THE
VISION AND WORK
OF
SRI AUROBINDO
SECOND REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION
BY
K.D.SETHNA

Page 143 - 144

On February 29, 1956, I left for Bombay on account of my grandfather, 98 years old, who had been threatening to expire for quite a long time. The Mother had told me that I should be back before the 29th of March. It was the year in which great things were expected. I left by the morning train, reached Madras in the evening and caught the night mail to Bombay.

I went to sleep in the compartment and had a dream. I saw a wide open place, with the Mother seated at one end and people going to her to make pranām. I was at the very boundary of the place. It seemed I might miss the chance of the pranām. So I tried to hurry. But in the hurry I somehow could not get my feet out of my slippers and in the excitement I woke up. When I opened my eyes I saw, against the opposite berth and the facing wall of the compartment, the Mother standing. Her body was in shadow, her face was in moonlight and both were transparent so that through them I could see the woodwork and part of the upholstery of the berth. I kept gazing for some time. Not believing my eyes, I shut them and opened them again. It made no difference to the vision. There still stood the transparent form of the Mother, the face softly shining. After looking for a quarter minute I once more shut my eyes. When I reopened them the form was gone.

On reaching Bombay I wrote to the Mother about this mysterious apparition. I got no reply, but after a time I received letters from my wife in which it was said that the Mother wished me to return soon. From a friend I got the hint that something wonderful had happened. I came back as soon as I could. What had happened was the long-awaited Manifestation of the Supermind as a universal Force in the earth's subtle-physical atmosphere. And it had happened on the 29th of February, late in the evening, during the collective meditation with the Mother, in the spacious playground of the Ashram.

Word got round that the Mother had remarked: "Only five people knew what took place - two in the Ashram and three outside." To get some clarification I took the report to the Mother. She said that she had not referred to people's knowing what had taken place: she had meant that something extra- ordinary had been experienced by five people as a result of the Manifestation: they might not at all have been aware of the true nature of the event. And she added: "Among those outside, I

Page 143

counted you. You wrote to me of your experience in the train on the night of the 29th February. Well, I had come to inform you. Don't you remember that many years ago, when you went to Bombay and the Supramental Manifestation was expected here, I promised you that I would let you know at once? I came to you now in fulfilment of my promise."

I was absolutely overwhelmed. The promise had been kept after no less than 18 years! I could only stammer out, "Mother, you came to inform me, a person like me? Oh, I feel so grateful, so grateful..."

Extracts from Dr. Indra Sen's notes of two Interview with the Mother:

On May 13, 1956

THE MOTHER: Were you here on the 29th February?

Yes, Mother, I was here. I arrived the same day in the morning and I was present at the “Questions and Answers” and the Meditation.

THE MOTHER: Did you feel anything then?

No, Mother. All I was aware of is that it was a calm and quiet meditation. It is only on the Darshan Day, the 24th April, that a vague and faint sense of reality of the New Force came to me. And since then the feeling of it has been growing, but I don’t have a clear and concrete sense of its existence.

THE MOTHER: Well, what happened was something tremendous. Suddenly a flood of light came pouring forth, as if the divine gate had been thrown wide open. It continued for twenty minutes. Or, rather, I watched it for twenty minutes and then stopped the meditation. I could not carry on the meditation indefinitely — you know how restless people become.

When the light was pouring, I thought that at the end of the meditation I would find everybody knocked out, lying flat. But when I opened my eyes I found them as after any meditation. I myself had to make a special effort to come into my external being and it was with great difficulty that I could utter a world.

Was this advent unexpected?

THE MOTHER: Absolutely. But all my greatest experiences have come like that. I am in my usual consciousness and they come suddenly, as if to show their reality in the fullest contrast and vividness. They have the best value when first received in this way. When one is informed beforehand, the mind begins to play a part. On the present occasion, when the mind came in I was on our side of the divine gate: there was then just a magnificent light, nothing more. Those who live in their emotions had a better chance to feel things than those who live in their minds.

