5.10.11

Updating the Vedic Altar – 7

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet
Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology
October 3, 2011



The Cow is the Ray – this is clear; Sanskrit comes to our aid and we have no difficulty with the equivalency. But, what about the Year?
True, the year is perhaps the most important ingredient in the Sacrifice. Everything finds its place in the year. The Veda tell us time and again of the manner in which the year is divided – into twelve months and each day set within the circle which for the Rishi was ‘seen’ as the year. Given the place it held in the Vedic Age, clearly in updating whatever is related to the Vedi and the Sacrifice, the correctness of the year has to be emphasised before all else.
The year for the astrologer and the pundit in contemporary India is not the same as it was for the Rishi. We are told by them that this is due to a ‘shift’ that takes place: the months remain twelve but the point from where that wheel is set in motion, known as the ayanamsha, is not what it was in times gone by. Therefore, say these latter-day pundits, a ‘correction’ is required to bring the year of twelve month/signs to the ‘scientifically’ correct position. Each astrologer or almanac writer will have his idea on the subject; it will differ from the next pundit’s, thereby making his calculations unique. He has a vested interest in protecting this uniqueness because over the years he has built up a clientele for the purchase of his ephemerides, or for his astrological readings, or for the times he sets for rituals of all sorts.
Confusion abounds in this area for Hindus – where none should rightfully exist. It reflects perhaps the chaos in all walks of life, for indeed if this chaos affects over 80% of the population, understandably it may spill over to the rest. The result is a widespread state of unknowing stemming from a root cause that has no justification.
There is no shifting ayanamsha in the Earth year. Over thousands of years this fact has been established by the accuracy the equinoxes and solstices provide for calculations. They do not vary. They set the flow of 12 on their course each year without any change. This means that Aries (Agni of the Veda) begins each year on 21 March; and the rest follow this Leader of the Hosts that is the Vedic Agni, on his Ram vahana, accordingly. It is a universal matter: the sign of the Ram (Aries/Agni) begins on Mahavishuva each year for the inhabitants of Earth, Hindus included – first and foremost, it ought to be added.
And yet, astronomers in India have convinced Hindus that Aries is ‘no longer there’. The sign has ‘shifted’ over the centuries. In fact, if we are to be truthful to what they sustain, it shifts fractionally each day. The fallacy of this hypothesis as bearing relevancy to temple timings, and which has cast a spell over the entire Hindu Samaj, is simple to expose: astronomers are measuring in the wrong circle. As stated earlier, they have imposed this false premise on astrologers from the time astronomy set off on an independent path. They have forced Hindus into discarding the correct understanding as per the Rishis’ conceptualisation in favour of their mundane science which starts from the erroneous premise that the equinoxes and solstices are not the balancing pillars for all calculations, and they provide the means to remain free from errors such as abound today. The accuracy provided by Mahavishuva is the same the Rishi enjoyed millennia ago. Without this accuracy there can be no equivalency established for any ritual timing and astrological construction. In fact, we can carry the problem to a deeper level and categorically state that the Dharma cannot continue to be qualified as sanatana, eternal, in the present situation – that is, with the confusion in matters cosmological that prevails today.
I stated earlier that the very first task of the combined 6 and 3 of the Formula was to re-set the cosmological clock. Insofar as the year is the single most important feature of the cosmology pertinent to the Vedic Sacrifice, the present chaos would have to be dealt with conclusively. The Mother did just that by adding the year to the equivalency: the Cow is the Ray is the Year. In order to do so, that Ray had to be measured. We know that the measurement the Mother gave for the Ray once it enters the precincts of the chamber at its apex in a single shaft – indeed, a beam from the Sun itself – is when measuring begins. To attain the required precision the central feature of the chamber, its core, was required in order to define the Ray and to make of it the Divine Maya for the Earth. This was done when the Mother created the heart and soul of the chamber by reproducing exactly what she had seen in the solar world. All this falls into the Act of Measuring which exceeds the visionary capacity by far. Many may see, few can measure. It is only the Divine Maya incarnate who can do so because she is the instrument of the Transcendent for fashioning the elements that constitute our material world, this universe of 9 in the scale 0 to 9, or subtle to dense. And it is significant that the measure of our Sun’s family has become 9 during the Mother’s sojourn on Earth. It is also significant that she was born in Paris where the metric system has its base, a system which has now become universal. At the place of the Mother’s birth a single Meter has been preserved which provides a ruler for its accuracy throughout the world.1
Therefore, the truly admirable feature of the Mother’s act of seeing was the precise measurement she gave for each item in the chamber. Unfortunately, her plan was not followed and the Matrimandir that has been constructed at the centre of Auroville lacks the precision she demanded from the building team. Having transgressed her requirement of precision, it was established at the outset that the construction was a shadow of the original.
