PURANIC COSMOLOGY UPDATED: The Partition of India, its cause, its purpose

I have been reading the reprint of Dilip Kumar Roy’s Kumbha, India’s Ageless Festival, (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2009). It has inspired me to add a few words to my series, The Partition of India, my most explicit presentation of the evils of Partition. Never before has Partition been linked to the Cosmic Harmony, but each time a breakthrough occurs in the explanation of a ‘knot’ such as Partition in the destiny of India, the situation actually becomes more dangerous. Forces of disunity can survive and continue their nefarious work only until exposure takes place. This is the same role they play in one’s individual sadhana. When through yoga one succeeds in this exposure, the light penetrates that tight darkness comprised of knotted energies which are then released, just as the Veda describes of the ‘cows/rays/energy’ entrapped in the cave of the Panis; that increase of energy is converted to fuel as it were, in this case for the purpose of integration and unification. The entire purpose of the Initiate’s journey as mapped out in the ecliptic is to secure the release of those precious ‘cow/rays’ of the Sun so that the Capricorn victory can be attained.

A similar release occurs with a text such as Partition. One would expect such a formidable increase to bring in its stead immediate results and a rise in the level of the individual and collective consciousness. In the Old Yogas if by chance such a breakthrough had been made, the otherworldly goal of the quest would have immediately dispersed those energies by a process of intentional undermining – a process that took hundreds of years to become consolidated in the form we know today. Those energies would then serve to fortify the direction, the pathway to a Beyond. This has been occurring in an increasing manner for the past 2000 years. However, today a crossroads of destiny has been reached for India and for the world.

If the Earth’s destiny was indeed to be merely a springboard to a Beyond, a place to work out karmic debts or to expiate one’s sins as all orthodox religions sustain, then a dispersion of energies is positive. But what if the Earth is not destined to be this springboard? What then? Such being the case, would it not be understandable that we stand on the brink of destruction? Destiny cannot be fooled; it is either fulfilled or collapse occurs. Finally, the choice is ours.

The ancient Veda offers exact details of the destiny of the Earth, central to which is India. Above all, the Veda provide the cosmic formula not only to know that destiny but also how it is to be facilitated, fulfilled. To that end knowledge of the cosmic harmony and its laws are indispensable because it is only through that Harmony that the Earth can know fulfilment. This is the meaning of Oneness. When the integral path is traversed, as described in the ecliptic pathway of the Sun, there is only one destiny, not many. Indeed, when the Formula is cemented in Earth time through a series of births, the realisation of the One eliminates all other possibilities which are, in themselves, a signal of an unhealthy dispersal of energies.

The key is given in the zodiacal script and its ecliptic measure; in the Veda this is described as ‘the higher seat of our self-accomplishing’ or the pathway where ‘the many-horned herds of Light go travelling’ – the path of 12 divided into 4; that is, resting on the four Cardinal Poles of the equinoxes and solstices. This was further elaborated in the Brihad Samhita of Varahamihira in the early part of the last millennium. In that early text there is no mention of any ‘correction’ required due to a shifting of the constellations (as Al Biruni suggested in his travel book India). Varahamihira gives two keys to connect us to the cosmic harmony – the March Equinox, Mahavishuva (Aries/Agni in the zodiac, leader of the hosts), and the December Solstice/shortest day (the Capricorn/Makar ayana) nine months after Mahavishuva. All the rest, the so-called ‘Vedic’ astrology that is followed today, inspired by elements ignorant of the Vedic cosmic truth, is simply an obfuscation of that Truth.

As pointed out in Part Seven, every time the Sankranti is celebrated on 15 January that falsehood is further strengthened; at this point its hold seems unbreakable. Since the cosmic connection has been made clear in Partition, we cannot continue to follow meekly the lead of the Hostiles. The situation has deteriorated to such a degree that university students are offered courses in ‘Vedic’ Astrology though there is not an iota of support in the Veda for the system being taught and passed off as Vedic. Thus, matters truly vedic have been left to scientists and academics to determine. But since when has the scientist or the academic acquired a higher consciousness that permits a direct insight into these profound matters on which the destiny of not only India but the entire Earth hinges?

This could all change in a day. But a blanket of tamas has covered this civilisation so thoroughly that even so simple a matter as determining Mahavishuva and Makar Sankranti, the two truly VEDIC pillars of the cosmic harmony, is just not grasped. Confusion reigns, and in the words of the poet,

‘…The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity’

One could provide all the Vedic proof in existence and still no one takes the lead to reverse this situation in which the destiny of our planet is involved. But perhaps this is the problem. Perhaps belief just ‘will not be until the work is done’, in Sri Aurobindo’s words. But what does ‘done’ mean? To put it bluntly, the Earth is an intrinsic part of the solar system (just how ‘intrinsic’ may shortly come to be known, the hard way). This System is a single unit, a single closely knit family. Each member of this family plays a role in creating the harmony of the spheres. The Earth, above all the other planets, occupies a special place in the System. Only on this planet can the Soul that she is bring forth evolving instruments with the ability to manifest an integral truth described by that very Harmony.

Integrality, this is the key. The fourfold Vedic harmony reveals that truth of our System which is preserved in the cosmic script of the ecliptic, where the ‘shining herds of light go travelling’. It is a structure of four – the circle of 12 divided into 4; each quarter covers one of the major planes of existence: physical, vital, mental and supramental. This is the destiny of our species – to organically produce that integral balance here on Earth. That is the reason for an evolving species such as ours. Therefore, when breakthroughs in formulation are made such as Partition with its subsequent release of energy, forces precipitate to usurp or divert those newly-released energies (the Vande Mataram issue suddenly raised again?), thereby assuring that integration will not happen because unity demands a fuller energy base.

Fortification of this pattern has been taking place in an accelerated fashion for the past two centuries. A clear example is given by Sri Aurobindo himself when the Third Power descended into the evolutionary process to join the other members of the Solar Line. This was in early 1938. In that very year, on the 24^th November anniversary of his Siddhi Day, Sri Aurobindo had an accident in his room; he broke his thigh bone and was confined to his bed for a number of months. He spoke of the accident as having occurred because he was concentrated on protecting the Mother and disregarded himself (it was Darshan Day and visitors would flood the Ashram, bringing all sorts of disruptive energies into the atmosphere that required his special attention). But if this had been the full story another question is raised: What happened then to the event disciples eagerly anticipated for 1938, as Ashram sources have chronicled? Sri Aurobindo and the Mother knew that something significant would happen that year. However, history only records a broken thigh bone.

The explanation for this ‘failed’ event is given above: the Third Power of the triad was indeed anticipated to complete the Supramental Formula of 9/6/3; but since the full formulation of the process – that is, conscious participation – had not occurred, that birth did indeed bring the desired completion of the triad; however, without conscious integration to make the supramental formula complete, entry into Earth time merely left a gap through which hostile forces could enter to usurp the energies released. A great shift in the cosmic wheel of destiny had indeed occurred, but that was just the first step toward completion of the triadic process, a dangerous first step.

One example of usurpation and infiltration was the rise of Nazism which had become one of the most potent attempts to establish darkness instead of light, the subject of many myths worldwide; indeed, an indication of the usurpation was the adoption of certain key Vedic symbols, thereby revealing a determination to contaminate by usurpation the real Descent and thereby to dominate the world before the full consolidation had taken place; in a word, to alter and distort the Earth’s destiny and by consequence the role of India on the world stage. In this regard, Nazism provides a perfect example of how distortion is worse than complete ignorance. This is one indication of the danger entry of the Third into Earth time had brought. The ‘gap’ was finally closed when the Third Power became fully conscious of the process and took her place in the scheme but only in 1971 [see The Tenth Day of Victory, PNB, Aeon Books]. Therefore, 1971 marks one of the most important turning points in the history of the Supramental Descent, and the years between 1938 and 1971 were perhaps the most dangerous for the Earth. In point of fact, a legacy from that period is the unparalleled destructive power housed in arsenals across the world.

India is caught in a bind. Witness the extraordinary potential of the Kumbha Mela, a festival of a collective fervour unparalleled anywhere on Earth. Dilip Kumar Roy in the Introduction to his book notes that the year 1954, when he and his disciple Indira Devi attended, was considered especially auspicious. He writes, ‘According to the Indian Calendar the combination of the signs of the Zodiac happened this year to be remarkably auspicious. It is said that such a combination can only recur one hundred and eight years from now. This may have accounted for the record crowd that gathered at Prayag…in the [sic] January and February of this year.’

To begin, the above reveals just how central a role cosmic harmonies play in the life of Hindus even into the present, though now bereft of the higher knowledge that had formerly sustained the tradition. To be precise, we know that the Calendar Reform Committee held in 1953 cemented the current Nirayana-based ‘Hindu Calendar’ for all times to come. Thus, to one who sees, to a person knowledgeable of the Cosmic Truth and its harmonies, to a true initiate of the Vedic sacrifice on the backdrop of the Year, the ‘auspicious dates’ Roy presents in his book for the faithful to take dips in the sacred river as determined by the pundits, are all based on the wrong circle for this purpose. The list begins of course with the Makar Sankranti on 15 January, for indeed the Kumbha Mela should begin in Capricorn, the sign of Ganga’s geo-cosmological measure (see Part Six) but correctly measured. This ‘wrong circle’ is the sphere of the constellations rather than the ecliptic, not that ‘one circle’ extolled in the Veda which ‘does not shake’ because it is perfectly balanced on the four Cardinal Poles, the pillars of our Earth year. It is then divided into 12 parts, each of which is given a name and hieroglyph, thereby preserving the wisdom of the Veda for future generations when that same Knowledge would again descend to replace the Cosmic Ignorance prevalent today. For many centuries the devotional energies of millions of Hindus have been usurped to consolidate disunity, disharmony, disintegration. The Kumbha Mela has therefore been reduced to one more grand manner to fortify the un-Vedic goal of otherworldliness: pilgrims bathe in the sacred waters to expiate their sins, to remove bad karmas and to seek moksha, which centrally means never more to be reborn on Earth.

The Earth is rejected in the very land that embodies her soul. Ganga is, in a sense, reversed to flow against herself, against the destiny her mighty waters carry to fulfilment, from her source at 12º Capricorn to her mouths at 0º. Cosmic harmonies reveal the truth that IS; for those ‘mouths’ are now in the possession of another.

Time and again the Earth is rejected by this refusal to respect her Dharma as explained by her position in the solar system and which reveals the cosmic note she adds to the symphony of the spheres. No other nation and civilisation on Earth, from ancient times to the present, offers such a clarity of destiny. This clarity is precisely a result of the initiatory pathway or journey (along the ecliptic) that the Aryan Warrior completes successfully, to enjoy victory in the tenth month, Capricorn/Makar. But this Vedic Correspondence is lost when entry into that sign/month is ignored and replaced by a non-Vedic ‘correction process’ as we find in today’s celebration of Makar Sankranti. More importantly, when the cosmic connection is purported to be maintained but is, in effect, distorted and not eliminated entirely, the situation is worse than it would be with a total disconnect.

On the other hand, just imagine what would happen if India would recognise the Vedic Soul of her civilisation and if the Kumbha Mela would be held in exact accord with that Cosmic Truth (as described in Part 6), with Ganga ‘measured’ in the heavens and transposed onto the Earth through India? That is the meaning of the ‘descent of Ganga’ as told and retold via the mythic tradition. The cosmic harmonies as revealed in this 9^th Manifestation of Vishnu leave nothing to chance and to the speculation of pundits and their misinterpretations. Sri Aurobindo understood the problem well. He wrote,

‘…It is because we do not understand the Vedas that three-fourths of the Upanishads are a sealed book to us. Even of the little we think we can understand, much has been insecurely grasped and superficially comprehended.... For want of this key profound scholars have fumbled and for want of this guidance great thinkers gone astray…’

‘Religious movements and revolutions have come and gone or left their mark but after all and through all the Veda remains to us our Rock of the Ages, our eternal foundation.... The Upanishads, mighty as they are, only aspire to bring out, arrange philosophically in the language of later thinking and crown with the supreme name of Brahman the eternal knowledge enshrined in the Vedas. Yet for some two thousand years at least no Indian has really understood the Vedas.’ Sri Aurobindo, India’s Rebirth (emphasis added).

Clearly there is a problem.

How would the Hostiles contend with the unparalleled consolidated energies of ten million Hindus gathered at the sacred confluence not only for their personal salvation but knowingly there to save the Earth and her embodied soul that is India? How would the falsehood of Partition contend with an influx of unified energies from a Kumbha Mela accurately joined to the heavenly Harmony? Who could withstand the power of the celestial Ganga drawn down to meet her Earthly counterpart through precise measurements of Time and Destiny as encapsulated in the Vedic Cosmic Truth of old and eternally valid, the true sanatana dharma? What paltry divisive powers could withstand the force of unity that such a harmonisation would bring?

This is the way for India to conquer – by just being true to her Dharma as written in the cosmic harmonies. This is the definition of super power for her, a unique destiny unlike any other on Earth.

Lamentably, if we are to go by conditions on the subcontinent today, we must admit that Sri Aurobindo’s warning of a ‘fissured unity’ is an accurate description of the prevailing state of affairs. It would seem that diversity has been exalted above all else without a unifying canvas on which those expressions of language and ideology, caste and class can be brought together under a single umbrella, each occupying its rightful place within the whole. The effort since Independence has been to make minorities of all sorts ‘feel comfortable’ in the new India. But this has been at the cost of a weakened cultural fabric that had always provided an indestructible sense of unity from time immemorial. Without a unifying fabric allowed to play its destined role as it has always done, uncontaminated by a biased interpretation of secularism, how can a society as diverse as the Indian present anything but a fissured unity?

And the fissures, the fault lines grow stronger and wider with each passing day. This is inevitable because vested interests of all shapes and sizes take full advantage of the weak points. China is an example. Appeasement seems to have influenced policy toward China since the 1950s – Tibet is an example. That friendly policy did nothing to prevent invasion of India by the neighbouring colossus in 1962. The latest example of the failure of such an approach is a recent warning put out on the question of the Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, ‘Remember 1962!’

Alas, India can only help herself by restoring self-confidence in both her majority and minority populations which a unifying canvas had provided to the subcontinent throughout history. Today that canvas is ‘fissured’. Therefore, how can it support the unfolding of a destiny that is meant to be the cosmic sustenance of the whole Earth? However, it is as if the Rishis in their immense wisdom understood what would befall the civilisation millennia down the line. They therefore left explicit instructions on how to both unify energies and to recognise the falsehood introduced that would result in a fissure of that unity, just as Aurobindavatar stated at Independence. The hymn that preserves this wisdom is simple. Almost simplistic it would seem; yet that simplicity holds the answer and it can be implemented immediately. But, will India take heed?

Twelve spokes, one wheel, navels three.
Who can comprehend this?
On it are placed together
Three hundred and sixty like pegs.
They shake not in the least.
(Rig Veda 1.154.48)

One is the wheel; the bands are twelve;
three are the hubs – who can understand it?
Three hundred spokes and sixty in addition
have been hammered therein and firmly riveted…
(Atharva Veda X, 8)

The simple clue is the Rishis’ emphasis on ‘one wheel’. And further, that its 360 ‘spokes’ are firmly riveted…They shake not in the least. These lines confirm that the Nirayana calendar for Hindus is a great misinterpretation and un-Vedic to the core because it is not a measure in that ’one wheel’ that ‘shakes not’. Rather the exhortation of these post-Vedic pundits is that there must be a constantly shifting (shaking) ayanamsha because the constellations themselves are constantly shifting, so they claim, and with Mahavishuva and Makar Sankranti ‘shifting’ as well. They alone in their ‘wisdom’ are in a position to make the necessary ‘correction’. Hence their vested interests are protected because they have knowledge which laypersons ignore. But with the descent of the Supramental Avatar and his Line, connection to the Vedic Way is restored. Balance on the four Cardinal Poles is formulated scientifically; no latter-day pundit is required to ‘correct’ anything. Mahavishuva and Makar Sankranti timings are firm and unshakable, year in and year out. This is how the Dharma is maintained eternally, for as long as our solar system lives.