What should I do to acquire a sense of the Supermind?

THE MOTHER: The Supermind will work itself out — by the decision of the Supreme. Sri Aurobindo was instrumental in bringing it. The working of the Supermind in my body has gone on since the 5th December, 1950. It has been a progressive individual working; so I thought things would go on like that. But in January this year Sri Aurobindo appeared to me two or three times and it was as if he indicated that the Supermind was coming on a universal scale.

What has come has got engulfed at present and it has to work itself out. Nature did not reject it — she could not. The Supreme decided that the time had come and He released the Force. But the Inconscient has covered it up. It can be felt in the subtle-physical, but in the physical there is hardly anything yet. The manifestation is only a little more than two months old and it will show itself gradually. I can definitely feel it in the subtle-physical, but my sensitiveness is perhaps a little unusual… Two disciples here in the Ashram and three outside simultaneously had rare experiences as a result of what had happened.

A marked difference has come in our Yoga. Things that were easy are now achieved without effort. Things that appeared difficult appear easy. Things impossible seem now achievable and likely.

The pouring of the Supermind is constant, but at Balcony time every morning it is more concentrated.

People have been here twenty to thirty years — talking of the Supermind’s coming and prepared for it, as it were — yet they did not notice it when it came!

The manifestation was a cosmic phenomenon and I took time to return to this individual self and it was difficult to speak the first word.

In half an hour I formulated the whole experience and wrote it down.

On May 22, 1956

THE MOTHER: Things are now all changed for me — radically changed.

How, Mother?

THE MOTHER: Previously everything worked under the pressure of the Mind of Light. Sri Aurobindo secured this working when he left his body. Now it is the Supermind that directly guides and governs. The manifestation is just over two and a half months old and yet a new situation — an absolutely new situation — has come into being.

What has happened now I call a manifestation and not a descent, because it is not an individual event: the Supermind has burst forth into universal play. It has become a principle at constant work upon all earth — a possibility of a general order, as when the mind was first diffused over the earth.

INDRA SEN
Mother India, February 21, 1974.

(Dhyuman:) “I said, “Sweet Mother, can we create a golden atmosphere in the Ashram on 29th February (1960)?” Which was the 1st Anniversary of the Supramental Descent. “The manifestation of the Supramental Force was a Golden Light coming down in torrents. I have a plan in my mind to arrange all the things here in an artistic way, so as to give pleasure to all who come here. We can arrange all in a golden colour. Mother, your room, the staircase, the curtains, all, everything should be decorated in a golden colour. All who come here will enjoy this Golden Divine Beauty. Newcomers also will get to know the importance of this Golden Day and the Supramental Manifestation.” Divine Mother gave Her consent with a radiant smile. She said, “Dyuman, for this we shall have to purchase some valuable articles of golden colour, while a few we can prepare here.” On that day the Ashram was decorated with golden curtains and golden things!”

Dhyuman ni Dhuti, p.112

(Aditi:) “We children at the Ashram were given golden coloured frocks. A few days before the 29th, in the Meditation Hall, Mother came down and a distribution took place. We all stood in line in alphabetical order. There were three categories: Small, Medium and Big. I was in the small girls' group. My elder sister was in the medium girls' group. There were others in the senior girls' group. Out of a beautiful golden colour cotton cloth, our frocks were made by Sahana-di's department. Sahana-di handed the packets to the Divine Mother who gave them to us with a most radiant Smile and Light in her eyes. I received with both hands with a ‘Merci beaucoup, Douce Mère!’ On 29th we wore these frocks. The whole Ashram looked Golden. The elder sadhikas received white saris with a broad golden coloured border. My mother wore that. It was the most beautiful and memorable day of our life. There was something special in the air which I cannot describe in words.

