A Cosmological Perspective ‒ Conclusion

[Web editor's note: For unknown reasons, this conclusion wasn't published in 2014 with the rest of the series.]

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet 

Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology,

August 2014

[Link to Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 4.2]

What has been recorded in this series is an effort to carry the seeker into a zone normally closed to researchers — that is, certain deeper levels of the universal manifestation that have been relegated to the category of myth in its acquired sense of fanciful imagination. The practitioner of certain advanced Yogas can access the areas of human consciousness-being where the core of what we know as ancient mythologies can be experienced; but this requires recognition and acceptance of the role the Soul plays for the species in evolution. Time and again I have stated that myth is the language of the soul. I have also stated that periodically an updating of that perennial knowledge is required. This series has been an exercise in the act of updating — i.e., the present observed on the backdrop of certain timeless keys of knowledge. The great good fortune of India is that a method was in-built in her tradition from very ancient times that provides an orderly, organic system of updating, respectful of everything that is of value for the future evolution as we move higher and higher up the ladder toward an apotheosis of unimaginable depth and beauty. There are, however, difficulties on the way to this culmination.
First and foremost is the current state of civilisation, often referred to as a global society. We are aware how it comes to pass that civilisation is almost a universal phenomenon, to the point that the oft-quoted phrase from the ancient scripture vasudhaiva kuțumbakam (the world is but one family) seems so very contemporary. But to really abide in that consciousness of Oneness, as the Sanskrit words suggest, great effort must be made to shed the baggage we carry that impedes this attainment — a condition that plagues the spiritual realiser as much as the scientist and the layman.
The Time-Spirit of the Age of Aquarius demands a universalised consciousness — not only on the individual level but more especially on the level of the societies we create. We are burdened with the baggage of fragmentation and divisiveness — so aptly reflected in the 4.5 Orbit of our solar system when we view the Gnostic Circle as a blueprint of the human consciousness-being, as indeed it is. For centuries the human being has been cajoled into believing that this particular passage through the System can be avoided. Sri Aurobindo has described this ‘error’ for his disciples:

‘According to both Buddha and Shankara liberation means laya of the individual in some transcendent Permanence that is not individualised — so logically a belief in the individual soul must prevent liberation while the sense of misery in the world leads to the attempt to escape.’ (Letters on Yoga, Sri Aurobindo, CE, p.66)

In another letter his perception of the human condition has been captured in the Gnostic Circle when he refers to a ‘Higher Path’ after the experience of the Buddhist Nirvana. This would be the path the seeker embarks upon when escape is rejected. The ‘higher path’ is known as the ‘higher hemisphere’ in astrology, where we find Uttarayana; it begins at the 4.5 Orbit (Libra) and culminates in the highest Cardinal Pole, Capricorn/Makar. 

‘Nirvana cannot be at once the ending of the Path with nothing beyond to explore and yet only a rest house or rather the beginning of the Higher Path with everything still to explore. The reconciliation would be that it is the end of the lower path through the lower Nature and the beginning of the Higher Evolution. In that case it would accord exactly with the teaching of our yoga.’ (Ibid, p.67) 

Of all contemporary realisers, Sri Aurobindo is the only one who has emphatically stated that what has been sought in a Beyond, in a timeless, spaceless realm can and must be brought down here on Earth — what he has often referred to as ‘a life divine’. The issue is, how do we effectively reach the point where we can participate consciously in the establishment of a far better world than has ever been known on this blessed but beleaguered planet we have the good fortune to inhabit? Baggage has to be shed.
The next question to ask is, how can we distinguish between the Eternal and the temporal, between the Infinite and the finite — for hasn’t spirituality been hammering into our consciousness that only the Eternal and the Infinite are worthy of our efforts; the rest is simply an illusion, a ‘play’ of some remote God whose mysterious ways we can never understand, at least while in this third orbit. From here, we have been told, we must shed whatever pins us down to this material abode. We must destroy that network of time in space we have woven since our first individual breath at birth. Only then, we have been assured, can we be released from repeated births until the ultimate liberation whereby we disappear forever from the face of a planet that knows only the way of war and destruction of every sort — from physical to psychological in an unending display of all that opposes the good, the true, the real.
The truth of the matter is that this very promise of a better Beyond, however we call it — for we do project our prejudices and biases to that Beyond as well — is responsible for the lamentable condition of our now-global society.
In this series I have attempted to present a means to re-position ourselves on the planet so that we can live the experience of the Eternal and the Infinite right here, and nowhere better than here. The purpose of evolution, poised on our soul-vahana, is to know those divine Principles in material creation, those very same properties, transcribed for us here on Earth via the harmonies of our solar system, as simply the densification or the materialisation of that which not only transcends but which evolves, using time and space as its sacred instruments. A science that can inculcate this experience of Oneness in our youth is the only science worth teaching.
To date this science has not been in the forefront. It is covered in veils that must now be lifted. This series, as all my publications, seeks to reveal just how those Divine Principles fare in this material dimension as seen and experienced from Earth. Above all how our planet contributes her part in enhancing the experience by the splendid diversity she exhibits in all aspects of the evolution she houses: change, movement do not diminish but rather they increase the delight — which we may consider to be the heart and soul of material creation, its purpose of being. For if there is one truth none can deny it is the truth of diversity, of multiplicity, of exuberant displays by the greatest artist of them all — Mother Nature.
Mother indeed. This principle or mode of being lies deeply beneath those heavy-laden veils now in need of lifting. For sure civilisation needs to be feminised; we all know it, we all aspire for a softening of our culture, divesting it of what has come to be associated with a masculine, heavily- testosteroned societal aberration. But how do we carry out this transformation? How do we carry at least a collective representative grouping to that realisation of Oneness?