Certainly this is the way of the world in which we live. If Hindus in India cannot attain accuracy in so simple a matter as the beginning of the 12-month year, it is logical that the builders in Auroville would follow suit since the main challenge in carrying her plan to completion was precisely the accuracy required in order to re-establish the Divine Measure of our Earth year. This remained unfulfilled in the building in Auroville; but we have the original plan and her own explanations on the vision to be able to present the facts whereby this first step in re-setting the cosmic clock can be taken in full knowledge so as to clear the air of the prevailing confusion in matters that should never have disintegrated to the present state of disregard for the harmonies set by the Earth. Science took it upon itself to enter and take command in an area well beyond its competence.
The Core of the chamber, equivalent to the deity in the garbha griha of the temple, according to the Mother’s vision consists of simple geometric forms: a translucent Globe and a rectangular Pedestal, both of very precise dimensions. The Pedestal is composed of four sides bearing Sri Aurobindo’s symbol carved on each one, to support the Globe. Nothing could be simpler. Nothing could be easier to execute, it would appear. Perhaps precisely because of its simplicity the executing architect took liberties to introduce what surely he believed to be an improvement over the Mother’s carefully measured plan. In so doing, not only did he destroy its Vedic content, he also set in disarray the cosmic clock – the chamber’s primary function. In not remaining scrupulously faithful to her vision in every detail, the architect disabled the Core’s key function: to set the year in place correctly and to re-establish the Sanatana Dharma accordingly. The Core of the Mother’s original plan decisively reconnects us to the Vedic Age; the accumulated falsehoods of the interim years are completely wiped away in the process. Astronomy is set aside in favour of a cosmologically correct astrology – and thus are all things made new, confirming the Mother’s statement that the Ray playing on the Globe resting on the Pedestal, as per her vision and plan and act of measuring, is the ‘symbol of the future realisation’.
Without the chamber’s Core the Ray would remain the Cow alone; that is, undifferentiated consciousness with neither end nor beginning. It requires defining for the material universe to be an harmonic whole. Our Earth is a portion of the harmony of the spheres – which in turn is achieved by the spectacular display of synchronisation that governs the harmonics of our solar system. The phenomenon of eclipses is sufficient for us to appreciate the fact that harmony (of size and position) is key to the accuracy of the occurrence. Further, eclipses reveal the pride of place our planet enjoys in the System. It is not enough for harmony to take place. There must be an Eye that can perceive the play, and not only understand and describe it, but live the harmony. In other words, the Supreme sees the harmony of the universe fashioned by his Divine Maya through the human being – not only sees but lives the harmony in accordance with the complex wonders a material manifestation offers. In fact, it needs to be stated that this is the ultimate purpose of existence on this third planet: the individual Soul is the instrument by which, through which the Supreme sees and enjoys the play his Divine Maya fashions in this universe of 9 – hence 9 is her number, and is the key to deciphering her creation.
Therefore, the Mother proclaimed that the Core and Ray of her chamber captures the future realisation. For that to manifest the advent of Supermind has been essential, without which there can be no factual appreciation of the cosmic harmony and thus no method by which the Supreme knows and enjoys. Thus, in order to ‘see along with the Supreme’, the supramental Truth-Consciousness is required to be an established fact of the evolution; and because the Mother saw the chamber in the solar supramental plane and measured the vision according to our universal metric system, it is the revelation inhabitants of Earth so urgently require at this stage. The future is bright for the Earth when the Divine Maya is revealed and her measuring is implemented.
Hindus bear a terrific burden of destiny. They are the chosen ones because only Hinduism has maintained the link with its origin. There may be distortions, a dimming of the original light, an un-focussing of the lens of perception – but these are solved by the revelation of the Inner Chamber which allows the 6 and the 3 to complete the divine Labour.
The placement of the Globe in the Core is essential if the Ray is to be cut into at a precise place so as to indicate the beginning of our Earth year. To achieve this it is understood that the Pedestal’s position to support the Globe is of paramount important.
The Mother gave exact dimensions for the Globe: 70cm. But she did not determine with the same exactitude the height of the Pedestal. In the discussions concerning her plan she corrected several errors and made specific references to certain measurements, but the Pedestal height was left vague – and yet, it is certainly the most important of all. When we understand what the Pedestal, composed of four upright symbols of Sri Aurobindo carved in stone, represents in the Chamber, this ambiguity is understandable. The great rahasya – the secret of Secrets – resides here, in the Pedestal. Therefore, its height was the central realisation upon which the entire New Way hinged. (The breakthroughs that took place during the 1970s involving these arcane yogic matters have been explained in chronological order in my autobiographical study, The Tenth Day of Victory and need not detain us in this study. The first volume, covering the years 1971 to 1974, has been published; the second, covering 1974 to 1980, is being written and will be ready for publication in 2012.)
An additional reason for the confusion regarding the height of the Pedestal is the error the Ashram engineer made in drawing the Pedestal. He used Sri Aurobindo’s symbol for the construction, but not the one the Mother re-designed in May of 1964, as per Ashram records.