29th February, The Day of the Lord
compilation by Narendra Patel

THE
Life in
SRI AUROBINDO Ashram
- Narayan Prasad

Publisher: Sri Aurobindo Karmi Sangha Trust, Habra-Prafullanagar

Page 158 - 1164

Festivals: The Golden Day

Introduction

As far back as 1904, which was a leap year, Sri Aurobindo long before he arrived in Pondicherry, had declared in Bhavani Mandir: “India must send forth from herself the future religion of the entire world.”

In the weekly Bandemataram, dated 12-4-1908, we come across the passage:

“...To realise that ideal, to impart it to the world is the mission of India. She has evolved a religion which embraces all that the heart, the brain, the practical faculty of man can desire but she has not yet applied it to the problems of modern politics. This therefore is the work which she has still to do before she can help humanity.”

Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II: The New Ideal

But how was India’s mission to be achieved? Sri Aurobindo saw the possibility in the coming down of the paramā prakṛti in the form of the Mother, as it is only her power of Supermind that can “divinise the clay” and “translate heaven into human shapes”:

Earth must transform herself and equal heaven,

Or heaven descend upon earth’s mortal state. ||117.90||

The Mother adds about the Supermind: “I do not, however, mean to say that the whole world will at once feel its presence or be transformed; but I do mean that a part of humanity will know and participate in its descent—say, this little world of ours here. From there the transfiguring Grace will most effectively radiate.”

The Mother, Questions and Answers (1929 - 1931): The Supramental Descent

There was a general expectation that something special was in store for the Darshan of the 24th April 1956. An unusually large number of visitors was present under the Balcony on 23-4-56 because of the succession of five natural numbers involved in that date.

On the 24th April, for the first time the Mother declared about the event that had secretly taken place on the 29th February of the same year.

“The manifestation of the supramental upon earth is no more a promise but a living fact, a reality.

“It is at work here, and one day will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obliged to recognise it.”

The Mother, Words of the Mother - III: Darshan

The same evening we received the Bulletin containing the above message with a modification of the message of the 29th March 1956 which was an extract from the Mother’s Prayers and Meditations, addressed to the Supreme Shakti. The message had run:

“The Lord has willed and Thou dost execute:

A new light shall break upon the earth,

A new world shall be born,

And the things that were announced shall be fulfilled.”

The Mother, Prayers and Meditations: September 25, 1914

A copy of this was given to each of us along with a portrait of the Hiranmaya Purusha. The Bulletin of the 24th April 1956 contains the following modification:

“29 February-29 March

Lord, Thou hast willed, and I execute:

A new light breaks upon the earth,

A new world is born.

The things that were promised are fulfilled.”

The Mother, Prayers and Meditations: September 25, 1914

Notice the change from the future to the present tense. The Mother made the change immediately after she had distributed the message on 29th March: she asked the Secretary for a copy of it and made the necessary alteration. A few sadhaks who were near her had also their copies changed by her.

This year on the 29th February the Mother disclosed to us in the following words exactly what had happened during the common meditation on Wednesday, the 29th February 1956. She gave us a passage from her own diary of experiences and realisations:

“This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was there present amongst you. I had a form of living gold, bigger than the universe and I was facing a huge and massive golden door which separated the world from the Divine. As I looked at the door, I knew and willed, in a single movement of consciousness, that “the time has come,” and lifting with both hands a mighty golden hammer I struck one blow, one single blow on the door and the door was shattered to pieces.

“Then the supramental Light and Force and Consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow.”

The Mother, Words of the Mother - III: Messages for the Supramental Manifestation upon Earth

This reminds us of the 15th mantra of the Isha Upanishad as translated by Sri Aurobindo:

“The Face of Truth is covered with a brilliant golden lid; that do thou remove, O Fosterer, for the law of the Truth, for sight.”

Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad: Isha Upanishad

Sri Aurobindo goes on to explain the significance of the word “Fosterer”:

“In the inner sense of the Veda Surya, the Sun-God, represents the divine Illumination of the Kavi which exceeds mind and forms the pure self-luminous Truth of things...

