Essays on Yoga

The problem of corruption and evil is neither confined to our immediate neighborhood nor to a particular period of Time. While it is alright to find some immediate short-term solutions, we must not lose sight of the deeper reasons and radical remedies needed for this.

Yes the victory has been won and the work is done. But it has still to be worked out in each one of us. We can surely facilitate it by growing in sincerity and aspiration and above all, opening to Her transforming power of Love.

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother entered the war arena in their own way. Sri Aurobindo worked in the occult worlds, and his seat of tapasya was Pondicherry. The Mother travelled to war zones in France and Japan, and identifying with the body of the Earth she offered her own body in a holocaust to the Supreme so that the Earth may be saved.

April 24th, 1920 is the day of the Mother’s final arrival to Pondicherry. The Mother reveals that this day marks the tangible sign of a decisive victory over the adverse forces. Quite naturally a question arises about the nature of this victory. To understand the full import of this we have to go back into time, perhaps a few thousand years back.

SHE comes manifested in the outer fields of nature, closer to our limited external sight so that even our outer senses can behold the Glory and the Flame. What is needed now is to tend the flame, to nurture and nourish it. What is needed is to renounce our old ways of life and start living afresh as a new born child who must learn everything in a new way. What is needed is to expose all our nature to its light and heat until all is ready for Her transmuting touch.

It is not enough to observe and celebrate these special days of Her arrival. Too much emphasis on the externals may well create a tendency towards turning the whole thing into a religion. What is needed is to light up the incense of faith and the flame of aspiration and decorate the altar of our life with flowers of Devotion and Surrender, Love and Adoration, Sincerity and Purity.

The night is fast receding and if we can open ourselves to the touch of Dawn, we shall feel or actually see the outbreak of a New Day, the emergence of a New Life from the old...

The second part of an essay on The Mother's Arrival by Dr Alok Pandey in 5 parts.