Gratitude (9/18) The Two Who are One

Abolished were the scripts of destiny.
There was no small death-hunted creature more,
No fragile form of being to preserve
From an all-swallowing Immensity.
The great hammer-beats of a pent-up world-heart
Burst open the narrow dams that keep us safe
Against the forces of the universe.
The soul and cosmos faced as equal powers.
A boundless being in a measureless Time
Invaded Nature with the infinite;
He saw unpathed, unwalled, his titan scope.
 
All was uncovered to his sealless eye.
A secret Nature stripped of her defence,
Once in a dreaded half-light formidable,
Overtaken in her mighty privacy
Lay bare to the burning splendour of his will. [Savitri: 83]
 
This is the knot that ties together the stars:
The Two who are one are the secret of all power,
The Two who are one are the might and right in things.
His soul, silent, supports the world and her,
His acts are her commandment’s registers. [Savitri: 63]

Yet everything was waiting for someone to arrive from the other side and take the charge of his work as his spiritual collaborator.

Even while he was waiting, on the other side of the Earth, in France the one with whom he was destined to work with was laying down the agenda of the future with a small circle of seekers. The Mother aka Mirra Alfassa, born on the 21st February 1878 had crossed every threshold of yogic experience and was waiting for the moment when she would meet the Krishna of her visions.

Following an inner command, Sri Aurobindo had disappeared from the scene. The world tried to pull him back. None understood the reason for this sudden departure. For many he seemed to be lost to the world and had given up on India’s Independence movement. The truth was quite the contrary. From his citadel of Silence he was better able to keep a watch not only over India but on all the world movements. His will now grown part of the universal will he was better able to command the reins of earthly life and the forces that govern human destiny. This retreat was for a greater leap towards a yet far off luminous future that he was witnessing and called upon to work for. Undeterred by the prevailing darkness, unmoved by false lights and fleeting hopes, impervious to the din and cry of earthly life he was now engaged in a new and unprecedented venture or shall we say adventure of consciousness so as to open the doors of earthly life to a new and high divine possibility. He gave a window glimpse of this new mission given to him by the previous Avatar, Sri Krishna while in the Alipore jail, in one of his letters of 1912:

My future sadhan is for life, practical knowledge & shakti, — not the essential knowledge or shakti in itself which I have got already — but knowledge & shakti established in the same physical self & directed to my work in life. I am now getting a clearer idea of that work & I may as well impart something of that idea to you; since you look to me as the centre, you should know what is likely to radiate out of that centre.

1. To reexplain the Sanatana Dharma to the human intellect in all its parts, from a new standpoint. This work is already beginning, & three parts of it are being clearly worked out. Sri Krishna has shown me the true meaning of the Vedas, not only so but he has shown me a new Science of Philology showing the process and origins of human speech so that a new Nirukta can be formed & the new interpretation of the Veda based upon it. He has also shown me the meaning of all in the Upanishads that is not understood either by Indians or Europeans. I have therefore to reexplain the whole Vedanta and Veda in such a way that it will be seen how all religion arises out of it & is one everywhere. In this way it will be proved that India is the centre of the religious life of the world & its destined saviour through the Sanatana Dharma.
2. On the basis of Vedic knowledge to establish a Yogic sadhana which will not only liberate the soul, but prepare a perfect humanity & help in the restoration of the Satyayuga. That work has to begin now but will not be complete till the end of the Kali.
3. India being the centre, to work for her restoration to her proper place in the world; but this restoration must be effected as a part of the above work and by means of Yoga applied to human means & instruments, not otherwise.
4. A perfect humanity being intended society will have to be remodelled so as to be fit to contain that perfection. [CWSA 36:177-178]

On the other hand and other side of the globe, the Mother, having crossed all the thresholds of the highest and deepest spiritual experiences was laying down the Agenda for the next millennium. In a meeting note, She wrote:

The general aim to be attained is the advent of a progressing universal harmony.

The means for attaining this aim, in regard to the earth, is the realisation of human unity through the awakening in all and the manifestation by all of the inner Divinity which is One.

In other words, — to create unity by founding the Kingdom of God which is within us all.

This, therefore, is the most useful work to be done:
(1) For each individually, to be conscious in himself of the Divine Presence and to identify himself with it.
(2) To individualise the states of being that were never till now conscious in man and, by that, to put the earth in connection with one or more of the fountains of universal force that are still sealed to it.
(3) To speak again to the world the eternal word under a new form adapted to its present mentality. It will be the synthesis of all human knowledge.
(4) Collectively, to establish an ideal society in a propitious spot for the flowering of the new race, the race of the Sons of God. [CWM 2: 49]

They were destined to meet so to say. It was the same work, the same mission pursued along two different lines.