All we need for now is to observe the trends displayed in this very society we judge to be in serious decline, and which we intend to remould into whatever ‘image’ we cherish the most. As things now stand, given the hardening of barriers across the globe, we can be certain that that ‘image’ will be in conflict with another’s. We see that there is a breakdown of traditional structures which until now have sustained certain patterns very effectively during the early stages of the process, particularly the stark male/female divide. In Hinduism we find support for this biological stage of evolution in the Shiva/Shakti tradition, or more specifically, the divine couple, Parvati and Shiva, and in the coupling of all the Gods. The result is that given our rapid pace of development, a divide of this nature, so efficient during the less mature stages of evolution, has become an encumbrance and is impeding progress to something beyond these divides that are now a burden. Try as we might to maintain or impose them, time moves on, we cannot reverse its inexorable march. But what we can do is to assess the signals projected before the collective eye of contemporary societies the world over with a re-focused lens, as it were, widened to include what had hitherto been hidden beneath veils, awaiting the time when they could be removed as a part of an organic process.   
We have reached the point where our perceptions of the division between the male and female contributions to society are pressing for change. We have reached the point where the way we express our love for one another is pressing for change — same-sex marriage issues are one example. It would be naive to believe that such expressions are a contemporary aberration and indicate the decline of our civilisation and had never occurred in the past. What we must admit is that for some reason this state of affairs seeks to be legitimised as perhaps a sign of things to come, a Love liberated from atavistic constraints alone. This and many other demands troubling democratic societies simply reflect what the human consciousness knows instinctively: Oneness and not sameness, not uniformity but the oft-repeated but seldom attained diversity in unity.     
There is a place on the globe that bears the responsibility of shedding the baggage of dogmas — both spiritual and scientific — that are now impediments to attaining true diversity in unity in this 9th  Manifestation. It is the Indian subcontinent, for the simple reason that it is in India where we find an unbroken thread in the web of Time that joins the present to the past regardless of the distortions that have crept in along the way but are easily removed. For instance, the realisation of Oneness that seeks universal expression now is a state depicted in Hindu iconography carried over from a distant past. It is the image of Siva Ardhanarishvara, half male, half female. The same condition is echoed time and again in the Rig Veda where we find hymns to the ‘twins’ that seek to join the One. It is the foundation of zodiacal tradition with its feminine and masculine signs, all part of the ONE CIRCLE extolled in the Veda. In other words, if we can trust the Hermetic aphorism, As above, so below, the journey through the 12 signs/stages of the tropical zodiac, unveils what each human being on planet Earth embodies: an essential oneness of being. This condition is just in its initial stages of manifestation. 
We need to go a step further and understand more pointedly where that eternal Vedic journey is headed. Is it intended to fortify the baggage we carry that divides us more and more — part of which is the dogma of exclusivism, resulting in a constricting stagnation the Earth had never known until we crossed the threshold of Cosmic Dawn in 234 BCE? We then plunged into the deep cosmic sea of the Piscean era, whose dark purpose has been the consolidation of certain obscure trends inherent in a consciousness in evolution. These consolidations carried humanity far away from a more enlightened condition as we find in the hymns of the Rig Veda, or the iconography of the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. The upshot was the complete denial of that former condition — and of Form in general; more specifically, of the Mother in all her exuberant manifestations. At that point the only recourse was to seek escape in one form or another, to abandon this hapless planet to her own devices — and at this we have proven ourselves to be masters.
This mastery is, of course, an illusion. Nature knows best how to tame this wayward species: Ganga’s responses are an example of the way the Mother makes her will known when a certain threshold has been crossed and humanity can no longer be left to its own devices. Interventions are then required, ruthless as they may appear; we witness their increase across the globe.
A mature civilisation does not consider these reprimands by Nature as mere superstition; we have done this for far too long in the effort to justify our greed, insensitivity and ego-centricity. On the other hand, the pragmatists throw the baby out with the bath water and turn to Science for the answers. Can there be a higher synthesis that accommodates both positions by accepting the laws of Nature that have been transgressed, individually and collectively, not as punishments of a wrathful Power but rather an awareness of the consciousness-being of the Earth herself? We do seek to transform those tendencies common to all human beings; the question is, how do we go about the task? If we continue to ignore the hidden in favour of only that which can be measured by our contemporary scientific yardsticks, we will never reach that synthesis.
Those who do not shy away from the ‘deep thought’, as Sri Aurobindo had described it in the early part of the last century, or the supreme Vision as presented to Arjun of the Bhagavad Gita, fearlessly observe the trends society unequivocally offers for scrutiny. Feminisation, yes of course — but is this the preserve of only half of the human creation? Is this what Siva Ardhanarishvara conveys?
I have always sustained that women are responsible for their own unfortunate plight because they themselves have not realised Shiva Ardhanarishvara. They have found a way to accommodate themselves to an increasing darkness by leaning on the male and forfeiting their responsibility to stand at the forefront of Time’s forward march. But this too is fast changing, much to the chagrin of the chauvinist.
In this grand transitional phase we live in, the obvious challenge is to acquire a finer discrimination whereby we recognise what needs to be shed to lighten our burden in order to be able to reach those lofty heights that stand before the human race as a realisable goal. The past is preserved only insofar as we can discriminate in the prescribed manner — that is, when we are able to carry into the present the residue of former ‘churnings’, shorn of the accoutrements that were required in former times but which are now encumbrances that slow down our march. However, the process of universalisation presents difficulties as intuitive historians recognise if they are to shed their ideological baggage or prisms through which they observe the past. Our world today, given our transitional stage, presents us with a One World perspective thanks to the thoroughness of past geographical exploits on land, on sea, leading up to the present and the stunningly beautiful photographs of the globe from outer space, borderless and whole. This is the new icon: the Earth as an integral Whole. This is what can inspire children across the planet in a new way.
But the pace of evolution as experienced in different parts of the globe varies — some are more materially advanced than others; therefore less mature societies are confronted with impositions of material advancements shorn of the tempering wisdom known to the Ancients. This situation is confined to a certain ‘swathe of time’ during which those imbalances will surface through negative displays until the globe is cleansed of the useless and obstructionist.
Indian news channels, for the most part, are displays of just what society needs to shed by the biases their conditioning constraints foist on the public. Presently [late July-early August] what occupies the news space is the fact that in Gujarat there is sought to be an imposition of a fast- receding culture. This appears outrageous to a section of contemporary Indian society, particularly because the books in question extol the attainments of the Ancients which these intellectuals have neatly closeted away as mere fiction — imaginative but misleading myth.
I do not seek to add fuel to the fire raging for the moment, but I do wish to call attention to the true, the real, the eternally abiding Dharma that India holds as her most cherished foundation but which requires updating from age to age. This methodology has been carefully nurtured across the ages in the Epics and sacred literature preserved from those former times. However, to seek to interpret the verses and myths today proves an almost impossible task, given the distance in time and circumstance from the civilisation we seek to analyse. We are burdened with countless disciplines or specialisations answering to whichever of the numerous ideologies that burden the human consciousness as it stands today. I will provide just one example of the difficulty in interpreting the mystifying verses of the Rig Veda. This is the work of Dr. B.G. Sidharth, director general of the Birla Science Centre. He has sought for a specific ‘code’ in the Veda that can enlighten researchers today not only about the civilisational moorings of India but of the factual (not mythical) content of the verses. According to his study they are explicitly astronomical, provided their symbolism is understood.     
I just came across Dr. Sidharth’s book, The Celestial Key to the Vedas (Inner Traditions, 1999), and his more recent publications on the theme via his website. Sidharth’s deductions prove what the Rig Veda itself very clearly explains: there is an exoteric layer as well as a more hidden, secret dimension to the hymns. Being a trained scientist Dr. Sidharth has quite naturally analysed the symbolism from his perspective. To provide one example by which the seeker can judge whether or not the verse in question is understood properly, on page 42 of his book, Sidharth quotes from the Veda the following:

