I grew up in a middle-class family in Odisha, a family that is deeply religious and ritualistic. From the childhood, I took part in evening prayers with my sisters and parents. It was mesmerising moments of connect with Lord Jagannath, Lord Shiva, Devi Parvati, Devi Durga, Lord Ganesh, Lord Krishna, Lord Hanuman and so on. The soul-stirring bhajans of Lord Jagannath keep reverberating still in my mind. Those were the moments of childhood bliss.

July 1995. My elder sister Sadhana Apa joined as a Teacher in the Sri Aurobindo Integral school in Jeypore, Odisha. In the Integral Schools of Odisha, the teachers used to attend mandatory study circles in their school along with the parents and know more about Integral Yoga and Integral Education practices. One evening she came home with The Mother Book and Hymns to Durga Book and asked my family to join her in reading those books. We were not at all ready to accept this. We were extremely allergic to her anti-religious acts and opposed her sudden revolt against our age-old systems of family traditions and heritage. We said to her we were praying to Lord Jagannath, Shiva, Ganesha and other prayers since childhood. The Gods will be angry on us. It was simply impossible for all of us to accept her reading the Mother book in front of us despite our vehement protests.

After a few days, situations changed when my mother and she went to Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry in a sudden and unexpected journey arranged by group of seekers of the Integral school. My mother felt extremely delighted after visiting the Ashram and spell-bound after visiting the Mother’s Room on a Darshan Day. My mother after returning from Pondicherry urged all of us to change our attitude towards the Mother and read and accept The Mother book more and more.

Initially, we had lots of reservations, but constant Pathachakra by my sister and mother at home brought us closer and closer as some of the words of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo started turbulence in us, in the deepest corner of our hearts. Something in us stirred suddenly. We never asked ourselves so many questions while chanting the Bhajans of Gods mechanically. We never knew why are we here, what is our purpose of existence. But after listening to the Mother’s Words in the home Pathachakra, we got lots of clarity to very basic questions of life: What is the true purpose of life, our true destiny lies in change of nature, who is Supreme Divine, who are Gods and Goddesses, what is our Work, what is Knowledge, Role of Mind, Body, Emotions, and so on. From outer life to inner life, from unconscious way of living to conscious way of living, from outward ordinary life to inward progressive life, Pathachakra had made a change in our life’s dimension both individually and also in the family. The biggest impact was it stopped our childhood fighting amongst ourselves in

the family. 😊

Through Pathachakra only, I came to know about The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, with Her Grace. All my family members also came to know about The Mother and Sri Aurobindo in this life fortunately with Her Grace. Many of our friends and relatives came to know through us about the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. It was a chain reaction.

Yes, Pathachakra is a mass movement in Odisha. It is a phenomenon.

We are lucky to be born in Babaji’s Odisha. Babaji — the Bibhuti of Sri Aurobindo who inspired entire Odisha to taste the feel of Integral Yoga movement through Pathachakra movement.

We are also lucky to be born in Sri Aurobindo’s Planet. A seer, an Avatar directly comes to this Earth and guides us, uplifts us, shows us the Path. While millions of people still live in ignorance, we are able to read, meditate, discuss about their vision in our Study Circles.

We are all lucky to be in touch of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo in this life, in this birth.

But we should remember that: It is not we who had chosen this Divine.

He who chooses the Infinite has been chosen by the infinite. — Sri Aurobindo.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

Pathachakra (Satsang or Study Circle) is a collective study of The Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s Books by a group of aspirants or seekers.

Satsang

Sat — means Good or Truth

Sang — Association

Satsang — A company with the Truth, Being with the Truth or the seekers of Truth or discoverer of Truth of Life.

Study Circle helps providing the seed of True Knowledge, helps us go deeper and deeper parts of our lives, helps us grow higher and higher, helps us to live within.

When we are with the people of similar spiritually awakened consciousness, with the same psychic awakening, everyone helps each other consciously to progress together and attain the realisation of the Divine.

The Mother: We have all met in previous lives. Otherwise we would not have come together in this life. We are of one family and have worked through ages for the victory of the Divine and its manifestation upon earth.

Study Circle helps us realise the Supreme Truth, The Truth of who we are, The Truth of Divine.

Pathachakra is a

v Collective Shakti.

v Collective Harmony.

v Yagna of Purification.

v Journey of Self-Discovery.

v Journey of Collective Discipline and Adventure to unknown territories.

Pathachakra is an

§ Agni — A Fire of Collective Aspiration to purify us.

§ Ananda — That inundates every cell and tissue of our being.

§ Action — With a far-reaching consequence for humanity.

§ Attempt — Although small, but a big promise for the future.

§ Effort — Makes Earth the Heroic spirits’ battlefield.

§ Eternal’s attempt — Prepares the ground for supramental descent.

§ Intimacy — With the Divine which distance and time cannot divide.

§ Intuition — Developed to break our limits of the ego and desire.

§ Occupation — Helps every aspiring soul towards the Goal.

§ Unconditional self-giving — To the Divine for Her cause of total transformation.

Pathachakra is the

· Mother’s Direct Presence intensified into a conscious shape.

· Only Source of Ananda, Delight and Peace.

· Way to express and transmit the Divine Will and Divine Love at the material level.

· Base on which Gnostic Community is formed.

· Very foundation of Integral Yoga Movement.

· Way of self-finding, self-unfolding the Spirit.

· Force that unites all human beings with inner Divine Presence.

· True Collective Love for the Divine Mother.

· Force that breaks all resistance to Truth, Love, Strength and the Divine.

2. Why Study Circle?

2.1. The Mother on Spreading the Message of Sri Aurobindo

The Mother says People of Odisha have accepted Sri Aurobindo at their subliminal level many decades ago. We are all fortunate to hear this directly from the Divine.

The Mother About Study Circles:

The action of the members of the group should be threefold:

(1) To realise in oneself the ideal to be attained: to become a perfect earthly representative of the first manifestation of the Unthinkable in all its modes, attributes and qualities.

To preach this ideal by word, but, above all, by example, so as to find out all those who are ready to realise it in their turn and to become also announcers of liberation.

(2) To found a typic society or reorganise those that already exist.

For each individual also there is a twofold labour to be done, simultaneously, each side of it helping and completing the other:

(1) An inner development, a progressive union with the Divine Light, sole condition in which man can be always in harmony with the great stream of universal life.

(2) An external action which everyone has to choose according to his capacities and personal preferences. He must find his own place, the place which he alone can occupy in the general concert, and he must give himself entirely to it, not forgetting that he is playing only one note in the terrestrial symphony and yet his note is indispensable to the harmony of the whole, and its value depends upon its justness.

Source: Words of Long Ago — pg 50

The Mother: To give oneself to the Divine, to receive and be the Divine, to transmit and spread forth the Divine: these are the three simultaneous movements which constitute our total relation with the Divine.

The Mother’s Conversation with Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama: It is my dream to have the perfect economic development of Tibet, the perfect organization, the efficiency that we find in Communism, but all this based upon, founded upon the Buddhist qualities of Compassion and Love, so that the people in power do not degenerate into corruption. What is Mother’s view of this dream, and whether such a thing will be realised in Tibet?

Mother: It is not a dream. It will naturally be. But the time it will take, I do not know. This is something like what Sri Aurobindo has said about the Supramental. Truth, Love, Compassion will give a basis to the new creation. It is not birth but the value of men that should give the right to authority. If the teaching of Sri Aurobindo can spread over the world, and if there is the full manifestation of the Supramental, then the Supramental will be the power of the liberation of Tibet. It is bound to come, it will come; but if it goes as it is going now, it will take hundreds of years. But if the Supramental is manifested, it may come quick. Quick does not mean ten or twenty years — that would be almost miraculous.

