{"id":528,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=528"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:38","slug":"27-leaders-of-evolution-vol-26-on-himself-volume-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/26-on-himself-volume-26\/27-leaders-of-evolution-vol-26-on-himself-volume-26","title":{"rendered":"-27_Leaders of Evolution.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\nPART
\n<\/span>TWO<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 
\nSRI AUROBINDO ON HIMSELF
\nAND<\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nON THE MOTHER<\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\n
\nSection One<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nLEADERS OF EVOLUTION<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nSRI AUROBINDO
\nAND THE MOTHER AS AVATARS<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:
\n<\/b>We believe that
\nboth you and the Mother are Avatars. But is it only in this life that both of
\nyou have shown your divinity? It is said that you and she have been on the
\nearth constantly since its creation. What were you doing during the previous
\nlives?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> Carrying on the evolution.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> I find it difficult to understand so concise a statement. Can’t you elaborate it?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> That would mean writing the whole of human
\nhistory. I can only say that as there are special descents to carry on the
\nevolution to a farther stage, so also something of the Divine is always there
\nto help through each stage itself in one direction or another.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/b>
\nThe common mass of mankind in the past may not have recognised your
\npresence amongst them, especially when outwardly both of you may have had
\npersonalities like those of ordinary human beings. But how is it that even Sri
\nKrishna, Buddha or Christ could not detect your presence in this world?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Presence where
\nand in whom? If they did not meet, they would not recognise, and even if they
\nmet there is no reason why the Mother and I should cast off the veil which hung
\nover these personalities and reveal the Divine behind them. Those lives were
\nnot meant for any such purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 445<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nQ:<\/b> If you were on the earth all the time
\nit would mean that you were here when those great beings descended. Whatever
\nyour external cloak, how could you hide your
\ninner self\u2014 the true divinity \u2014from them? It could not have mattered whether
\nyou and any of them were born in the same country or not. They ought to have
\ndiscovered by their own higher light that the Divine Consciousness from which
\nthey had descended was already here in a physical form.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> But why can’t
\nthe inner self be hidden from all in such lives? Your reasoning would only have
\nsome force if the presence on earth then were as the Avatar but not if it was
\nonly as a Vibhuti.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/b> You have asked, "Presence where and in whom?" Why have
\nyou put those question-words? What exactly is conveyed by them?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> …It is
\n"presence" in or behind some body and behind some outer personality.
\nAlso "presence" in what part of the world? If the Mother were in Rome in the time of
\nBuddha, how could Buddha know as he did not even know the existence of Rome?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> I did not mean that you or the Mother
\nneeded to cast off your veil. It is those Great Men who should have recognised
\nyou in spite of the veil.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>
\nOne can be a great man without knowing such things as that. Great Men or even
\ngreat Vibhutis need not be omniscient or
\nknow things which it was not useful for them to know.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> You
\nsaid, "But why can’t the inner self be hidden<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 446<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nfrom all in such lives?”1′
\nI fail to understand how anyone could hide one’s
\ninner self from Avatars and Vibhutis.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> An Avatar or Vibhuti
\nhave the knowledge that is necessary for their work, they need not have more.
\nThere was absolutely no reason why Buddha should know what was going on in Rome. An Avatar
\neven does not manifest all the Divine omniscience and omnipotence; he has not
\ncome for any such unnecessary display; all that is behind
\nhim but not in the front of his consciousness. As for the Vibhuti, the Vibhuti
\nneed not even know that he is a power of the Divine. Some Vibhutis like Julius
\nCaesar for instance have been atheists. Buddha himself did not believe in a
\npersonal God, only in some impersonal and indescribable Permanent.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: Still I can’t understand one thing: even though you did not
\ncast off your veil, how could people like Buddha or Christ not help casting off their veil (of ignorance) in
\norder to recognise you?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Why should they? The veil was there
\nnecessary for their work. Why should it be thrown off? So if the Mother was
\npresent in the life of Christ, she was there not as the Divine Manifestation
\nbut as one altogether human. For her to be recognised as the Divine would have
\ncreated a tremendous disorder and frustrated the work Christ came to do by
\nbreaking its proper limits.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:
\n<\/b>You must have heard that just before Christ was born some Rishis from India knew of the divine Descent and
\nset out for Jerusalem merely by their intuition, though they had not known what
\nand where Jerusalem was.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> I never heard of Rishis from India
\ngoing there. There is a legend of some Magi getting an intuition that a divine
\nBirth was there on earth and following a star
\nthat led them to the stable in<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 447<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nwhich Christ was born. But this is a
\nlegend, not history.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/b> Since you and the Mother were
\non earth constantly from the beginning what was the need for Avatars coming
\ndown here one after another?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> We were not on earth as Avatars.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/b> You say
