On the nature of Disease and Cure - Part V

By Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet
Written for the Vishaal Study Group
  28 July 2006

[Link to Part I, Part II, Part III or Part IV]

We left off this discussion by focussing on the role the play of circumstances may exert to bring to the surface the core of an illness or physical disturbance. Certainly the most significant aid in any healing process would have to be the discovery of the central ‘knot’ of a disease. And because the physical is the vessel containing all the less dense layers that constitute our total being, we realise that it is often a complicated task to uncover this nucleus, or the illness’s DNA, as it were. But unless we do, only temporary relief may come about such as medication provides; usually the problem returns, often with renewed vigour.
After a lapse of many years, initially what drew my attention back to the art of healing several months ago was my concern for a person of very high spiritual attainments whom I greatly respect. I felt that his constant physical distress was impeding him from a full dedication to his mission, given the continuous demands his numerous physical problems imposed; the point was reached where surgical intervention had become necessary. But according to the subject’s own conclusion, these interventions did not bear the positive results medical science promised. Having reached a more advanced age, these constant lapses were cause of serious concern.
I was struck by the fact that the diagnoses which had led to a certain medication or surgery did not uncover the nature of the actual disease or malfunction. Finally the point arrived where the subject himself came up with a different version of the location of the problem: he felt the doctors might have missed the point entirely. From my perspective, this was an invitation to an entirely different approach. And so, with the subject’s photograph at my side day and night, I began my usual concentration sessions whenever time permitted, in the manner I used to undertake many years ago.
The real nature of the problem, I felt initially, lay revealed in the diverse manifestations of the physical distress. There was improper functioning centred largely on the lower chakra; but, at least in my view, it was all notoriously imprecise. It was in fact this imprecision, or a sort of ‘floating’ quality, that caused me to reflect that the doctors treating the subject over the years, and he himself, were not fully aware of what the problem was. No one seemed to have located the real cause, and hence treatment seemed as imprecise as the illnesses.
In this light, my concentrations were aimed at organising the total field of the problem so that the play of circumstances might provide the key; and this could then unlock the door to a process of true healing, whatever that would be.
My concentrations quickly brought results, though initially the connection between the play of circumstances and the malaise were not at all evident. In fact, I assumed that there was no such connection at all. It went like this: On a sudden impulse I sent the subject the first part of the series ‘The Day of the White Peacock’, though I was not entirely sure why since he has been involved with my work only from its outer corridors in a sense, while that series covered intimate details meant largely for closer associates of the Mother, and knowledgeable of Sri Aurobindo’s mission as originally played out in the laboratories where their joint work had been established. It would have seemed that my impulse was farfetched and perhaps even inappropriate; whereas it was just the contrary. Sending the subject TDWP triggered his own revelation of the real factors behind his continuous physical disturbances.
Revelation came in the form of his reaction to my text and the problems I exposed in that series. He wrote to me that he had similarly been under attack from the orthodox of his school and line of work, as well as others who felt threatened by his teaching. He had even been targeted by a proficient witch doctor. This situation covered many years, but his attitude all along appears to have been simply to ignore them, as he wrote, ‘they run off’ like water on a duck’s back.
Reading these words I instantly knew what lay behind all his physical problems that were like constant companions throughout his life. I saw that while his mind could easily disengage itself from the intrusions and disturbances, his body had a very different story to tell. In other words, this was a case of a serious, long-standing disconnect.
I conveyed this to the subject, but there was no reply.