Kireet Joshi: But the Supramental is now working very powerfully.

Mother: It is, it is working. It will be manifested with enough power when the right people have the authority. For the moment, it seems that the opposition, the falsehood attacks with full power before dying. Never, never have men lied as much as they are doing now. It seems the old habit comes spontaneously. But it must be broken. We are at a very… what we could call an unpleasant moment of the history of the earth. It is interesting because the action is very powerful, but I can’t call it pleasant. But I have told you that already; I wrote it. [Message of November 26, 1972: “Before dying, falsehood rises in full swing. Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe. Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the truth? I ask an effort from all so that it has not to be. It is only the Truth that can save us; truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the Truth or being destroyed.”]

Kireet Joshi: Yes, Mother. The Mother has given the message.

Dalai Lama: As for myself, I have no desire to continue in power in the Government. For I feel that the Government involves so much of conflicts of parties, and the necessity of taking sides with one party against the other…

Mother: One can govern without taking sides. That is the mistake of all the governments; they reduce their capacity tremendously. But beyond the mind, there is a higher and deeper consciousness — they would find a Consciousness in which one can make use of all the capacities. It is a question of the consciousness being broad enough, so that each capacity can be put in its place in order to make a general harmony.

Dalai Lama: There is good will, there is sincerity among people all over the world, but the number of such people is not large. Will they be able to have an effect to change the conditions of the world?

Mother: It is bound to change; it is bound to change. Only, if the people are sincere it will shorten the time; it will go faster if the people are sincere. The first and indispensable step is to stop all falsehood. Falsehood is all that contradicts in us the Presence of the Divine. ◼

(Mother’s Agenda; Volume 13; Pages 352–354)

2.2. Shape the Future of the Children

When a seed is planted, we put barricade around the sapling as it grows. This is done basically to protect it from other animals or humans. As the little sapling grows into a big tree, it does not need any barricades as it is self-sustaining.

Similarly, when a person is young, a child faces all sorts of things, adverse situations at school or at homes, they need protection from tender age. They need to get right guidance to lead this human life perfectly. Through Pathachakra only, it is possible to guide them higher way of living this life. That will make them turn away from rat race of human life, as billions of people are leading ordinary way of living, only living for power, wealth and money. Through Pathachakra only the children will be learning the art of living with detachment. They will detach themselves from other humans, from their lower nature, and will learn to live for something higher, truer and perfect Divine being. They will be learn the art of self-discovery, art of living in the midst of society, art of speaking, acting consciously for the Divine. Pathachakras later become the stepping stone to an Ideal Human Being.

2.3. Pull the Country out of all Difficulties

The Mother: What must be done to pull the country out of its difficulty? Sri Aurobindo has foreseen all the troubles and he has given the solution. Just now we are approaching his Centenary; it seems arranged, you know, divinely arranged, because this would be a wonderful occasion to spread his teaching all over the country: the teaching, the practical teaching, his teaching about India, how to organise India, the mission of India. It seems to me that taking the Centenary as an occasion, his teaching could be spread all over the country with a little more organising — so that his ideas get spread. Those people who are interested can take it up and teach it, hold meetings and give the light and the knowledge to the people. It is a wonderful occasion. And it is only this that gives a clue to all these difficulties.

About all that has happened and all that is happening now, he has said clearly that to go back to it is useless. We must give the country its true position, thatis, the position of relying on the Divine. Naturally, this is at the other end of what people try to believe now. But Sri Aurobindo explains it in such a way that even those who are against it can agree. You understand? He has found a way of saying it which can be understood by everybody. That’s the only solution, as far as I can see; it is the only solution. All the rest will mean complication, contradiction and fighting.

Just now we have two years in front of us to organise a kind of demonstration of what he was teaching. And this is above politics, you see. It is not a question of party, it’s not that: because some are for it, others will naturally not be. It is above all politics. It is to organise the country beyond politics. And it is the only way. In politics it is always fight and ugly fight — ugly. And it has become so bad. He was telling me always that things would become worse and worse, because it is the end of

this 406age. We are entering into an age where things must be organised differently. It is a difficult time because of that.

Because we know what will come, we can help to make it come sooner and with less turmoil. There is no hope in going backwards; it would make things last endlessly. We must go forward, absolutely, and go beyond, beyond party. And nobody can explain that better than Sri Aurobindo, because he was so much, so much beyond party; he saw the advantages and disadvantages of all parties and he stated them exactly.

If you read carefully what he has written — so much — you will find the answer to all these questions. And at the same time you will know that you will have the full support of the Divine Power. The Power that was behind him is behind this transformation. It is time for transformation. We can’t cling to the past.

The best way to go beyond politics is to spread the message of Sri Aurobindo. Because he is no more a political element wanting to take power; there are only his ideas and ideals. And, of course, if people could understand and realise his programme, the country could be very strong, very strong.

Those who understand the teaching can take up the work of organising and spreading it. 25 May 1970

2.4. Join the Movement to Fulfil Sri Aurobindo’s Dream

Sri Aurobindo has told: India will be the Bishwa Guru one day.

The Mother: India ought to be the spiritual guide who explains what is happening and helps to hasten the movement. But unfortunately, in her blind ambition to imitate the West, she has become materialistic and neglectful of her soul.

For this thing is written in the book of God and nothing can prevent it…that the national life of India shall meet and possess its divine and mighty destiny.

We have a role to play in India’s becoming as the Bishwa Guru oneday. Instead of blinding following, imitating the West and their Intellectuals, let us set an example ourselves, before the world in spreading the Mother’s Message. Let this be an attempt of a squirrel which helped in the construction of Bridge to Lanka, just by taking the name of The Mother on our lips. Let us all work for the future. If we convey the message of Spirituality of the Future and take Mother’s message to the whole world. Not only across India but take our movement far and wide, to the remotest corner of this world. Who knows an aspiring soul will be waiting for the Mother’s Message in some corner of the world.

Let us at least help awakening the souls of the universe.

The Mother: Let India work for the future and set the example. Thus she will recover her true place in the world.

The Mother: From the spiritual point of view, India is the foremost country in the world. Her mission is to set the example of spirituality. Sri Aurobindo came on earth to teach this to the world. This fact is so obvious that a simple and ignorant peasant here is, in his heart, closer to the Divine than the intellectuals of Europe. All those who want to become Aurovilians must know this and behave accordingly; otherwise they are unworthy of being Aurovilians.

The Mother: Divine power alone can help India. If you can build faith and cohesion in the country, it is much more powerful than man made power.

What is the duty of every Indian today in the present emergency?

The Mother: Overgrow your small egoistic personality and become a worthy child of our Mother India, fulfil your duties with honesty and rectitude, and always keep cheerful and confident, with a steady trust in the Divine’s Grace.

The Mother: The future of India is very clear. India is the Guru of the world. The future structure of the world depends on India.

Being Indian has its added advantage. We should play role for the India’s becoming as the Bishwa Guru.

The Mother: It is only India that can discover the harmony…a conscious harmony behind things; a conscious harmony behind the physical exercises and the games; a conscious harmony behind the decoration, the art; a conscious harmony behind the food.

India is where the fate of the earth will be decided. India is the only place in the world which is still aware that something else than Matter exists. India is the living soul. India is incarnating the spiritual knowledge of the world. India has become the symbolic representation of all the difficulties of modern mankind.

2.5. A Collective Invocation of Mahashakti

Pathachakra is the Collective Invocation of MahaShakti.