What pathway leadeth to the Gods? Who knoweth this of a truth, and who will now declare it? Seen are their lowest dwelling places only, but  they are in remote and secret regions. (RV 3.54.5)

When I read this verse I nodded in approval; it seemed clear beyond dispute. But I understood the hidden regions not to be a part of the advances in astronomy of the Rishis but of the way in which they bridged the subtle and the material by following the path (of the year) as prescribed in the Scripture. For Sidharth the enigma is solved once we accept that the Rishi was simply revealing that in the Vedic Age the distances between the stars that shine brightly in our night sky was well known, an astronomical fact that eluded the early Greco-European astronomers. (For Sidharth the Gods are the code for ‘stars’.)
I have no doubt that the Vedic Rishis had material as well as supramental knowledge, and on that basis the chants flowed from their lips displaying the fact of Oneness in verse after verse. Having stated that, to one who has taken the same ‘journey’, the Rig Veda encourages the seeker to embark upon it consciously. Therefore the Ancients, while not judging which is right or which is wrong, highlight the fact that there is a ‘hidden’ aspect that is made known only to those who embark upon that journey into those secret recesses, into the esoteric dimension.
There is another verse that amounts to the same exhortation but which is even more interesting in this regard. On page 41 Sidharth quotes the following line from the Veda: ‘Who hath beheld him as he sprang into being, seen how the boneless one supports the bony?’ And his comment follows: ‘Rendered less literally, the boneless and the bony are understood to indicate the insubstantial, or feminine, and the substantial, or masculine. That is, Nature supports the manifested or material world. On the other hand, the respected German scholar Hillebrandt surmises that “the boneless” is the Sun, and “the bony”, the Moon. Reason suggests that “the boneless” would indeed imply the Sun, because it is gaseous, but that “the bony” would mean the Earth, because it is, in contrast, solid and rocky. The hymn says in other words, “The Sun supports the Earth.” Now, apart from being meaningful, interpretations should also be consistent. Can the heliocentric theory in the Rg [sic] Veda be deduced from other straightforward statements?’
Sidharth goes on to quote the verse I have noted above regarding the hidden and secret regions. It does seem obvious that this verse refers to the Unmanifest and the Manifest. According to the new cosmology the Unmanifest (‘unsubstantial’ of Sidharth’s reading) is the masculine Transcendent, while the Manifest (‘substantial’) is feminine — the opposite of his interpretation.
The point to note is that astronomy was not the central concern of the composers of the hymns. Furthermore, Sidharth has an aversion to astrology and he makes no ‘bones’ about it (pun intended!). In my view it is only astrology that can give the right interpretation of bony and boneless, especially in view of the fact that a separate discipline, which we have to contend with today, did not  exist in the Vedic Age and well into the Piscean era. There was only astrology, considered by many as the mother of all sciences — the point being that what most interested the Ancients was the logic of the spheres, much the same as I am stating in these pages. And this is what we find lacking in contemporary science that seeks only the how of material creation and not the why and wherefore. The Vedic Journey shorn of that sense and purpose is meaningless. Let me use bony and boneless as an example of how astrology even today can explain the verse, though admittedly it is a knowledge that, as Sri Aurobindo wrote early in the last century, ‘has fled from its coverings’. We are left with a science, an astronomy that seeks to penetrate those ‘secret regions’ without having taken the same Journey! It is as if to say that we can criticise quantum and relativity without the knowledge of contemporary physics.
Taking the words within the context of the astrology of the day — to appearances a system of 6 planets plus the Sun — we need to interpret the verse on the basis of the knowledge of those early times, and not foist upon them a ‘science’ entirely alien to the consciousness of the Rishi from where the hymns were emitted. Therefore, the zodiacal lore that is still intact across the globe (lost in post-independent India’s astrology but preserved in her temples and myths), understands that the 6th and last planet of the old order, Saturn, rules the bones — that is, the most material element of the human structure, the part of our constitution that never dies or that is, for all practical purposes, immortal. Organic flesh withers and is ‘insubstantial’. Not the skeleton of the human being. Saturn would have represented the final stage, the goal of the journey which was immortality.
The point made is that only an intimate knowledge of what supports the manifest, material dimensions can lead to an immortal state of being. The rest of the verse encourages the initiate to understand that even this most material part of his being is supported by that which sustains it beyond this materiality of the external regions, or the ‘lowest dwelling places’.
Another example of the multi-dimensional approach is the usage of hieroglyphs in astrology inherited from a very distant past — the same today as then. For instance, the glyph for the 5th sign Leo (the Lion) is . The exoteric interpretation is simply that it is a stylised image of the lion’s tail. But deeper reflection sees the symbol as more precisely what astrology has handed down across the ages as the characteristics of the 5th sign — paternity, the masculine principle, and so forth. In that light the glyph is clearly a representation of the male sperm, wiggling tail and all. There will be predictive howling from the historian’s quarter: The sperm was only ‘seen’ with the modern invention of the microscope! And thus the deeper levels will be passed off as either coincidence or fiction. As always, the choice is the observer’s to make.
The problem is that in seeking to uncover the value of the tradition inherited from ancient times, we run the risk of doing so without the proper preparation. I can confidently state along with Sri Aurobindo that there is no one who can understand the Veda in India today; but the fault does not lie with Science; it lies in a spirituality that sought only those ‘hidden regions’ and abandoned the Earth to those who focus only on the material disconnected from the true foundational support ‘on the other side’[1]. Astrologers in the subcontinent have followed suit.
Youth today cannot be satisfied simply with what is seen as an imposition of a tradition that is meaningless in today’s context. But, I repeat, the Vedic Tradition is fortunate to have an in-built system of renewal, the potential of an updating from age to age, just as the Bhagavad Gita proclaims. This is not mere rhetoric; it is factual; provided the effort is made to understand that from time to time there is a need to update, to re-evaluate the scripture within today’s context. If we accept that Time’s becoming is as meaningful as its being, that what is involved in the Seed is as precious and relevant as the growth that proceeds from that compactness, then we have found the path to an unveiling that can satisfy the scientist as well as those inclined to the less apparent. The only demand is sincerity in the quest, and an acceptance of the fact that destiny has provided India with a connection to the ancient tradition that is unbroken though ‘hidden’. The many temples that preserve this Tradition stand all around us. It is unfortunate to state that contemporary science itself is responsible for that ‘lost knowledge’, that soul which, in Sri Aurobindo’s words, has fled from its coverings.
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[1] See Beyond Contemporary Scientific Paradigms (PNB), for a presentation of the manner in which the two dimensions can be unified in a seamless operation that does not negate the material or the ‘insubstantial’.

© Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet 2014

Aeon Centre of Cosmology Website Launched

"It is not through a repetition of rituals, as inspiring as they may be, or by the chanting of mantras that the connection with the Veda is maintained, rather, only the thread of Knowledge can be the direct link between India today and of the Vedic Age, precisely as the word implies - veda, knowledge.  That this potent word lies at the root of the civilisation surely indicates a unique destiny." ['Puranic Cosmology Updated,' Part 1]

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New Website Launched

We are pleased to announce the official launch of our new website:

 

www.aeoncentre.com

It's hard to believe that only two months have passed since The Future Realisation exhibition in New Delhi. Among other things, Thea has been writing a new series of articles, The Conundrum of India's Choice of Destiny, which are being published in the Organiser magazine and are also available on our website in their full, unedited form.

The website itself has grown organically out of our experience in New Delhi and our understanding for the need to make this work more accessible to a wider public. We hope that it will become an important resource for those who vibrate to the mission of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother -- all who aspire to be conscious instruments of the Supramental Manifestation upon Earth.

We are re-issuing the Vishaal Newsletter, originally written by Thea and published by the Aeon Centre of Cosmology between the years 1985-1995, packed with in-depth applications of the New Way. The first issue is now online and we will be releasing new issues regularly. Stay tuned for much more to come.

We have also created Aeon Forum, a place where everyone can engage in dialogues beyond science and spirituality. We hope that you will join us in the important work of seeing in understanding, and evolving our collective views beyond the polarities of secular and spiritual dogma. Although the polar tension continues to increase in India and abroad, this only means that those who see the way out of the morass have a greater responsibility now than ever to light the way forward. And those of us who are just learning to see -- a greater responsibility now than ever to focus our lens of perception, to learn to see in a new way.

Included below is the Welcome Message that our director, Thea, wrote for the new website. We hope you will take the time to read it, and join us in this new and exciting phase of the work!

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"Why is Aeon Centre of Cosmology putting forward its work of the past several decades in this new comprehensive format? The reason is that never like now has the national discourse in India and throughout the world become so intensely polarised. In India this polarisation revolves around a question that seems to defy solution: Is India, born as an independent nation in 1947, to revert to establishing itself on its ancient moorings, or will those be discarded in favour of the reigning principles of our 21st Century, in many ways foreign to the ancient tradition?

"This is the new India’s 67th year. However, that newness is only a small part of her history. The contours of her abiding civilisation are found in carry-overs from very ancient times. Having this dual living framework of destiny and being unique among all nations for this very reason, Aeon Centre of Cosmology is duty-bound to provide answers that can help resolve the issue of an amalgam of both ancient and new as a living force within the context of conditions on the globe today."

Link to full message at www.aeoncentre.com
 

The Future Realisation Video Series

Q&A with PNB, Aurodhan Art Gallery, Pondicherry, 27 Feb 2014

Below is a list of links to The Future Realisation Exhibit Video Series, featuring footage and Q&A with Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet from the exhibition which took place 9-27 February 2014 at Aurodhan Art Gallery in Pondicherry. The exhibition was a presentation 'connecting the Supramental Gnosis of the Mother to the Vedic Age' and featured the sacred measurements given by the Mother regarding the Inner Chamber of her Temple, from 31 December 1969 to 17 January 1970. The videos discuss the significance of these sacred measures in terms of the Supramental Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and the fact that these measures were not employed in the building of the Auroville Matrimandir.

• Introduction (see commentary on PCU)
• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four 
• Part Five  
• Part Six
• Part Seven

These videos will also be posted on Sri Aurobindo Ashram Cover-Up Exposed Facebook page as well as The Future Realisation Facebook page.

The Future Realisation exhibit - A Video Introduction

An extraordinary video discussing

A COVER-UP OF EPIC PROPORTIONS

In January of 1970 the Mother, who, together with Sri Aurobindo, opened the way for the supramental Truth-Consciousness to become established in the Earth’s evolutionary matrix, made the most significant breakthrough of the age. She entered the solar world and saw there a chamber which in sacred architecture encapsulated the entire process of supramentalisation for both individual and collectivity. As never before recorded in the annals of the sacred sciences, the Mother then drew up a plan of the chamber with very precise measurements for its construction in our world of time and space. This left an indelible imprint: the chamber’s exact contours and geometry can never be erased from the matrix after her act of measuring.

In the video Aeon Centre of Cosmology offers, Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet, its director, discusses for the first time the machinations that for 44 years succeeded in hiding from the public the most extraordinary accomplishment ever recorded in the sacred sciences. In her introductory comments to Aeon Centre’s new series entitled, The Future Realisation, she reveals all the details of this sordid cover-up.

The Mother’s original plan with its gnostic content was recently presented at Aurodhan Art Gallery in Pondicherry (9-27 February 2014), in an exhibition of the same name. Attendees were astonished to learn for the first time of the Mother’s accomplishment, and, moreover, that it had been hidden so successfully for decades.

Why was this cover-up done? Because in the highest tradition of the sacred arts, the Mother had ‘written’ in the chamber’s measurements the details of the continuity of the Supramental Line and the fulfilment of Sri Aurobindo’s mission. His followers, those to whom this knowledge would matter the most, must never know the truth.

We invite all who understand the value of the Supramental Manifestation for the Earth to follow this series and to assist in whatever way deemed appropriate to right this unconscionable wrong. The supramental Solar Line continues, in spite of all attempts by vested interests to hide this fact.

Economic Crises and the New Way – 2

Thea’s response to questions from her group

on the current economic crisis

In these matters it is necessary to provide practical examples, and certainly speculative theory has never satisfied me, nor is it an accepted aspect of the New Way. My point was made in Part 1 that ‘doles’ or schemes for the poor that are simply hand-outs, be this either from government or charitable organisations, is not the way to build a strong, self-reliant society – which should be the aim of all political ideologies. To provide the example, I will describe the creation of Skambha, the small piece of land where the Centre was built because this is where theory was put into practice.

