The Old Spirituality and the New Vision

[This open letter to a friend is pretty much Part III of a series beginning with The More Real You Get the More Real the World Gets; and The World As a Harmonious, Luminous, Dynamic REALITY.]

Dear X,

The point that I tried to clarify in my second post is that the WORDS themselves of the Lennon ('The more real one gets the more unreal the world gets') are tied to a negation of the world that was epitomized by the teachings of Gautama the Buddha regardless of what Lennon meant or how anyone interprets his words. This age-old negation can be understood as a seed that rooted in the dim consciousness of the Buddha’s time. Similar negations of the Feminine/Mother/Matrix (in favor of the Masculine/Father/Spirit) can be detected in ALL the major religions spawned in the same age or time frame. 

Words mean something. At their best, they are symbolic of reality. At their worst, they are subject to being twisted around, distorted and used incorrectly by those out of touch with reality. I do not believe that anyone with an integral consciousness could ever make such a statement positing an inverse relationship between higher consciousness and the unreality of world. Other words would be chosen ... other poetry would be constructed to make the very valid point (if that was the point to be made) that the mental consciousness has a distorted perspective and experience of the world. The lowest possible meaning or fragmented definition of the word 'world' would not be assumed.

Regarding your comment that ‘Modern Western Buddhism [is a] better balanced between Spirit and Matter than traditional Buddhism,’ Buddhism and other religions may be changing their face and modern day teachings to be seemingly (superficially) more in tune with the irreversible spiritual tide of the times, but you have to consider the seed of consciousness that the whole system springs up from. The tree of Buddhism with all its branches and offshoots springs from the seed realization of emptiness, nothingness and the void ... positing the absence of a soul and an exit from the dynamic world as the highest goal or fruit of this realization of ‘the void’. The design of this seed that was planted thousands of years ago can not be changed. The fruit a tree will bear is entirely dependent on the inherent indwelling qualities of the seed. The fruit of modern-day Buddhism is still the fruit of a seed of nothingness and soul-negation no matter how well-meaning teachers adapt and spin the core teachings.

In stark contrast, Sri Aurobindo’s life and world mission was to introduce and establish an entirely new seed of consciousness whose essence is fullness and perfection in detail, and whose force is all-integrating, all-organizing, all-harmonizing, and whose fruit is the realization of a higher evolutionary order and a divinized world.

‘[T]he old spirituality was an escape from life into the divine Reality, leaving the world just where it was, as it was; whereas our new vision, on the contrary, is a divinisation of life, a transformation of the material world into a divine world. This has been said, repeated, more or less understood, indeed it is the basic idea of what we want to do. But this could be a continuation with an improvement, a widening of the old world as it was ‒ and so long as this is a conception up there in the field of thought, in fact it is hardly more than that ‒ but what has happened, the really new thing, is that a new world is born, born, born. It is not the old one transforming itself, it is a new world, which is born. And we are right in the midst of this period of transition where the two are entangled ‒ where the outer still persists all-powerful and entirely dominating the ordinary consciousness, but where the new one is quietly slipping in, still very modest, unnoticed ‒ unnoticed to the extent that outwardly it does not disturb anything very much, for the time being, and that in the consciousness of most people it is even altogether imperceptible. And yet it is working, growing ‒ until it is strong enough to assert itself visibly.’ (The Mother, The Mother’s Agenda, 10 July 1957)

This new birth or seed (as all seeds are) is programmed to unfold its inner design and power in due course of time. The Mother and Thea (Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet) have been absolutely indispensable to the establishment of this seed. It could not have been established without their combined Integral and Supramental yoga revealing the eternal connection between the Transcendent, Cosmic and Individual Divine. The ‘fullness’ and all-pervading, all-uniting influence of this new seed of consciousness is based on the ONENESS of this Divine Trinity. Thus this new seed is, in a real sense, a compression of that triadic Oneness. The Individual and Cosmic forms are not considered opposite to the Transcendent Divine or Spirit. They are all three One. 

The emptiness and disharmony and apparent chaos of our modern world, is solidly and irrevocably based on a BIPOLAR seed, whose inner potential, power and fruition has been the false division in our minds between Spirit and Matter (between Spirit and Self, and Spirit and Cosmos). And although this seed birthed and fulfilled a necessary stage of our evolutionary journey, giving us both the wonders and horrors of modern civilization, it bears no centering and unifying force. Its force is fragmenting and polarizing. It is easy enough to see the real fruits of this fragmenting and polarizing seed everywhere around us. However much we may appreciate the ‘good’ fruits the bipolar seed has produced, the ‘bad’ fruits are part of the package; and nothing can change the fact that the essence of this seed is fragmentation, un-sustainability, mortality and death. It is death-bound.