“He is the Fosterer or Increaser, for he enlarges and opens man’s dark and limited being into a luminous and infinite consciousness... His rays are the thoughts that proceed luminously from the Truth, the Vast, but become deflected and disordered in the reflecting and dividing principle, Mind. They form there the golden lid which covers the face of the Truth...”

Sri Aurobindo, Isha Upanishad: Isha Upanishad

In his New Gayatri mantra, Sri Aurobindo places the Mother as the Devata of the mantra, where the original Gayatri mantra had placed the Sun or the Fosterer.

The original Gayatri read:

ॐ तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि । धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ।।

Tat savitur vareṇyaṁ bhargo devasya dhīmahi,

Dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt.

“We meditate upon that excellent splendour of the Lord Savitri. May he activate our thoughts.”

Compare Sri Aurobindo’s version:

ॐ तत्सवितुर्वरं रूपं ज्योतिः परस्य धीमहि । यन्नः सत्येन दीपयेत् ।।

Tat savitur varaṁ rūpaṁ jyotiḥ parasya dhīmahi

yannaḥ satyena dīpayet.

“Let us meditate on the most auspicious (best) form of Savitri, on the Light of the Supreme which shall illumine us with the Truth.”

Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram: Sanskrit Mantras

This was distributed by the Mother on Saraswati Puja Day, the 2nd February 1960.

On the 21st the Mother gave everyone a card in a special envelope showing a pair of golden swans as heralds of the Supramental World. They had appeared in 1956 in a vision to the painter, Promode Kumar Chattopadhyaya.

On the 29th there was to be the first anniversary of the Day of the Supramental Manifestation—the first anniversary because this date can be observed only in Leap Years. It has been aptly named the Golden Day.

Throughout the week every evening there was meditation at the Playground, after tape recordings of the Mother’s talks or her music or some recitation had been played.

Then the great day came. The Mother distributed 2517 golden symbols, of which the obverse has twelve rays indicating the Supramental Manifestation with Sri Aurobindo’s lotus in the centre; and the reverse has the Mother’s symbol in the middle with the date 29-2-56 at the top and 29-2-60 at the bottom.

There is a change in Sri Aurobindo’s symbols on the medals. The two triangles, in the middle of which the square containing the lotus is usually put, are absent and in their place there are the Sun’s rays spreading out from the square. On being asked for the reason of this change the Mother said:

“I never intended to give Sri Aurobindo’s symbol.

The design on the medal signifies—the twelve rays of the new creation issue from the manifestation of the Avatar:

lotus—Avatar

square—manifestation

12 rays—new creation

The Mother, Words of the Mother - III: The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth

23 March 60”

That day the Ashram put on a look of all gold. The balcony where the Mother appears at 6-15 a.m. was covered with gold satin which had a Supramental-Manifestation flower embroidered on it. Visitors from all over India and abroad came to Pondicherry for the Golden Day. The women were in saris with golden borders, which they had received from the Mother herself a fortnight earlier.

Music is God’s own gift to man to help him to attune himself to a higher plane of consciousness. The Mother played her music at 10 a.m. for half an hour on a new organ offered by one of her American devotees. One sadhak had the inner experience that the music brought down a veritable shower of golden dew from above. Another listener, a retired District Judge, then present in the Ashram, had a vision of Sri Krishna dancing in the Mother’s room and when it was referred to the Mother her answer was “Yes”.

To accommodate our guests in the Ashram, school children and teachers were seated in the School, where the music was relayed by microphones. A young visitor, when he found 2,000 persons sitting in the Ashram in pin-drop silence, remarked that one had to make no effort to meditate there but the atmosphere itself poured meditation into one’s soul.