The Mother: It is Shakti that has gone forth and entered into the people. Since long ago I have been preparing this uprising and now the time has come and it is I who will lead it to its fulfilment. That kind of Yogic Shakti is not the same as the Divine Shakti. Even the Asura and the Rakshasa have powers. The real Yoga Shakti is that which comes from contact or union with the Divine consciousness and its workings.

2.6. Biggest Instrument for the Transformation of the Human Race

Pathachakra has a far-reaching consequence for the entire humanity. Pathachakra will solve all major Human Crisis that is afflicting this whole world. I have seen miraculous effect of attending and conducting Pathachakras for years, on myself, on my inward growth, on my relationship with others in the Society and my relationship with the Divine. We all have felt this sometime in our own lives.

If one person can feel such a drastic change in one’s consciousness, just imagine the impact it will have on the Earth Consciousness if whole world is prepared and poured with this Knowledge of the Creation.

Let’s help the ignorant humanity and pull them out of this nescience and inconscience only with the Mother’s Force and Knowledge. She will be the Doer and we will be the mere Instruments. In our limited lifespans of human life, let us try to awaken as many souls as we can who are living a directionless life. As no one is there to tell them about the true purpose of the Existence.

The Mother: Yes, the time of proclamations and revelations has past; now is the time of action.

2.7. A Yagna of Collective Purification

Collective Purification is the crying need of the humanity. The way humanity is falling into abyss of darkness, ignorance, falsehood and suffering because of its Ego and Unending mindless desires, it is gradually falling into the grip of death or extinction.

A Collective Purity is required, which is only possible through world-wide Pathachakra or Study Circle Movement. Only Sincere Pathachakra can prevent the Earth from extinction.

The Mother: There is a moment, in the collective life, when one belongs to a group, when the choice must be made, when the purification must be done. Sometime this becomes very serious; it is almost a question of life and death for the group: it must make a decisive progress if it wants to survive.

Pathachakra is the Yagna of Collective Purification.

2.8. Unending Journey of Self-Discovery

One or two or 10000s Pathachakras will not satisfy the thirst of our soul. Our Psychic is the Force which

We have to ask ourselves how many psychic fires or psychic opening of others we are able to ignite in this life. This is a fire burning within us constantly birth after birth.

The Psychic Opening

In “Conversations”, the Mother speaks of a fire burning in the deep quietude of the heart. Is this fire the psychic being?

Sri Aurobindo: A fire is not a being — it is the psychic fire, an intense condition of aspiration.

Is it not possible to bring the psychic being forward without changing the mind and vital?

Sri Aurobindo: No. If they are unchanged they prevent the psychic from coming forward.

Is it true that if the psychic being comes to the front all doubts and difficulties can be swiftly destroyed?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes.

How to bring the psychic being in front ? Can it be done by avoiding wrong movements?

Sri Aurobindo: That is the negative way; the positive way is obedience to the Divine, devotion, surrender.

2.9. Journey of Collective Discipline and Adventure to unknown

Pathachakra is a collective movement of awakening. Here there is no ulterior motive behind conducting any Pathachakra. It is just to make awareness among the public. With disciplined approach, we can successfully conduct many Pathachakras. This is really an adventure to the unknown territory, both within and without.

2.10. Constant Burning of Collective Aspiration

Sri Aurobindo: The aspiration should be for the full descent of the Truth and the victory over the falsehood in the world.

The Mother: …when you are sincere and have an aspiration, you emanate a certain vibration, the vibration of your aspiration which goes and meets the corresponding force in the book, and it is a higher consciousness which gives you the answer.”

The Mother: A harmonious collective aspiration can change the course of circumstances. Collective harmony is the work undertaken by the Divine Consciousness; it alone has the power to realise it.

Our ideal, therefore, is fixed, — to become one with God and lead individually the divine life, but also to help others to the divine realisation and prepare, by any means, humanity for the kingdom of God on earth.

2.11. Spreading of Ananda into each Cell of our Body

We all are products of Pathachakra. Through Pathachakra only, we came to know about the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. The delight that we get is unimaginable. Now is the Time to repay this to the Supreme by sharing this Joy with Others. We should spread the Ananda of this Creation with the rest of the World by becoming living demonstration of their teachings. We also have to spread that Ananda of the Supreme into each cell of our Body by conducting more Pathachakra.

2.12. A big promise for the Future

The Mother: The future is for those who have the soul of a hero. A hero fears nothing, complains of nothing and never gives way.

Pathachakra will lay the ground for a bright promise for the future. It will bring the change of Consciousness in the whole world.

2.13. Change of Consciousness

Sweet Mother,

What does Sri Aurobindo mean when he speaks of change of consciousness?

The Mother: Passing from the general ignorant human consciousness to the yogic consciousness founded on the knowledge of the Divine Presence.

Blessings. — 13 December 1969

The Mother: The future of the earth depends on a change of consciousness.

The only hope for the future is in a change of man’s consciousness and the change is bound to come. But it is left to men to decide if they will collaborate for this change or if it will have to be enforced upon them by the power of crashing circumstances.

2.14. Prepare Many heroic Souls for Supramental World

Earth is the heroic spirit’s battlefield. Pathachakra prepares the human to be future ready, for the heroic spirit’s battlefield.

It is not human beings who are doing the Pathachakras, but Supramental Force is doing these Pathachakras, preparing us silently for Her Mission.

2.15. Prepares the ground for Supramental Descent

The time has come to rely only on the Divine Will and to let it work FREELY through you. If the supreme consciousness is incarnated and manifests itself in this body, all the denials in the world cannot prevent it from being so.

And if it is not so, my physical existence can be interesting only to those who have faith and who, with the help of this faith, can, through me, enter into contact with the Supreme Consciousness.

The question has importance only for those, and others have no need to be concerned about it. For such a faith, to be sincere and effective, cannot be the object of any propaganda, either for or against it. Its birth must be free and spontaneous. It cannot be obtained through coercion nor destroyed through denial.

He who feels the need to fight violently against conviction or faith, of whatever kind, proves by that very fact that some part of his being, however tiny, is touched by this conviction, while another part of himself, generally more important and external, completely refuses to accept a faith which seems to him the more dangerous because he is more sensitive to it, and his will to deny it forcefully comes from the necessity of convincing himself.

From the subjective point of view, I know what I am. But this knowledge that is lived finds its value only in my sincerity; and of this sincerity the Supreme alone can be the judge.

2.16. Stop the Hostile Attack on the Masses

Pathachakra creates a wall of Mother’s protection around the seekers. Lots of instances of catastrophes have been avoided just because of the Pathachakras if people have done it sincerely. This stops the entry of bad vibrations into a Group.

2.17. Ultimate Aim is to Create Deva Sangha

Sri Aurobindo:…A Deva Sangh, divine communities, a spiritual community — a working group oriented towards the Divine, that would begin as a pilot project somewhere, and then spread over the whole world. All human activity would come within the purview of the Deva Sangha, “but we must give them a new life, a new form”. At the root of it all would be a feeling of delight in everything, in the body as much as in the spirit…No one is a god, but each man has a god within him. To manifest him is the aim of divine life.

Impacts of Pathachakra /Study Circle:

v Connect with the Divine — An opportunity to know and connect with the Divine.

v Mother’s Force — Collective aspiration brings down Mother’s Force — beneficial for participants.

v Broadens Learning — A boarder perspective of the teachings is acquired in a collective setting.

v Collective Aspiration — An opportunity to aspire collectively, an essential aspect of Integral Yoga.

v Practical — Understand Integral Yoga is a very practical way.

v Satsang — An occasion to be with other aspirants of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Build bonds through the Divine.

v Collective Harmony — Establishes collective harmony within the group that meets regularly.