The Rishis of the Rig Veda revealed the essence and creative field-womb of this seed using the image of Martanda – the Dead Egg. Martanda is the 8th son of Aditi (the ‘Mother of Light’ who has 12 ‘sons’ altogether). Thea makes the clear connection between Martanda and the 8^th month of the 12 month Vedic Year (i.e. the 8^th sign of the Zodiac: Scorpio). Martanda/Scorpio represents a period wherein the mental consciousness has achieved remarkable capacities of self-expression and exploration; but the true seed, design and energies of the self, the world and cosmos are hidden from the mind. Hence the mind creates its forms and systems based on a deep ignorance of the self and world and cosmos. The name the Rishis gave to the true seed of our self and world existence was Hiranyaretas – the Golden Seed, planted within Hiranyagarbha – the Golden Egg.

In order to continue the journey and move into the 9^th stage of the evolutionary journey  (Sagittarius), the calcified forms and systems of the Dead Egg must be broken, dismantled and thoroughly defeated by those with higher knowledge of the essential and immortal ONENESS and divinity of creation (gnosis of the Golden Seed and Egg). This is not mythology as most people imagine mythology, as something irrelevant to their own reality. It is an accurate vision of the perilous stage of our collective evolutionary journey that we are living. We would have little or no hope of surviving this death-march, had not the Vedic Seers well-recorded their measurements and higher knowledge of the journey and their knowledge of the triadic oneness of the Transcendent, Cosmic and Individual Divine.

Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea have been uniquely able to receive the transmission of the Vedic Seers, to reformulate their higher knowledge in modern language, and thereby to reveal (rebirth) the Hidden One or Golden Seed that is in its very nature, victorious over the lowly and misaligned perspective of the divisive mental consciousness, even before it unfolds its true power. It is designed to conquer the reigning darkness (fragmented consciousness) of the 8^th stage of the evolutionary journey via illumination and integration of all parts of the whole, by the light and force of the One. In India this conquering seed is know as Kartikeya – a victorious child (son of Shiva) born in the 9^th month of the 12 month Zodiacal Year. He is also known as Skanda or Guha. ¹

The very least point I hope to make in all this is the seed and roots of things matter. They manifest and bear fruit above the surface of the soil. Understanding the real consequences (meaning 'with sequence') or unfolding of a seed in the course of time is a crucial key and passageway to the highest understanding and experience of World and the Self. The divisive, immature and deadening mental consciousnesses, from which many naturally have wanted to escape or transcend over the past few thousand years, is completely ignorant of and even hostile to the idea of this organic and orderly unfolding in large and small cycles of time. This ignorance continues to live on in, and increasingly impede the progress our individual and world consciousness. As such, it is just about the furthest thing from people’s minds to appreciate or even be slightly interested in the importance of the unfolding sequence of events, i.e. the connections of real events and real world-expressions spread out through cycles of time. So most proceed as if the continuity and 12-stage progression of the individual soul and the world soul, as SEEN by the ancient Vedic seers, has absolutely no meaning or significance in terms of self-realization or self-organization.

This ignorance (however passive or aggressive) is not a minor foil in our world play. It is an epic barrier to approaching the unified consciousness which now lies before us to be realized and lived into. Regardless of the deadly backlash, Thea has taken on this epic barrier or blockage by explaining in the simplest terms possible, that understanding the realities of time and the realities of what exactly manifests here on planet Earth, in the course and stages of time, is crucial to realizing the supramental unifying consciousness-force introduced by Sri Aurobindo as the next step in our evolutionary journey. This understanding is crucial because Time and Space are the field, body, and substance of this unifying force. The inherent super-logic and perfect design of the Golden Seed and Golden Egg is made manifest in Time and Space, and is visible in terms of simple geometries, harmonies, cycles, waves and patterns of expression. For those who refuse to acknowledge or integrate such geometries, harmonies, cycles, waves and patterns of expression into their scientific or spiritual pursuits, the higher consciousness that pervades and integrates all layers of and all movement within our world-existence will remain invisible behind the barriers and blinders of the old consciousness. One may intuit such a higher consciousness or believe in it, but one will not be able to see (to become a seer of) the play of the all-unifying supramental consciousness-force in the unfolding circumstances of one’s individual life or in the world play unless one learns to recognize the reality of its own terms of expression … including the reality of its most basic math and measure.

Having lived even just a few baby steps into this realization/recognition, I can say without any reservation whatsoever, that it is not wise and literally pointless to be attached, in whatever subtle or not-subtle ways, to the seed and roots or branches of the painfully fragmented consciousness that has produced our modern-day predicament – a World over-populated by thoroughly lost and empty and self-destructive people. 

What is clear to me is that individuals can utilize and apply the re-formulated Vedic gnosis presented by Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Thea to become conscious of the individual soul and world soul (the Golden Seed and Golden Egg) and to thereby break the hold of the ‘Dead Egg’ and its entirely distorted field … or they can ignore it and continue to be a moribund (death-bound) fixture of this distorted field … however happily or unhappily depending on how comfortable or uncomfortable one is in this Old World Order.