The engineer used the former symbol based on equilateral triangles, instead of the new design made of isosceles triangles. The ‘error’, the difference between the two, explains precisely the message of the Pedestal – its ‘secret’ as it were.

I will leave this issue for discussion further ahead. The only item we need to make clear at this point is the correct height of the Pedestal to support the Globe accurately so as to render the Core of the chamber an accurate guide for the restoration of the Dharma, central to which is the link with the Vedic Age in this essential matter. To this end, I reproduce here a diagram taken from The New Way, Volume 2, which displays the dates of the beginning of both Space and Time Years, based on the March equinox and the December solstice, respectively. These are the only two pillars of the year that are specifically dealt with in ancient astrological texts such as the Brihad Samhita of Varahamihira, composed in the early part of the first millennium. The reason for these two alone bears noting: if just Mahavishuva and Makar Sankranti are set in place accurately, the rest follows suit with the same accuracy.


The reader should note the precision of the Mother’s seeing and measuring. When the Ray’s measurement is known and the Globe (18 days) is filled with the light of the Sun – the beam of cow/consciousness – then Mahavishuva falls, as noted, exactly at the Globe’s centre in the Space Year, when we extend the year over 15m20 from the top of the chamber to the top of the Globe. As for the December solstice, it ‘occurs’ at the top of the Globe so that 9 days later the universally-accepted new year ‘begins’ on January 1st, the Globe’s centre. Thus, zodiacal year begins at the centre of the Globe in one count, and the annual new year at the centre by another. This combination is the key to gnostic time.
Also to be noted is that the January 1st year beginning is followed in almost all countries across the globe – as well as in India as per the country’s official calendar; the financial year ends in March for most countries, more or less faithful to the cosmic harmony of the two years, Time (vertical-9) and Space (horizontal-12). But problems arise for Hindus since the community is out of synchronisation with what the chamber indicates. The Space Year’s all-important zodiacal Mahavishuva does not follow the natural order. The zodiac has been separated from the March equinox by astronomers for a total of 23 days. Aries the Ram is considered by those unfamiliar with these arcane matters to begin only around 15 April each year, according to their sidereal computations. The result is the true Aries, as per the tropical zodiac of the ecliptic, is almost at its end by then. And when Mahavishuva is incorrect, so are the rest of the signs, particularly the Makar/Capricorn Sankranti – most important of all. Yet pundits continue to advocate special rituals for the time when the Sun is seen to move into a new zodiacal sign, or when Jupiter changes signs, a slow-moving planet – a zodiacal shift, it must be noted, essential for the Kumbha Mela configurations. But the timings they prescribe have no basis in the harmony of our solar system. We are not concerned with the rhythms of galaxies and far-distant stars. What must concern us is that we understand the harmony of our own solar system and how we can ‘move along with the Supreme Mother’ as conscious integers of her sacred plan.
The revelation of the Mother’s chamber makes clear exactly when the zodiac of 12 begins and Makar Sankranti is reached, and the corrections to be made so as to bring the timings definitively into harmony with the cosmic truth. That truth is Earth-centred for inhabitants of this third planet in the system. It is time to restore the Earth to her rightful place of dignity and thereby to arrest the downward slide we are inflicting on this wonder that is our Earth.

[Link to Part VIII]

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1 The meter was originally defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole on a line running through Paris, taking the Earth to be a perfect sphere. Later it was modified according to the new measuring methodologies available and the fact that the Earth is not a perfect sphere. The final definition by these methods was established in 1983.

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