Sri Aurobindo

“I am concerned with the earth, not with worlds beyond for their own sake; it is a terrestrial realisation that I seek and not a flight to distant summits. All other Yogas regard this life as an illusion or a passing phase; the supramental Yoga alone regards it as a thing created by the Divine for a progressive manifestation and takes the fulfilment of the life and the body for its object.”

“The teaching of Sri Aurobindo starts from that of the ancient sages of India that behind the appearances of the universe there is the Reality of a Being and Consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo’s teaching states that this One Being and Consciousness is involved here in Matter. Evolution is the method by which it liberates itself, consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient, and once having appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and at the same time to enlarge and develop towards a greater and greater perfection. Life is the first step of this release of consciousness; mind is the second; but the evolution does not finish with mind, it awaits a release into something greater, a consciousness which is spiritual and supramental. The next step of the evolution must be towards the development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in the conscious being. For only then will the involved Divinity in things release itself entirely and it become possible for life to manifest perfection.
It is not his object to develop any one religion or to amalgamate the older religions or to found any new religion – for any of these things would lead away from his central purpose. The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divinise human nature.”

Sri Aurobindo ‘On Himself’

The Mother

The Mother was born on February 21, 1878 in Paris. She came to India permanently to join Sri Aurobindo as a spiritual collaborator on April 24, 1920, and worked tirelessly to bring about the transformation of human nature and body through the bringing down of a new power, called the supramental, which could help Man to take the next step in evolution: Man would be as radically different to the Superman as the Animal is to Man today.

To know something about her it would be best to quote some of her own words...

“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 a man, however great he may be, that I cannot do!

The Eternal Transcendent forbids me.”

“I have learnt throughout my life that even a little child can give you a lesson. Not that he is less ignorant than you, but he is like a mirror which reflects the image of what you are; he may tell you something which is not true but also may show you something that you did not know. You may hence profit a great deal by it if you receive the lesson without any undesirable reaction.

Every hour of my life I have learnt that one can learn something; but I have never felt bound by the opinion of others, for I consider that there is only one truth in the world which can know something, and this is the Supreme Truth. Then one is quite free. And it is this freedom that I want of you – free from all attachment, all ignorance, all reaction; free from everything except a total surrender to the Divine.”