Ø Purify our inner nature and create a silent, calm atmosphere.

Ø Discover the Truth of our Being — Psychic Being.

Ø Widen our Consciousness.

Ø Develop the purity, strength, unity, perfection, and knowledge.

Ø Increase our Faith in the Divine.

Ø Connect us with our True Origin, our Source.

Ø Connect with the Divine in this so called busy, choked, and aimless life.

Ø Create a collective soul which helps lead various Deva Sanghas.

Ø Utilise our Time Consciously and Usefully.

Ø Manifest the Divine upon Earth.

Ø Prepare and organise a mass of aspirants for a gnostic life.

Ø Increase our receptivity of Divine Grace every moment.

Pathachakra helps us to

ü Exceed the ordinary outer life to true inner and awakened life.

ü Lead a humble and conscious life.

ü Talk with others and with Divine Consciously.

ü Live, Work, and Grow with others Consciously.

ü Realise the True Power of Divine.

ü Allow the highest consciousness to rule our life.

ü Understand our mind, physical and emotions and the play of forces.

ü Discover our only Goal of Life — Psychic Discovery.

ü Discover and grow with a family of Conscious Souls.

ü Realise the True Meaning and Purpose of Life.

ü Awaken about three illusions of Life: Career, Success, and Money.

ü Understand Integral Yoga in the most practical manner.

ü Ensure that Universal Spirituality is the call of the Hour of God.

ü Reveal the luminous future that lies ahead of us.

Pathachakra inspires us to

Ø Love the Divine more and more and every moment.

Ø Surrender to the Divine more and more.

Ø Unite with others as Divine Children or Divine Creations.

Ø Live inwardly, with a pure and higher consciousness.

Pathachakra helps us in the

· Growth:

Of our individual Consciousness. Of our collective Consciousness.

· Purification:

Individual and Collective Purification of our nature.

· Transformation: Collective Transformation of the race.

· Descent of Higher Force into the most material level.

· Dissolution of Little Ego and Desire and all hostile forces.

· Hastening of the Truth to govern the world in the Hour of God.

· Realisation of the Gnostic Life on Earth.

3. How to Conduct a Study Circle?

There are two ways to do our Sadhana

Self-Gathering. Gather yourself within more firmly. If you disperse yourself constantly, go out of the inner circle, you will constantly move about in the pettinesses of the ordinary outer nature and under the influences to which it is open. Learn to live within, to act always from within, from a constant communion with the Mother.

Collective Gathering: Gather yourself with spiritually awakened souls or with new seekers on the Path. In this collective gathering, not only one person, but many persons will be simultaneously benefited or get a chance to unite with the Source or Origin or the Creator or the Supreme Divine.

Ways of Conducting a Pathachakra

In Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga, there are no set methods, no rituals, no ground rules. Everything is decided by the unique call of the Psychic. Everyone is free to decide their own methods based on their inner need and aspiration of the soul.

However, for the benefit of newcomers/seekers, the following methods prescribed by Babaji Maharaj are detailed below:

1. Keep The Mother’s Photo in the centre or in the front.

2. Put some agarbati (incense sticks) and flowers before the Mother. Notes: Incense sticks have a subtle message for all — it’s burning itself, sacrificing itself for others unconditionally, completely before the Divine and for the Divine. At the same time, it is spreading its beautiful fragrance all around.

Flowers are the most conscious instruments of the Divine at the Physical plane. They are the psychic expression of the Physical world. Flower is a symbol of total unconditional surrender before the Divine and has only mission to spread its inner fragrance, the Divine Elements of Love, Beauty and Smile all around without any sign of sadness/depression despite growing in a unliveable condition.

3. All the seekers need to sit together in a circle.

Note: The Group can sit in any manner, in Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga, there’s no hard and fast rule. However, sitting in a circle and invoking The Mother like a collective Prayers similar to a Yagna. It has its own impact, own force. There should be only one undivided Focus, one attention, one aspiration, one goal one question: Are we keeping The Mother at the centre for our actions or our thoughts?

4. Invoke the Silence within

Note: Silence is the mystic birthplace of the Soul. Only in infinite silence, soul gets its food. Silence: A state in which either there is no movement of

the mind or vital or else a great stillness which no surface movement can pierce or alert. A respectful and modest silence is the

only attitude befitting a disciple. In absolute silence sleeps an absolute Power. All rose from the silence, all goes back to its hush. When mind is still, then truth gets her chance to be heard in the purity of the silence

5. Listen and meditate on The Mother’s Music in the beginning after everyone settles down.

Note: Mother’s Music can directly take us to a new world, the experience of Supramental Force if we keep complete silence within. This music aims at awakening certain profound feelings.

The Mother: In listening to it, one should make oneself as silent and passive as possible. And if, in the mental silence, a part of the being can take the attitude of the witness who observes without reacting or participating, then one can notice the effect that the music produces on the feelings and emotions; and if it produces a state of deep calm and semi-trance, that is very good.

It is not necessary to have technical knowledge in order to feel what is behind the music. Mother, of course, does not play for the sake of a technical musical effect, but to bring down something from the higher planes and that anyone can receive who is open.

It is true that my music calms the body. From it emerges a sort of compassion which envelops the one who is listening.

It is like a harmony that neutralises the disharmony in the chaos and pacifies the resistances, a melody that purifies the aspiration…

My music brings down the original vibration from the Source; it engulfs you, and lifts you up to the unknown regions. So with this music everything would calm down.

My music comes from the absolute Silence where Sound is created by the original vibration with its waves and pulsations which sustain the worlds and the universe in a perpetual blossoming in order to rediscover the Self.

My music gives a power of certitude which seizes the soul.

6. Aspire, Invoke Her Presence and Pray to the Mother collectively.

7. Start by reading Her Books.

Note: Some people start with collective chanting of Durga Stotra (Hymns to Durga), then The Mother Book, Prayers and Meditations Book, and Savitri.

Note: Babaji Maharaj used to suggest reading of the Durga Stotra, The Mother Book in the beginning.

Durga Stotra by Sri Aurobindo has a unique impact on our Consciousness. But we should know how to read it perfectly by focusing on each word with the strength and force of the Mother.

8. After this initial reading, the group can read any other Books by The Mother and Sri Aurobindo or any other disciplines, whatever the Group decides collectively.

9. Ways of discussion:

· One person reads and explains the topic in detail.

· One person reads and others just listen to it without any discussion.

· Two persons read and explain the topic, others just listen and later clarify their questions if any.

· Many devotees come prepared with one topic and share their learning with all.

· The Group can read and discuss multiple topics or on one topic with intense preparation.

10. No time limits for spiritual discourse.

Note: Preferably one to one and half hour.

Human mind is incapable to bear or hold the immense spiritual force for a long time. As this intermediate state is still a work in progress.

If a group already aware of the Integral Yoga concepts, wants to deep dive on the subject based on some inner need, they can extend the meeting for a few minutes or hours, there is no hard and fast rule. Main purpose is to satisfy another seeker’s soul’s query in a group with our mental or psyhic experience. The discussion should not prolong just to keep one’s point of view or satisfy one’s egoistic desire or to showcase some debating/fighting skills and dazzle the audience with some sheer brilliance.

But for a group who are just beginners, it is preferable to limit it to one hour. If any query comes in the last minute, that can be addressed, but we need to ensure that it should not prolong beyond everyone’s patience. Spirituality is a gradual process like a drizzling of light rains on the soil in order to grow the seed into a strong and tall plant. But if we try to flood the barren land with lots of knowledge at one go, all the existing nutrients will also be washed away in that sudden outburst or flood of knowledge for any lay men. We have to be conscious of the Time Factor.