Becoming a Singularity

I know that for you, and for many there must be some kind of social consensus and social component in order to feel drawn to any spiritual teachings or practice. Because, understandably, many people are attracted to religion and spiritual groups because at their core, they feel empty, lonely and want company. They naturally want to feel part of something larger than themselves. But the truth is that if one wants to enter into an entirely new field of consciousness organized by the Golden Seed or Hidden One (hidden to those in the darkness), any attachment to mass-agreements about what constitutes higher knowledge has to be shed. If one wants company more than one wants to uncover the indwelling Truth of all being and becoming, then one will not uncover the indwelling Truth of all being and becoming. In order to make the transition from the 8^th stage of the evolutionary journey, Scorpio, to the 9^th stage, Sagittarius, one must be willing to stand alone, to journey alone into the seed/core and inner matrix of the individual and collective self no matter what or who is lost in the process. That is the essence of the fearless Vedic conqueror or hero, the One who must emerge, based on the strength of his or her own soul rather than on external indicators and support, from the suffocating ignorance that holds an entire civilization in its death-grip, and establish a true – not imaginary or sentimental – alignment with the point of all existence.

Accordingly, the symbol of Sagittarius is an arrow, which must sail through all attachments, distractions and distortions in order to reach the ‘Bulls Eye’, the target, the One … the point at the very center of the circle of the Self. This arrow symbolizes the true and absolutely sincere focus that one must have in the process of becoming a conscious Individual (microcosm) within the whole of the Cosmos (macrocosm). In order to progress beyond the chaos and randomness of the fragmented mental consciousness, one must become a singularity … one must become the Golden Seed, knowledgeable of its vast Design. But this task is the ultimate kicker and the ultimate test that will eliminate most in our times from transitioning from the death-bound consciousness that is our ‘comfort-zone’ to the immortal all-sustaining consciousness that Sri Aurobindo introduced. The reason being, of course, that most people are far too interested in protecting their own small designs or the designs they have inherited from their families, communities and society, to even consider something else, even if that something else is the hidden point and design of all of creation. Attachments to the reigning death-bound consciousness of our civilization and its distortions and deformations, effectively veil or hide the unifying point and design of the One Self in All Selves. As the Vedic Rishis saw, this is the way our journey is designed … the natural course of our evolution. The individual either remains trapped and dies within a web of pointless relations, or emerges as the Eagle, the Hero, the Conqueror or Savior … the true Individual, perfectly aligned with the luminous and eternal point of all relations.

It is important to acknowledge that the Hero in this real evolutionary play does not simply emerge out of a sea of tranquility with no effort required or exerted! The Hero of the journey does not meditate his or her way into the 9^th and 10^th stages of the 12 stage evolutionary journey. There is a battle to be fought that requires real skill and ‘all-in’ involvement. The Hero faces and conquers an unimaginable mass of deadly pressures and antagonists in a sea of toxicity. Sri Aurobindo recognized all of this and pretty much dismantled the idea that the spiritual quest (in our day and age) should be peaceful and the idea that everyone should just accept the relativity of our existence and our belief systems so that everyone can get along without incident. The Hero of the Vedic journey, armed with knowledge of the One Self, faces and annihilates all dead, empty, pointless and toxic structures and enemies of the past mercilessness. It is via this crucial battle that the Hero ‘wins’ (firmly establishes in oneself) the truth-consciousness.

‘If one is among the ... seekers of [the] Truth one has to take sides for the Truth, to stand against the forces that attack it and seek to stifle it. Arjuna wanted not to stand for either side, to refuse any action of hostility even against assailants; Sri Krishna, who insisted so much on samata, strongly rebuked his attitude and insisted equally on his fighting the adversary. ‘Have samata and seeing clearly the Truth, fight.’ ... It is a spiritual battle inward and outward ; by neutrality and compromise or even passivity one may allow the enemy force to pass and crush down the Truth and its children.’ (Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, Ch. 23, pp. 665-666) ²

I know this response is much more than you bargained for when you wrote your thoughts to me on the subject of the Lennon quote, but regardless, this is the response that your brief thoughts on the subject evoked in me. From the start I knew I wanted this to be an open letter … diving more deeply into the subject of seeds and formations of the old consciousness and seeds and formations of the new. Anyhow I hope this makes some sense to you and maybe to others who are truly interested in cultivating a higher consciousness and experience of our wonder-full world.

Love, Lori

PS. A few hours after sending this letter to Thea, she sent out today (to her circle) on Sri Aurobindo's 140th birth anniversary, a letter that she had written in 1989 that was recently typed up by a student/colleague. It is uncannily in tune with the above letter and she has given me permission to publish it. So here's a link to that Addendum: 'OLD AND NEW EXPERIENCE'.

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¹ Sri Aurobindo wrote of this ‘victorious child’ in his 76th Aphorism: ‘Europe prides herself on her practical and scientific organisation and efficiency. I am waiting till her organisation is perfect; then a child shall destroy her.’ Link to the Mother’s discussion of this Aphorism.

² For more on Sri Aurobindo and the spiritual battle, see Michael Danino’s, ‘Sri Aurobindo and the Gita’, a keynote address delivered at a seminar on ‘Relevance of Bhagavad Gita in the New Millennium’, January 2000.