    The location of Skambha was not a haphazard choice. The land was ‘discovered’ after a major yogic breakthrough in 1983-4, a breakthrough which changed the entire course of the Work and made it possible even to write these lines today. With that breakthrough the transformation entered a new phase, central to which was the specific location of the Centre. However, when the land was actually discovered its geo-cosmological relevance was not known; this came shortly after. Thus was born a real and true power point. There are many theories about such places on Earth, but what is not appreciated is that in order to establish or to discover or to unveil such a location on the globe, the yogic process is required beforehand; then the spatial position can be discovered. The one without the other is impossible.

    To be brief, the first stage of the breakthrough occurred on 17 April 1983. It was a part of what I called the Yoga of the Chamber. In 1983 perfect alignment with its resultant centring occurred; this made it possible to locate the place on the globe that would provide the spatial coordinate in harmony with that particular date. Thus, in December 1985 this did come to pass. As could be expected, the location where this perfect synchronisation of time and space occurred, based on the prior yogic breakthrough, was a totally backward area. There were no roads, and certainly no electricity or telephones. It was, in addition, a completely virgin field which seemed in keeping with the third level of the Supramental Manifestation that was taking shape on this planet and which required a new field, distinct from the laboratory Sri Aurobindo and the Mother required for the first two stages of the transformation. Everything about the location revealed the newness we were dealing with and that the ‘construction’ both physically and yogically, had to be from scratch.

    The area in question was sparsely populated. There was a small village nearby, populated entirely by migrant workers – that is, they served the needs of the small coffee estates nestled here and there across the landscape. This meant that they were employed only seasonally when coffee beans needed to be collected, or else pruning was required or fertilising, and so forth. This meant that for the better part of the year the local population had no earning possibility. Hardly any of the estate owners lived on their small coffee plantations. Thus there was not even domestic employment available. The village was not a traditional one with its naturally-formed hierarchy and the usual administration set up by the villagers themselves to attend to their needs, as one finds in the older and more traditional villages on the plains across India. Moreover, there was a migrant worker mentality prevailing throughout, which centrally meant that there was no concept or desire for permanent work. The idea was to work for several months and then enjoy a long period of layoff, during which time working members of the households had to seek employment elsewhere; some would descend onto the plains during these periods but for the most part they preferred to wait it out.

    When we entered the scene it was obvious that the local population was weak and sickly. Clearly the inhabitants were not even getting one solid meal a day. The children of these house-holds were underfed and emaciated, as were their parents. But most distressing of all was the mental attitude of the labour force – such as it was – that did not understand the benefit of steady employment. They were used to doles from either missionaries in quest of conversions, or other forces that in some way could exploit this backwardness. My policy from the beginning was not to feed this arrangement in any way; obviously this would create problems initially when it was expected of Aeon Trust that more doles would be forthcoming. When this was not the case, rebellion was the first response; later on this frustration was used by certain unsavoury elements that sought to occupy the land we had acquired when development was on its way and the prospect of an easy occupation was enticing. In such a fertile soil the local population could be manipulated into believing that exploitation was the name of the game, since ignorance was widespread and the locals did not initially realise that Aeon Trust was actually providing an avenue out of the extreme poverty and backwardness that they had come to accept as their way of life. But this is another story that can be told at a later date for it reveals the method of true exploitation of power of many hues that seek to take advantage of backwardness and ignorance for their own designs.

    The Centre had to be built from scratch. There was no proper road, as mentioned, therefore just getting supplies to the spot was a formidable task. But the means to uplift the local population was evident from the beginning: all that was required was steady work. However, this was not to the liking of the locals, perhaps because hardly any were in condition physically to sustain permanent construction employment; it was not long though before improvement was evident: there was food on the table on a regular basis, not through doles to the poor but by the constant work offered throughout the year and not merely seasonally as had been the case until then. Aeon Trust was the first new player in the field to introduce this practice. As it turned out, we had to sustain a lengthy period of education until the benefits of steady employment would produce results that doles could never do. This produced difficulties initially, but the results were so obviously beneficial that we realised it was just a question of time before acceptance would be forthcoming. In the meantime, there were those infamous ‘vested interests’ to contend with because these areas of backwardness were fertile grounds for manipulation of all sorts, to suit whatever the cause or ideology. If added to this was a policy of no bribing, our difficulties were compounded a hundredfold. Those groups, furthermore, were not lacking in funds at all, whereas Aeon Trust was operating on a shoestring budget. To begin with, we could not compete with the lavish amounts poured into the area to keep it backward and submissive – the ultimate goal, rather then to foment self-reliance and a thirst for self-respect and dignity. These questions were not even prominent in the minds of the locals; they were entirely accustomed to exploitation which they came to equate with generosity – i.e. a compassionate charity. It was evident from the earliest days that what we had been plummeted into was a classic case of exploitation of ignorance on many levels.

    The problem we faced was to hold fast during the education period, which lasted almost a decade in fact, for the benefits of steady employment over doles to be appreciated. The result today after 27 years of maintaining the same policy is that the local population has changed entirely. The area is no longer considered backward, where before there were shacks as living habitation, we now see stone and brick houses with proper roofs, and the invariable motorcycle parked at the door, the ultimate sign of an increasing prosperity. We see the young all attending school where earlier they could not because of the extreme poverty of the household. Physically the change has been remarkable. In the beginning we were faced with a population that could hardly be called a work force because of its weak and sickly condition. Today this situation is a thing of the past that can hardly be remembered. The young are taller and stronger than their parents, school-going – and even working at Skambha on the weekends to earn pocket money or to help out their families. Had we given in to their demands for charity, to which they had been accustomed, we would have been simply feeding a monster that needs to be completely eradicated at the earliest.

    Mention should be made of the smaller family norm that came with education and uplifting. While the older generation had families of four and five, all the youth who have grown up in the atmosphere of the Skambha initiative have families of no more than two offspring; not one of the many young couples who have come of age in this environment have broken this self-established formula. Government inducements were not required, simply education and better nutrition.

    This makes it clear why doles are a convenient mechanism to enchain (enslave?) a population and to encourage weakness and lack of self-respect and dignity. The problem is that such hand-outs give immediate results. No one wants to wait out the long period required to change those wrong expectations. Truly it is an educative process with no shortcuts. One has to build up a new consciousness, not just of an elite that seeks God realisation but right from the grass roots level. If we wish to transform conditions on Earth that will allow the manifestation of higher principles to take hold, the entire population has to be made a part of the process, but each at its own level, each thing in its rightful place. Yet the methodology is always the same.