11. At the end, it is preferable to either sing a prayer for The Mother, full of Bhakti either individually or at a collective level.

Note: It is the psychic being that feels love, bhakti and union with

the Mother. In the integrality and absoluteness of bhakti and surrender, we find the essential condition of perfect peace leading to uninterrupted bliss.

12. Invoke the Infinite Silence within again and meditate in that moments of Eternity.

The Mother: The best way to use these meditations is to go deep within yourselves, as far as you can, and find the place where you can feel, perceive and perhaps even create an atmosphere of oneness wherein a force of order and organization can put each element in its true place, and out of the chaos existing at this hour, make a new, harmonious world surge forth. The Study Circle can be finally called for closure.

This is just one instance of a Pathachakra. There are many ways to conduct Pathachakra as per the needs of the collective souls.

4. Requisites For Conducting Satsang / Pathachakra

4.1. Faith

We should have absolute faith in the Divine before we enter the Pathachakra and also need to continue that faith even in the darkest turbulent hours.

Sri Aurobindo: Faith is a thing that precedes knowledge. It is a glimpse of a truth which the mind has not yet seized as knowledge.

Sri Aurobindo: A faith she craves that can survive any defeat. (Savitri)

The perfect faith is an assent of the whole being to the truth seen by it or offered to its acceptance.

The Mother:

4.2. Silence

Absolute Silence is a must throughout the session, both before and after the Study Circle is over.

4.3. Sincerity

Everyone should be sincere in conducting the Study Circle. Because Sincerity is the safeguard, the protection, it is the guide and finally the transforming power.

Do not pretend — be. Do not promise — act. Do not dream — realise.

The complete unification of the whole being around the psychic center is the essential condition to realize a perfect sincerity.

Sincerity means to accept the Divine influence only and not that of lower forces. Even an atom of sincerity suffices. An uncompromising sincerity is the surest way to spiritual achievement. Allow nothing, nowhere, to deny the truth of your being: that is sincerity.

4.4. Courage

The Mother speaks About Need of Having Courage when we preach about the Divine.

The Mother: Such was the courage of Moses, the leader of Israel, who demanded from the Pharaoh of Egypt the freedom of the oppressed Jewish people.

Such was the courage of Mohammed, the Prophet, who imparted his religious thought to the Arabs, and who refused to be silenced even though they threatened him with death.

Such was the courage of Siddhartha, the Blessed One, who taught the people of India a new and noble path, and was not terrified by the evil spirits who assailed him under the Bo-tree.

Such was the courage of Christ, who preached to the people:

“Love one another,” and was not intimidated by the pontiffs of Jerusalem who forbade him to teach, nor by the Romans who crucified him.

So we have noted three kinds, three degrees of courage:

· Physical courage for oneself.

· Courage for the near one, the friend, the neighbour in distress, the threatened motherland.

· Finally, the moral courage that enables one to stand up to unjust men, however powerful they may be, and to make them listen to the voice of right and truth. Words of Long Ago — pg. 183

Need of Courage

Let me tell you more about this calm courage that accomplishes useful and noble things without show or flourish.

A deep river ran past an Indian village of five hundred houses.

The people of this village had not yet heard the teachings of Lord Siddhartha, and the Blessed One decided to go to them and speak to them of the Noble Path.

He sat beneath a great tree which spread its branches over the riverside, and the villagers gathered on the opposite bank.

Then he began to speak and preached his message of love and purity. And his words were carried over the flowing waters as if by miracle. Yet the people of the village refused to believe in what he taught them, and murmured against him.

Only one of them wanted to know more and wished to come closer to the Blessed One.

There was neither bridge nor ferry. And the old legend tells that, strong in his courage, the man began to walk upon the deep water of the river.

And so he reached the Master, greeted

him and listened to his words with great joy.

Did this man really cross the river, as we are told? We do not know. But in any case he had the courage to take the path that leads towards progress. And the people of his village, touched by his example, then paid heed to the teachings of the Buddha; and their minds were opened to nobler thoughts. Words of Long Ago — pg. 185

4.5. Practise Contentment

The Mother: Saint Francis was an apostle of the Good Life. He did not teach in order to earn money. His life was simple and his greatest joy was to instruct the people by his example and his preaching.

And he was content with whatever food he was given. One day, as he and his companion, Brother Masseo, were passing through a town, Masseo went down one street while Francis took another. Masseo was tall and handsome, whereas the saint was short and plain-looking. People gave generously to Masseo, but Francis collected only very little. When they met outside the gates of the town, they sat by a large stone on the bank of a clear stream that ran nearby, and put together the alms they had received.

“O Brother Masseo,” cried Saint Francis with a joyful face, “we are not worthy of so great a feast.”

“Indeed,” replied Masseo, “but what is there to call a feast in these few pieces of bread? We have no knife, no dishes, no cloth, no servant.”

“Is it not a feast,” replied the saint, “to have good bread on a good table when one is hungry, and fresh water from a limpid spring to drink when one is thirsty?”

This does not mean to say that poor people should always be resigned to their miserable fare. But in any case it shows how the contentment that comes from a noble life and the cheerfulness native to beautiful souls can make up for the absence of material possessions and outer riches.

4.6. Detachment

Sri Aurobindo: Detachment is the salt of Sadhana.

Sri Aurobindo: For all attachment is an act of ignorance and a violence committed upon the Truth. Its end also is ignorance, a state of blind darkness.

Everyone should participate in the discussion actively.

4.7. Time to be Heroic Souls

When souls come upon earth by accepting the sorrows,

miseries and troubles of the world — — it is because they want to conquer Falsehood, and help in the Victory of the Truth. I call them heroic souls.

The greatest spirits are therefore those who have no fear of future, who accept the challenge and its wager; they have sublime trust in the God or Power that guides the world.

It is the hour to be heroic and the Divine help will always be with those who have resolved to be heroic in full sincerity.

5. 5. How Can Study Circle be Impactful?

5.1. The Mother’s Message for a Study Group

(Suggested Programme for a study group)

1. Prayer: (Sri Aurobindo, Mother — grant us your help in our endeavour to understand your teaching.)

2. Reading of Sri Aurobindo’s book.

3. A moment of silence.

4. One question can be put by whoever wants to put a question on what has been read.

5. Answer to the question.

This is it not the meeting of a group but simply a class for studying Sri Aurobindo’s books.

5.2. Learn from Odisha Study Circle Movement

Odisha has progressed in spreading the message of Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga and Education from the Educated urban centres to the most remote tribal dominated areas only because of Pathachakra Movements. Of course, Babaji Maharaj and Prapati ji were instrumental in spreading this message.

After many decades, the Study Circle movement has taken another dimension. In Odisha Sri Aurobindo Society is not much active, but Matru Bhavan at Cuttack is spearheading the movement.

In Odisha: it has touched various fields of profession. For more information about the remarkable Work of the Mother, please refer to www.Motherorissa.com.

· Sri Aurobindo Pathachakra and Mahila Pathachakra : Make people aware of Sri Aurobindo’s Ideology To organise seminars, conferences, to hold regular study groups

· Sri Aurobindo Medical Association : Inculcate the consciousness of ‘Total Health’ of the human phemenon so as to prepare it for its ultimate Divine transformation. Integral Health Topics in Study Circle camps . Sri Aurobindo Health Squad training Programmes, and establishment of Integral Health Centres.

· Army of Light : Prepare the students and youth for Mother’s Work Prepare them from school career to have the clarity of the ideal and organise study circles, take responsibility of organisation activities.