\nthat you both were not on earth as Avatars. And yet you were carrying on the
\nevolution. Since the Divine Himself was on the earth carrying on the evolution,
\nwhat was the necessity for the coming down of the Avatars who are portions of
\nHimself?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> The
\nAvatar is necessary when a special work is to be done and in crises of the
\nevolution. The Avatar is a special manifestation while for the rest of the
\ntime it is the Divine working within the ordinary human limits as a Vibhuti.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n25-9-1935 \u2014 25-7-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE MYSTERY OF INCARNATION<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> The Mother
\nhas written: "In our daily practices we
\nare endeavouring to express the great mystery of Divine Incarnation." What does it mean?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> It means that we act as we do because we take it
\nas a fact that the Divine can manifest and is manifested in human body.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE HIGHEST REALISATION AND EFFORT<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> What is the utility of making effort for other realisations<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 448<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

 once we have known the supreme secret (uttamam rahasyam)
\nthat you are the Divine Incarnate and the Mother is the Para-Shakti? That alone, I think, is the highest realisation
\nand all others \u2014 the realisation of the cosmic
\nconsciousness, or of the Presence of the Immanent
\nDivine, or even of the silent immutable Brahman \u2014 are lower or secondary
\nin comparison with it. Whatever is to be done in the world will also be done by
\nyou and the Mother and hardly anyone else is even an instrument for that work.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Yes, but for that to be a constant
\nrealisation in its fullness the same effort
\nhas to be made and if made will bring the other realisations with it as parts
\nof the main realisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

30-10-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nMANIFESTATION OF THE PERSONAL DIVINE<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is rather
\nsurprising that you should be unable to understand such a simple and familiar
\nstatement; for that has been always the whole reason of this Yoga that to
\nfollow after the Impersonal only brings inner experience or, at the most, mukti<\/i>. Without the action of the integral
\nDivine there is no change of the whole nature. If it were not so, the Mother
\nwould not be here and I would not be here if a realisation of the Impersonal
\nwere sufficient.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n15-9-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSELF-VEILING OF THE DIVINE TO MEET THE
\nHUMAN<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> It seems to me that if
\nthe Supermind is not established in Mother’s body-consciousness, it is not because she is
\nnot ready for it like us, but because in order to establish it she has first to prepare the physical of the Sadhaks and of the earth to a certain extent. But
\nsome people take it in the wrong way; they believe that the<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 449<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nSupermind has not been
\nestablished in her body because she has not yet reached perfection. Am I right ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Certainly. If
\nwe had lived physically in the Supermind from the beginning nobody could have
\nbeen able to approach us nor could any Sadhana
\nhave been done. There could have been no hope of contact between ourselves and
\nthe earth and men. Even as it is. Mother has
\nto come down towards the lower consciousness of the Sadhaks
\ninstead of keeping always in her own, otherwise they begin to say, "How
\nfar away, how severe you were; you do not love me,
\nI get no help from you, etc., etc." The Divine has to veil himself in
\norder to meet the human.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPREPARING THE MANIFESTATION<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, of course.
\nWhat is being done is meant to prepare the manifestation of the Supermind on
\nthe earth consciousness down to Matter itself, so it can’t be for the physical
\nof myself or the Mother alone.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nit [the Supermind] comes down into our physical it would mean that it has come
\ndown into Matter and so there is no reason why it should not manifest in the
\nSadhaks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n15-9-1935<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nWORK THROUGH AGES<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ: <\/b>In her book "Conversations" the Mother says: "We
\nhave all met in previous lives…and have worked through ages for the victory
\nof the Divine.’"1 Is this
\ntrue of all people who come and stay here ?
\nWhat about so many who came and went away ?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Those who went away were also of these and still
\nare of that circle. Temporary checks do not make any difference to the essential truth of the soul’s seeking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n18-6-1933 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n1 July 1971 Edition, p. 6.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 450<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nQ: <\/b>In what way have we all "worked
\nthrough ages for the victory of the Divine" ? How much has been achieved till now?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> By the victory is meant the final emergence of
\nthe embodied consciousness on earth from the bondage of the Ignorance. That had
\nto be prepared through the ages by a spiritual evolution. Naturally, the work
\nup till now has been a preparation of which the long spiritual effort and
\nexperience of the past has been the outcome. It has reached a point at which
\nthe decisive effort has become possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n18-6-1933<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 451<\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART TWO   SRI AUROBINDO ON HIMSELF AND ON THE MOTHER   Section One LEADERS OF EVOLUTION   SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER AS AVATARS…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-26-on-himself-volume-26","wpcat-11-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}