This indifference on his part was a sort of protective device. Our subject had been sent by his teacher to bring the message of his particular teaching to the West and to set up centres there. It was a pioneering mission. He was carefully selected for this task - that much was clear - since he seemed to be perfectly fashioned for success. But the mission, it seemed to me, was far more dangerous than perhaps originally imagined. It was complex and would involve hidden forces of a subtle nature, entrenched energies that might not take lightly to this ‘intruder’. Indeed, to carry out such a task without the consequences our subject encountered (though ignored by him), one would have to be an ‘impeccable warrior’ as it is known in traditions dating back to ancient times, which do not shun the world but which demand of practitioners that they carry on with their transformation right in its midst; indeed, often using that very incompatibility as a goading power for the inner work. But to do so successfully there would have to be a certain preparation, a protective mechanism which would allow the ‘warrior’ to remain unscathed through this most difficult engagement. I wondered if this had been the case with our subject. His physical condition seemed to indicate the contrary. I felt that he had been thrust into a big bad hostile world without adequate preparation and therefore left vulnerable.
Thus, he did carry out the sacred mission entrusted to him rather brilliantly; but his physical paid the price for a certain lack of ‘impeccability’, the need for which seemed to be ignored, or at least not adequately dealt with. This left our subject vulnerable in his subtle sheaths to ‘infiltration’ from hostile quarters; hence the ‘floating’ quality of the disturbances - because they were indeed volatile in nature, moving about well hidden in those less dense layers.
Apart from the clues I was receiving from the subject’s location in the Gnostic Circle by his age, one’s natal horoscope is often an aid to discover certain predispositions as described above. In our subject it was largely his Gemini rising which confirmed a mental poise or inclination that could be indicative of his ability to DIVIDE himself into these different parts where his mind could disconnect from his body easily. ‘Up there’ all was under control; but this left his body entirely vulnerable. What complicated matters even more was his highly evolved being, where a duality of any sort could hide itself well by the belief that, in his own words, he was above it all.
This Gemini factor might not have had any effect on his health had he led a ‘normal’ life, which was hardly the case for our subject. The nature of his mission alone placed demands on him of a more stringent order.
To illustrate, the caste system in India is very ancient. The very first indication of its existence comes to us in certain verses of the Rig Veda which connects the arrangement directly to the cosmic harmony. Tradition sustains that unlike what is commonly believed, or what may have been the state of affairs after a degeneration set in, the highest caste, the Brahmin, had certain sacred duties to perform for the community which demanded a life of great austerity. This not only involved prescriptions regarding material possessions and other such mundane matters, but an entire regime or life style, as we could call it today. The Brahmin had to perform certain functions for the civilisation which precluded the experiences an ordinary humanity takes in stride with no deleterious affects.
The same could be said for our subject, whose duties were indeed of a high order. These left him not only the target of constant attacks, often from quarters where the manipulation of subtle forces is a trade well known, but even just plain bad will that one encounters as a constant feature from life in a world governed by the Cosmic Ignorance such as ours. These too do take their toll.
We have the experiences of the Mother to testify to the above. She was indeed the target of such attacks. We have it on record from Sri Aurobindo himself that in 1938 he suffered an accident and broke his thigh bone precisely because he was ‘busy protecting the Mother’ during a period when hundreds of visitors poured into the Ashram for the quarterly-held Darshan; to protect her from the influx he had disregarded his own needs. There are a number references to attacks of this nature, finally requiring the intervention of experienced practitioners of occultism after Sri Aurobindo’s departure. This was the case in 1962 when the Mother almost succumbed to ‘black magic’. An experienced Tantra Yogi came to her aid; in the process he also noted that the attacks originated right in her Ashram from among her own disciples!
We can consider the Mother to have been an accomplished Divine Warrior and a supremely competent occultist; nonetheless, she was vulnerable. How much more would our subject have been considering that, for one, women are far more adept at dealing with matters occult and coping with such attacks than men. But in ignoring these realities he must live with these constant reminders of what he chooses to ignore.
  