· Commerce Under Sri Aurobindo’s Guidance (CUSAG-Orissa) : To take up commerce as an instrument for The Mother’s work, based on Truth. Organising sales Centers of Sri Aurobindo Study Circles with proper management and skill training and manufacturing products of daily use.

· Sri Aurobindo Legal Unit : Legal consultancy to Sri Aurobindo Study Circle Centres To have legal cells in every district constituting of advocates having admiration and concern for Sri Aurobindo’s Work.

· Sri Aurobindo Engineering and Technical Group : Need based Technology to Sri Aurobindo Study Circles Awareness through camps conferences.Training of Study circle members in technical skills

· Sri Aurobindo Kalaparishada : Expression of the Highest form of Beauty through performing and visual arts . The training and awareness from school level with regular activities in camps and seminars.

· Sri Aurobindp Sahitya parishada : Literary capability in the service of the Truth To start literary groups from school level, to hold quarterly and annual sessions for this purpose.

· Sri Aurobindo Unit of Agriculture : Agriculture consultancy with guidance from The Mother to Sri Aurobindo Study Circles having cultivable land. Training camps, workshops and personal interactions.

Also there are lots of Centres created by inspiring souls like Sanjukta Apa, Harikrishna Bhai, Meera Apa, Tarini Bhai, Jyoti Apa, Mary Apa, and so on at various places of Odisha. These awakened youth have left everything and have created the Ashram as a Collective Living Centres and simultaneously visiting remotest tribal villages of Koraput District and bringing the poor illiterate Adivasis into this Path. You will be mesmerized by seeing their sheer dedication in Work.

6. Misconceptions About Pathachakra

Man’s logic and argument to justify its act knows no bounds. Many strange countless arguments and theories are put forward by the devotees and some self-styled disciples, denouncing any way to promote and spread the message of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother in any manner. They have objections to conduct a Study Circle, spread the message in the masses.

6.1. Evolving Views of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo on Propagation

There is a chronology of The Mother’s Views and Sri Aurobindo’s views on this topic of propagation of Integral Yoga.

1934: Sri Aurobindo: And the second fact is that I do not care a button about having my name in any blessed place. I was never ardent about fame even in my political days; I preferred to remain behind the curtain, push people without their knowing it and get things done. It was the confounded British Government that spoiled my game by prosecuting me and forcing me to be publicly known and a “leader”. Then, again, I don’t believe in advertisement except for books etc., and in propaganda except for politics and patent medicines. But for serious work it is a poison. It means either a stunt or a boom — and stunts and booms exhaust the thing they carry on their crest and leave it lifeless and broken high and dry on the shores of nowhere — or it means a movement. A movement in the case of a work like mine means the founding of a school or a sect or some other damned nonsense. It means that hundreds or thousands of useless people join in and corrupt the work or reduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth that was coming down recedes into secrecy and silence. It is what has happened to the “religions” and is the reason of their failure. If I tolerate a little writing about myself, it is only to have a sufficient counter-weight in that amorphous chaos, the public mind, to balance the hostility that is always aroused by the presence of a new dynamic Truth in this world of ignorance. But the utility ends there and too much advertisement would defeat that object. I am perfectly “rational”, I assure you, in my methods and I do not proceed merely on any personal dislike of fame. If and so far as publicity serves the Truth, I am quite ready to tolerate it; but I do not find publicity for its own sake desirable.

This “Contemporary Philosophy”, British or Indian, looks to me very much like book-making and, though the “vulgarisation” of knowledge — to use the French term — by book-making may have its use, I prefer to do solid work and leave that to others. You may say that I can write a solid thing in philosophy and let it be book-made. But even the solid tends to look shoddy in such surroundings. And, besides, my solid work at present is not philosophy but something less wordy and more to the point. If that work gets done, then it will propagate itself so far as propagation is necessary — if it were not to get done, propagation would be useless.

These are my reasons. However, let us wait till the book is there and see what kind of stuff it is. 2–10–1934

1937: Sri Aurobindo: Mother does not set much value on propaganda, but still work of that kind can be her work. Only it has to come from her impulsion, be done with quietude, with measure, in the way she wants it to be done. It is from the inner being that it should be done in union with the Mother’s will, not from the vital mind’s eager impulse. To concentrate most on one’s own spiritual growth and experience is the first necessity of the sadhak — to be eager to help others draws away from the inner work. To grow in the spirit is the greatest help one can give to others, for then something flows out naturally to those around that helps them. — 9 April 1937

[CWSA, volume 31]

6.2. Misconception about Mother’s and Sri Aurobindo’s Views on propagation

Misconception: The Mother and Sri Aurobindo never travelled across India and the world to propagate, never advised anyone to preach. They quote the Mother: The manifestation of a new world is not proclaimed by beat of drum.

Reality:

The Mother: “..the ONLY salvation for the country, the ONLY thing that can unify it is for it to adopt Sri Aurobindo’s ideal for the country — he had a plan, he very clearly saw how the country should be organized, he said it to me. It’s there, if one reads his books seriously, one can see it . So I said the things should be so organized that THROUGHOUT India there should be study groups, libraries, lectures, anything whatever , so the country should know Sri Aurobindo’s thought and will. And the Centenary is an excellent opportunity”.

This was the Message of Mother very much true even for sesquicentenary of Sri Aurobindo

The Mother: It is necessary to spread our literature because it spreads the new thought. Some men may receive it correctly and some incorrectly. A movement is set up on the universal mental plane.

So also in social work the whole frame is shaken by the new thought and in as much as it moves men out of the old groove it is useful. But we have to act from the inner motives.

6.3. Attracting Layman will spoil the purpose of Integral Yoga

Misconception: This Yoga is a unique one, it should be only among the selected group of people. This shows something in us stopping us from accepting the whole world as Her creation. Somewhere in our deepest corner, some devotees feel that this Yoga is for a creamy layer of people, we should not invite others, we should not speak to all about this Yoga, otherwise, there will be a Temple like mad crowd inside the Ashram, we won’t be able to meditate peacefully like we do now, we will be unable to control the crowd at Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The sanctity will be lost. This kind of mindset shows our utter selfishness, unfaithfulness and hypocrisy about The Mother and our practice of Integral Yoga. We being the chosen souls should only keep this knowledge amongst ourselves without sharing the Joy of Truth of our Existence.

Reality: Sri Aurobindo does not belong to Pondicherry alone, otherwise, the Mothe r would have asked the whole world to converge and settle in Pondicherry to get the impact of this Yoga. Everyone should come to this Yoga. The whole world should take refuge in Her Single Heart, because The Mother is the only Hope for survival of this ignorant human race.

The Mother: Sri Aurobindo does not belong to any one country but to the entire earth. His teaching leads us towards a better future.

The Supramental Truth Force is already in action in the whole world. The rapid churning and revolutions and breaking of old world has already been initiated by the Supreme.

Sri Aurobindo: The Truth-consciousness is everywhere present in the universe as an ordering self-knowledge by which the One manifests the harmonies of its infinite potential multiplicity.

Even an inert matter, or an ignorant animal have the potentials to become Divine, how can we prevent another human being from its ultimate expressions towards the Divine.

Sri Aurobindo:

The Spirit shall look out through Matter’s gaze And Matter shall reveal the Spirit’s face.

In Matter shall be lit the spirit’s glow.

In Matter’s body find thy heaven-born soul. (Savitri)

The Mother: In each world, in each being, in each thing, in each atom is

the Divine Presence, and it is man’s mission to manifest it.

Sri Aurobindo: A casual passing phrase can change our life.

