"Supramental Consciousness and Human Evolution"
Sometimes the changes are extreme enough that if I look back and say, “Oh! Ten years ago? That’s not even me, that’s somebody else…..I am a different person now; don’t judge me by what I was then. I don’t feel myself anything in common with that.”
At least in parts of our being we have this experience. Therefore, in this yoga, we find that while the goal is so much more difficult, the result achieved by the effort we put in is so much greater. Because the effort we put in, is to put ourselves in her hands. And it is her infinite power that works to make the change in us. Therefore, the result is so much greater.
- Where is this Supramental Consciousness today, which Sri Aurobindo and the Mother worked for?
- Well, since 1956 it is here. Now. In everything. But its action still has to be indirect, through these two levels. To the extent that we open to it, its action becomes more direct. Otherwise, it still has to remain indirect. But it is there, and it pushes; in and through every single atom.
- So, where is the Supramental Consciousness?
- It is here, it fills us. It even fills our body. But it cannot act on the body directly because the body is unconscious. It fills the substance of our life-force, prana; it fills the substance of our mind and the subtle inner body. But it cannot act unless that part of our consciousness opens and turns to it and invokes it. Then, it acts directly to the extent we can take, and increasing as we can take more. And it builds our capacity to take in more. Dharana Shakti.
As far as Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s physical manifestation were concerned, their work was completed. The realisation and even the transformation of the human consciousness was taken all the way till the last point of the physical, tissue remaining.
Even within that, the Mother observes, that there are many cells in her body which were able to make that transition and open to the Divine and accept the Divine, and so have become immortal effectively. With all this having been established already as a prototype in the collective consciousness, the journey to follow is inevitable. Someone asked the Mother, “So, when will we see the result of the Supramental?” She said, “Oh! It is very soon, just wait for another thousand years and it will be obvious to all.” Somewhere else, she said she is convinced that the human body itself will be enormously more plastic than anything we can imagine today, within three hundred years.
I was looking at some of the Chinese acrobats - live and on TV - and it is unimaginable that the human body can be so supple and so conscious. And the first question I asked them was: “How long did it take you to train this?”
They said, “Two years.”
And I wonder if we were to dedicate ourselves with the same commitment that they did… - yes, they were younger, the body was still growing, so there was an easier starting-point - but in terms of consciousness, even if there is a rigidity of other things, we should be able to achieve the same if we commit ourselves to this. If we do that, then, even in the very physical substance, you will have that Supramental action pushing, even as it works in the mind and the vital. What prevents us? Only the lack of our effort.
Everything else is there and waiting, pushing, even compelling us. Where we resist by lack of effort, lack of interest or even sometimes revolt, then that pressure gives pain because we resist. The pain is the only part in us that resists the push, compelling change. The moment we relax that part and allow the change, there is no tension and no pain. Wherever in life you find the point of pressure that pains, you know that it is a part in you that is resisting. Relax … open and offer it, allow the change there and you will find the things just flowing rapidly.
Nowhere in human history has such a situation been offered to humanity, and once the transition is made into the next grade of consciousness, the effort that is there in Nature to make a leap will also subside. This is the point Sri Aurobindo makes; as in the past in the ape, there was a push to wake up into humanity and a narrow band of consciousness made that leap, with t help from Above then, the effort itself subsided. So it will be with humanity, which this narrow band of effort in consciousness terms shall make that transition, and then eventually the effort will subside. And there will be a gap seen once again.
Here we are among those who are part of this narrow concentrated effort, a push from Nature, a push from our own inmost truth….from our own psychic being and soul, both are combined assisting each other and the Supramental pulling from above. It’s a three-way effort: the soul, the nature and the Divine above, and a meeting of these three to make that transition.
There has been no greater opportunity before, or as we have seen ever after. This is the single most important life in which we can make extraordinary progress Sometimes I remind myself when there are other distractions: “Oh! That would be interesting to see …. That would be interesting to experience...”
I remind myself: “You know, you have been through a million lives, doing the same thing …we might have another few million lives, where we can do it again if we want, but this opportunity will not come again.”
So, it is worth it, to dedicate ourselves to this effort now. Even though there are parts in the nature which pull and push, it doesn’t matter. The centrality of our being oriented to That, we must remind ourselves and re-centre ourselves in that aspiration every day. Otherwise, the things tend to pull us out into dispersion or distraction. The renewal must be done every day - even if it’s only for a few minutes - in whatever form it is easiest for us.
For the rest, the help is there.
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With this perspective, I think, we can take a few questions if there are any.