[Link to Part VI]

    

The Partition of India, its cause, its purpose - PART TWO

An analysis based on the new Indo-Centric Cosmology
3.9.2009 – 13.10.2009

The importance of knowing Destiny is that one does not seek to manipulate or mould an individual to fit a particular pattern that is not a suitable vehicle to express one’s destiny, or one’s dharma. More precisely, the purpose of incarnation is so that a harmony may be experienced in this universe between one’s individual time and space ‘coordinates’. However, the prevailing notion that birth is meant to provide a field wherein the individual soul can escape from these principles is false. It is an illusion we are saddled with so that we continue to serve as fodder in the great machine of evolution. But after the developments of the last astrological age, the only ‘truth’ spirituality teaches us is escape in one form or another. We therefore enter life with the sole objective of liberation from life, particularly from life on Earth – surely a rather incongruous situation: take birth to escape birth. This objective may be vehemently denied; nonetheless, if we probe deeply enough into the tenets of every religion or of every spiritual path the end result is the same: escape. We are encouraged to accept that the purpose of birth – at least on planet Earth – is to eventually reach a state where we are never born again. This ‘field’ is simply for expiation of one’s sins or the payment of accumulated karmic debts, – and little more.
Those who apparently revere the Earth as an embodiment of the Goddess herself are the most likely to protest at the above. But let us take one particular path as an example, Tantra. Surely if there is any spiritual discipline that qualifies for Earth-centredness it would be Tantra insofar as it does not reject the fetters of the human species but rather seeks to utilise them to attain the supreme goal of that path. Even more to the point is that extreme branch of Tantra, Aghora, which dives into the most abject of human conditions and embraces them as the means to attain the highest reaches of that particular discipline. Yet, once again if we probe deeply into Aghora/Tantra and its goals we see clearly that similar to the rest of Indian spirituality and the world’s most famous religions, though the ways of the Earth are embraced and used for release of the Kundalini, the ultimate goal is that She reach the highest chakra¸ the Sahasrapadma, located, significantly, OUTSIDE the body. The message is clear: the ultimate realisation is attained once one has found liberation from these bondages. The human condition may be accepted in Tantra, but the goal is likewise to pay one’s karmic debt and finally attain the supreme realisation when the Kundalini reaches a point outside of the body. Most do not question the incongruence of this position. Perhaps it is time to do so given the gravity of the situation we face collectively, especially in India.
The carrot dangled before us in all these quests is the promise of ‘heaven’, of everlasting peace and well being – somewhere, but certainly not on Earth. This home of ours has known nothing but rejection for the past several thousand years. Is it any wonder that we have succeeded in bringing civilisation to the brink of complete annihilation? Of course not. All is perfectly as it should be.
There is an individual destiny and also a collective destiny. For the individual the method used to probe the depths of one’s purpose on Earth in any given lifetime is the natal horoscope. For millennia tradition has remained unchanged in the construction of a person’s birth chart. One simply reproduces the condition of the surrounding cosmos at the exact time of birth when the first independent breath is taken, and those resultant planetary aspects are seen to converge on a particular point on the globe which would be the individual birth in question. Regardless of the fact that the Earth and planets are known to orbit the Sun, which in turn orbits the galactic centre, the individual at birth becomes the centre of the universe insofar as he or she is the converging point of the circumscribing cosmos. The idea is to read the resultant chart of this convergence by the ancient Vedic laws of correspondence and equivalence, and to distill thereby significant elements of that individual’s destiny.
Regarding the collective destiny there is no such horoscope available for the simple reason that we could never agree on the ‘first breath’ of our planet, as we can for an individual incarnation. In this regard there is an interesting point to observe: in a sense the urge of astronomers and physicists to pinpoint the beginning of time and the ‘big bang’, incongruous as this postulation may be in the higher vision, is understandable. In their own way scientists seek to know destiny. For many of them it is as obsessive as the human being’s insatiable thirst to acquire the same knowledge. Thus, admittedly this question of Destiny haunts us. The thirst to know the future has been an abiding desire from the moment the human being began to seriously ponder life’s mysteries, central to which is undeniably one’s purpose in taking birth at all when each of us faces ineluctable death. What then is the purpose in such an inescapable and seemingly fruitless pursuit? Why bother at all if at the end of our sojourn lies oblivion and nothing more?