The chief event of the Golden Day started at 4 p.m. when the Mother began to distribute the golden symbols. As soon as one entered the Ashram one was greeted with flowers of various golden hues. The “Service” tree above the Samadhi and other plants were illuminated with little bulbs of gold and other colours. The Mother, clad in a golden sari which had taken a full year to be embroidered, was seated in a golden chair covered with orange silk in the Meditation Hall (of which the walls were also covered with orange silk). The dome was specially made of aluminium sheets so as to reflect the golden rays of tube-lights. The distribution lasted till 5.30 p.m. While returning from Darshan we saw an announcement in the Mother’s own handwriting in French and in English, put up on a board:

The Golden Day

Henceforth the 29th February will be the day of the Lord.

The Mother, Words of the Mother - III: The Supramental Manifestation upon Earth

With the evening meal plastic bottles with golden tops were distributed, each containing five ounces of fresh honey, reminding one of the nectar given to the gods for their immortality. The Day’s programme ended with a showing, at the Playground, of coloured slides of the Mother in her private chamber. “Radiant,” “illuminating” were the words on the lips of the sadhaks after seeing the show. A visitor, who had no knowledge of the Mother or any interest in spirituality, happened to see the slides, and said at the end: “Who was the lady? She appeared to me to be a goddess of 25 years.”

The celebration of the Golden Day surpassed all previous festivities, though each had possessed its own importance and significance. The grandeur with which the Mother’s 80th birthday had been celebrated two years ago was indeed unique, but that was the expression of our gratitude for all that she had done for us. She had already told us in 1958: 1

“By the very fact that you live upon earth at this moment—whether you are conscious of it or not and even whether you wish it or not—you absorb with the air that you breathe this new supramental substance which is spreading in earth’s atmosphere and it is preparing in you things that will manifest all on a sudden, as soon as you have taken the decisive step.”

Now the Transcendental Mother appeared before us to bestow upon us the gift of the New Birth. This was the work for which Sri Aurobindo had lived and laid down his life. Soon after his passing away, the Mother had declared to a sadhak:

“About a year ago, while I was discussing things, I remarked that I felt like leaving this body of mine He spoke out in a very firm tone, ‘No, this can never be. If necessary for this transformation, I might go, you will have to fulfil our Yoga of supramental descent and transformation.”

The Mother, Words of the Mother - I: Mahasamadhi

A glimpse of the unerring foresight with which the Mother and the Master have worked to achieve this end may be had from the booklet Towards February 29 which contains the Mother’s utterances since 1930, published a few days after the celebration.

Apropos of February 29, 1956 it has been said that it took the Mother 30 years to make the Supermind manifest. What these 30 years mean may be gauged from the fact that her work and Sri Aurobindo’s has been a challenge to all Nature and signifies the turning of the whole stream of the evolution to a new channel. We may recall the following lines from Sri Aurobindo, when he was asked whether the work would be accomplished after even 30 years:

“Considering that by ordinary evolution it could not have been done even at Nature’s express speed in less than 3000 years, and would ordinarily have taken anything from 30000 to 3000000 the transit of 30 years is perhaps not too slow.”

Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram: 1936

The greatness of the Golden Day lies in the glimpse which the Mother has given us of the New World, which the mind cannot explain and the pen cannot describe. She has taken the human form in order that we who are made of clay may turn into gold. Each one of us according to his capacity of receptivity foreglimpsed on that day what it was to be turned into gold. For years we had dreamt about the Golden Age. On this day her presence among us gave substance to that dream and blessed all those who were witnesses to this event of world-wide importance. As time rolls on and the manifestation of the Supermind becomes more and more evident, this festival will fully shine out and all humanity, transported with joy, will commemorate it.

May the world sing with the Prophet of Supermind:

The Iron Age is ended. Only now

The last fierce spasm of the dying past

Shall shake the nations, and when that has passed,

Earth washed of ills shall raise a fairer brow.

Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems: In the Moonlight

- Narayanprasad

(Translated by J. N. Welingkar from the Hindi)