Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

Sadhana in the Ashram

The Supramental Evolution, the Ashram and the Hostile Forces [11]

Summing up, I understand you to say:

(1) That the hostile forces were permitted by God to pervert this creation at the time of the evolution of the human type.

No, I said “when life began to appear”, that is before the human evolution.

(2) That when the supermind comes down and manifests itself in the transformed earth consciousness they will go away or be driven out as there would be no need of their presence in this creation or Asrama,

No possibility either, if the supermind is once dominant.

(3) for here they serve some purpose (which I have not quite understood).

The purpose they serve in the world is to give a full chance to the possibilities of the Inconscience and Ignorance — for this world was meant to be a working out of these possibilities with the supramental harmonisation as its eventual outcome. The life, the work developing here in the Asram has to deal with the world problem and had therefore to meet, it could not avoid, the conflict with the working of the hostile Powers in the human being.

(4) That you did not allow any hostile being in the Asrama, except one converted Asura, and that no Asura owing allegiance to you had turned hostile.

We did not call any. The converted one too came but did not remain, so he too does not count.

(5) Outside the Asrama some Lords of the vital world took birth on this earth, saying that they would serve God, but in fact lorded it over others. But these were not Asuric forces though they were so called in the {{0}}book.[[The “book” referred to here is apparently the Mother’s Prayers and Meditations. See footnote 2 on page 654. — Ed.]]

I said nothing about their not being Asuras. I said those to whom the Mother referred were not Asuras who had manifested in the Asram, but outside the Asram and before it was formed — as human beings who wanted to help and prepare the Divine Advent but spoiled their work, not by hostility, but by egoism — just as human beings with an Asuric temperament often do.

(6) The transformation of hostile beings is no part of the Yogin’s work — though Mother transformed one. No such thing had been done in the Asrama or will be done.

The Mother’s transforming one Asura was an incident, not an object of the Yoga.

I have not said either that it will not be done. If the Divine demands it, it will be done; if not, it won’t be; but in any case it is not an object of the Yoga.

(7) That the Supermind can be attained individually though a force may descend by which men can profit according to the self-preparation — though you once said that it could not be done individually.

You have missed altogether the qualifying words which I put with great care and prominent emphasis — if you don’t read carefully, you will necessarily misunderstand what I write. I said “This transformation cannot be done individually in a solitary way only” [p. 649]. No individual solitary transformation apart from the work for the earth (which means more than any individual transformation) would be either possible or useful. (Also no individual human being can by his own power alone work out the transformation, nor is it the object of the Yoga to create an individual superman here and there.) The object of the Yoga is to bring down the supramental consciousness on earth, to fix it there, to create a new race with the principle of the supramental consciousness governing the inner and outer individual and collective life. Therefore the existence of the Asram, whatever difficulties it created for ourselves or for the individual, was inevitable. The method was the preparation of the earth consciousness in the human being as represented by the members of the Asram and others (with also a certain working in the general earth consciousness) so as to make the descent of the supramental Force possible. That Force accepted by individual after individual according to their preparation would establish the supramental consciousness in the physical world and so create a nucleus for its own expansion.

(8) This world was originally intended to be an evolution out of ignorance in matter to knowledge through struggle and duality. Thus there was no original divine creation in the image of Heaven, or an original Satya Yuga.

It is quite possible that there have been periods of harmony on different levels, not supramental, which were afterwards disturbed — but those could only be a stage or resting place in a world of spiritual evolution out of the Ignorance.

(9) That a perfect manifestation is quite possible without need of evolution. But you have not said anything about whether an unfolding of the Inconscience (involved Sat-Chit-Ananda) without ignorance is possible.

I don’t see how there can be, given the starting point of the Inconscience. An unfolding of anything involved must necessarily be an evolution.

(10) As for Krishna, he was God, who is everything consciously not excluding the Vijnana (the Supermind).

I have said nothing about that.

31 January 1934