    It was this foundational knowledge that lay at the heart of the ancient caste system: each thing in its place. Naturally over the years this structure degenerated, most probably when quick and easy exploitation became desirable. I do not buy the facile argument that the degeneration was to be laid at the feet of the Brahmin caste entirely; but certainly the ruling classes do bear the responsibility of allowing for the degeneration, and being the highest caste we naturally expect that corrective measures should have come from that section – but they did not. The reasons why have been treated extensively in the course of my exposition of the new cosmology and need not be repeated. Let it be stated simply that the degeneration did set in at the highest quarter but not as an exploitative measure; it was simply the wrong direction the spiritual endeavour took which left the field below, here on Earth, at the mercy of elements in the population that were only too happy to exploit this abandonment. Indeed, the degeneration we live in the midst of today has its roots in that wrong turn spirituality took in India at least two millennia ago.

    There is no easy way out now. The structures protecting the old and deformed collective consciousness need to be dismantled. That requires warrior types and is not a labour for the faint hearted.

   

The Birth Process of a Supramental Creation

[The following transcript is Part Three of a 1986 discussion with Thea, was originally published in The Vishaal Newsletter, Volume 1, Number 4, August 1986. Link to Part One or Part Two]

 

Discussions with Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

15 June 1986, Stone Ridge, New York

Part Three

                           

       Well now, your teachings. Could they have been taught in the Piscean Age?

       Definitely not.

       That's right. The time is right.

       Oh, absolutely. It would have been impossible. Out of that Age came what we have! And it is as clear as a bell that that is the way it had to be. No. It is only now...and remember, it is very interesting, this whole period, because if you've read The Gnostic Circle one of the key factors is the 9th Manifestation of Sagittarius. This is what most of these new age groups fail to appreciate, that, yes, it is the Aquarian Age, but we are in this larger arc of the 9th Manifestation. And that's what answers a lot of the questions. Otherwise, just by looking at it in terms of Aquarius, you cannot understand what is happening. You cannot understand this total breakdown. But if you understand it in terms of the birth process: 9 months, 9 ages, 9 manifestations, and either you live or you die — but there is a new creation that comes out. It is very simple and very clear. Then you begin to understand why.

       Just because it is the Aquarian Age doesn't mean that we have to be going through this hell. And poised on the brink. You understand? Where the only solution is a new birth. The only solution is a new creation. There is no other, because we cannot find a solution based on any of the old pillars that we've clung to for so long.

       So this is the big key. The Piscean Age, the Aquarian Age. Yes, this is important. It is clear: space travel. Before it was discovery of the Earth by sea; now it is into space. All this, the openings to new things...but the real key is this larger arc of six thousand and some odd years, which is this 9th Manifestation, which is the time of the Birth. And, you see, we are dealing with a long arc of time.

       But this is the turning point.

       Of course. In this very Age.

       Are we going to make it?

       Well, I have no doubt about it. But just because I have no doubt doesn't mean that we don't experience difficulties. Good Lord, just in my work, the difficulties...you cannot imagine. So, it is difficult, but as long as you can see what is going on, as long as you know, then somehow you have the strength from that; and you go on.

       You can imagine. This being a new work, the difficulties that it faces are tremendous. You have to literally open a path...and what are you opening? You are opening through a...

       A jungle!

       So, it is not easy at all.

       If I understand it, it is not a question of will we make it, because the fact that you have written and given us that message, is a sign that we have made it.

       Well, this is the way I feel about it. That you would not be able to formulate things like this if it was not already done, let's say, and manifested in time in certain levels. Of course. That's the whole point. So, that's why I can sit here and laugh about it.

       On the mental plane, it exists. The battle is bringing it down into the physical, before the planet is destroyed.

       Yes, of course. It is like two things are joining, a new heaven and a new earth. You see, so they have to reach the same point. This is what is happening now. But what she says is absolutely right. And that is what I felt: that it would be impossible to even formulate...you see, I always talk about this work in terms of a language, which is the formulation of a new synthetic language. And people don't perhaps realise what that means. It means that you could not create this language if all the elements were not there to make it possible. And those, being there already, means that that creation exists, in seed form. It must grow and overtake the other.

       You know, when you look at it in these long cycles, then it is immaterial. Because, as I say, if you see it in the moment, this is your greatest joy — because you realise that you are participating. Even if you're not connected consciously with a work like this, you just bear in mind that you are living in the times when this magnificent thing is being decided and is getting done.

       So, whatever...somewhere in your being It knows that, or you would not have taken birth now, you see?

       Is there something unique about this planet? In terms of a mission in the universe, or a function?

       Well, I feel that way. I feel that way very strongly, because it all has to do with the soul, what is the nature of the soul. That being so utterly wonderful, this question of the soul, what it is...well, definitely in this solar system that is the contribution of the Earth. Whether in another solar system the same process exists.... It may. But it would be still different. And then there is a beauty here, a certain combination that has come together: its position in the solar system.

       When you think about it, the immense combination of circumstances that had to come about in order to allow for such a manifestation. It boggles the mind. And that makes it very unique. Very unique. So, for me it is a grace to be born on this planet. In matter...just to take birth, for me is a grace. Quite the contrary to what people think, that it is a hell. It is only here that you can become conscious, that you live the experience consciously, and the process to evolve and understand that evolution, and enjoy the whole process. On other planes you cannot. You don't evolve. There are planes where there may be perceptions that are even, let's say, closer to the Divine. But there they do not evolve. And then when you go even higher, you obliterate the capacity. You see? And this is what is so unique that takes place in a body. And that is what the ego is all about. It serves its purpose; it provides you with a separate instrument of perception; but at the same time then you have to surpass the ego.

       There is an aphorism of Sri Aurobindo: ‘The ego was the helper, the ego is the bar.’ That's the point. It allows you to evolve this instrument that grants you the capacity to have this conscious experience of the Divine, this evolution. And at the same time, of course, you have to surpass it at a certain point, if you really want to attain the new consciousness.

       So for me it is completely the opposite. So completely that, I tell you, it gets to be a problem now, because everything is just so old. You know, I look at all of this and I say: It's just so OLD. How can they presume that that is going to be the solution. You know, it is something for me that is like coming out of the Dark Ages. Whereas the other is so simple. So clear. So new. Because it is a new manifestation. We have had it in seed form. But we have not consciously lived it yet. And this is what we are doing in this Manifestation.

       I haven't read The New Way, but does it then obliterate what I have understood every religion is, the ancient wisdom which has been passed down through, I don't know, small circles? So, the New Way just obliterates the ancient teachings?