Who knows if one Word, one sentence, one blessing, one Photo of the Mother can change the course of Life of an ordinary soul. Why not attempt at it.

Q. But in what way is the arrival of well-known people useful or important enough to cause a flutter as it has done? Is this a sign that the Truth is spreading and is it a measure of its growth outwards from within?

The Mother: No, not at all. Well-known or unknown has absolutely no importance from the spiritual point of view. It is simply the propagandist spirit; they think and say, “Oh, if K comes, the whole of Gujarat will be ours” — as if we were a party or a church or religion seeking adherents or proselytes. One man who earnestly pursues the Yoga is of more value than a thousand well-known men.

6.4. Not Human Job to find the right people, but the Divine’s Job

In this Yoga, Divine Mother is the preacher, not the man.

The Mother: That Which is Speaking

THAT WHICH is speaking to you now, is a faithful servant of the Divine. From all time, since the beginning of the earth, as a faithful servant of the Divine, it has spoken in the name of its Master. And as long as earth and men exist, it will be there in a body to preach the divine word.

So, wherever I am asked to speak, I do my best, as a servant of the Divine.

But to speak in the name of a particular doctrine or of a man, however great he may be, that I cannot do!

The Eternal Transcendent forbids me. 1912

Source: Words of Long Ago — pg 76

6.5. First We will Become That and Realise and Then Talk About Sri Aurobindo

This is another funny counter by some devotees.

A Mother’s child Nirakar Bhai once asked the similar question to Babaji Maharaj that he had not yet reached any perfection, how can he go and tell to the public before achieving anything. Babaji Maharaj replied to him: Did Sri Aurobindo ask us to wait till 1950 that I will realise Supramental on this year, till then no need to come near me?

It happened spontaneously, simultaneously. The rise of His Consciousness

6.6. Individual Realisation More Important, Collective can be Secondary

It is a double movement.

Both individual realisation and collective realisation are absolute must. One cannot survive without the other.

The Mother: I consider that we are at an excellent occasion for collective and individual Sadhana and that is why I engage myself in it and take special interest in it. — 3 July 1957

The Mother: I have been asked if we are doing a collective yoga and what the conditions for the collective yoga are.

I might tell you first of all that to do a collective yoga we must be a collectivity (!) and then speak to you about the different conditions required for being a collectivity.

I wanted to tell you exactly what kind of a collectivity we want to realise in accordance with the ideal Sri Aurobindo has given in the last chapter of The Life Divine — a supramental, gnostic collectivity, the only one which can practise Sri Aurobindo’s integral yoga and be physically realised in a progressive collective body that grows more and more divine — the memory of this vision became so imperative that it prevented me from speaking.

Sri Aurobindo tells us that a true community — what he calls a gnostic or supramental community — can exist only on the basis of the inner realisation of each of its members, each one realising his real, concrete unity and identity with all the other members of the community, that is, each one should feel not like just one member united in some way with all the others, but all as one, within himself. For each one the others must be himself as much as his own body, and not mentally and artificially, but by a fact of consciousness, by an inner realisation.

Between the individual and the collectivity there is an interdependence from which one can’t totally free oneself, granting that one tries. And even a person who tried in his yoga to liberate himself totally from the terrestrial and human state of consciousness, would be tied down, in his subconscious at least, to the state of the mass, which acts as a brake and actually pulls backwards. One can try to go much faster, try to drop all the weight of attachments and responsibilities, but despite everything, the realisation, even of one who is at the very summit and is the very first in the evolutionary march, is dependent on the realisation of the whole, dependent on the state of the terrestrial collectivity. And that indeed pulls one back, to such an extent that at times one must wait for centuries for the Earth to be ready, in order to be able to realise what is to be realised.

And that is why Sri Aurobindo also says, somewhere else, that a double movement is necessary, and that the effort for individual progress and realisation should be combined with an effort to try to uplift the whole mass and enable it to make the progress that’s indispensable for the greater progress of the individual: a mass-progress, it could be called, which would allow the individual to take one more step forward.

6.7. Spreading, Preaching will have Disastrous Consequence

There are lots of mental fears associated with the word spreading and preaching Sri Aurobindo’s words. These are signs of falsehoods which had taken roots in our minds in order to stop the advent of the New Consciousness. In this Yoga, we should remove this first perception that we are doing this Yoga for Her. We are doing Wok for Her. In fact we are mere puppets in Her hand. In this Creation, She is the Sadhana, She is the Sadhak.

The following reply was given to me by Mamu of Matru Bhavan, through Nirakar Bhai:

This too was my problem. In course of time more and more my doubting logic became transparent to me. Dr Sudhakara Acharya and Sri Debendra Satapathy put the same question. Prapatti answered that there is such a Force and Consciousness behind the work that It will never allow the work to become a religion. Truly She is not just a Photo, helplessly depending on our capacity or incapacity. She is concretely Present and using our state of consciousness and leading us to a distant horizon.

This problem comes when we speak of wine but never tested it. By just submitting a thesis on wine one is not drunk, we have to drink to know the real rasa of it. We are not propagating the message, it is spreading by Its own. The message has the unique power inbuilt. Not that we are special but by Her Grace a chance is granted to us to collaborate. The Mother graciously permits us to be in the party of adventure towards Unknown. The soul is not too far unrealisable , but She has brought it to a realisable distance in humanity, thus the New World is possible.

Behind the veil , the real personality is being prepared and with the working of the Force outside , a veiled collaboration with Presence becomes more perceptible. Participation of Many in the work is not accepted by ascetic attitude. One way or other we carry the understanding of single mukti , but the Future is for a collective realisation.

Individual Sadhana is comprehensible , a single individual being guided by Inner Consciousness is within our intellectual reach, but we question how can a collectivity like individual could be raised to a higher consciousness ?

Let us not forget that Collectivity is just like Individual, but is extremely slow in progress.

This is the promise given by Sri Aurobindo.

When superman is born as Nature’s king

His presence shall transfigure Matter’s world:

He shall light up Truth’s fire in Nature’s night,

He shall lay upon the earth Truth’s greater law;

Man too shall turn towards the Spirit’s call.

Awake to his hidden possibility,

Awake to all that slept within his heart

And all that Nature meant when earth was formed

And the Spirit made this ignorant world his home,

He shall aspire to Truth and God and Bliss.

Interpreter of a diviner law

And instrument of a supreme design,

The higher kind shall lean to lift up man.

Man shall desire to climb to his own heights.

The truth above shall wake a nether truth,

Even the dumb earth become a sentient force.

The Spirit’s tops and Nature’s base shall draw

Near to the secret of their separate truth

And know each other as one deity.

The Spirit shall look out through Matter’s gaze

And Matter shall reveal the Spirit’s face.

Then man and superman shall be at one

And all the earth become a single life.

Even the multitude shall hear the Voice

And turn to commune with the Spirit within

And strive to obey the high spiritual law:

This earth shall stir with impulses sublime,

Humanity awake to deepest self,

Nature the hidden godhead recognise.

Even the many shall some answer make

And bear the splendour of the Divine’s rush

And his impetuous knock at unseen doors.

A heavenlier passion shall upheave men’s lives,

Their mind shall share in the ineffable gleam,

Their heart shall feel the ecstasy and the fire.

Earth’s bodies shall be conscious of a soul;

Mortality’s bondslaves shall unloose their bonds,

Mere men into spiritual beings grow

And see awake the dumb divinity.

Intuitive beams shall touch the nature’s peaks,

A revelation stir the nature’s depths;

The Truth shall be the leader of their lives,

Truth shall dictate their thought and speech and act,

They shall feel themselves lifted nearer to the sky,

As if a little lower than the gods.

