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In the midst of the tragic circumstances of our times, I have received
a number of communications, different appeals put out by different people
across the globe, even from a prominent spiritual leader of Indian origin
in the USA. But I see these documents as appropriate and valid only on
a certain level, a more superficial level, I might add. They do not go
deep or wide enough. There has to be a more total vision at this point,
more all-encompassing. This is what has not been in evidence.
A specific and lengthy preparation is required to attain a poise that can
allow one to ‘see’ in the midst of upheavals such as the world is experiencing.
One has to be centred and realigned. From this new poise,
perception can come about that is not influenced by these very legitimate
and understandable human emotions, those waves that are thrown up from
the vital and cover the higher centres. It is only when that poise can
be attained and maintained that the play of forces on the world stage can be assessed in this new vision. It requires immobility, amidst the
mobility
of our physical world, as it has been described in the Rig Veda.
I do not refer to particular groups or individuals, but rather to a
cosmological process. Individuals, groups are the instruments for this
Play. As such they do bear a responsibility for the events they set in
motion. There is certainly accountability for the acts of terrorism,
regardless of historic reasons which have extracted such brutal responses
from certain individuals and groups. But to understand the purpose
of the present happenings, which takes us far beyond the scope of the ordinary
consciousness, there has to be a very different poise. To an extent, this
poise has been described in the Bhagavad Gita, mainly by the circumstances
or the setting of that Scripture. Its contents are valid of course,
but even if we ignore the text itself and observe the setting provided
to Shri Krishna to express perhaps the most profound thoughts ever recorded,
this observation can explain this new poise of consciousness. Krishna instructs
his friend and disciple, the Pandava Warrior Arjun, in the midst of a raging battle, on the plains of Kurukshetra. There are several salient points
to his teachings that are affected by this setting, all of which are profoundly
applicable to our present circumstances.
The first to bear in mind is that Arjun is expressing to his mentor
the very sentiments I have noted in the various appeals put out during
the tragic happenings in New York. Like Arjun, all, especially those who
are considered to have attained a high degree of spiritual achievement,
express abhorrence at what is transpiring; not only the acts of terrorism
but the anticipated ‘response’ from the affected nation, the United States
of America. They preach PEACE; or else that we must all recognise the part
we have played in the present happenings, be this either historical, at
the level of government policy; or else individually by nurturing the emotions
that spiritual leaders believe have resulted ultimately in those very policies.
On a certain level this is indeed true. There have been policies of
governments as abhorrent as the acts of terrorism we have been witnessing
for the past 30 years; and those policies have been devised by individuals
put in their positions of authority by other individuals who feel an affinity
with the minds that have created these policies. In other words, the people
get the government they deserve. Or rather, governments are an outcome
of the reigning collective consciousness. Once more, this is true, but
only partially.
Individuals gather in groups and communities and nations because they
have been drawn into this cosmic cauldron of forces to serve a certain
purpose; they cluster together in groups, such as the Pandavas and the
Kauravas of Krishna’s Mahabharat Age, for reasons that can be known only
through a very deep understanding of destiny. That is not the purpose of
the present analysis.
This document will deal with the larger play of forces and the goal
of the present play-out. What truly lies at the bottom of the happenings
on the world stage, and how can we cope or contribute to a resolution that
will fulfil the highest destiny of the Earth?
This brings me to the second point made in the Gita. Krishna instructs
his pupil to engage in the War in full consciousness; it is his duty to
do so. Further he tells him to slay, because they are already slain. On
the higher plane of destiny, it has already taken place, it is written,
decreed. That is, it is their destiny to die at his hands, in that battlefield,
on that day. Arjun is simply the instrument for this play of destiny. He
cannot shy away from engaging in the war, but, above all, he must not be
attached to the results or the outcome. He must simply do his duty,
fulfil his dharma.
This must surely appear to be unspiritual in the eyes of many
of the world spiritual luminaries. To set the teachings in the midst
of a battlefield is in itself unconventional in terms of our traditional
ideas of where a spiritual discourse might best be given. Or else, as some
have done, there is an attempt to give the setting only a symbolic
significance: the battlefield is the field of the human consciousness with
all its conflicts and destructive tendencies. But a more profound understanding
of the Gita and the body of knowledge that gave rise to this exemplary
document indicates that the symbol is the very thing symbolised.
