within, because it will feel that this is what has to be read to answer its question or its need. Some people have this power even without having tried to make any progress, and somebody will always come along to give them a book and tell them, without even knowing why, “Here, read this book, it will interest you”; or else they will enter a house and see a book lying on the table—it is just the one thing they will want to read. It depends a great deal on the intensity of the inner aspiration. If you are in a state of conscious aspiration and very sincere, well, everything around you will be arranged in order to help in your aspiration, whether directly or indirectly, that is, either to make you progress, put you in touch with something new or to eliminate from your nature something that has to disappear. This is something quite remarkable. If you are truly in a state of intensity of aspiration, there is not a circumstance which does not www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 come to help you to realise this aspiration. Everything comes, everything, as though there were a perfect and absolute consciousness organising around you all things, and you yourself in your outer ignorance may not recognise it and may protest at first against the circumstances as they show themselves, may complain, may try to change them; but after a while, when you have become wiser, and there is a certain distance between you and the event, well, you will realise that it was just what you needed to do to make the necessary progress. And, you know, it is a will, a supreme goodwill which arranges all things around you, and even when you complain and protest instead of accepting, it is exactly at such moments that it acts most effectively. I have written a short sentence which will appear in the Bulletin, the next Bulletin. It goes something like this (I don’t remember the words exactly now): If you say to the Divine with conviction, “I want only You”, the Divine will arrange all the circumstances in such a way as to compel you to be sincere.Something in the being… “I want only You.”… the aspiration… and then one wants a hundred odd things all the time, isn’t that so? At times something comes, just… usually to disturb everything—it stands in the way and prevents you from realising your aspiration. Well, the Divine will come without showing Himself, without your seeing Him, without your having any inkling of it, and He will arrange all the circumstances in such a way that everything that prevents you from belonging solely to the Divine will be removed from your path, inevitably. Then when all is removed, you begin to howl and complain; but later, if you are sincere and look at yourself straight in the eye… you have said to the Lord, you have said, “I want only You.” He will remain close to you, all the rest will go away. This is indeed a higher Grace. Only, you must say this with conviction. I don’t even mean that you must say it integrally, because if one says it integrally, the work is done. What is necessary is that one part of the being, indeed the central will, says it with conviction: “I want only You.” Even once, and it suffices: all that takes more or less long, sometimes it stretches over years, but one reaches the goal. But one has all kinds of imperfections! Eh? The more the imperfections, the longer it takes; the more the attachments one has, the longer it takes. BUT THE GOAL IS SURE! (The Mother, Questions & Answers 1954) January 2022 Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpse 6 February 2021: Savitri Reading Circle, Book Seven: The Book of Yoga, Canto Five: The Finding of the Soul It was quite an interesting session. The reading and discussion were about the difference between the Soul and the Psychic being. In Integral Yoga the soul state is differentiated into two states namely “the soul in its essence” and “the soul in its evolved, individualised form”. The soul in its essence is soul spark or soul element. It is by this soul spark we exist and persist as individual beings in nature. The soul in its evolved and individualised form is referred to variously as “psychic being, psychic personality”. The Psychic being evolves with the growth of consciousness. The following passage from Savitri was read and meditated on. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 “A marvellous brooding twilight met the eyes And a holy stillness held that voiceless space. An awful dimness wrapped the great rock-doors Carved in the massive stone of Matter’s trance. Two golden serpents round the lintel curled, Enveloping it with their pure and dreadful strength, Looked out with wisdom’s deep and luminous eyes.” The above lines present a magnificent description of the kundalini at the base rising as “a flaming serpent” to cross the chakras in Savitri’s body for meeting the Supreme Shakthi at the Sahasrara. Sri Aurobindo presents a beautiful elucidation of Savitri’s yogic journey in the mystic cave of her inner being and finding her secret soul “a being no bigger than the thumb of man”. Savitri’s experience meeting the immortal soul within the mortal body and this immortal brilliance has the power to burn down Death! Sri Aurobindo, the modern-day spiritual visionary inspires us to know our real Self going Within and get in touch with the Divine Spark! From http://www.collectedworksofsriaurobindo.com/index.php/savitri-study/book-savitri-study/pre- content-study The canto ends with the following: “A power leaned down; a happiness found its home. Over wide earth brooded the infinite bliss”. 13 February 2022: Reading on Synthesis of Yoga In the last session we discussed the steps that we have to take progressively to reach the supramental truth consciousness. Although that is a distant goal, there are several concrete steps we can take from where we are now to where we want to be. For that we work on the fundamentals of the sadhana which are faith , sincerity, surrender, and aspiration. We took the example of the body, where if we go to the gym once, then we won't see any benefit, which look at this narrow evidence means we would stop exercising. But if we have faith that, with discipline and sincerity, we continue to exercise we will reach our goal, after several months we can build a very strong body, which is an important foundation of the sadhana. In this way we can have a progressive evolution for other parts of our being, including the thoughts and feelings and desires. Slowly by adhering to this method of gradual self-transformation we can begin to peel away the layers of the ego and ignorance. For to reach the highest truth we must first discover the inner light of our inmost soul. It is the only sure guide on the journey of a synthetic and all -encompassing yoga. 20 February 2022: Secret of the Vedas In the Glimpse report of our