For knowledge shall pour down in radiant streams

And even darkened mind quiver with new life

And kindle and burn with the Ideal’s fire

And turn to escape from mortal ignorance.

The frontiers of the Ignorance shall recede,

More and more souls shall enter into light,

Minds lit, inspired, the occult summoner hear

And lives blaze with a sudden inner flame

And hearts grow enamoured of divine delight

And human wills tune to the divine will,

These separate selves the Spirit’s oneness feel,

These senses of heavenly sense grow capable,

The flesh and nerves of a strange ethereal joy

And mortal bodies of immortality.

A divine force shall flow through tissue and cell

And take the charge of breath and speech and act

And all the thoughts shall be a glow of suns

And every feeling a celestial thrill.

Often a lustrous inner dawn shall come

Lighting the chambers of the slumbering mind;

A sudden bliss shall run through every limb

And Nature with a mightier Presence fill.

Thus shall the earth open to divinity

And common natures feel the wide uplift,

Illumine common acts with the Spirit’s ray

And meet the deity in common things.

Nature shall live to manifest secret God,

The Spirit shall take up the human play,

This earthly life become the life divine.”

Sri Aurobindo, Savitri — II: The Eternal Day: The Soul’s Choice and the Supreme Consummation

Finally He assured-

Even should a hostile force cling to its reign

And claim its right’s perpetual sovereignty

And man refuse his high spiritual fate,

Yet shall the secret Truth in things prevail.

For in the march of all-fulfilling Time

The hour must come of the Transcendent’s will:

All turns and winds towards his predestined ends

In Nature’s fixed inevitable course

Decreed since the beginning of the worlds

In the deep essence of created things:

Even there shall come as a high crown of all

The end of Death, the death of Ignorance.

Sri Aurobindo: He who chooses the infinite has been chosen by the infinite.

6.8. Conducting Study Circle Will Be a Propaganda

Sri Aurobindo: Mother does not set much value on propaganda, but still work of that kind can be her work. Only it has to come from her impulsion, be done with quietude, with measure, in the way she wants it to be done. It is from the inner being that it should be done in union with the Mother’s will, not from the vital mind’s eager impulse. To concentrate most on one’s own spiritual growth and experience is the first necessity of the sadhak — to be eager to help others draws away from the inner work. To grow in the spirit is the greatest help one can give to others, for then something flows out naturally to those around that helps them. — 9 April 1937

6.9. Will there be any Miracle / Benefits? — Newcomers Question

Misconception: When we visit any places for Study Circles, be it in rural or urban township, the people ask if we attend your meetings, will there be any benefits, or miracles performed by the Mother. Only then can our Trust be developed. This is purely based on human ignorance, greed, and falsehood.

Reality:

The Mother: I know that I cannot do much — I cannot satisfy the human desire for wonders and miracles. There was a time when I could and did do it. But for that one must live in the vital consciousness and use vital forces, which is not very recommendable. 23 January 1952

Q. Why do human beings always want to have something in exchange

for what they give?

The Mother: Because they are shut up in themselves.

They sense their limitation and think that in order to grow, increase and even survive, they need to take things from outside, for they live in the consciousness of their personal limitation. So, for them, what they give makes a hole and this hole must be filled up by receiving something! . . . Naturally, this is a mistake. And the truth is that if instead of being shut up in the narrow

limits of their little person, they could so widen their consciousness as to be able not only to identify themselves with others in their narrow limits, but to come out of these limits, pass beyond, spread out everywhere, unite with the one Consciousness and become all things, then, at that moment the narrow limits will vanish, but not before. And as long as one senses the narrow limits, one wants to take, for one fears to lose. One spends and wants to replenish. It is due to that, my child. For if one were spread out in all things, if all the vibrations which come and go expressed the need to merge into everything, to widen oneself, grow, not by remaining within one’s limits but coming out of them, and finally to be identified with everything, one would no longer have anything to lose for one would have everything. Only, one doesn’t know this. And so, as one doesn’t know, one can’t do it. One tries to take, accumulate, accumulate, accumulate, but that is impossible, one can’t accumulate. One must identify oneself. And then, the little bit one gives, one wants to get back: one has a kind thought, one expects some recognition; one gives a little affection, one expects it from others. . . for one doesn’t have the ability to become the kind thought in everything, one doesn’t have the ability to be the affection, the tender love in all things. One feels just like that, all cut up and limited, and fears to lose everything, fears to lose what one has because one would be impoverished.

On the other hand, if one were able to identify oneself, one would no longer need to pull. The more one spreads out, the more one has. The more one gets identified, the more one becomes. And then, instead of taking, one gives. And the more one gives, the more one grows.

But for this, one must be able to come out of the limits of one’s little ego.

6.10. Only Giving Knowledge will not help

Of course, Knowledge is one aspect. But Bhakti, Karma, Knowledge and Perfection are required in combination. We cannot ignore one to gain insights from Yoga. We have to prepare ourselves for the Future Race only with the knowledge given by our Masters. Let us read the books and also become living demonstration of their teachings.

6.11. Only Reading Book is Fine, No need to Discuss

Humans are the most busiest creatures than all the rest of creatures of the world. Only when we ask for Spiritual discourse, people have lots of excuses, they become busy. In this busy life, it is better to get guidance from one another, better to enrich oneself with another person’s experience. As it is difficult to read all the Books of the Master in one’s lifetime, it is better to get some guidance from other likeminded souls who have already read them and want to share their wisdom with others. We need to get this collective wisdom and grow inwardly.

6.12. This is All Bhakti or Theory, No Practical Connect

Some people also say that Pathachakra has no real practical impact. They feel even if we attend 10000s of Pathachakra, there is no change in that Human Nature. There is still Tamas, Ignorance, Falsehood, Darkness and Suffering.

Sri Aurobindo: Our human nature can only change by intense psychic development or strong influence from above. It is the inner being that has to change first — -a change which is not always visible outside. That has nothing to do with development of faculties.

The psychic being works with perseverance and ardour for the union to be made an accomplished fact, but it never complains and knows how to wait for the hour of realisation to come. — Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo: Bhakti is not an experience, it is a state of the heart and soul. It is a state which comes when the psychic being is awake and prominent.

Pathachakra is a combination of Bhakti and Knowledge with the awakening of the Psychic Being.

7. Conclusion

Q. I hope and believe Your work does not depend upon human beings. The Mother: No, it does not depend at all upon human beings. What has to be done will be done despite all possible resistances.

The Mother: A harmonious collective aspiration can change the course of circumstances. Collective harmony is the work undertaken by the Divine Consciousness; it alone has the power to realise it.

It is a Force that exerts pressure on the Earth and that makes people do the most improbable things.

A golden Force that feels terribly heavy and presses down on Matter.

A Force that is pressing down to produce the result by any means whatsoever. — — The Mother

All is a single plan. A conscious power has drawn the plan of life.

In the end, we realise that we are just a dot/pawn in this Great Divine Plan. It is Her Mission, we are already part of, with or without our knowledge. It is Her Plan to carry out Her Work through Her Chosen Instruments. We must just give our consent. The work will get done despite our presence/absence on Earth. Because work for the New World has already started, New world is already born, born, and born. We must get ready with that final leap of faith.

We may be different persons for namesake but inside we are all united to the core at Divine consciousness. Let us work together for the Mother’s Mission with absolute sincerity and zeal for the Divine. Rest will be taken care by the Divine.

Role of Study Circles/Satsang in Our Life

Table of Contents

1. What is Study Circle/ Satsang/Pathachakra?