The war is a physical war, the battlefield is a physical battlefield. But
this does not exclude the other applications. It simply means that all
is one. There is no separation between material and spiritual. If it
were otherwise, there would be no sense to the confirmed experience of
so many realisers throughout the ages of unity and oneness.
The third message is that Arjun, when he asks Krishna to reveal his
true Self, his Godhead, cannot accept the vision Krishna presents of himself
as the Time-Spirit, the Destroyer and Creator of the worlds. Or rather,
he cannot bear the power of the vision and its implications. Again, he
reveals an all-too human poise, a tenderness of heart and softness of nature
that rejects the highest vision of God, the secret of Secrets that
Krishna grants his pupil. He begs his Lord to stop, to take back the vision
and to become again what he knows of his more human friend and mentor;
for that is what his consciousness can bear.
What we gather from this episode is the understanding that the full
impact of God as Time-Spirit can be grasped perhaps only by the warrior
of another, future age. Indeed, that future age is upon us. The Avatar
in this 9th Manifestation embodies the attributes Arjun could
not accept. This means that we have to exceed the qualities of even the
noble Arjun, if we are to be conscious instruments in this new Age.
It is therefore an entirely new spirituality that is required. Or rather,
a knowledge that carries us beyond both spiritual and material, that carries
us to an entirely new seeing, a seeing in understanding, as the
New Way envisions. We must stand in the midst of the battlefield as immobile
instruments of Knowledge; ignorance cannot carry us through this phase
of evolution. To attain a higher level, a perception beyond what the known
spirituality of all schools offers, has to be our tool.
Let us apply these points to the present happenings and the different
responses that are surfacing. Let us also apply the laws of the New Way
to the current crisis and see in understanding what lies at the
root of the present terrible play of forces in these final stages of its
activity. One of the foremost ‘laws’ of the New Way dictates that the
negative and the positive serve the purposes of the One. This means
that there is a plan, a control, a divine strategy, behind
these horrendous occurrences. It is a divine Plan. But we must understand
that the field is one. This means that this higher Purpose has to
operate within the one field that is presently the home of the Ignorance.
It is still the contaminated field of the old; and it is that old world
within that One Field that is collapsing. To bring this about the method
adopted must operate within the limitations of that old consciousness.
This means that negative instruments and mechanisms have to be employed;
but they will also serve the purposes of the One, just as the positive
does. The difference between the two is to be noted, however.
‘Positive’ as opposed to ‘negative’ in this context has a very
specific meaning in the New Way. An instrument is ‘positive’ when it is
conscious.
An instrument is ‘negative’ when it acts in darkness, in ignorance. But,
we do not judge actions as positive or negative - for example, violence/negative,
non-violence/positive. It is simply the poise Krishna calls forth, that
very special awareness and the courage required to fulfil one’s dharma.
Again, conscious in this New Way does not mean the awareness extolled
by most spirituality, or a particular belief system. Or even a belief in
God. It is an instrument that acts in knowledge. In the present
context, what is required to be in the positive scale of the balance
is that ability to see. When this special vision is attained, one
stands together with Krishna in the battlefield, and one does not shy away
from the forces of destiny that we may be called upon to serve. One is
able to contain the vision of God as Time-Spirit, or Mahakal. The Avatar
of this Age is Siva as Time-Spirit, as the devourer and creator of the
worlds.
Sri Krishna gave Arjun the vision of the next avataric descent in the
9th Manifestation. He was a central element in the 8th,
the Manifestation of Scorpio, eighth sign of the zodiac; over 6000 years
ago. Hence, the setting for the highest teaching of that Manifestation
was a battlefield, and war its central theme. For these are indeed attributes
of Scorpio, ruled by Mars. The evolutionary process that is described in
the twelve signs of the zodiac - or what in the Rig Veda is called ‘the
journey’- carries us through these different stages of humanity as it moves
up the scale to the attainment of the highest heights for the human species.