previous session held on 16-1-2022, it was indicated that we will be moving on to a new stage where we will be taking up our studies on “Sri Aurobindo’s “The Life Divine”. The main idea behind this decision was not only to go through this epic in detail, where it combines the synthesis of western thought and eastern spirituality with his own original insights, covering human aspiration, emergence of life in the cosmos from a Divine Source, the way out of man’s ignorance etc., - but also to simultaneously understand the mantras from Rigveda, various Upanishads and Gita which Sri Aurobindo has specifically referred to in each of the 56 Chapters of this book. We started the session by taking up the 1st Chapter – “The Human aspiration”. Sri Aurobindo, opens the chapter by showing the importance of Goddess Usha and Agni - through Rigveda mantras as revealed to Rishi Kutsa Angirasa and Rishi Vamadeva. In all, 5 Riks were chanted and Sri Aurobindo’s commentaries read as follows: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 Usha: Follows the goal of those passing on beyond, first in the eternal succession of dawns to come, awakening someone who was dead. She harmonizes with the dawns of the past and those that shine now. She yearns for former Dawns with eager longing and enters into communion with others to come. Agni: ‘Threefold are his supreme births’ in this world, they are true, the most exalted and eagerly longed for. Shines pure, luminous and fulfilling. That which is immortal in mortals and possessed of the truth, is a god established inwardly as an energy. Rishi appeals “O Strength, pierce all veils, manifest in us the things of the Godhead”. After reading the above, we had time only to cover the first two paras and from that we were able to realise the following: The start Sri Aurobindo has done under the title of “The Human Aspiration” is rather unusual and exactly opposite in comparison to what other writers might have written. Most probably they would have started off with finite and build up to the final solution. Sri Aurobindo tells the fairy tale end of the story first! Some of these are as follows:  He starts by asserting the ultimate dream is an inevitable reality.  Divine life in an animal body is inevitable  Humanity’s most ancient aspirations will be realised because they are intention of Nature and God.  That purpose is to manifest God in life on earth – to make life Divine  Our highest aspirations are bound to be fulfilled because it is God who aspires in us who sanctions marvellous dreams. 20 February 2022: Question and Answers by The Mother, Readings from The Mother by Sri Aurobindo The part on Rejection from the above book was taken up and read and thoughts and feelings shared. 21 February 2022: The Mother’s Birthday Celebrations The evening programme began with concentration on The Mother’s Organ Music, followed by the reading of Prayers and Meditation. The Darshan message was then read. This was followed by an online offering by the youths of the society who did a play on one of The Mother’s short stories. The story of Yusof and the Mouse is a tale of patience and mental discipline told by the Mother to children. When the children of our centre came together to decide on the offering, they were brainstorming ideas including Savitri, Words of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and poems. The suggestion of Yusof and the little mouse and the poignant simplicity appealed to them and they came together with the script. With the pandemic, much of the collaboration was done online. The children met once for recording the drama. Many of the aspects of the offering involved the children offering their strengths to the Mother. Audience would have noticed small humor and pizza jokes as part of the script, which to me, signified the frankness and childlike approach to Her work and life. It was a joy to share these moments with the children. The programme concluded with the offering of a flute recital by devotee and Guru G. Sridhar of SIFAS and colleagues from Center. It was a beautiful day of contemplation as we remembered The Mother dearly and in gratitude on Her Birthday. 27 February 2022: Readings and Reflections: The Inner Journey In this session, we completed the reading of the passage from Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 3, p. 62-64. We tried to silently open ourselves to the words and let them sink into our consciousness. We concluded the session by practicing a few minutes of silence from deep within, attempting to plunge into our inner being and remaining there in stillness and openness. Here is an excerpt that sought to elucidate the meaning of the Psychic Presence in us and which led us to some contemplation upon it: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 12 Gods vs Asuras

Gods vs Asuras Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. March 2022 “The psychic being is the real individuality of the true and divine individual within you. For your individuality means your special mode of expression and your psychic being is a special aspect of the one Divine Consciousness that has taken shape in you. But in the psychic consciousness there is not that sense of division between the individual and the universal consciousness which affects the other parts of your nature. You are conscious there that your individuality is your own line of expression, but at the same time you know too that it is an expression objectifying the one universal consciousness. It is as though you had taken a portion out of yourself and put it in front of you and there were a mutual look and play of movement between the two. This duality was necessary in order to create and establish the objectivised relation and to enjoy it; but in your psychic being the separation that sharpens the duality is seen to be an illusion, an appearance and nothing more.” (from Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 3, p. 62-64). - Jayalakshmi, Ram, Krishnamurthy, Shailaja, Jayanthy PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH 2022 DATE TIME DETAILS 6 Mar 2022 Sunday 8 AM Monthly Morning Walk * 6 PM Savitri Circle by Venkatesh Rao 7 PM Youth Programme 13 Mar 2022 Sunday 6 PM Study Circle by Rakesh : The Synthesis of Yoga 5 PM Vedic Mantras from The Life Divine by Krishnamurthy and Jared 20 Mar 2022 Sunday 6 PM Mother’s Questions and Answers by Shailaja 7 PM Youth Programme 27 Mar 2022 Sunday 6 PM Readings and Reflections: The Inner Journey by Jayanthy *Details can be found in the SAS Whatsapp Printed and Published by The Sri Aurobindo Society of Singapore 2A Starlight Road 01-07, Singapore 217755. Anand Venkat: 86126067 or [email protected]; Anand Patel:[email protected]; Email: [email protected] Visit our website at: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 13 Gods vs Asuras