Wisemen have filled the comatose-like gap by promises of a comforting afterlife. All, except the Vedic Rishis, have assured us that there is a better beyond and we need to use our time on Earth profitably so that we can reach that ‘heaven’ someday, somehow, somewhere. But is this what the Earth’s ‘horoscope’ teaches us?
The obvious next question that comes to mind is what that ‘horoscope’ might be when there is no ‘first breath’ and hence no Zero Point (lagna) that can allow us to make the Earth that indispensable centre or convergence point which every horoscope must bear if it is to be dynamic or perfectly balanced in time and space and therefore in rhythm with a dynamic universe? The Bhagavad Gita provides the answer. Sri Krishna not only tells Arjun that Vishnu’s emanations, such as he is, come yuge, yuge, but he shows him how that Power works (Chapter 11); at which point the tender-hearted warrior recoils. He cannot bear the vision of the mightiest God of all – Mahakala, the Great Time. Nonetheless, that vision is the supreme Rahasya of the 8^th Avatar. The secret of secrets is that only through the successive births of Vishnu’s Evolutionary Avatars can that true and not imaginary Zero Point (ayanamsha) be known which alone reveals the collective destiny, which alone allows us to cast the Earth’s own ‘horoscope’.
In any natal horoscope the individual becomes the converging point or the centre onto which the harmonies of the cosmos are projected. He or she is the ‘centre’, without which there is no order and certainly no starting point for destiny to begin to unfold in the trajectory of one’s allotted life span. The collective horoscope requires a centre for the same purpose. If we want to study the destiny of our planetary home we are obliged to ‘construct’ the Earth’s horoscope. Foremost is the detection of her ‘centre’ of any given age. Sri Krishna makes this clear: he comes from age to age. In this it is implied that only by the birth of Vishnu’s emanations of a special order and with a special cosmic alignment can that ‘centre’ be located. The difficulty lies in the fact that we are looking at long stretches of time – to be precise, more than 6000 years between appearances. Tradition rightfully tells us that in the interim between the 8^th and the 9^th descents a Dark Age set in, a kaliyuga, just as the name implies. But that ‘darkness’ prevails only as long as the ‘light’ does not come. And this, succinctly, is the purpose of Avatarhood: his coming itself removes the veils, he discloses what had been occulted for millennia; above all he reveals that hidden centre, without which the Earth must surely perish. In fact, even his coming is not enough. In this particular Age of Vishnu salvation for the Earth lies in awareness, in knowledge – and not in a tamasic devotion born of ignorance.
In this 9^th Manifestation beginning in 234 BCE and lasting 6480 years thereafter, that Centre of the Earth is India. This is not an arbitrary choice of any visionary or sage; it has been so decreed from time immemorial and nothing can change that preordained role. But it is certainly not an envious position to hold. Being the centre simply means that all the problems our civilisation has been saddled with as legacy from the last astrological Age of Pisces are lodged in the destined Centre, drawn into the particular convergence of time and space which allows for those problems to be dealt with and through which, by the Laws of Correspondence and Equivalence, the entire Earth can be reached. Only what transpires in the Earth’s true cosmological centre can affect the whole planet.
Partition of this Body of the Mother therefore takes on a singular importance. As Centre it describes the condition of the Earth, her weakened condition, we must add. A preordained Centre such as Vishnu describes requires a perfect balance of energies for survival to successfully bear the burden of destiny it carries. Contemporary India after partition displays a Body where great gaps exist from where those energies find escape. It is as if the Mother’s arms had been severely disabled with the consequent loss of power.
To understand what exactly that balance might be and consequently what areas of the Body have been affected, and why, we must turn to cosmology for answers. It is the revelation of the cosmic harmonies for this 9^th Manifestation that discloses just what the contours and the exact dimensions of the Mother’s full and true body are, partition of which has caused and continues to cause such severe distress to the peoples of the subcontinent.

17 September 2009
© Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

Link to Part I or Part III