Humankind stands poised to exceed itself. This achievement is central
to the present travails and must not be lost sight of. But the Kurukshetra
of our times is overtaken by the forces of Ignorance and Falsehood. We
must take back that field; we must dislodge those forces from their commanding
hold over the physical dimension, a plane that had been relinquished when spirituality and religions across the globe chose the heaven beyond material
creation, rather than the realisation of oneness that respects the sanctity
of the Earth and her place within the divine scheme of things. In so doing,
they forfeited the right to guide future generations into the light of
the new consciousness.
In this new Mahabharat War, while weapons of destruction may be used,
there is only one ‘weapon’ that will finally conquer. This is the Power
of Knowledge and Truth on which the new supramental consciousness stands
poised. With these, one becomes that positive instrument. Gradually,
as the knowledge spreads and dispels the darkness, the negative
will be transformed and nothing but the Light will occupy the one material
plane or field.
It is imperative to have a wider understanding of the forces at play
in this trying moment. If not, despair must necessarily plague the observer
because of the dangers that loom very large and very real before us. We
are dealing with irrational forces that do not respond to any mental logic
or reasoning from that plane. They are largely driven by vital, not mental,
impulses. But if one has a clear perception of the goal humanity is striving
to attain in the midst of these painful periods of history, that light
can be our guide and we can weather these moments in a different poise
of consciousness that will allow us to be true instruments of the New Way.
From all that has been written, together with the appeals for measured
or non-violent responses from spiritual leaders, it is quite obvious that
none are acting knowledge of that goal. What we are experiencing is a critical
moment of evolution. It is not even an historical moment but a passage
that is stamping a new principle in the evolutionary fabric of the species.
In this critical passage, or ‘crossroads of destiny’, as Sri Aurobindo
has called it, we must understand what this truly means for the entire
Earth. To do so, it is necessary to see the entire planet within this evolutionary
passage, as a conscious being herself. Nations on this Earth have specific
roles to play. Similar to individuals, nations can be instruments of the
positive or the negative. The divine Plan will play itself out, this is
certain. But nations can be positive elements in this great change, or
they can be negative - while still serving the purposes of the One.
Needless to say, when we observe the actual state of affairs, no nation
can be said to be a positive instrument at this junction. None are governed,
led forward in this singular march to a higher destiny, by leaders with
knowledge of this Supramental Manifestation they are nonetheless a part
of. It is a ONE EARTH we are discussing. There is no nation with a separate destiny. There is only one destiny for the planet because the Earth
has a special role to play within the solar system. The more aware we become
of her role, her place within the System and the demands placed upon her
during this crossroads of her destiny, the easier will the passage become
and the more certain we can be that destruction will not be the
method used to attain those lofty goals before us. The only choice we have
is whether or not we will reach those peaks of destiny via destruction,
or else through its higher expression, dissolution. Regardless the
means, baggage must be shed at this point.
We have encumbrances that are impeding a forward thrust according to
the pace imposed by the Time-Spirit. Destruction comes about when the pace
exceeds the capacity available to nations and individuals because encumbrances
hold the movement back. These are the forces of Inertia. In critical crossroads
such as the present passage, those tools of Inertia have to be either dissolved
or destroyed. They have no further purpose in the play of energy that constitutes
the planet’s evolution to a higher level. Thus, by one means or the other,
they will be shed at this point in time. The only question is, will this
be through the process of destruction or dissolution.The
symbolism in the vaporisation of the Twin Towers as they collapsed
to the ground would indicate Dissolution as the way ahead.
Dissolution implies a conscious action. Only in this way can
wholesale destruction be avoided. During this passage, to be conscious
implies that special knowledge of ‘supermind’s application for Earth use’,
as Sri Aurobindo had envisioned. When that knowledge is the foundation
of all action, it constitutes the ancient Vedic realisation, the Immobile
amidst the Mobile. In the battlefield, or wherever one may be called upon
to serve, positively, the divine purpose of the One.
Director, Aeon Centre of Cosmology
at Skambha, Tamil Nadu, India
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