       I don't think so. I think rather it's just simply carrying all that forward into this new thing, because I often refer to certain teachings — myths, especially, where you really have very profound truths. Because in these myths you always are dealing with the soul of the Earth, the soul of the species.

       No, I wouldn't say that it obliterates them, but I would say that it certainly does make a lot of sense out of what all these things were for. Why they did manifest. But at the same time, it is giving you the New Way. It is saying: That is what it was all about up until that point. Now we are dealing with something new. But this has evolved from that. And you cannot disconnect it from its past also.

        It's like the birth of a child. While it is a foetus it is one thing. But when it is born, it is a new thing. And it's a thing on its own. Complete in itself. Any woman can understand that. Your experience of it in the womb is one thing, and this is exactly what we have known as a civilisation: we are a civilisation as yet unborn. And it is very clear...but of course it will be much clearer once we have gone through this period. But the important thing is to see it while it is happening, because the process of birth is so exciting. All the conditions that are forcing this Birth.

    I think the question that I asked earlier was, will this new consciousness be able to come to our planet? Or will the planet be destroyed before that can take place? And if the planet really is destroyed, does it really matter?

       Definitely it does matter. This is a very interesting question, because it comes up all the time, in the sense that even in the work in terms of this microcosmic element that I am dealing with, for example, there were crucial points in this process where you said, ‘Well, one has got to overtake the other at some point.’ As a matter of fact, I just briefly referred to a certain work that I was doing in India in 1983 and 1984...and there, as a matter of fact, this whole point was really at stake. Well, what is going to emerge? Is one thing going to overtake the other? And I can happily say that, in terms of the modest yoga that was being performed individually and collectively, we got through that period and something really very fantastic did happen, which was the big breakthrough. In other words, now, that new consciousness overtakes the other, and the danger, I feel, is passed entirely. In fact, that is the only reason why I am here today. It is because it did succeed, otherwise it would have been useless and irrelevant to go anywhere and open my mouth about anything.

       Is there any way we can make a dent in the minds of our world leaders?

       I think that is again irrelevant.

                (Laughter)

In the sense that...I mean, they are just going to be carried along by a process, and what seems to be the way is that those things will go on, the old forms will continue like this.

       Now, what I was telling you about just briefly was something on the seed level. A breakthrough occurred on the seed level. And this is the most important thing, because if it doesn't occur there, it doesn't occur anywhere else. I could go into this in very great detail, but now is not the time, and I don't know if it ever will be in this type of.... It concerns a very intense collective process that went on. But it can be described very accurately.

       All of the other things are simply ‘influenced’ then, they are carried along in the process, and they go on and on and on. I can tell you, for example, when you are dealing with individuals — you asked this before. You said this; that we are serving even though we are not perfect. This is what you mentioned before... It is the same condition, where a person is used as an instrument. Let's say Ronald Reagan, — and he is totally unconscious of what he is doing. But he is used to create a lot of tension in the world — the arms build up, and all of that. The moment he came in power I said, ‘This is it: this man is there to create this particular tension.’ And he is doing it beautifully. Now, he can be unconscious, or at a certain point he can have a choice where he can do his role consciously, which of course would change his role entirely. But those people generally remain unconscious instruments.

       But you take people, for example, who are involved in this microcosmic element, that are people who are working on themselves and they are really offering themselves. They get bogged down in their difficulties so they don't see their instrumentation; and they suffer from that. Now these people, they are used also. They are instruments in this. But there comes a point where they are no longer needed because that work is done.

       Take what happened in the work we were doing. Those people served the purpose at that time. Now, after that, it becomes a personal choice. Up until that point they are helpless; they are made to serve that function, like Reagan is in the White House, like Gorbachev over there, like this one and that one. But after that work is done, they are really no longer needed in that sense, and then it becomes a totally personal choice. Then they fall back into a sort of individual instrument where they can choose to continue that way, or they can fall off completely and they are not taken up again.

       So, that's the whole point. You see, it is virtually impossible that Ronald Reagan is going to open up to the new way! I mean it would never...it is simply not in his ‘style’, his role.

       I have had certain things to do with so-called politicians in India because they were involved. That was something entirely different though. And those people were rather conscious of what they were doing. And of course it was India also: you can talk to anybody about these things, no matter who. The Prime Minister, the President and on downward. They listen and they understand, and deep inside they know that that is where the solution lies. They know it because it is in their tradition. The Brahmin was the highest caste and he had spiritual knowledge and he was above the king, and he advised the king.

       So, we start from a different level which is nonexistent here in the United States, for example. When you go into this thing about influencing:  Yes, influence. But you have to influence indirectly, I think in this case. And that is by working on processes where the work is really done; and these people are simply carried along. In other words, it is important to get on with the work.

       There are groups that pray that the minds of world leaders will be opened.

       Have they been opened? I believe we are going to get into another delicate subject, about prayers like that, and all. Well, everybody has to do what they feel is right, but usually...you see, if these things are not done with knowledge, real knowledge, then they make them feel good, the ones who are praying; that is positive in itself. But actually changing...?

       Is that a manifestation of ego, that we think we can change things?

       Well, also. But also there are a lot of people who are sincere and they really want to do something, but they don't know. They have no knowledge...

       I wanted to ask you, in terms of being an unconscious instrument and getting on with the work, do you think that many people do work while they sleep? Or do you have to be in your body?

       Yes, they do. This is a fact. I find it a very important part of the work, in dreams, conscious dreaming, coming out of the body, and all these things. But these again are stages that one reaches by work on oneself, by having that knowledge to deal with these things. But the sleep element is very important. Far more important than what many yogas consider. Let's face it; we spend an awful lot of time sleeping, so if you're unconscious when you're awake, you will be equally unconscious when you sleep. We have gone into that, PH and I, about conscious dreaming and what it is all about. I mean, coming into a dream state consciously. This is quite different, — very different, your experience of it. But it is no different than you experience in life, it's no different than that. You can be caught in the outer whirlwind of life in the waking state, and the same in dreams. In dream you can stand as a witness and everything revolves around you, if you are poised and conscious in life, you see? In the waking state. Then when you go into the dream state, you can go into it in the same condition and your dreams will become entirely different. They are more objective, and they influence — because in dreams of course you are touching very deep levels of the unconscious and the subconscious.

       In this yoga, for example, there are stages where your dream work is very important. And generally it is important. You may keep a record of your dreams, the dates when they occur, and like that. As you would do in psychotherapy.

       When you said, ‘This yoga’, is ‘yoga’ just a synonym for ‘work’?

       In the way I am using it now, yes, of course. I use that term interchangeably; I am usually referring to Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga, but with something else now which is the Supramental Yoga that he was alluding to, really, because he never really described it. So, that is the different phase that we are coming into now. When I say ‘the work’, I mean work on oneself within the framework of this particular discipline.

       What would you suggest for people who haven't read your work? Where would one start?

       I always say The Magical Carousel, because I think that is so easy. It's like cosmology without tears! But nobody else seems to realise that! They always seem to go to The Gnostic Circle. To me it seems so easy. Everything is there, in that little story, with the Commentaries especially. But most people like The Gnostic Circle. It really depends also on the type of person. I personally think The New Way can be read even first. That is because of the way it is written.

       That's your latest.

       Another thing is the Newsletter that's coming out now. This, I have to say, is a very exciting development, because...it came out not because it was a mental decision: ‘Well, now we're going to print a newsletter!’ But because we had made that transition, and then came the time to start contacting people and creating a certain ‘web’ around the world, with people connected in the process. So that was the purpose of the Newsletter.

       The Newsletter is giving out immediate...I mean, every two months it is coming out, and I am writing things on the immediate yoga. What is being done. So there is a process at work there. Of course, people, they read it, they may not realise this in the beginning; but later on, after the first few, you will see what an impact that will make.

       That's another thing. That has carried it [the work] now to another, very immediate stage, because it is possible now to contact people, after a certain nucleus is solidly there. And draw them into the process.

       So there are various things. I think you have to just let yourself be guided in that, and what you feel. It is very difficult to be dogmatic on that: start with this, start with that. I think you have to make the selection yourself. Maybe have the books with you so that you can, at a given moment; and maybe in your conversations, if you refer to things, then you gradually get into it.

       I picked up The Hidden Manna early, and simply couldn’t read it, it was so overwhelming. But now a year later I am reading it. It’s interesting. I had all the books at home, and some of them, like that, I couldn’t go to. It wasn’t the right time. And then I picked it up recently...

       But, you see, you can probably understand why in your particular case that was so. Because of your Catholic background.

       That's right. I had to work through some emotional thing, about letting go of St. John and the Revelation.

       And being ready to understand it in a different...and not afraid of it! That you are going to be pulled back into it again? If you feel that, you must follow your feelings. You must always follow your inner promptings, even if it is a negative manifestation. As long as you are sincere, as long as you really want THAT, you know, you will find your way. That is why you have to be very careful: no dogmas, no mental formulas.

       I think it is like a new language, and if one is willing to take it up and not try to dissect every word, but let it really seep inside, and get the deeper meaning; that is the important thing about your work. It is affecting all the levels, and not to worry if you don’t understand the language. Don’t worry about it, not understanding the language. Because then you come back a year later, and you absolutely know the language.

       That's true, and why? Because I said it is really...if you could label it anything, it is an applied cosmology, an applied ‘language’. So that language doesn't exist for you unless it is applied. Not applied mentally. Not that you sit there with the Gnostic Circle and you say, ‘Today, we are at this point, this and this is going to happen, this is what I must do.’ That's not the point. The circumstances of your life must bring that alive. In other words, you are going to see the Divine in every circumstance of your life, and you grow then into that Consciousness. The Gnostic Circle is a blueprint of a “consciousness” which you are growing into. You are becoming That. And the Gnostic Circle is like the ‘ABC’. I have always said this; it is the ABC of this work, of this cosmology, and The New Way was making the sentences with it, creating, writing the whole book based on this. So, essentially one should be, or could be, read before the other, but not necessarily.

       I tried to start with The Magical Carousel, but I really didn’t understand it; and as I read it, I knew I was going to have to have the whole thing explained to me. So it didn’t seem worthwhile to continue. I went on to The Gnostic Circle, which I really liked very much, much better. I haven’t finished it yet, it is slow going, but it has a lot of rich things in it for me, and 1 really...I wanted to ask you, do you sense yourself evolving? Do you sense the evolution occurring?

       In myself?

       Yes.

       Well, what I sense is: hewing the path. And that is a process that is evolving. Of course. Very much so. And in all my books that ‘growth’ is there. The Magical Carousel was the first one, that was the ‘seed’, you know, mythic; and all that was there. And then they have all evolved out of that. Certainly there is a growth. But I must say that I started...well, can I say...the total vision was there, and then just different aspects of it came up. But, you see, for me that was the most important part. Because I remember in 1972, I was in the Ashram [in Pondicherry], and I had this overwhelming experience which in India is called the Brahman Consciousness, when you go into That. Of course it was something magnificent. It lasted for a number of days...in that state, which in other yogas is the height. You attain that and that's it. Well, for me, at that time, I said, ‘Well, this is It.’ I didn't even formulate it to myself like that. But I was in that state where it seemed to me that that was the totality. Because it was everything. The Fullness. It was no ‘void’, at all.

       But, fortunately, as luck would have it, the Mother was there, and she just kept pushing me on; of course, without any resistance on my part, because I am made that way. And the beauty of it was what evolved out of that; and later on I realised that that was really just a ‘seed’. So, this ‘growth’...but it has come from that, and then just develops like a flower, on and on and on and on and on. So the growth is there.

       What 1 meant was more like when you refer to the Divine gelling in the material. That's what I meant, in terms of the evolution. Because some of the people have been talking about evolving to another level.

       But, in what sense? Were you asking this personally?

       Yes. Do you experience that? Do you experience that, the way...

       I don't think I have got the question. Which probably means I haven't done it!

                 (Laughter)

       ...the Spiritual, not manifesting on a higher plane but on a physical plane. That kind of thing.

       Oh yes, definitely, that has taken place. I mean, that is the Consciousness. Period. That is the reason why I find myself at odds completely with everything else that is going on now, because this direction is so totally different. You see? I would have no work, I would be ‘jobless’!

       Yes, that notion is what really struck me in your work. I think that, to me, was the central point.

       I have to say...perhaps this will clarify too, that I never write anything on the basis of speculation. Every line has been a direct experience. Because I don't write unless that has come. It is the ‘yoga’ that is performed, the experience that comes. And then out of that...it just so happens that it took the form of writing, because that is the medium today. We can communicate like that. But nothing is written that has not been experienced. Even in seed form. It may not be the full aspect of it, but the seed, which is enough for me to see the development of that particular process that I may be discussing. So every single thing has been a lived experience; and I think that that does come across in the books. I know that in a certain sense that is what may disturb people too. Someone who is writing from a lived experience and is not quoting this one or that one, and the endless bibliographies, and they feel a little bit at sea. They don't know.

***

This concludes our transcript of

15 June 1986 Talks with Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet