October 28, 2020

‘The more complete your faith, sincerity and

surrender, the more will grace and protection be

with you. And when the grace and protection of the

Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can

touch you or whom need you fear?’

Sri  Aurobindo

                                                The Mother

    ‘A centre precludes any other possibility,

      but its own central divine Purpose.’ (1.8.1994)

It is necessary to regress in time in order to provide a background for the contents of the experience I had after the intense act of compressing the consciousness to a point which I described in the concluding part of the last issue, with its attendant passage into the sacred chamber of the soul. The following involves indeed a horse, the first to become incorporated in the Yoga. It was in 1982. I named him Swati because of his cloud-like whiteness, since the Sanskrit root of the word means white. But at the time of naming him I did not realise that Swati is also the name of one of the 27 nakshatras of Hindu astrology. The year is divided into 27 segments in addition to the 12 months. Interestingly, while I called this gift-horse, first Thoroughbred racehorse (retired) in our midst, Swati because of his whiteness, he did indeed come to me during the nakshatra Swati. Its period embraces the sign Libra and the 4.5 Orbit of the Gnostic Circle.
Swati led me on the path of the new yoga. With him I was able to draw the first lines of the yoga of balancing and centering. I have written something of this elsewhere, and also the unusual circumstances of his death (see ‘Animals in the Emerging Cosmos’ TVN 3/4 and 3/5). But what I did not relate then were the experiences I had in the days following his abrupt departure on 24 July, 1984.

Several days after his death, Swati’s consciousness flooded my being and he ‘spoke’ to me from deep within. He promised his ‘return’. I asked in what form. He replied, ‘As a horse, I will always be a horse and I will always be with you.’

I understood from this deep inner contact that it meant the spirit of the Horse, and this is the way I described the matter to those who were studying with me at the time. Moreover, this contact convinced me that not only would another horse come soon but that there were likely to be many! It must be noted that at the time of this experience Skambha did not exist in the panorama of our work and therefore the likelihood of having ‘many’ animals of any sort seemed absurd. Yet the impression left of this encounter and message was so strong that I felt no compunction in announcing this absurdity to others. And indeed, within a matter of days of this communication and shortly after an intensely emotional meeting with Swati on the subtle plane, the means for these ‘many horses’ to come began to take shape when I was offered a Thoroughbred mare for riding by the same stud farm that had gifted me Swati. I was then convinced that Swati would indeed return, possibly through this gift-broodmare.

The meeting with Swati on the subtle plane was filled with emotion. It proved to be a final farewell (in that form). The experience was so intense, so real, vivid, lived, that for days thereafter it lingered on and I was in a highly emotional state, as if the vital being was queered  to a pitch of intense vibration.

Thus, Swati had promised his ‘return’ at some indefinite point of time, and I felt it to be more a question of the Spirit of the Horse. It need also be mentioned that by then, after the yogic process of realignment, balancing and centering that this exceptional creature had guided me through, I was well aware of the role of the Horse in the work of the Third Power, and hence of the Vedic wisdom in singing praises to Agni in the form of a White Horse, vahana sacred and supreme of the divine Dawn of the Earth, Usha. For Usha is the Vedic equivalent of the Third Power in the supramental Descent.

The question of vahana or carrier of the Gods and Goddesses is a most important feature in Hindu tradition. In contemporary times we encounter a similar concept in the teachings of the Toltec Master, Don Juan, and the role animals have played in his work with students. The point is that when one touches the extreme innermost depths of the soul, there can be an opening to that essential Energy which feeds one’s being and with which we can scale the summit in the drive to develop our truest and fullest inner truth and inherent potential. In some cases this can reveal itself as a vahana like the horse. To understand this it is required that we understand what the Horse embodiment truly signifies. For example, Sri Aurobindo described this creature as the prototype of the supramental form.

A contemporary ‘Ashwamedha’, or Horse Sacrifice

In these pages I am revealing the singular and precise manner in which the Horse does indeed stand central to a supramental process. Only this animal, as the materialised differentiated Energy (in contrast to the Cow as the undifferentiated Light-Consciousness) can serve us in this manner. In addition, this saga can throw light, in a non-speculative manner, on the countless spiritual insights which for thousands of years shaped themselves in some way around the figure of the Horse. It is because we have moved so very far away from the poise of consciousness of the ancient Rishis that we fail not only to understand their cryptic verses but in our present poise we cannot repeat the same yoga that inspired their hymns.

In the evolution of Hinduism this is particularly clear. Since the advent of realisers who sought to and succeeded in drawing seekers along avenues of a different mystical and spiritual experience than the early Rishis and thereby introducing a cleavage between Spirit and Matter, the capacity to SEE in this essential way, on the basis of the truth-conscious Light, was lost. But, as I have written time and again, this Light and Truth was preserved most faithfully in Myth. Regaining this poise even today, in the midst of a society seemingly alien to the ways and values of old, is possible. The horse can, once again and together with other sacred symbols, become the living embodiment of that highest truth, a truth which caused the ancient Rishi to see the entire universe precisely in the form of a Horse (see the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad).

With this new cosmology and its sacred formula, it is a simple matter to dissect that Seeing and to follow the Rishi step by step in a movement of yoga which caused the sage to see the universe in this form. In so doing, we realise how accurate his yoga was and that it was true and faithful to the highest revelations of the Supreme Consciousness. For if, as I have recorded in these pages, the consciousness of the experiencer is aligned in a certain manner, the circumscribing energies of which the seeker stands central, press in spherically, not allowing the realiser any avenue of escape via the expanding movement of consciousness which results in dissolution, nirvana, and similar realisations. Their aim is precisely to disengage the seeker from this pressure of a circumscribing network closing in and from which no escape is possible in a process of yoga based on a harmony of the Being and the Becoming as equally valid constituents of reality. The only direction allowed is inward, with the consciousness-being of the yogi compressed to a Point.

It is this Point that contains the essence of what the Horse symbolises. When Sri Aurobindo explained the Mother’s passage to the highest realms, and her encounter at the ‘borderline’ with a stallion as the ‘prototype of the supramental form’, in his own way he was repeating the Rishi’s seeing when he too came upon the essence of the universe and saw it as a Horse. The reason is simply what I have stated time and again: the innermost, sacred-most Point, reached by the realiser through compression of the consciousness, forcing a plunge into that Point via the chamber of the individualised Soul, can be ‘seen’ as the Horse because this animal represents the embodiment of that primordial, pure Energy, and therefore the base (Skambha) of our material world. In other words, while the physicist and the scientific cosmologist search for the truth of our origin in a Big Bang and similar theories, the Rishi of old and the contemporary realiser of a supramental yoga will search for the truth of that same Origin through the yogic experience; and this, if indeed it is of a supramental order, will perforce reveal the Point, or the One, as the foundation and first Cause of our existence in this material creation of 9.

But this 9 is the densest form of the 0 essence. Therefore it is a movement from the outer circle of 9, through the 6, and then to the 3; and finally the centre point, or the 0. Plunging into that sacred compact Fulness, or the innermost chamber within the soul, the reversal of consciousness causes the compression or contraction to produce a reversal. Thus the One is ‘born’ of the Zero.

In ancient times the Horse was a living symbol of this truth. The Vedic Ashwamedha was a ‘sacrifice’ similar to our Thoroughbred racing saga of today. That is, the Horse was the One then, as now, and by means of which the field (of the kingdom as symbol) was ordered. Similarly, our racing saga has reached the point where the Horse is the central protagonist of the Sacrifice for the purpose of putting order in the field. This means that from Skambha, where the centre was established through the Yoga of the Chamber and via the collaboration of Swati, these horses, identical to their ancient counterparts in the Ashwamedha, are sent abroad to the outskirts of the ‘kingdom’ (the periphery of the circle, central to which stands Skambha) so that a similar process of ‘conquering’ (read ‘ordering’) can ensue. The student can appreciate by this that it is not an impossible task to transpose the very same experiences of old into modern times with considerable success. Indeed, given the accumulative action of time over the intervening centuries and millennia, the experience today is richer and more promising given its global potential. That is, while in ancient times the field was limited to the known parameters of a particular kingdom, or the ‘field of consciousness’ central to which stood the Rishi, today that ‘field’ has been expanded to embrace the entire planet. We can, given the new cosmology, conceive of a global transformation by which the whole Earth becomes ultimately the one Field.

We may go further in this act of dissection of the ancient experience and by the aid of the new cosmology applied to our Horse Saga, we can understand more of the former symbols without ambiguity. For example, the Vedic image of the Goddess Usha, the Dawn, being ‘carried’ by Agni as a white Steed is a beautifully inspired vision of the direct relationship between the Earth (Usha in her most resplendent and pregnant aspect), or the third planet from the Sun and hence the Third Power, with the Fourth, as the One. And this expresses itself through the form of the Horse. For Agni, according to the ancients, is associated with the planet Mars, and he is also the divine Son. He is, moreover, leader of the hosts and first of the Gods. All these designations are perfectly clear, perfectly true. They speak of the same attributes of the Fourth Power in the supramental Descent, as the One, the Son, the FIRST after the Reversal, which therefore places him in the position of ‘leader of the hosts’ to follow in a horizontal movement after the vertical Descent. These are no longer arcane mysteries when we have a new key of Knowledge such as the Gnostic Circle and the formulas of the new cosmology which we can apply to our contemporary experience and verify in our own society, ostensibly very far removed from the civilisations which produced these ‘symbols’. They are as pertinent today as ever they were in the past. Indeed, our present application is far more all-inclusive and ‘scientific’ (meaning open to scrutiny by all and not reserved for a spiritual elite) since we can relate the formula to the passage of time via the calendar, or the ‘order of events’ as described by the Mother in her 5.2.1969 narration (see TVN 9/6, February 1995).

There is thus no need for recourse to now outdated systems of knowledge based on partial spiritual experiences whose exclusivity perforce created a distorted view of creation – indeed, denying creation any right to a place under God’s truth-conscious Sun at all. Anything but the supramental Gnosis stands exposed today as a partial seeing and realisation. But the old paradigms and habits are difficult to transcend nonetheless, the reason being that to do so requires a genuine effort and sincerity of purpose on the part of the seeker. One must not be satisfied with anything less than the fullest revelation today, if we are to bring about that life divine on this planet which Sri Aurobindo has promised as a thing inevitable in the destiny of the Earth.

‘Savitri’ revisited and the yystery of Release

If we would appreciate the place of the Horse in our discoveries, we must accept the position and role of the Third Power in the supramental Descent. That is, the individual soul and its sublime ‘purpose’ in the scheme of creation. For the Horse as an embodiment of the One is nothing other than that Purpose. Thus it is said that the Third gives birth to the One who in turn is the Fourth. Or, as Sri Aurobindo so magnificently described in the final book of his epic poem Savitri, the Goddess carries back to Earth the soul of Satyavan, or the divine Son, and in her descent takes refuge in a ‘mother’s breast’. Sri Aurobindo explicitly describes the Third in those lines, who is Savitri after her sojourn in realms beyond and who takes birth, carrying the soul of Satyavan within and back with her to take birth on Earth. There are two phases to the mission of this figure in the epic. The first is her sojourn on Earth as consort, or her union with Satyavan; and then her pursuit of Death into those realms beyond, being warned by the Dark Lord that she cannot return from there with her mortal form. And the second thereafter is her return to Earth holding within the soul of Satyavan retrieved from Death now conquered by her power, her subsequent ‘descent’ into ‘a mother’s breast’ and assumption of a new form through which Satyavan, also in a new human form, may be reborn.

These are not enigmatic passages or obscure prophecies which may be interpreted one way or another in order to suit subjective needs of the moment with little basis in the true Seeing and realisation. Once the formulas are known and time has fulfilled itself and those realisations have occurred, the explicit significance of Sri Aurobindo’s words require no contorted interpretation: exactly what he described has come to pass in the precise manner foreseen by him in the first half of this century. But if we refuse to accept the terms of the Descent and insist that only two powers are sufficient for a full transformation, then we are blinded by our intransigence and obscurantism and forfeit our right to ‘see along with the Supreme’ while the supramental creation takes shape in our midst.

In the sculpture I discussed in the last issue, reproduced here once again, the roles of the 6 and the 3 are made clear. The 6 (the Mother) is reposing on the 9 (Sri Aurobindo). These two figures are directly connected, as indeed the 9 and 6 were during their sojourn on Earth in the fulfilment of their joint mission. In addition, the 9 supports the 6. This detail of the sculpture is especially accurate in describing the quality of the Mother’s incarnation and yoga. As the 6 and born under the sign Pisces, she embodied the last of the gunas, Tamas, whose special attribute and contribution in the scheme of creation is a total and most perfect surrender. The whole of the Mother’s life and work, especially noted in her Agenda, published in large part posthumously, bear testimony to this unique attribute, so clearly detailed in the sculpture when studied on the backdrop of the Gnostic Circle’s sacred triangle.

On the other hand there is the 3, behind both 6 and 9, in a sense alone in her representation. Yet while not being directly involved in the play between the 9 and 6, her role is seen to offer as well a support. This time to the 9. Indeed, the sculpture reveals that the 3 sustains the 9; her position behind his figure indicates the unknown element, the hidden support of the 3. The 9 rests on this support. At the same time, the triangular shape of the interplay of these three figures reveals the mutually-supportive roles they play, where eliminating any one would cause the form to collapse.

Regarding Sri Aurobindo’s epic Savitri, the 6, reposing on the frontal plane of the 9, participated with him in the overt joint mission. The 3, the overlapping second portion of the manifestation of that Power, comes from behind, the other side of the boundary of life and death. This is most clearly revealed in the pertinent verses from the epic.

When Savitri follows Death into his kingdom, into the beyond, and must take birth again after that experience, it is difficult to understand how these specific details can be overlooked or interpreted differently, if indeed we consider Sri Aurobindo to have had a superior visionary power and that his epic is the work of that superior act of revelation and consequent prophecy. In point of fact, his vision was the true Seeing, and events have taken shape exactly as he had foreseen. Sri Aurobindo’s epic was faithful to the highest truth of the Supermind. He saw ‘what none have eyes to see’, for he saw the Third, the second overlapping feminine power, carrying that One, or the Fourth Power, within her and back to Earth through the channel of her own physical birth. He ‘saw’ the two, 6 and 3, as channels for the return. To that effect, Sri Aurobindo records the ‘fall’ to Earth for rebirth in the following memorable passages of the 11^th Book:

Amidst the headlong rapture of her fall

Held like a bird in a child’s satisfied hands,

In an enamoured grasp her spirit strove

Admitting no release till Time should end.

And, as the fruit of the mysterious joy,

She kept within her strong embosoming soul

Like a flower hidden in the heart of spring

The soul of Satyavan drawn down by her

Inextricably in that mighty lapse.

Invisible heavens in a thronging flight

Soared past her as she fell. Then all the blind

And near attraction of the earth compelled

Fearful rapidities of downward bliss.

Lost in the giddy proneness of that speed,

Whirling, sinking, overcome she disappeared

Like a leaf spinning from the tree of heaven,

In a broad unconsciousness as in a pool;

A hospitable softness drew her in

Into a wonder of miraculous depths,

Above her closed a darkness of great wings

And she was buried in a mother’s breast…

Thus, as embodiment of that Third Power, it is understandable that plunging within according to the ancient Vedic creative process, or indeed as Sri Aurobindo has described above, would have triggered an ‘encounter’ with what that Third holds most dearly and closely within: the Fourth Power, the One, and hence the Horse (for this ‘return’ of Satyavan, it must be remembered, did indeed occur during the zodiacal month of the Horse). Swati, the white Horse, symbol of that Spirit, had thus ‘returned’. In other words, like Satyavan, like Sri Aurobindo himself, such a contraction (of death) must produce a RELEASE of that compressed power.

Death is a force of extreme contraction. It is because the binary poise of the human being cannot sustain that contracting pressure in the present physical structure that one succumbs to a loss of conscious awareness and continuity in time and space that we enjoy before death sets in, or presses in. Changing that poise, re-structuring the consciousness is the way to conquer Death. With this done, with the centering and realignment I am describing in these pages, this spherical pressure can be withstood without escape – through a central void – simply because the void has been filled through birth of the One. This is what it means to ‘conquer death’. The intense contraction in a binary poise cannot be sustained; the pressure must produce collapse upon itself because a binary structure implies a central void. Thus, collapse into that Black Hole at the centre of our consciousness is inevitable. This, succinctly, is the description of a mortal species.

On the other hand, with centering and realignment the centre is no longer a void but is filled by Skambha, the support of the worlds, the One, the sacred male Child. The release of energy, or contact with an immortal and everlasting Source, is what the Horse symbolises. Hence Sri Aurobindo was accurate in describing the stallion at the borderline of the Mother’s experience as the prototype of the supramental form.

This is all a play of Energy. A void means a vacuum, a hole, an empty space, – i.e., without the support of that ‘release’. The ‘pillar’ or Skambha we write of is simply aligned energy resulting from a perfect intersection of cosmic directions on the basis of a true centre. This is the Axis, the Pillar of the universe, indeed – axis mundi. All of this is captured in the Vedic references to Agni, as the One, as pillar, as navel of the world.

And when that ‘release’ comes about causing a ‘return’, as in the case of Savitri and Satyavan, or in this Horse Saga and the return of Swati as the Spirit of the Horse, meaning a particular distillation of that supreme energy the horse embodies, the inevitable outcome is a pouring forth of the light of Gnosis. Thus, immediately after this meeting with Swati on the subtle plane during the early hours of the morning, at 9 AM I began recording in my journal the results of the new ‘birth’. From this point onward I will let this and further entries carry our story forward.

Swati, you HAVE come back! My Lord, how you cried at having been away. And then I ‘saw’ your human form – tall, handsome, athletic and muscular – but kind. It is so hard to remember, there was so very much going on – after 2 AM, after the ‘creation’ probe. I ‘opened’ something. This is the way in this yoga – no forcing but probing, asking, attentive to the answer, the unfolding answer. While I am here I will do this. Then maybe when I return we can start something. It has to go slowly though. This week I will work it out – for I must REMEMBER everything that happens.

The Horse with me the whole time in one way or another – there – the girls…Something big is happening. Let us see.

Why Skambha? Because this helps us to understand the nature of that Point: upheld, propped up but by what? Whom? This is the point. It is suspended. Something sustains it. What is that? According to me it is the forces, directions, pressing in, pushing out. Those (Rigveda) lines about…‘bearers of seeds there were and mighty forces thrust from below and forward movement above…’ This indicates those forces and their interplay which sustains, upholds the Point. But we think of it as linear. Instead it is spherical. But how to convey a spherical point being upheld from all sides? The pillar is the metaphor.

      ‘Bearers of seeds’ = the WOMB IMPREGNATED

      ‘Impregnators’ = indeed, impregnating the womb, meaning filling, pressing in.

     ‘Thrust from below and forward movement above’ = clearly
meaning CONTRACTION AND EXPANSION; forward movement is expansion

     Upward (from below) is contraction

That lay concealed by endless fragmentation means the Transcendent
undifferentiated – SPREAD OUT.

‘Darkness was there, all wrapped around by darkness,

And all was water indiscriminate. Then that which was hidden by
the Void, the One, emerging.
Striving through power of ardour, came to be’

This power of ardour (tapas) is that compression leading to combustion.
It is COMBUSTION, and this only comes TO BE when there is compression.
       If there is breath that goes nowhere then that creates combustion,
like holding one’s breath, one bursts. That ‘breath’ held in. It is the opposite
of the 9/apex, its shadow, its void where breath is compressed and bursts.
This is the beauty of the Gnostic Circle. One can SEE this.

The reversal is where the change comes from exhalation to inhalation. The apex/9 is the suspension between: it rises to a peak, plateaus and then slowly releases. But at the 4.5 there is something else. Yes, one is a movement in FULNESS; the other is void, EMPTYING. Hence, if Buddhism stopped at the 4.5 it would end on that note of SHUNYA, the Zero depleted of its fullness. But the movements start at the apex, not the 4.5. That is only halfway in the movement of the Fulness.

Thus indeed the key lies in what happens DOWN THERE, in the bowels. For the human being it is the sex centre and below – the lower chakras in general, from the navel and below.

I know the alchemists and the hatha yogis had this = it is pressing the breath DOWN. I remember something of that: pressing the breath down at exhalation.

I think that the pressing down, moving the breath inside itself as it were, makes in-roads into that emptiness and releases ‘something else’. There is something hidden IN THERE – it has to be released. I have done this by the pressure of circumstances caving in from all sides and then pressing into existence that Point pilloried up – something then presses out in COMPACTNESS. From a sort of COMPACT FULNESS. It is as if the 4.5 is not really an emptying but a compression of the fullness. This is where they made the mistake. Breath appears to empty out leaving a void. But this seems to be only when you start with a void. An empty vessel as it were. Here we are dealing with a womb, a fulness in itself. We want to MOVE that in a trifold rhythm and compress THAT, not empty it.

It becomes clear if we just realise that the womb is of the same essence as that which moves. In other words, the equality of Being and Becoming. It is only when we separate the two that the difficulty arises. Then it is a vessel filled and emptied. But what holds that movement?

The realisers then became fixated on that empty vessel within which the gunas were played out. Since the vessel was empty and extra-cosmic, that was the reality to fixate on. The movement inside the vessel was impermanent, changing, finite. It is sometimes full, sometimes empty. One could disregard it entirely.

But if one SEES that it is fulness by self-law, the power of Ardour, which moves itself in the Becoming without separation, then we realise that the 4.5 is only the point of compression, of compactness of the Fulness which then, by compression (tapas) releases energy. Fulness is transmuted, alchemised to create compactness and then release.

Like breath. One has to press down at the 4.5 of breath. Then the capacity to rise above should be more. This is the principle of interval training – building on that. So true.

10 AM

I have got it. That upholder of Sound (and Silence) is what BECOMES. It is that Transcendent and then upholding as a vessel (…‘darkness wrapped in darkness’…‘indiscriminate’) becomes the substance in the vessel. ITSELF pressed through to the Point, the immanent One.

9/6/3/0-1. This is the supreme Formula. It starts with the all-encompassing, appears to empty out, but really it is compaction – only in this way does the Zero come into BEING. Being has to be related to that Point, not the indiscriminate Vastness. The hymn tells us this: In the beginning there was neither Being nor Non-Being. The whole point of CREATION is the coming into existence = BEING. This is the truth of our material universe which as a vessel houses this eternal process.

The void indeed HIDES Guha and the One. In that ‘void’ one finds the One. If one stops at its portals and does not PRESS IN, one misses the Point. But the only way to get beyond that is by compression inward. This is what none want to do for one has to pass through that zone where one is cut off, like the Hymn tells us…One has to be ALONE. Difficult.

Perhaps this is the fate of the 3. To do her job, to give birth to that Point she has to be ALONE. She cannot be accompanied by the 9 and 6. Alone.

What of F3? Alone somehow, giving birth to the process for the One. She was alone in the beginning indeed. But it seems to have created a bad imprint, that is all.

Clearly this process of an ancient and now forgotten Yoga was a turning point in our racing experience. I returned to Skambha thereafter and continued recording in my journal:

5.7.1994 – 11 AM

     It seems to be a mess, all is crumbling. But now back at Skambha a very solid mass is felt inside at the heart centre. Firm. The vital is quiet, calm, determined
    I believe firmly that my seeing is true, right, just. I hold to that. If this experiment is  meant to succeed, then all will fit in place RIGHT ON TIME. If not, all disintegrates equally right on time.

We have indeed reached that momentous time of SHIFTS. Either all falls in place, or it does not, it falls apart. It falls IN PLACE, or it falls APART. I know that my role is simply to hold firm. This ‘holding’ is what assures that the thing does not fall apart. It is this YOGA that assures us of success. This is all one has to do. HOLD FIRM.

Once all the energies are gathered together – meaning in the centre of the field appropriate for the yoga, in this case Bangalore – then holding firm becomes not only essential but it is the only time any holding can be done. That is why everything is surfacing only now. So, the key is to hold firm.

I do not know what ‘success’ means, but I do know that I will be successful, I AM succeeding right now because what I am called upon to do I am doing. If one does what has to be done for the process at every step of the way, then success is assured. Therefore it is important to have someone at the centre who SEES, meaning who knows what to do by knowing at what stage a process is.

I pray for health, happiness, victorious racing for my girls. I pray that no harm comes to them at all in this difficult passage.

12:45 PM

                        Skambha gives clarity.

                        Calmness has returned. All is well. Confidently we go ahead.

11.7.1994 – 2 PM

    It does indeed seem as if we are in the midst of some converging. Something is shaping up to shift in place ‘right on time’. Or out of place? And it seems a part of the convergence is Eve’s removal of her cast. Or is it when she rides again?

…Perhaps before the end of the season. We shall see.

2:45 PM

Time and space are indispensable for KNOWING. Being does not permit knowing. Hence it is that we state: To become is the purpose of our existence.

Without movement/becoming there is no distance; and it is only distance that permits us to know THAT.

The ‘purpose’ of the material manifestation is for THAT to know Itself. Therefore Time and Space are the great tools of Knowledge which make of the human being God’s image. As humans we have the capacity to be CONSCIOUS channels for the act of Knowing. Through us the Supreme knows Itself. That is, there has to be a certain threshold in the emergence and evolution of a species where this self-knowledge becomes possible.

Thus, if we talk of evolving animals to a higher level, it is foolish when we know that anything higher would require self-knowing. Rather, as we move up we permit animals to experience wider levels of their own species and purpose. This is proven by the horse saga. Their purpose is not to be conscious but simply to be clear channels, indeed VAHANAS, for this act of knowing which the self-conscious species can do.

But Supriya (the dam of the fillies) ‘knew’. She knew me… Yet that was out of the body. Only then could she experience back to herself that knowing. 

So, Time and Space are the channels. And it is precisely the ‘substance’ of the Zero = compressed essence of the Transcendent which when it is pressed into our dimension extends, moves as time and space. It is all in the ‘seed’.

The 0 is not a number, properly speaking. It does not define quantity. It cannot be divided or used to divide. It is whole in itself. It is never diminished or increased. It is a CONCEPT. Being beyond the threshold, or the ‘event horizon’, it can be ‘known’ here only by its extensions, by that to which it gives birth. The 0 is the womb-upholder.

In the Gnostic Circle the 0 has no place in the circular progression of numbers from the Apex. It is the Centre. That is its position. The whole of the Gnostic Circle is the extension of the 0. The Apex is often noted as 0/9 – but in effect the 9 takes the place of the 0 in the material universe. On this side of the event horizon we ‘know’ the 0 by its whole extension which is the 9. Hence the 9 is defined as creation in matter by the Mother. Stressing it as a ‘creation in matter’ implies that there may be another ‘creation’ not material. This means the 0 on the other side of the event horizon, before birth of the One. It is the same action of creation; only deprived of a material ‘body’, a universe of time and space.

The greatest aberration of spirituality was the designation of ‘illusion’ or maya to all that moves. The Supreme Consciousness, the Transcendent must KNOW Itself through the becoming which is the extension of Itself in its fullest vibratory essence of 9.

The 0 can never be shunya, emptiness. That is the next aberration. The ‘concept’ can only have arisen in a civilisation which was founded on Fulness – i.e, the Vedic. A Buddhist civilisation could never produce the concept of 0 since the existence of the concept alone negates all nihilistic philosophies and spiritual experiences of the Void and Nothingness. The 0 cannot be equated with Nothingness since it IS. It can never be divided. We cannot know it by its ‘parts’. We can only know it by the extension of itself which is our universe, whole and entire. Each ‘part’ of itself beyond the event horizon is thus the whole 0. Never divided. Always the complete seed-essence of the Transcendent. This is the meaning of centering and sphericality.

Things fall apart…

It was just a matter of days before the above entries were proven true, and with an impeccable ruthlessness so characteristic of the Power guiding our affairs. The sequence of things ‘falling apart’ began with the publication of a letter in a prominent Thoroughbred racing magazine. The genesis of that letter was F1’s last race in Madras in February (see TVN, 9/5, December 1994). The student who accompanied me to that race was so disturbed by what she saw that she wrote a letter to the Stewards of the Club, complaining about the conduct of the race and the over-ruling of the objection raised by Eve. It was a very strong critique of the entire set-up, the jockeys’ behaviour on the track, the administration of the Club, and the general condition of racing at that centre. This letter then found its way to the magazine. It appeared five months later on Derby Day in Bangalore.

The news of the famous letter spread like wildfire throughout the racing establishment. Its contents were not a surprise since everyone knew the position there well. What was shocking beyond belief was the audacity to write this out and brave the consequences. Since that racing establishment was the domain of Magog, and the horses involved in the critique were his, the letter’s publication appeared to be a direct attack on him, though his name was not mentioned. His fury knew no bounds. And since Eve was the jockey in question and had obtained a licence to race from that very club, he seemed bent on revenge. Moreover, he was convinced that she had engineered its composition as well as its publication. He was therefore determined to bring her racing career to an end.

In actual fact, Eve had nothing to do with the letter and never knew of its existence. She was as surprised as everyone else at its publication. But the TIMING of its appearance was the key to the entire drama. In the extracts from my journal quoted above, I had written that I felt things were going to ‘fall into place’, – or indeed ‘apart’ – very soon, and that this would be ‘right on time’. The letter had been sent in February to the stewards; but its publication took almost five months. The issue appeared in mid-July. Very shortly thereafter Eve was to have her cast removed. She would then be in a position at least to start exercising horses on the track though not yet to race for the remainder of the summer season which was nearing its end. But Magog had other ideas.

A campaign was mounted against Eve. A number of jockeys joined in unison to demand her expulsion from racing. Dire threats were heard from different quarters, among which was the threat to her life on the track. Those who felt a certain compassion for her plight over this gang-up advised her to quit racing at once; they sought to convince her that she would never be allowed to succeed, and that even her life was in danger. Was it worth it at her age?

At the centre of the storm was, of course, the famous race and the catalytic input of F1. The video tape of the race was available but it was purported to hold the proof that the person who wrote the letter was an ‘amateur’, and knew nothing about racing. Even with visual evidence the truth of her complaint was sought to be denied. Moreover, this companion of mine to the race that day was proclaimed a fictitious entity. The word was circulated that Eve and I had written the letter and that this mysterious person whose name was used did not really exist.

As fortune would have it and for no apparent reason, without knowing anything of what was transpiring in Bangalore, I invited that same person to accompany me once again for F2’s 17^th race which was to be run on the 17^th of July, that is, just a few days after the letter appeared. We reached Bangalore on the 16^th. The fictitious Madam X was therefore on the scene in the midst of the explosion her letter had caused and able to prove her existence. Once everyone was convinced that she did indeed exist, and once she circulated a statement that she was ready to be questioned further on the race, the steam went out of the threats to sue and all guns were again turned fully on Eve.

At the root of the overreaction of many of the jockeys was Eve’s retainer as main rider in Gog’s stable. Indeed, from the first day her appointment was made known she became the target of jealousy, mostly from the younger jockeys. But even some senior jockeys were upset that a newcomer like Eve should be given a position which would normally go only to a top experienced and seasoned rider. Making confusion worse confounded was the fact that this was the only woman rider in their midst. Hence the ‘affront’ was especially intolerable. The gang-up Eve was subjected to, fuelled by Magog and his men, was in large part due to this smouldering resentment on the part of many of her companions on the track. In the bargain, the time had come for Eve’s cast to be removed, which meant that she would soon have to take up exercising Gog’s horses during the morning workouts, though not permitted to ride in a race until the surgeon had issued a fitness certificate. She would therefore be thrust up against their antagonism daily.

When I arrived in Bangalore, knowing nothing of what had erupted just a few days before, I found Eve without her cast, much to our mutual joy, but in an evident state of emotional distress. When questioned, the first announcement she made was that Gog had fired her the very day her cast had been removed, – 15^th July, a day of 9 number-power. This needs to be mentioned because hereinafter the power of 9 continuously came to the fore.

Magog had secured his ‘pound of flesh’. He had not succeeded in getting the Club to revoke her secondary licence which permitted her to ride in Bangalore, but Gog had succumbed to intense pressure and fearing to make an enemy of Magog, all-powerful as he was, he obliged and broke his contract with Eve. Having done so on his own – claiming that she was ‘too controversial’ due to her association with me – created the situation that he would have to honour the terms of the contract until its expiry in March of 1995. That is, while removing the transport facility he had provided for Eve for her use, he would nonetheless be obliged to continue paying the monthly rent as well as the monthly retainer fee. In this sense, nothing at all had changed.

But Eve was visibly distraught. I sensed immediately that she had been put through a very taxing few days and that she was nearly collapsing under the weight of it all. But more distressing for her than all the animosity, it seemed to me, was the loss of her job. She had become greatly attached to her new experience and the importance it gave her on the track, especially since it was proof of her talent as a rider as well as a means to maintain her ‘independence’. In spite of her cast she had been regularly visiting Gog’s stables, trying to sort out his problems there. But the opposition of his trainer had finally made her daily appearances impossible. She was therefore giving more time to observing the training of my fillies since there was little else for her to do under the circumstances. When her cast would be taken off she would, of course, start riding Gog’s horses again, as well as mine. It was a mystery to all of us, however, how this would work out given the unwillingness of the trainer to accept her presence. Gog was insistent though that she should continue. But when the ‘scandal’ broke out the opportunity was seized by the trainer as well as the jockeys to mount a campaign, fuelled by Magog and his men, and Gog submitted to the pressure and fired her.

At the same time, the campaign continued to have her removed entirely from the racing scene. Gog’s failure to support her in her moment of need exposed his own failings. Indeed, at moments of truth such as these, everything and everyone stands exposed in the naked truth of one’s being. Each day that passed brought further exposures. Magog was like a raging lion and the whole racing establishment trembled with every roar. We had suddenly become pariahs since association with us might induce another great roar. Adam too felt the fall-out. The offer of a horse to help make up his count of ten for a licence was withdrawn, with the owner unabashedly stating his need to ‘survive’ as the reason. We had, without a doubt, rushed in like the proverbial fools where none were daring to tread.

The result of this untimely explosion could not be overlooked in the context of the formation of our team-centre: Eve lost her ‘independence’ and found herself thrust back into the centre, her rightful ‘place’.

Things fall into place…

It had never been my intention to deal with the force Magog represented directly, largely because I did not feel any direct confrontation would be necessary since his operation was not based in Bangalore. Indeed, it was this very fact that gave me a measure of confidence that nothing untoward would happen to any of us. This confidence was born largely of cosmological considerations, a question of ‘strategy’ and the nature of a centre, both in the deeper sense of the yoga as well as the more surface meaning. Magog was not on his ‘home turf’, as it were. But I was on mine, and with me stood my team. I felt confident that he was weakened by this ‘off-centredness’ and that our Club would not wish to fight his battles for him by obliging  to remove Eve from its list of jockeys.

Moreover, I had already done considerable spade work in this regard. Our position vis-à-vis the parent club was gradually being harmonised, in particular after the dreadful experience of seeing the catalytic F1 whipped mercilessly in her March 18^th race because of a clever manoeuvre to keep Eve off her in that race. I had mounted a campaign threatening the Club with exposure since these accumulated actions to impede Eve from riding, particularly her restriction to a ten-horse field, could be interpreted as gender discrimination. They were thus unwilling to add another issue to the list of my complaints.

Over the days I spent in Bangalore while the storm was raging and the campaign against Eve was gaining momentum, my only question was her assessment of the behaviour of the stewards in her regard. As suspected, she replied that they seemed quite normal and unperturbed by the matter. Thus, my assessment appeared correct: Magog was out of his centre and his powers were thereby greatly diminished. But his horses were among the very best in the country and his breeding/racing operation was one of the biggest and most successful, not to speak of his prominence in many other areas. In other words, weakened or not by being ‘off-centre’, his was a considerable force to reckon with. Moreover, his reputation was of devastating ruthlessness where racing was concerned; hence the fear he engendered by the pressure he was able to apply was well-founded. Magog could stand as the prototype of the Toltec master don Juan’s petty tyrant with unlimited power.

It was also not exactly a surprise that the third element of our team, the jockey, was under severe attack just when she would soon be riding again. The precise timing of this latest episode, just when her cast came off, convinced me that there was far more to the matter than appeared on the surface. I sensed the Power in full ‘control’ of each and every detail of this drama. The very fact that the letter had mysteriously surfaced five months after it was written and its publication coincided with the removal of Eve’s cast, left me no doubt but that something was brewing. The ‘falling apart’ might take an unexpected turn at any moment. Furthermore, the presence of the 9 number-power in the midst of it all added to my confidence of a ‘happy ending’.

But I could not ignore the human element. Eve was visibly miserable at having lost her job, and there was no denying that I and my group might be held somehow responsible for the infamous publication. Nonetheless, she valiantly braved the storm since by that time, given the pressures and ‘controlled blows’ she had already received, she too sought to understand the strategy beneath the appearances and not resist the inevitable. She was not able to ride in a race since a fitness certificate had yet to be issued by the attending doctor, but she still went about exercising my horses assiduously in morning workouts. The two jockeys who had been mentioned in the published letter were also exercising Magog’s horses which were based in Bangalore, since there was no racing in Madras. And they were determined to make Eve’s life a misery under any possible pretext by lodging complaints with the stewards for any lapse she might make, real or invented.

Since we had reached the point of a final consolidation of our team-centre, it seemed as if a host of forces were being unleashed, on the order of a final gasp before death. It seemed quite certain that racing promised to be a transformed sport once such a nucleus of truth would stand in its midst. This would be the surface assessment; it involved the ‘sport’ of Thoroughbred racing. But there was a deeper level to assess, the fact that such a nucleus would perforce have an impact on the macrocosm the nucleus was central to. The impact would ultimately be felt throughout this larger ‘system’. Thus, that such a virulent upsurge of opposition and unleashing of destructive forces surfaced right then was understandable given the structures of various hues and dimensions which might be threatened by our consolidated presence. In the final analysis, the jockey is the most vulnerable component of the triad, on the ‘battlefield’, so to speak, given his/her prominent position and the fact that everything is decided in the race on the basis of the performance of jockey and horse. At the same time, in the social ladder of the racing hierarchy, the jockey stands at the lowest rung. A strong-willed confidence and upright stance at this lowest position is the gravest affront to the powers-that-be. All of this played upon the situation throughout the remainder of the summer season, with no respite even for a minute. Indeed, its repercussions would be felt perhaps for the remainder of our racing experience.

The very next problem to surface concerned the catalytic F1 directly. The time had come for her second sweepstakes race. It may be remembered that a new regulation had come into effect, stipulating that out-station horses could participate in Bangalore racing only if they were entered in at least two sweepstakes races. F1, in my understanding, did not qualify for any race other than handicaps, given her unknown pedigree status. Be that as it way, both her entry fees had been accepted and not contested by anyone. She was thus taking part in the season’s races as she had always done. But without Eve exercising and riding her, she had not accomplished much at all in the two or three races she had already run.

It may also be remembered that the date of the first sweepstakes had already come up, but the new trainer had scratched her, as well as F2, considering them ‘unable to compete’. Therefore, F1’s participation in such a race had not been challenged. On 23^rd July the second sweepstakes was to be held for which her entry fee had been accepted with no objections from the stewards. The new trainer again felt that F2 ‘could not compete’ with the superior Class 1 horses and should be scratched (she had been entered in the same race), but he agreed to let F1 participate in order to set the precedent I was interested in establishing given her unknown pedigree status and the limitations this engendered. Thus, her name was left in.

There was another point in addition to the above: I had been obliged to pay heavy entry fees for these sweepstakes for both the fillies, yet each time they were scratched these fees were lost without my horses having the opportunity at least to place in the race and thereby cover those high costs. I was determined not to let this happen again. If at the last minute objections would surface, the fact that the entry fee had already been accepted without objection would oblige the Club to reimburse the entry fee in full.

The storm was still raging as the day of the race approached. I was uneasy because F1 was not in her best condition and certainly did not stand a chance against the calibre of horses she would meet in the race. It was important to set a precedent, but I feared that the strain might cause her an injury or some other untoward experience. Thus, on 20^th July, just before the last date for scratching, I wrote in my journal,

9:15 AM

What a mess – mainly the sweepstakes. With F2 it was not too bad. With F1 it could be a disaster. I pray for help to force me to do what is right, best, true, wise for her, no other consideration. I have no illusions about placing. I only want her to do a good race FOR HER. But if even this is not possible, then help me to withdraw her by arranging things to happen that way. I am not going to withdraw her on my own because I just do not know what to do. If in light of the above she should not be in that race, then do the needful through the stewards or whoever (just spare harm to her…). I am helpless.

Help us, all of us, animals and humans involved in this experience, fighting for the good and the true, struggling to forge the nucleus. I have seen more clearly than ever the truth of this process and how important it is to leave EGO out of that inner space. It is hard and it is easy. All one has to do is centre oneself in the Divine Purpose, on that something outside oneself, bigger than one’s small self and one’s isolated, petty concerns. In Eve’s case it was so very clear. Her involvement with Gog was HER thing, her separate world, her anchor OUT THERE, out side of the nucleus. That simply had to go, and she would never have done it on her own. It had to be ruthless. She would not have resigned, always using money as the excuse. It had to be DONE, and right on time.

I must centre myself. I must hold firm. I must realise that all this is happening just to get Eve out of Gog’s world and centred in the process, the three elements in the nucleus. All the threats, all the fall-out, court cases, deaths, etc., are nowhere in the picture. It will fizzle out if I do not feed it. I am convinced of it because there is no question of transforming (Magog). I knew better than anyone else that you do not change that force by a frontal attack. You change him by rendering him irrelevant. This the Force can do once the nucleus at the centre is in place.

I see it now. I must hold to this seeing. No feeding the monster because it is not a question of truth or falsehood winning or losing. It is just a function to get Eve into the nucleus. Once this is done the rest is superfluous. One does not attack a Magog type head on. One renders him irrelevant. And this is happening now. This is his despair. The centre he controls entirely is irrelevant. But he cannot get out of the bind. Let him be. He will scream, howl, threaten – only because he knows he can do nothing. If he really wanted to finish us off he would DO it, not SAY it…

…Now, all energies must be directed toward the forging of the nucleus.

   6:05 PM

At least if the Power would collaborate once for a spectacular fairy tale race, the kind in kids’ books, the magic of a rank outsider winning! Forget placing. Winning! Mon Dieu, what a dream come true…

But I suppose just the fact that I ask this means that I have not understood why we are here. For, after all, are we meant to win or place in a sweepstakes? Is that part of the ‘plan’, or the process? Surely not. We are here just to consolidate a nucleus with a centre that HOLDS. We are here to transmute those Mars energies and resuscitate India in the process. We are here to redeem the energy in money and release that power. But it seems none of this has anything to do with winning much less a sweepstakes. Or does it?

How are we to gauge the process? All gathered together? That is just one part. There is the training, and what is training for? It is to extract the most of a horse – meaning to win. But for that she has to be in her true class for her true potential. I have always felt that her true class was 1. Perhaps now we shall see…

21.7.1994 – Noon

…I pray with all my heart that nothing untoward happens to F1, or any of the horses. But if these ‘sacrifices’ have happened before , why not now? Before they were to protect me, but now?

Perhaps there is no logic in a ‘sacrifice’ now. Perhaps we are not in physical danger. Surely (the control over) Eve’s accidents seems to indicate that we should be confident, trusting. Have I brought these horses here to have them harmed or killed? Have I got Eve into this to have her ‘finished off’? Surely this cannot be. As I see it we need these elements to form that nucleus – 3+3, insofar as they are the triune powers. What is the point in breaking that up?

22.7.1994 – 8:10 AM

What seems incredible to me is that all this might end in a splitting up of the nucleus rather than a consolidation. But is that what has been planned? I had seen that Eve would not ride for Gog and that he was just used to get her here. This being so, everything happening now is consistent with that seeing. The only problem is the danger…But is that ‘gathering together’…I do not believe we have come this far, against all odds, just to fail. We are meant to succeed, and any of us (the girls included) who are eliminated from the nucleus means failure. Since this is not to be, then somehow we will get through.

I succeeded in the Skambha consolidation when everything was against me. Everything and everyone. Once that was over we could seriously begin the work here. This is simply an extension of that. Clearly this was not possible until that consolidation had occurred.

If the method works and the formula holds, then it means that the centre of this affair is a very solid SKAMBHA (pillar). This is unshakeable. It means all I have to do is HOLD FIRM. Then ALL this serves the purposes of the One. It means that whatever peripheral agitation there may be, it will always end in serving our purposes.

At Skambha we were similarly in the eye of a storm. Everything ‘they’ did, once out in the open, turned against them. And when in the open it went faster. This must pertain here. We are all in the middle of danger. But surely these characters are not meant to succeed in finishing off the nucleus. So, it means that ALL their attacks must serve to expose them more and more. If I hold firm we are saved. Me. Anyone central.

On the morning of F1’s race I went to the track. There I saw in the race book that though her name was listed along with the other horses, she had not been allotted a starting number or a gate position. Something had happened, she had been disqualified. I then learned of the shower of protests over her entry, an ‘unknown’ in a sweepstakes race. These protests had apparently come mainly from Magog’s corner. Indeed, a prized filly of his was entered and favoured to win. And so, once more Magog had made his power felt.

But what none knew was that this protest had served out purposes well. F1, as I wrote above, was in no condition to take on such competition without Eve in the saddle. Therefore I was greatly relieved that she had been disqualified. While still at the track I was given a letter from the Club. A mistake had been made, her entry should not have been allowed, therefore the fee was being returned in full. All was as it should be.

I returned to Skambha leaving behind a situation which continued to cause deep concern. Since Magog had not succeeded in getting Eve out of racing, nor was the threat to sue a real alternative, what was left was the direct threat to the jockey on the track. At the same time, I was concerned that we were not yet in the right harmony and interrelation as a nuclear compound in order for a certain protection to be active and permanent. The attacks Eve was subjected to in a sense served to fortify the binary polarity she shared with Adam. This was not conducive to the smooth action of the Supramental Shakti; nor was it wise under the circumstances when only something of a higher power could provide real security via a vast and wide ‘seeing eye’, as it were.

It was all too clear that a proper alignment in the nucleus, formed as it must be of three elements, is difficult to achieve when two of these are mutually supportive of each other. In a situation of this order, the ‘purpose’ which binds the nuclear elements together from its centrepoint is undermined. It cannot serve as pillar, as ‘support’ in such a process. Instead of turning to that Support, the binary elements lean toward each other thereby creating an imbalance, an undesirable tilt.

Thus, during this period I found myself in the unpleasant position of having to focus my attention on disengaging the energies caught in this binary polarity so that the required harmony could ensue. It is for this reason that in normal circumstances a process of this nature cannot succeed when a strong emotional bond exists between any of the nuclear components. At the same time, the task at hand was to extend the consolidated Skambha ‘centre’ into the world by stages. That is, the 3- and 9-part symbol of the Third Power, which I reproduced in the October (TVN 9/4) issue, had to be forged out there, as an extension of the periphery of the original circle. Thus, elements out there were required. They could not be yogis, or recluses, since the method for this activity involved a lived experience in life and in the midst of the old which we seek to transform. The question is logically, What does such a transformation mean?

For a supramental transformation to succeed in this transitional stage the key to success lies in obliging the energies in the extended field to serve the purposes of the One, even while remaining totally unaware that any such process is transpiring and that they are participants. This is required because ‘serving the One’ means that a COSMOS has come into being, a movement out of Chaos. This is the first definition of a higher process and a true new world order on Earth.

In this type of establishment, success can be gauged in a sense when a certain threshold is reached and in rapid succession ‘things fall into place’. What this means is that the nuclear components lock into ‘orbit’ as it were, binded by the Centre which ‘holds’; and this permits a series of engagements, of interconnections to precipitate.

I realised that the drama we were living through, particularly Eve’s distressful  experiences on the track, were engineered to thrust us back upon ourselves, riveted to that central divine Purpose, eliminating all that might stand in the way such as Eve’s attachment to her independence and therefore to her position as Gog’s jockey. But I was also aware that this sort of extreme insecurity generated for the purpose of disengaging energies, for those who are unfamiliar with systems of self-perfectioning  such as the Integral Yoga, tends to call forth a contrary response. Thus it was clear that the binary polarity was being strengthened, since to expect participants of this unorthodox team to understand and to accept the Divine as sole companion and support of one’s life is perhaps too much to ask. Yet it was clear that without the proper poise between us and then to that central Purpose, we would fail in our endeavour.

There was, however, one key which was at out disposal, one item which served to bind us on the human level. This was our common love for horses, and in this particular case, the near devotion we all felt toward these fillies who were indeed the embodiments of something quite unique and compelling. This love outside ourselves and the dedication it commanded was a powerful component of our unusual enterprise. It signified, for one, that our approach to Thoroughbred racing had as its central motivation this love above and beyond all else. And in my case, I could not fail to stand in awe before these creatures who were constantly revealing themselves as vessels of a power and light that moved in them and through them with a purity rarely seen elsewhere. At every moment they were limpid channels of the Supramental Force, and as such the yoga could be learned through them, as indeed through Swati earlier on. The question was, How to carry this purity over to the rest of the protagonists so that no contamination would undermine out work which was clearly poised to cross a formidable threshold?

Thus, back at Skambha I was absorbed by the problem of having to use instruments who were ‘of the world’, as it were, and yet respect the demands of the process and its stress on a central purity and turn to the Divine. On 25 July, I wrote in my journal,

      I remember how my vital was tamed. It too was like an obstinate horse. Not wild but centred on its own ‘purpose’, not integrated, not the vahana along with the physical. All that changed in Rome in just a matter of months. Since then this vital has always been given to the Divine. Even in situations where one could say it was drawn out to the fulfilment of its own purposes, it was never ‘out of my control’. Never. Always the Divine Purpose was central and finally determined my choices. But they were no choices really. That original surrender never budged.

I was ‘tamed’ by the Presence, the power of the Supramental Shakti. In Eve’s case I pretend to do the same thing human to human. It seems impossible. Yet I am given help by the force of circumstances. They work for me in the taming process. I also remember how everything had to be knocked out to give that complete surrender, make the full turn to the Divine. Or rather, the whole being centred on That, not the human.

     This is why I attack the Adam connection so persistently. It is because while it is central to her involvement, the other can only be peripheral. If involvement from the beginning was because of him, as it seems, then is there any hope of succeeding?

Now I really do not know what to expect. It seems that will not change. I have no power to change it. And if not, this will reflect on the Process. This means a central contamination. Yet I am helpless. I can only bring pressure to bear and pray that this is sufficient to get the right thing done. What I do not want is any interference from my likes and dislikes. It is unthinkable that any such ‘contamination’ would exist. I refuse it.

What was present in my yoga and helped me through was the Power of Love. Perhaps I should make use of it more. But if it is not psychic then there are even bigger problems. It has to be centred there, not elsewhere. Then it conquers.

30.7.1994 – 9:25 AM

Everything is so blocked, and continuously. The adversaries are exalting – or are they? Clearly they have got what they plotted for: Eve off the course through trying to pin the letter on her. Now they can only try to trip her up at every step of the way. And she does not help by her foolishness…

…The fact is that with Adam there and me, it is hard to get Eve. She is supported in and by the trinity. Therefore these powers attempt by all means to shatter the nucleus before it becomes consolidated; for once that happens we cannot be harmed or dislodged. Obviously they will try to impede Adam from getting a licence, but that too will fail.

Interesting how Gog was not permitted to be a part of this process. When the crunch came, the time to forge the nucleus with Adam at Bangalore, Gog was pushed out… He could not be there to give ‘support’ because the only support for this nucleus lies in the power of the One. The nucleus generates its own power of protection from WITHIN ITSELF. As before, so now. We are vulnerable, fighting a formidable gang-up of forces, just like before. The only support then was in holding firm to THAT, that Axis of Light.

Now it must be the same thing. We are not going to have support in anything but THAT, the power of Truth. Somehow circumstances will have to arrange themselves to permit this Power to do its job. It is a VICTORIOUS power, it knows not defeat. Delay perhaps, retreat perhaps – but not defeat. We will conquer. We ARE conquering right now…

…It has to be a consolidation of the nucleus and [with?] no support from outside.

Yoga in the Core of Simultaneous Time

Things at the track took a rather bizarre turn at this point. The antagonistic jockeys who were trying to get Eve’s licence to ride withdrawn, made a serious attempt one morning to engage the help of the stewards in their nefarious machinations. They did not succeed, of course, but this latest attack served to fortify or consolidate within Eve a determination to succeed and to overcome all adversities. What was needed was clearly a means or a ‘strategy’ to bring out a certain fierce determination FROM WITHIN herself. An inner strength of this sort, indispensable for her as a jockey in a high risk sport, apart from all other considerations, could not be planted in her from outside. It had to be instigated, driven out from the deepest part of herself. This was achieved by the latest attack, proving in the process that all, negative as well as positive, was indeed serving the purposes of the One.

On my part, my own participation had reached a critical turning point. The probing I was engaged in, the questioning, the awareness of the levels where real success could be attained, was becoming clearer by the minute. Thus, at the very time Eve was being put through her most taxing test in Bangalore, perhaps the moment of her definitive breakthrough to another category as a professional, I was engaged in what later was revealed to be the decisive movement of Yoga which carried us across the threshold and reversed our miseries into moments of supreme joy and fulfilment. Our darkest hour was transformed into our moments of most resplendent Light.

On the first day of the month of August, I began recording certain movements of yoga in my journal, starting at the surface and then moving deeper and deeper into the heart of our ‘purpose’. The discoveries I made then, though not new as such, were seen in such a new light that a formidable power was released; and this power became the fuel, as it were, for our subsequent crossing. Though I was aware of the difficulties Eve was facing, at a certain point communication between us was cut off and I had no direct news. But in the subtle atmosphere that surrounded our mutual participation, she ‘received’ this force and it served to help her forge that determination which was vital to our endeavour.

The position of the racing experience was that Eve was exercising the horses, but nothing else. She was still to receive a fitness clearance and the end of the season was approaching. F2 had been entered in an important race for the last day. Subsequent to that, in the hands of the jockey all had hoped would bring about a win, she continued to fail in the last 200 metres. Eve, as well as I, explained to him what was needed for her to win. But he seemed incapable of understanding, though he was an experienced rider with many wins to his credit. Eve wanted him to give the filly a ‘breather’ after the steep rise for which Bangalore track is notorious, and then ask her to kick off again in the final stretch. Eve was certain that the filly would respond. She knew her well. She had brought her her first win. But time and again the jockey would fail to execute the strategy.

F2’s races followed a consistent pattern. She would be the first out of the starting gates and immediately take the lead, setting a gruelling pace for the other horses. Her initial speed was becoming legendary and none, even the best, could keep pace with her. But such speed cannot be kept up relentlessly; there was to be somewhat of a pause, especially after the steep incline of that particular turf. But with such a lead this would normally not pose any problem. However, the jockey seemed unable to contain his anxiety, relax the filly and allow her to replenish her breath.

Finally she was once again the favourite, and when his failure to listen to these simple instructions brought the same results, we decided that in her last race of the season, another jockey should be called in. F2 was in the best condition of her career; it was pathetic to see this wonderful creature mishandled. She had finally been promoted to Class III, but not through a win. Rather, her handicap had increased with each second and third place, until finally she found herself at the top of the scale; with her latest second, she was promoted. In other words, she seemed incapable of actually winning a race in that lower class and had to reach Class II in this unspectacular fashion.

Eve, of course, could not take her in the race as yet. In the meantime, she was being attacked severely by the two jockeys who were determined to see her off the course. Meanwhile, at Skambha I began the decisive movement of yoga:

1.8.1994 – 1:15 AM

      It seems we are really in need of help. Out there it is tough. It looks like we are going to collapse under the weight of this. There are so many dangers lurking everywhere to humans, horses. I call for your protection. At every moment the Divine Grace must be with us, overseeing everything. I call upon You to be with these people and animals who are up front.

We are so vulnerable. Anything could happen. Our enemies are so, so powerful…How can I succeed with such vulnerability? It is only possible if the holding firm is a fact and is sufficient to keep us rooted in the process and by this centrality the attacks pass us by without harming us, any of us.

But with such viciousness out there someone will have to absorb that. In the past the animals did. Will it have to happen again? Does it mean that we have made no progress at all?

Surely if the work at Skambha succeeded then the transposing to Bangalore is as controlled as this, a mere extension. It means that there is only one centre and that lies here and in me. It means that it is this holding together. The work of centering is done. Bangalore is possible only because of that accomplishment. Indeed, everyone was being made ready to then converge in Bangalore.

When I look back it is clear that all this was planned long back. It means that success at Skambha was certain, therefore all of them were being readied – horses and people. And when that was over and done, they were drawn to Bangalore. But they were waiting in the wings as it were. Ready and waiting.

This therefore will not fail. If failure was a ‘possibility’ then there would not have been the ability TO HOLD. The centre would not have been forged. I see this clearly now: a centre precludes any other possibility but its own central divine Purpose.

This is an amazing discovery. How is it that I never came upon it before: the coming into being of a centre means that there is only one truth central to the cosmos, and it is only this that can evolve in that cosmos.

So, we seem so vulnerable and foolhardy. The reason is that only we are protected by the nature of the cosmos which is not accessible to the attackers. Rather, it is foolish of me to doubt because there can be no doubt once the centre has come into being, once the centre IS. This is why TRUST IN ME was always the message. It cannot be otherwise. That is, the control over every detail in the cosmos is ineluctable once centrality exists, is. Only then is EVERYTHING at the service of the One.

I know this was DONE. Because it was, we are engaged in the present war. Therefore we will win because we have already won. The central Purpose IS. In that sense it is BEYOND time and space because it is in the centre of simultaneous time. It does not require time or space TO WORK OUT its truth. That truth IS. Time and space are then needed TO MANIFEST that truth – not to work it out susceptible to many possibilities.

Therefore the outcome of such an uncentred experience has to be unpredictable. The only time prediction is possible is when the person by the force of circumstances happens to become aligned with his innermost central truth. This is not often but it does happen in the course of one’s life.

I feel replenished now, able to do my job. I only wonder why this had no effect on the temple episode. I could never bring the victory THERE. But who knows, maybe there is more to that. All may not be said and done.

1 PM   

     The more news that comes in the more inspired I get to pursue the matter to the finish. Who is going to be finished off? The more powerful the opponent, the greater the meaning and impact of his defeat…

…But I am now fully inclined to believe that all this has been meticulously arranged to provide me the circumstances to conquer. That is the point. The control over the circumstances is in order to arrange the field, the periphery so that it is the proper container or arena for the Purpose to manifest. NOT FOR ANYTHING ELSE.

That is why this seemingly horrible stuff, beginning with the letter, happened. The letter was the catalyst to start arranging the circumstances in Bangalore for the Victory. Nothing else. The timing was perfect. They do have power, but that is part of it: Ilvala (a mythological titan) has to release it, hand it over to the Goddess Saraswati (the sage Agastya, see TVN 9/3, August 1994). A weak opponent is meaningless. That is why Durga takes on Tarak, mightiest Asura of them all. When she conquers, his power goes to her…

Now it is Magog. ‘Before him all trembled…’ Well, I cannot back off now. I can only go forward. But I do so now greatly replenished in strength and conviction. I see clearly now that the mechanism is holding. That the timing and control are perfect. This means that all that is arranged in order to give us the field exactly right for the Victory. The problem concerns India. It is indeed Mars and the Kshatriya caste…All this has to be redeemed. And it will be so. It will be so simply because IT IS SO.

This is the beauty of simultaneous time. When one sees into that core, like a crystal ball indeed, there is great power. The Power of Truth is this knowledge into the Divine Purpose. If one SEES that divine One, that Child, then one moves along very confidently. One knows WHAT IS. Then the circumstances can only arrange themselves to allow that to manifest.

Negative and positive are used. Eve no less than all of us. The stakes are big, tremendous. But the winner has already won!

Firm as a rock. I feel my whole being firm as the rock of the Skambha Falls. This is all these people need. If I hold FIRM like this, they need nothing else, no other help. And it is done.

It was at the time I was living these experiences that Eve was right then being subjected to untold misery on the track by the gang-up of jockeys hostile to her, and our endeavour in general. But it soon became very clear that this too was part of the ‘control’ over the periphery. Indeed, it was this final gang-up, with the jockeys insisting that she be allowed to trot horses in the school only and not gallop them on the track, for which she was, in their view, incompetent, that finally instigated her to forge that inner determination and strength she needed to graduate to another class as a jockey. All sentimentality, timidity and a certain common female desire to be liked and accepted, in this case to be one of the group vanished. The experiences I was having, the act of ‘holding firm’ which I felt was the only means to instil the strength in the instruments up front was immediately felt by her. She later reported that indeed new strength filled her being and she was able to deal with the situation in a way she could never have done before. As far as the actual racing was concerned, this was the final ingredient needed. The rest followed suit and all the pieces began falling into place in rapid succession. But at Skambha I had no news of the details of what was transpiring in Bangalore. Meanwhile, I continued the entries in my journal that evening:

7:30 PM

The fact that we call it centering is what means no possibilities – only the One, the Divine Purpose. It is because we think LINEARLY that we cannot understand a spheric process. Spheric means a centre exists like the core of the Sun. Then it means that there is only one POINT from which the involved manifests. A centre indeed precludes failure of the Purpose, failure to hold.

When people refer to evolution, or even ‘working out’, it is always an unknown. Anything is possible because linear processes are susceptible to OUTSIDE forces. A centred process is susceptible only to its own compulsions. A truth of this nature MANIFESTS, not evolves.

The new prediction is not what will happen alone but the process to that. In this one can predict very accurately. Vulnerability of the Warriors is what draws the opponents out, this is what EXPOSES. And exposure is important because it weakens the opponent. But it can only be done when they attack a void. Otherwise we could not hold firm, be still, and let it all happen. As they plot, rant, rage, they are serving the Purpose, they are creating the proper conditions for this VICTORY – because the Victory already IS, in simultaneous time.

The SEED. It is all in that. Eve could know her participation by the seed. All that has to come out. But the important thing is a CENTRE THAT HOLDS. This is the very most important thing.

(I do not know what is going on out there. And indeed, we are kept incommunicado.)

The key is growth, or manifestation from within. A child grows from a sperm and egg. But when it is born its environment plays upon its evolution, its growth. The food it eats, the air it breathes, etc. But that child does not have CONTROL over its ‘field’ of life. Whereas, the gnostic being, because it is born differently, can arrange those circumstances so that his/her inner Truth manifests.

In the Supramental Creation the One and the Many must be harmonised and integrated. The reason is that without that there is no possibility for the inner Truth to manifest. It would get deformed by the play in the periphery.

The shadow-temple’s walls show the way. Since they cut into the space of the room, the distortion of the inner truth was inevitable.

A new world, so true. We cannot conceive of this possibility: a creation which arranges its own circumstances of manifestation. NO SEPARATION. These words are so misunderstood, misinterpreted. No one has any idea what these words truly mean. It is always subjective, never objective.

This is why, while there is growth of the seed, at the same time we work to PREPARE the field. In the Gnostic Circle it is the three months before the 9.

8:15 PM

It is clear that these are things I should not speak about, at least not here. Now these days are a time of HOLDING, not speaking, explaining. Perhaps there is much more coming, more to see, understand. Then I can speak. Perhaps by the time I go to Bangalore. Perhaps that is where I have to speak. Not here…

Even I am cut off from Bangalore. It means that it is a time simply to hold, to concentrate the power. This is clearly what is needed now.

…I was held back this evening from throwing out ‘pearls’. The wisdom stays in here. Concentrated. It has a power. To see what IS, into the core, is like releasing the power in Time. Time’s energy is the becoming of itself, the energy of manifestation. Seeing THAT means tapping that source.

…I feel there is more in these days to see, to understand. And this is perhaps because the process there is reaching a culmination. Time approaches, therefore I am called upon to inject the fuel of seeing.

No, we will not fail. We conquer, right now…But what does ‘conquer’ mean?

For me, for the process it means the consolidation of the nucleus. Perhaps there will be a consolidation simultaneously – that is, Eve racing again and Adam getting his licence. But how is this going to take shape?

We stand alone. Naturally. We are in another dimension and there are no people there. Everyone is in the old. That is surely true…                                  

For F2’s important last race of the season, no acceptable jockey could be found. Eve was thus forced to press for a fitness certificate earlier than planned; and it was granted. Reluctant as she was to race so soon after removing her cast and not being able to consult me on the matter, she had no choice but to agree to ride F2 in her 18^th race. When I reached Bangalore before the day of the race, she presented me with this ‘surprise’. It did not escape any of us that this would be the last racing day of the summer season, while on the very first day she had been ruthlessly removed from competition at the starting gates before the race had even begun and before she had had a  chance to ride for Gog. It also did not escape my notice that this 18^th race, or the second multiple of 9, would fall on a day of 9 number-power: 5.8.1994 (=9).

Once upon a time…

The fairy tale began to unfold and the fullest power of the 9 and the Supramental Shakti were displayed in a grandiose culmination which began that last racing day of the season. But it was only the beginning. A series of races were to follow, all held within the magical embrace of the Power as in race after race F2, with Eve steering her, climbed to the top displaying that superior potential I had known to exist from when she was a foal.

With this culmination a subtle shift was felt in the rhythm we had been following from the beginning of our racing experience. All along I had been monitoring the passage through the Gnostic Circle on the basis of races. For example, F2 was entering her 18^th and therefore at the 9 point of the Circle. But I realised that there was another rhythm displacing the former. It was not a question of WINS. We had been halted at 5 wins: 3 for F1, and 2 for F2. Somehow, we could not gather enough force to complete the circle; there seemed to be insufficient FUEL to carry us to the apex of the wheel. We were bogged down at the nadir. But no sooner had Eve taken F2 in her 18^th race, precisely opening the way to the final quarter of the Gnostic Circle by way of wins to the culmination of the process, that the effects of the consolidation of the nucleus were confirmed: a formidable RELEASE of energy occurred signalling a convergence of Time. F2 seemed to translate that release into her performance on the track. She appeared to house a boundless source of energy. And Eve seemed to be the only rider able to tap that source.

Adam’s training produced a filly in exceptionally good condition for Eve to ride that first 9-power day of August and the last day of the summer racing season. When she entered the paddock before the race she was singled out as the best by the connoisseurs. However, the betting public at large could not imagine that Eve would be able to produce a win with the filly, when the more experienced jockeys had failed time and again. In addition, this was Eve’s first ride after a long gap and her first in Bangalore after the letter scandal and the loss of her job with Gog. She was the underdog, to say the least. Not many expected anything different from F2’s performance than what had already been seen. Moreover, in the field there were exceptional horses. One in particular, the favourite, was an extremely well-bred, high-priced, three-year old filly from Bombay, where India’s best horses compete, prepared by the country’s top trainer. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that this filly would win, followed in the line-up by several other three-year olds of equally good breeding and proven performance. In addition, they were ridden by jockeys with far more experience than Eve.

On my part, however, after the experiences I had been having and the inner breakthroughs which I knew had taken place, I was confident that Eve would do well and would possibly win. Upon my arrival I had read out to her the above extracts from my journal, since I felt they were relevant to what she was experiencing. The fact that as a trifold nucleus we were functioning at the centre of our endeavour meant more to me than what the record books had to say of all the competing horses. But even this confidence did not match what transpired in that race. Eve and F2 made history that wonderful 9-power day.

As usual, F2 was the first out of the gate. Her pace was so fast that she easily reached the front and established a good lead. The favourite from Bombay was being ridden by India’s champion jockey. He felt confident that he could stay in third or fourth place until after the steep incline at the 600 mark, and then, when F2 faded as was her habit, he could begin pressing his mount to come up forcefully and pass F2 as well as the rest of the pack.

But in the hands of Eve who knew just what F2 required to make her hold her pace throughout, with some reserve for the end, nothing of this transpired. After the rise Eve was seen to relax the reins as we had discussed time and again, she let the filly catch her breath without pressing her to continue at that gruelling pace. This allowed the other horses to approach, but with one signal-stroke of the whip the filly responded with a kick-off that left the rest of the horses trailing behind by several lengths. At that point, the champion jockey on his champion filly realised that he would have an impossible task to overtake Eve. He did his utmost but finished behind by two lengths, while Eve carried F2 across the finishing line to the roaring cheers of the crowd. It was finally the fairy tale come true.

F2 with Eve astride, Mysore, 22 September 1994

There was so much packed into the 1.12.9 minutes of F2’s timing which turned the tide of our racing experience exactly when the Centre was made whole by a balance of its trifold energies. It was not just a race won but the nature of its attendant accumulative circumstances from, we could say, the very beginning of the process in 1989. It must be recalled that a key feature of this New Way is the establishment of a life divine on this Earth in accordance with Sri Aurobindo’s prophecies regarding the inevitable manifestation of a gnostic principle to allow for a new and superior species to replace the old. We are interested, therefore, in knowing in what manner this species will differ from the actual highest specimen our evolution has thus far allowed.

To begin, and this has been the main focus of our work so far, a means must evolve in order to allow the individual’s innermost truth to express itself in life. One’s fullest and truest potential must come forth; whereas until now this involved condition of the human being has not been able to break through the crusts which time and circumstance have imposed. It is as if the seed of the species has never been able to overcome the obstacles and impediments which it has been facing while it strives to rise in the ladder of creation to something substantially improved and fulfilled.

And if we write of a seed and a growth from within, we understand that a new and gnostic being must respect this question of centrality and extract from within anything  higher to replace the old. In other words, nothing comes from outside – as the fanciful science fiction writers might have us believe. For the Earth, whatever of a more enlightened nature that must take its place in the evolution of the species has to do so by the principle of the manifestation of an inherent truth, or of involution of that truth and its consequent evolution. It must, therefore, follow the principle laid down in these pages of a centre out of which emerges an axis and a consequent ability to control the energies in the field in which that ‘seed’ has been sown.

Thus, regarding this racing experience, the important question from the beginning was the expression of that inherent potential. To allow this to come to pass certain elements had to be drawn together, take their proper and predestined places in the scheme of things, and once that was done, and only then, that potential would be able to express itself. More than that, it would be a mathematical certainty.

F2 demonstrated the exactitude of this new applied cosmology when she revealed her full potential that August afternoon, on that 9-power day. We would not have appreciated the depth and breadth of her potential had this culminating achievement not taken place after a series of ‘just misses’. In this way two points were made. One was that such a culmination could only come to pass when the full components of the nucleus were in place, harmonised, and balanced around the central divine Purpose rather than egocentric interests; and second, that the movement is spherical, a circular convergence in time. This means that the control I am describing works on all things simultaneously, each point in the circumference of the emerging cosmos. When this tilling of the soil reaches a maturing point, a critical threshold so to speak, the seed-centre, as if with the greatest ease, pushes through the now loosened crust of earth and begins its upward march and to reveal itself in its nascent and naked truth of being.

For this reason we witnessed a series of ‘just misses’ before the fairy tale could play itself out, with each and every jockey unable (or unwilling) to bring out the best in F2. The nucleus had to complete itself; then the rest was a mathematical certitude. In the meantime, while F2 was struggling with the limitations of the field and the lack of components by which means she could succeed in drawing to the surface her inherent potential, jockey, trainer and owner, or the triadic powers of the Centre, were being moulded into a harmonious whole in the effort to bring into being a centre. For that, elements in the field were utilised with meticulous care, – the Gogs and Magogs, jockeys, stewards, and so forth. Each played his or her role to perfection. Meaning, in this case, to serve as powers of contraction creating circumstances which would press in upon the central components from all sides thereby causing a predetermined balance of powers to become established.

With this accomplished time locks into another gear, a ‘high gear’ indeed, and the operation seems to move forward at great speed and effortlessly, just as F2’s race displayed. If I felt certain that the condition or performances of the horses in this process would give us an indication of the stage and work accomplished, that race fully revealed the exact ‘mathematics’ I have described. In the process, F2 surpassed the best and set herself up as a force to contend with. She not only beat several Derby contenders, foremost of which was the filly from Bombay who entered the race with an already awesome track record, she just fractionally missed breaking the season’s record for the 1200 metres. It stood at 1.12.8, whereas her timing in this race was 1.12.9. Had Eve not eased her up over the last 20 metres or so, F2 would have effortlessly broken the record which had been set earlier in the season by India’s proven top sprinter.

At the same time, she did prove in that one race to be the better sprinter in Bangalore since in another Class 1 for sprinters (hers was Class III) over the same distance that same day, won by the proclaimed best sprinter of the Club, the latter’s timing was 1.13.6. Considering the lower weight F2 was carrying, it was calculated nonetheless, kilo for distance and timing, that F2 would still come out ahead.

As for Eve, this was indeed the fairy tale of racing. She was besieged from all sides, a woman alone in a man’s domain, and one where machismo is especially prized. Magog was set on finishing off her racing career. She had been sacked by her owner who ought to have stood by her in her moment of need, especially in view of the special circumstances in which he had hired her in the first place. It may be recalled that hiring Eve was Gog’s ‘statement’, his protest against the misdeeds or mishandling of his horses by the then retained top jockey. In the present circumstances, Magog’s riders were being accused of equally dubious practices, thus to support him in any way was a contradiction of that earlier ‘statement’. Eve was not in the centre of a storm for misdeeds as a jockey. Just the contrary. She was seen as the victim of such practices which Gog was ostensibly protesting against. In fact, she had not even ridden one horse of his in a race, therefore her record as his jockey was unblemished as she left his stables. Ironically she was sacked because of her reputation of being ‘controversial’, which meant honest and straightforward. Gog came out of the affair in the poorest light, while Eve, especially with her fairy tale win, ended the season fully vindicated as a professional while exposing the questionable handling of F2 by some of the best. The public was well aware of the fact that this was a newcomer, and a woman, able to ‘deliver the goods’ where all others had failed, leaving a great question mark over F2’s former races, especially those in which she had been the betting public’s favourite. In the bargain, the Bombay filly was ridden by India’s champion jockey. Thus, Eve’s ability as an athlete now stood beyond dispute.  First woman rider in Bangalore, she was now the first to win.

As for F2, the type of race she ran would become a hallmark in the Club’s plethora of sprint races, and indeed throughout the country: a formidable unbeatable initial speed over the first 600 metres, thus driving the front-runners into fatigue, followed by a final kick-off in the last 400 metres, decisively burying any remaining competition. Such a style of running is the ideal for the sprinter, but it is difficult to come by.

F2 had displayed precisely the mathematical equation of a release of energy when a centre comes into being. It means contact is made with a replenishable source of energy of a superior quality. Its superiority lies in the nature of our cosmological process: no violence is done, – that is, no imposition from outside. The contact with the source is the direct outcome of the ‘birth that fills the void’. In other words, the draining ‘hole’ or ‘void’ at the centre is ‘plugged up’, as it were. There is no collapse. An infinite source of energy lies at the disposal of the instrument as a natural, organic consequence of growth and flowering from within.

In Thoroughbred racing as it is practised today, this is a potent, and threatening, statement to make on the turf. That is, nearly all horses today, in some form or other, participate through a violence done to their inherent potential. Race training relies almost entirely on drugs or enhancers. Without these substances trainers believe they cannot compete. Thus, the horse is pumped with these drugs and does indeed produce wins as a result. But there is an imbalance created by this artificial imposition. It is not an organic process, extracting the horse’s potential in a measured way based on a progressive loading in the training. The horse is literally forced into a performance that it may not be ready for, even though the capacity to win may be inherent in that animal. The result is that breakdowns occur more regularly today. We see horses competing beyond their preparation and inherent capacity, and then collapsing. Especially when, for reasons of detection, the drug has to be withdrawn sufficient time before the race. Such horses are like inflated balloons collapsing the minute air is released.

Thus, F2’s performance posed a threat on many fronts. There was the threat to the big breeders who demand increasingly high prices for their yearlings and who feel free to do so when such high-priced animals do indeed ‘deliver the goods’. When an upstart like F2 beats the very best, with a good but not fashionable pedigree, meaning an imported sire who commands formidable covering fees while standing at the fashionable stud farms, then breeders will begin to feel threatened. Racing is an industry where millions are invested. In the case of our fillies, we were dealing with pets, bred privately, with no investment at all other than their upkeep.

Trainers felt especially threatened by Adam’s obviously superior talents, demonstrated in a startling manner from the day he took charge of F2. Though raced under the new trainer’s name, since Adam did not have a licence in Bangalore as yet, all knew the training was his. Similarly, trainers were aware that drugs were taboo in our operation based on a mutual understanding between trainer and owner. Thus, if this filly of not-so-special breeding could win so effortlessly and without illegal substances, the threat to the entire foundation of present-day training was serious indeed.

And finally there was the threat to jockeys, for Eve’s handling was not only of the best quality, her honesty stood as a solitary star in the dim night of the racing firmament. Thus in one brilliant performance F2 had set the stage and established the conditions for our process thereafter.

The Fairy Tale endures

For a number of days after F2’s race there was talk of little else at the track. A better set of circumstances could not have been arranged to put F2 and Eve in the forefront. Above all, the talk was generated by the calibre of horses in the race, most of whom were up-coming 3-year olds from the best stables; whereas F2 was a 4-year old with already a year and a half of racing of little consequence behind her. Officially in the record books she had been categorised as potentially a top racehorse when she arrived for training. But until that 5^th August race she had failed to live up to these official estimates of her capacity. All of that was now a thing of the past. She had solidly beaten one of the best fillies in the country who was expected to breeze through the race to a comfortable win, so much better was she considered than the rest.

But in racing memories are short. It is said a horse is only as good as his last race. This is, in fact, its value as a field of yoga, especially of this New Way, since one is never allowed to stagnate or bathe in the glory of a breakthrough or a win, as in this case, regardless of how spectacular or fairy-tale like it may be. One has to start preparation for the next race immediately after, and the one after that. Quite often horses perform well in one or two races, only to fade out and into oblivion thereafter. For example, it was thought that F2 had ‘peaked’ and that therefore this win was a result of a combination that would not in all likelihood be repeated. In addition, she was carrying a rather low handicap (51.5kgs.). The jockey who had failed with her in her last race, feeling the brunt of the affront Eve’s easy win caused him by way of comparison, defended himself by claiming that ‘the filly cannot carry weight’ (He had ridden her in his last race carrying a 59-kilo handicap). Very few were prepared to accept that Eve’s riding was the reason for F2’s spectacular success. I repeat, there are races won, many in fact, but some are especially significant in the career of a racehorse given the particulars of the race in question, the calibre of the competitors, the weight carried, previous performances and the nature of the win itself such as distance and timing. On all these counts this proved to be a landmark for F2.

In terms of our process, what happened that day had even more spectacular and far-reaching implications. In particular, this was due to the yoga performed leading up to the race and therefore the mathematical precision involved. Given a certain input and certain conditions fulfilled, there could only be one result: a formidable RELEASE of energy. That was the key feature of the ‘fairy tale’. It did indeed reward the instruments in the front line-up, but it did so only when the conditions on the deeper levels were met. In this case the fairy-tale win served as a confirmation that the nucleus had been formed by a correct poise and mutually supportive balance of the three central components; and that given this fact the Horse, or the One, could not fail to respond accordingly.

F2 continued in her daily workouts and general condition to reflect the harmony that had been attained. She improved by the day; and when she appeared in the paddock before the next race, she was the talk of the establishment. Jockeys considered, as one rider put it, that she was a ‘transformed filly’. On their part, trainers were determined to find out what Adam was doing or giving the horse, that he was ‘on to something’ none knew about, some special feed, special nutrient, special training. For even the steroids and other drugs commonly used on tracks throughout the world would not have the effect witnessed in F2’s physical condition. They wanted to know the ‘secret’.

It was true that Adam had been perfecting his contribution to our team during the months leading to this breakthrough. Nutrition-wise his programme was also the best among all the trainers. The shoeing of the horse was not matched by any; and the exercise programme, though still in the process of working out the details, was nonetheless better than what most horses were receiving, with little concern for the scientific knowledge we were in the process of collecting and implementing in our work with these horses. All this played upon the success obtained.

But these conditions were present already before Eve took F2 in that race. It was clear that the final component, the jockey, had to be ‘put in place’ before these ingredients – the yoga included – could bear fruit. What this revealed was the simultaneous convergence of the SPHERICAL nature of the process we were engaged in: all things brought into orbit and harmonised in a circular, converging development. It proved as well that the energies in the periphery were used to create a contracting action whereby the inner components would simultaneously find themselves in the correct poise to allow Time to do its work. All of this converged on the Horse, causing a release of energy.

The summer season closed that day and racing shifted to the neighbouring city, Mysore. It was the scene of Eve’s first ‘accident’, when F2 was instrumental in removing her from racing for several months, given precisely the lack of correct poise and the extreme egocentrism of all the parts concerned. Needless to say, there was a certain trepidation in returning to the scene of that dramatic event. The date for the race was 16^th August and it was not this time a 9-power day. One wondered what the outcome would be.

By that time, F2’s fame had begun to spread far as the vanquisher of the Bombay filly. But the sceptics still abounded. Moreover, there was her former jockey’s statement (‘that filly cannot carry weight’), and since she entered the race with the highest handicap, many believed she would be unable to register another consecutive win. This was a Class III race which, if won, would thrust her immediately into Class II.

The strategy for the race was the same, since F2 had a style of running that left little room for manoeuvre. In fact, it ought to be explained that she was a carefully chosen instrument for this phase of the process in that, it may be recalled, Magog’s men were constantly harassing Eve. His two jockeys, whose behaviour had been vigorously criticised in the July publication, were still set on proving a point by constant threats in one form or another. Therefore, it was worrying to see Eve enter a race and be ostensibly at their mercy. Race riding is both difficult and dangerous. It is a simple matter to create obstructions to other runners, especially if more than one jockey in a particular race has orders to do so. Not only can they successfully restrain a horse from winning, they can also cause damage to both horse and rider. There have been cases where deaths or serious injuries have occurred on the track due to this sort of premeditated interference, an outcome of a desire for revenge precisely of the sort Eve was being subjected to. But F2 was the ideal ride under the circumstances. Her jump out of the gate was such that none could catch up with her. She was in front of the other horses before they could even realise that the race had started. F2 was thus protected by her inherent talent which became even more pronounced with Eve’s gentle handling and sensitive riding.

Thus with ease and majesty F2 won her second consecutive cup race, with Eve steering her again as she gave the final kick-off in the last stretch and cruised past the winning post three lengths ahead of the other horses while the public roared and cheered. The commentator bellowed out, ‘She is simply trouncing the opposition!’ The lie was thus given to the contention that ‘she could not carry weight’, and this accomplishment brought F2 into Class II, just below the top where I felt she belonged from the beginning.

Her next race was scheduled for September 22^nd, the Equinox, and a 9-power day. I must stress that I never planned these synchronisations and number harmonies. Indeed, it would have been difficult to do so since only a limited number of races were available for her distance and class. The task of selecting or suggesting was left to the trainer in large measure. I was intrigued by this particular selection since it seemed significant in more ways than one. It would, in fact, mark the first anniversary of Eve’s ‘accident’ occasioned by F2 the year before at the same venue. This would be a difficult race with increasingly stiffer competition. We were therefore somewhat apprehensive about the results.

Mysore racing had been in large part dominated by trainers and their horses from Madras since the season there would be resumed only in late October. Thus, each race saw several of Magog’s horses competing. For F2’s third attempt at a cup-race win,from his stables there was an especially good filly entered from his stables, of F2’s same age-group. She had, in addition, won Classic races; therefore Magog certainly expected her to win. Apart from the fact that we were beginning to pose a serious threat to breeders and trainers alike in that this ‘pet’, privately bred, was ‘trouncing’ some of the best horses in India, there was the threat of facing one or more of Magog’s men in a race. His filly was also known for her initial speed as a front-runner; clearly the race would be between Magog’s Classic winner and F2. And he was more than ever determined to win and put both Eve and F2 in their rightful place, – i.e., behind his horse.

By then the potential of horses was being assessed with respect to their performance in F2’s races. The filly from Bombay, for example, had been assessed the favourite to win the Derby insofar as she had been beaten by F2 who in turn went on to win her next race. This was thought to increase the chances of the Bombay filly winning the Derby, since F2 had proved her superior quality. Coming second to F2 was no mean achievement. Magog, together with other breeders, owners and trainers, was not taking these matters lightly. I sensed that there was a considerable line-up of ‘forces’ determined to put a stop to this winning streak, insofar as we had now entered the highest class. Beyond Class III, the mid-point, the horses we would meet could be high-priced Classic winners; all had won at least three races to reach anything beyond this mid-point. There was no sign though that there was a horse capable of coping with F2’s style of running. Up front in all her races, and not fading in the hands of Eve, no obstruction tactics would be possible: there was no horse in evidence who could match her initial speed to do the obstructing!

To protect the turf, all clubs install false railings during the season. This practice increases the distance of races, especially difficult for sprinters. In this Equinox race there were 5 metres of false rails, a significant addition. But I was confident that F2 could cope with this increase since she had almost won a 1400-metre race in Bangalore at one stage of her career. But when I instructed Eve to ‘go for timing’ in this particular race, since she had already proven herself capable of beating the best and in that regard there was little left to prove, I did not realise the toll this would take on the filly, in particular given Magog’s entry and strategy.

The worse part was the condition of the track itself. There had been no rains and therefore the ground was hard. The Mysore track is notorious for its bend which slopes to the outside, causing high-speed runners to drift out at this bend. The horse has to make a supreme effort to keep its position close to the rails. The toll on its left fore is hard. Ignorant of this fact, the advice to Eve to ‘go for timing’ was foolish. Nonetheless, it is unlikely that Eve could have done other than what she did. Magog’s jockey left her little choice.

Magog’s filly was also known for a fast jump out of the gate and an unmatched initial speed. Thus, both F2 and Magog’s filly went to the front immediately. As luck would have it, riding Magog’s entry was one of the two jockeys mentioned in the infamous letter, and one who had been known to threaten Eve in the past. He was especially keen on overtaking Eve and setting a pace which he felt F2 could not sustain. But contrary to his expectations, F2 did not allow his mount to pass. She kept the lead and the two pulled in front and away from the rest of the pack by a  distance. The pace set was blistering, never before seen on that track, according to reports after the race. In the true spirit of a superior athlete that she is, F2 did not falter until Magog’s filly was driven to exhaustion. Not satisfied, after the usual breather and with several hundred metres left, Eve signalled to F2 who kicked off again, leaving the horses four lengths behind as she passed the winning post to the resounding cheers of the crowd. Eve, for the betting public, had become their darling since she was continuously carrying their favourite to a win. Magog’s filly, on the other hand, ‘finished in the rut’, as the commentator announced, – that is, driven to fatigue, she had finished last.

Fairy Tale gives way to Myth

There may be good sprinters with initial speed, especially fillies. But it is rare to come across one such as F2, who is able to set a pace none can match in the first half of the race and still have fire power left to accelerate toward the end, after fatigue has set in and overtaken the other runners. Thus, gradually F2 was gaining the reputation of being one of the best sprinters in the country, and certainly the best in Bangalore. She had beaten top horses. She had set good timings. She had won three cup races in a row, the last being a gold cup. And she had not so far let any horse pass her in these three races. She was a force to contend with. Indeed, F2 with Eve guiding her seemed unbeatable, – and hence a real threat to the numerous vested interests which abound in the ‘sport’ of racing. At the same time, contrary to what one sees in horses fed all sorts of unhealthy and often illegal substances, transgressing standards and regulations, F2 was improving with each race. Her condition, already impressive when Eve first mounted her in the paddock on 5^th August, was now improved beyond belief. To witness her entry into the paddock for the pre-race parade, was thrilling as well as inspiring. Beyond any doubt, she was every bit the Class I horse I had assessed her to be.

But handicap races are one thing, with horses moving up the ladder from Class V to Class I, as the case may be. It is another thing to win sweepstakes terms races in which the handicaps are allotted according to the age and stake money of races won. That is, in this category of race one meets not just Class I horses but the very best of that highest category, those which have won and placed not only in sweepstakes but possibly in the Classics as well, another category entirely.

Such a race was approaching. It was scheduled for October 8^th, 1994, there in Mysore. I was determined to enter F2 in that race, and this time, who would dare object?

But there were certain constraints. The first was that F2 had not been entered in this sweepstakes on the due date, given the reluctance of the trainers to oblige. Therefore, she would only be eligible if I paid ten times the fee in what is called a ‘final entry’. To begin, a sweepstakes entry in India costs approximately ten times the amount of a handicap race; in this case, a final entry would require an additional ten times the normal sweepstakes fee. But since she had won three races in a row, there were sufficient funds from her own earnings to handle the high cost; but in the event of losing, all profits from these wins would be lost.

Apart from this consideration there was the more serious problem that F2 had slightly injured her left fore and shoulder, given the vigour of the race and the hard ground she had to cover. The Mysore season, I had been warned, sees many horses break down. I was able to prove this with my own fillies, but in the case of F2 the problem was not serious enough to stop her from her daily exercise programme. It was just enough to make the filly hold back from giving her best in the effort to protect herself from further damage. More often than not, especially when a horse reaches the top echelons, one has to contend with some problem or other, and racing goes on nonetheless. However, care has to be taken and the judgement of the trainer has to be honed to know just how far he can press the horse and what he can expect.

Thus, the question of whether or not to enter her in this special race and to continue proving that my horses could compete with the best hinged on the condition of the filly. A final entry fee was a risk to run, even in the best of circumstances, with a horse in top condition. Regarding our filly there was a definite problem. With Adam in charge and Eve riding her, I was fully confident that the right decision would be made. Moreover, F2’s performance in those last three races was so superior to all the other horses that it seemed she could handle the competition even if not in top form. The important thing to bear in mind is that though still in condition to race, when a horse has a problem, small as it may seem, the strain of the race can cause a greater injury of more far-reaching consequences. With any other jockey riding her I could not have considered taking the risk. But with Eve it was different. She was too sensitive and balanced a rider to press the filly to the point of causing further damage. If entered, I felt certain that F2 would come out of the race in the same condition she entered, not worse. But still we had to be reasonably certain that she would be in sufficiently good condition to merit the high cost of the final entry fee. And there were but two weeks between the races to prepare her, while the final entry due date was a week before the race.

We had entered a different category in our racing experience for all concerned. For me as breeder/owner, it meant, as stated earlier, that a threat was being posed to the vested interests of the breeding industry, as well as to the owners who were spending millions of rupees on horses and in many cases were not reaping the benefits such huge sums promised. Regarding Adam, he was now poised to enter the category of a trainer able to prepare horses not just for handicap races, but for sweepstakes as well, if not the Classics yet. His reputation as a first-rate trainer was growing with every performance of F2. Her ‘transformation’, as it was called, was the best advertisement for his talent.

In this area also it seemed clear that just as the horse was responding to the consolidation of the nucleus, so too would the human elements involved. Each one seemed to be able to demonstrate or draw forth the best from within. Both Adam and Eve, as professionals, were making significant improvements. I knew this would increase; and certainly, preparing F2 for this particular sweepstakes race, given the pressures of costs and condition of the filly, would test this premise to the utmost. If indeed I would enter F2 in the race, this would create a pressure on both trainer and jockey never before experienced by them. It remained to be seen whether or not they could sustain it.

Magog cannot have been pleased with the performance of his champion filly and the results of the Equinox race. While the Classic horses of other owner/breeders were being vanquished by F2, it was still tolerable. But with the defeat of his best sprinter, who had even won Classics, one sensed that an unspecified certain limit or border had been transgressed. On my part, I felt an upsurge of forces of a subtle order, pernicious and determined. It remained to be seen in what way these forces would operate to halt us on our way.

I had my own method of assessing the wisdom of entering F2 in this special race. I realised that she stood before her 21^st run and that the three wins in a row, two of which were on 9-power days, covered the last quarter of the Gnostic Circle, by way of races won. Exactly in accordance with the dictates of the Circle, the release made itself felt at the 6 Point and the 6^th win. That is where increased fuel is needed in order to move through the sign Scorpio and into Sagittarius and there extend boundaries. The reversal at the 4.5 Orbit creates combustion. This is then channelled in a particular direction: into the cosmos rather than dissolved in the Beyond, as in death. The result is an increase, a widening, an extension of the limits of destiny. To be more specific, it is a certain hitherto unexplored or untapped layer of energy in the folds of one’s destiny which permits a deeper expression of an inherent potential. Under normal conditions one may never tap this potential.

When there is a void central to one’s consciousness-being, there is a seepage of energy. One cannot concentrate enough power to bring about this increase. Indeed, to sustain the pressure whereby the direction inward is maintained. One escapes the pressure by dissipating the energy. Or else, as when Death presses in, one collapses given the binary structure of the species. On this basis the theories evolved of salvation in a beyond and outside the cosmic dimension. That is, one is contracted to extinction from this material dimension.

On the other hand, when the Void has been filled as in this case by the consolidation of the tri-part, properly poised nucleus, this seepage is arrested. The released fuel is then utilised in a new way: for increase, for extending the boundaries of one’s destiny proportionate to the compact essence of the Seed.

F2 demonstrated this correct utilisation exactly in accordance with the Gnostic Circle process. The consolidation took place just as she stood poised to enter her 18^th race for the 6 Point win at the portals of the sign Sagittarius. The results were immediate and decisive. Thereafter, the 19^th demonstrated that extension in that she carried the victory to another racing venue, conquering that field as well. Finally there was the 20^th, the 8 win of the equinox race on another 9-power day, which completed the rise to the summit of the wheel, but did not close the Circle as yet. That is, the 8^th closes one cycle and opens a new one. She was swept to the top of the wheel in this fashion, on the basis of the potent nuclear release at the 5 Point (Jupiter), which was sufficient to carry her through the remaining signs and orbits with the greatest ease. Indeed, the ease with which she scored her wins indicates the power generated in proportion to the quality of the Seed. The One in such a process is a mathematical result of the quality of the trifold energy base in the nucleus.

Thus, I realised the 8^th win (5+3) left matters incomplete. One more of the sequence was required. I felt this would have to be the sweepstakes, the last for her of the season which would close on 21^st October, a 9-power day. I felt confident that true to her capacity to draw in the elements required for fulfilment, F2 would ‘arrange’ the circumstances to permit her to play whatever role intended by the release.

With extreme care, Adam was monitoring her condition daily. Both he and Eve finally came to the conclusion just before the closing date for the entry that she could race. In effect, even if she placed second all the costs would be covered with something of a profit. Thus, F2 was entered, sending out the signal to all by investing this large amount that I was confident of another consecutive win. It remained to be seen whether my confidence in the abilities of the members of our team, equine and human, would be rewarded.

Throughout this discussion it may be noted that I have preferred to describe the tri-part components – both human and equine – as 9, 6, and 3 – while they are the first, second and third in the progression. The reason for doing so is that with 9-6-3, participation can be related to the Gnostic Circle. This then tells us in great detail and with accuracy what the true input will be of each component. So far we have been following the racing careers of two horses, which would be the 9 and the 6, or the first and second fillies. Indeed, when related to the Circle, we find these creatures fulfilling their roles of 9 and 6 to perfection. And we learn that the circumstances for their participation have always served to assist them in realising their contributions of 9 and 6.

For example, F1 as the first, or the 9, always demonstrated an aloofness which seemed to reflect the transcendent quality of the 9. Indeed, in the trinity the 9 corresponds to the Transcendent Divine. Regarding the Solar Line, a similar descending order of manifestation, the 9 was Sri Aurobindo. His ‘aloofness’ is now legendary, though in yoga we would call it detachment to the results of one’s efforts, or equanimity. This was also noted in that he remained withdrawn for the better part of his yogic life and mission. Sri Aurobindo stayed self-confined to his room for the last 24 years of his life, while the Mother, the 6, carried forward the work of the Ashram and established its character and ‘boundaries’; very true to her contribution as the 6.

In our equine ‘descent’, we have F2, the 6, playing a similar role. On the basis of her contribution the parameters of our racing experience have become established. She evolved our boundaries by her performance and revealed our limits, whatever these may be. The Mother, for example, not only set up the Ashram as the field of their yoga, she also extended that field for a new boundary toward the end of her life.

Both our equine participants have displayed similar characteristics when related to the Solar Line. F1’s aloofness and her capacity to transcend the field of her input entirely by closing it out, turning in on herself, may have been a protective device engendered by early mishandling, but nonetheless it served to assist the filly in remaining true to her 9 function without overstepping the boundaries inherent in this descending order. Given this circumstance, it was left to F2 to ‘hold the fort’, as it were. She had to keep the experience grounded and centred, very similar to the Mother’s function in the Ashram to accommodate Sri Aurobindo’s withdrawal, like F1 withdrawing into herself and detaching from the field of her experience. These characteristics could not be appreciated without the Gnostic Circle and the knowledge it provides of the Sacred Triangle, its angles of 9, 6, 3 and their special attributes and functions.

If we move up the ladder from 1 to 2 to 3, or down the scale from 9 to 6 to 3, we note that something interesting happens at the third level. The two directions converge at the 3 Point. Whether in the upward movement or the descending motion, the 3 Point is where the two converge. This indicates that the 3 is indeed the ‘bridge’ linking the two planes and is therefore the position which promises the true fulfilment of the seed-potential in that the 3 is self-contained and less dependent on the play of circumstances for fulfilment. The 3 is in a better position to create NEW conditions.

But this discussion is carrying us beyond the parameters of our saga to date. What interests us most for the present is the assessment of F2’s contribution in that at last something of the true seed-potential had succeeded in coming to the fore. But this bore certain limitations consonant with F2’s role as the 6. The highest she could go in the display of her talents would be sweepstakes races. The Classics were closed to her. For F1 the limitation was due to her unknown pedigree because of which she was restricted to handicap races exclusively. This was the limitation imposed upon her from outside, so to speak, before birth, in the ‘beyond’, – i.e., the ‘transgressions’ of her sire and dam. This lay beyond her control or beyond even the qualities she expressed as a racehorse in a race. No matter how well she performed, or how high in the scale she went, under whatever circumstances her destiny would present during the course of her career, she could never surmount this in-born ‘handicap’. The conditions of her birth automatically precluded any expression of her true potential which surpassed even F2’s in fact. The ‘field’ could in no way accommodate or mould itself to her inherent potential, thereby fortifying her ‘closed in’ condition. Everything remained locked within and there seemed little point in opening it up insofar as being of Classic potential, or at least a winner of sweepstakes races, she was out of harmony with that seed-potential by way of her 9 status. At her level we stand far from any such harmonisation of the Point and the Circumference, or the Being and the Becoming. And it may be recalled that disciples of Sri Aurobindo anticipated his ‘return to the world’ once his yoga was finished, a promise he never fulfilled in his lifetime in that form, thereby leaving this world with his fullest potential veiled until another appearance.

Our saga is a manifestation in stages, each one building upon the others. Similarly, had Sri Aurobindo as the 9 stood alone in his mission, nothing of the supramental would have descended. He required the 6, and ultimately the 3 to root this new principle in matter.

     With F2 we note something of this order transpiring. Her limitation was not by birth. She was a duly registered Thoroughbred racehorse and thus the full range of races was open to her in principle. Her limitation was met in the course of her contribution by the incompleteness of the base and the demands put upon her to draw elements together for the fulfilment of her destiny as 6: that much more rooted than F1 before her. These constrictions expressed themselves as a sort of self-imposition due to an inherent potential, – i.e., a capacity for sprint distances and not for Classics which require more staying power to cover at least eight furlongs. And then by her age. When finally she had succeeded in drawing in the nuclear components needed to permit her seed-potential to flower, she was beyond the age limits for anything other than sweepstakes and terms races of this order. The Classics were not open to her when that work was done.

But we see here at least the beginning of a harmony between the Point and the Periphery, the centre and the field. Something was indeed made ready by her input, but not the fullest as yet.

It is at the level of the 6, the Cosmic Divine of the trinity, that the forces operating in the universe enter the picture. Here good and evil as opposing forces begin their play, in the great act of division and separation that a creation in matter engenders, on the road to unity of the Being and the Becoming. These forces struggle for supremacy, both in one’s being and in the world at large. Here we meet the demons and the titans, as well as the gods. Herein lies the origin of Myth.

Durga contemporises Myth

The atmosphere surrounding our work was becoming thick with the play of ‘forces’, some creating obstructions while others were felt to ease the way and remove obstacles. The contest we had become engaged in, while ostensibly centred on a racing experience, seemed rather to embrace a larger sphere, an activity or action of a subtle order, a confrontation of forces of division as opposed to those striving to bring about unity and harmony.

On the human plane we were indeed engaged in a struggle to establish a new boundary which seemed to hold the promise of the fulfilment of our long labour of striving to set our team in a field largely inimical to the appearance in its midst of anything that might threaten the existing order in a significant way. As reported, our successes automatically endangered the ‘sport’ as it is being practised. To begin, and apart from any arcane consideration, our success meant a great boost for racing precisely in the area of sport. We were possibly the only team of the three essential components – owner, trainer and jockey – which truly dealt with racing as a sport, striving for excellence in a competitive endeavour where money and the easiest way to secure it was the main consideration. There was nothing else binding us together. None of us gambled, none were especially ambitious and desirous of success, of fame and wealth, except to the extent necessary to sustain the effort required in our enterprise in order to succeed in a sporting endeavour of high competitive energy.

The surcharged atmosphere was also the result of the increased pressure due to the elevated entry fee and the consequent risk involved, especially in view of F2’s physical condition. Right after the entry had been made she gave increased signs of a nagging problem. Regardless of the final entry having been paid, it would still be possible to withdraw her two days before the race. But the assessment of her physical condition did not merit a withdrawal. Nonetheless, it was clear that she needed more time than we were in a position to give her to recover to the extent that a win would be more likely. As it stood, we were not quite convinced that she could handle a race of that calibre.

She would be competing with the best sprinters Bangalore had to offer, particularly one whose style of running was similar to F2’s. The only difference lay in their respective timings. This was the filly who had raced on 5^th August, the day of F2’s first win with Eve when together they vanquished the Bombay filly, among others of repute, with F2 setting a timing that day that only fractionally missed breaking the season record for that distance. The filly she would be meeting in this race never matched F2’s timing that day over the same distance, or ever. At this level of competition, the records give a clear indication of what to expect. And as far as the track records went, I expected F2 to win. There was, of course, her ‘problem’ to consider.

After the Equinox race, when the hard ground had provoked the stress which caused her physical problem one of the conditions I had set for entering her in the following sweepstakes was rain. If the ground was not softened before the 30^th September, the date of the final entry, there was no question of exposing her to the same hard track and the likelihood of a more serious injury. The Bombay filly she beat on the 5^th of August had, in fact, sustained a similar injury to her shoulder in the Derby she won in Mysore on 9 September, the same day that F1 had injured herself in a race there in which she finished third. The Bombay filly was yet to recover and would not be racing for a considerable time to come, similar to F1.

But the Gods seemed to be rooting for us and our cause, when almost the day after the Equinox race rains began on a regular basis over the entire area, right up to Bangalore, where the fillies were stabled and trained, and then transported to Mysore the day before their races. By the date of the entry the ground was softened to the precise degree required. Thus, one of the main ‘conditions’ had been fulfilled. This,  with other ‘signs’, encouraged me to pursue the matter regardless of the financial risk involved.

With each race run and won by F2 there seemed to be a tightening movement, as if we were being drawn deeper into a spheric convergence, as if spiralling inward to a central point. In a sense this could be explained by the tightening of competition: each race won eliminated that many more contenders to the throne of best sprinter. Reaching Class I in itself meant that dozens of horses had been successfully eliminated as real challengers. But in this race there was our main competition who had been reigning over the sprint class from almost the beginning of her career. She had been in Class I for close to a year. But in 1993, F1 had challenged her in a Class III race when she introduced Eve to Bangalore racing. She came second to this filly in what was perhaps one of the better races of her career.

Now it was her sister’s turn and this time the stakes were high indeed. None of us, owner, trainer and jockey, would have felt any anxiety but for the filly’s condition which kept us in a state of unknowing and concern throughout. What indeed would her performance be like in such circumstances?

I felt that the experience was an excellent training and testing ground for both Eve and Adam, especially the latter. In this case, it was the trainer’s task to draw upon his best resources to help the filly reach the racing venue in a position to sustain the rigours of such a race in spite of her ‘problem’, and to stand a reasonable chance of winning. Under normal conditions, an owner relies on the competence of the trainer to make such decisions as the one required for this sweepstakes, where considerable money is invested precisely on the basis of the trainer’s advice. Thus, Adam had the additional pressure of a final entry fee to contend with. It had been agreed beforehand that in the event of the filly’s deterioration just before the race, when still there was time to pull out though the fee had already been paid, he was free to do so even if it meant losing the entire amount. Of course, feeling the responsibility of his position, I knew he would exert himself to the maximum in order to avoid this recourse. It was a test of his talents and stamina and a means to draw out of him what I knew he had within: a trainer of superior potential and dedication. Indeed, he lived up to these high expectations and did not disintegrate under the weight of these pressures considering  his limited experience.

The day of the race was upon us. Adam was lamenting that more time was needed for the filly to fully recover, at least to the point of having a real chance of success. But there was nothing to be done. Her condition did not warrant withdrawing her, but a few days more would have been ideal. There was, however, nothing we could do to accommodate this need but cope with the serious handicap of too little time between races.

In the midst of this intense activity, all of India was experiencing a progressive ‘loading’ or stocking up of energy, if it may be so called. This occurs each year during a particularly powerful cultural festival: the yearly Navaratri, or Nine Nights. This is the 9-night festival of the Goddess Durga, Shiva’s consort and the divine Daughter who is as revered in Hindu tradition as the divine Son, perhaps more so in fact. This worship is especially intense in Bengal, Sri Aurobindo’s birthplace; and it was celebrated in his Ashram each year. Indeed, the freedom movement which was fuelled in large part by the Bengali contribution, and in particular Sri Aurobindo’s, centred on this particular aspect of the Divine Mother. Bande Mataram, or ‘Victory to the Mother’ was the theme song that came out of Bengal during the freedom movement, a poem set to inspiring music extolling the country as the body of the Mother herself, victorious over all adversity and adversaries. Even today it is sung throughout the land and some believe it to be the true national anthem because of its role then.

Indeed, Durga as Goddess who single-handedly vanquishes the mightiest asura, or titan, Tarak, stands for that supremely victorious Energy, the energy that conquers and saves. Durga was sent to the Earth by Brahma when the Gods rushed to him, imploring that he intervene to save the Earth from Tarakasura who was threatening to engulf the entire planet. Brahma, moved by their plight, conceded and commissioned a particular aspect of the Divine Mother to conquer Tarak. This form was Durga, renown for her devastating power to conquer as well as to protect. She is an especially forceful aspect of the divine Daughter, Parvati, and is by far the aspect most revered throughout India.

Apart from Bengal there is another place where this worship is especially intense. This is Mysore, precisely the venue of our racing experience. Indeed, the sweepstakes race we were preparing for would be held on 8 October which in 1994 was the 4^th day of the Festival. That is, it was its 4.5 passage, or the midpoint of the 9 Nights.

Given the prominence of the 9 in this new cosmology, its primary number-key in fact, it is not surprising that the Navaratri or Nine Nights of Durga should have held a special place in my yoga and work from the very beginning. I have documented this fact in an autobiographical study, The Tenth Day of Victory, which refers to this celebration based on the measure of 9. The 10^th day is the close of the festival, or Victory Day, when the Goddess returns to her parent’s abode after her victorious conquest during the previous nine nights, the last of which saw the complete vanquishing of Tarak, mightiest titan of them all.

The dates of this festival change each year since the start is fixed by the new Moon in a certain nakshatra of Hindu astrology. Nine days thereafter the Moon enters Capricorn and culminates in the Goddess’s victory, being precisely the zodiacal sign of the Divine Mother’s victory. In the Capricorn chapter of The Magical Carousel, I have portrayed this Power, Omanisol, seated on a mountain peak, presiding over all of creation laying at her feet and extending wide in all directions.

This circumstance seemed to be reproduced quite accurately in our racing experience in Mysore, for the race course lies precisely at the feet of the Goddess Chamundeswari, a name of Durga, the daughter aspect of the Divine Mother, or Omanisol of The Magical Carousel. From the track one can see the temple of Chamundeswari atop a nearby hillock, indeed overseeing all that transpires below, presiding over the whole area extending in a vast plane on all sides of this especially sacred hill which is her abode.

Mysore is a cultural centre of renown. Its history is replete with cultural contributions of a superior order, particularly in the field of classical music. Some of the most illustrious exponents of South Indian, or Carnatic, music have come from Mysore; or else they have studied and perfected their art in the court of the Maharajas who ruled over the state for centuries. Since Independence and the abolition of the princely states, Mysore has experienced a certain decline unfortunately, but something of its former glory does indeed surface each year during the especially meaningful Navaratri, pregnant with the power of Chamundeswari, Mysore’s reigning deity. The festival is celebrated each year with cultural programmes every night in the palace which are open to the public free of cost, in the tradition of old. In this way the entire population can enjoy the performances of the best musicians and vocalists of Carnatic music. Or else there is the elaborate procession with numerous caparisoned elephants, camels, and the like, and other sumptuous regalia.  It is held on a certain day of the festival when the Maharaja would be carried atop one of the elaborately decorated elephants to the temple to pay homage to Chamundeswari, along with all his court. It is only at this time of the year that one can experience the splendour of the palace, alit with thousands of tiny lights, entirely outlining its exquisite architecture. This would be fairyland, if ever there was one.

I was especially excited over the idea of at last visiting Mysore during this special festival for which it was renowned. There would be scores of people from all parts of the country; but the really large influx was likely to take place further on in the festival when the culmination would be reached from the 6^th to the 9^th nights. Throughout there would be recitations by the pundits of the Devi Mahatmaya, the ancient verses detailing the Goddess’s fierce battles with the asuric powers, leading up to her great victory over Tarak on the 9^th night. Indeed, throughout India, if one is sensitive to these subtle movements of energy, the progressive increase of ‘combustible’ force is palpable.

I was therefore especially pleased that the race was scheduled during the Navaratri, which would give me the opportunity to see Mysore at its best. In addition, and this was certainly of greater significance, 8 Ocotober happened to be the anniversary of my first meeting in India with the Mother, twenty-three years earlier, after a process straddling 9 months, each of which seemed to encompass one of the 9 nights of the festival. The 9^th month of the year, September, found me whisked away from Rome, where this ‘initiation’ was taking place in the true tradition, to India. And in the 10^th month, October, similar to the 10^th day of the festival, I knelt before the Divine Mother, the ‘daughter’ returning ‘home’ after a victorious conquest on the occult planes of the forces opposing the power of the Goddess.

Indeed, it needs to be emphasised that Myth, and in particular of this order, involving the Third Power, or the Daughter Principle, is played out on the subtle planes. The Durga Myth is especially connected to the vital plane. It is there that the Daughter conquers the forces of destruction. Thereafter that victory bears fruit on the physical plane. The birth of the divine Son is a result of that victorious achievement in the vital dimension of being. The Third Power is entrusted with the task of ‘putting order’ in that subtle dimension. The main weapon she uses in this conquest is the Trident, given to her by Lord Shiva. Its trifold form is significant of her position as third in the Trinity, which the trident itself symbolises. Moreover, and this is especially important to note, Durga or Chamundeswari is depicted in Hindu iconography as holding this sacred weapon over the head of the Asura in a descending, downward direction. This refers to her role and the others of the Trinity, the 9, and 6, descending, contracting and compacted into the Zero for the birth of the One, the Son.

On the other hand, the mythic equivalent of that One, Skanda or Murugan, the divine Son of Shiva and Parvati (Durga), holds a single-bodied weapon with which he too conquers. In the iconography he is depicted holding the Vel, or sacred Lance, pointing upward not downward. As I have indicated time and again, this refers to the Axis which evolves precisely out of the perfect tri-part Centre, of which Durga is the Third Power. These iconographical details are exact representations of the highest Knowledge, and they are corroborated by the lived experience today of this new and applied cosmology.

Thus, the atmosphere throughout the country and especially in the area of our racing experience was being charged by the onset of the Navaratri, increasing with each night that passed. From Bangalore we set out for Mysore by car in the afternoon of the 7^th, several hours after the horse float had left, carrying F2 and five other horses being transported to Mysore for their respective races the next day. However, there was great agitation in the air, we soon discovered. The atmosphere was not only charged with the fervour of the approaching culmination of the Durga Festival, but also because of tension created on the political level. Protests had been going on because of a certain policy recently implemented to transmit news over national television in Urdu, the language of Muslims in the subcontinent. Without going into the pros and cons of these developments, suffice to say that when I reached Bangalore one wondered whether races would be held or cancelled, given the tension prevailing throughout the area. Only under the most unavoidable circumstances will races be cancelled or postponed; schedules are set long in advance and the racing dates are published before the season starts. Threats and counter-threats were heard each day, each side seeking to force the Government to cancel or to maintain the transmission, as the case may be.

But the races were not cancelled and we set out for Mysore that afternoon by car; owner, trainer and jockey, following F2 who was not yet up to par in her preparation for this most important race of her career to date. The city was in the grip of a mounting tension, similar to the growing tension or accumulation of force on the vital plane due to the Navaratri, then in its third day. As we proceeded toward the road leading out of Bangalore to Mysore, we were stopped by youths running toward our car, signalling us to go no further. We continued, only to encounter more such groups fleeing in different directions. The air was charged with the atmosphere of riots. We began to see signs everywhere of the anger of the protesting mobs: buses were being burnt, cars and transport vehicles had their windows smashed, people were rushing everywhere. We were forced to stop, turn back, as right in front of us the windows of a bus were being smashed by a frenzied group of youths; even private vehicles were not being spared.

Our car made its way safely through this mayhem in a maze of side- streets where we came upon several horse floats from the Club, stationed by the side of the road. Their windows had been smashed and the drivers were forced to turn back and take refuge in these residential areas off the main roads. The horses being transported for their races in Mysore were still inside; they had been in there since early morning. The grooms and handlers could do nothing for them other than provide water and feed. There was no question of unloading them in the middle of this tension and agitation, though there had even been threats of burning the floats with the horses inside.

It was a dreadful situation. The three of us were overcome with anxiety about the fate of F2’s float. The drivers of the floats we met had no idea what had happened to the others which had left the Club somewhat later.

We hastened to find a telephone and found one in a more secluded area, a shop which luckily had not downed its shutters at the onset of the riots as almost all others had done. Contacting the Club, we were informed that F2’s float had returned safely hours earlier. Having left somewhat later than the others, this convoy was able to gauge the situation and turn back in time, before finding itself in the thick of the trouble, unable to go forward or turn back safely like the vehicles we had encountered. Others found themselves out of the city and on the highway to Mysore when the situation went completely out of control. One such was the float carrying F2’s main competitor. The astute driver, instead of proceeding and risking damage or being burnt, took refuge in the premises of a nearby biscuit factory where he had to wait until nightfall before returning to the Club. The horses were enclosed inside the float for perhaps 12 hours, a significant stress on these performing athletes, charged for a race.

F2 had escaped these hardships. For her the only confusion was that she had been loaded in the float, signalling to her that she was being sent out for a race, only to find herself within a short time unloaded and back home!

But for us this tragedy, in which dozens of people were killed and countless injured, was a bizarre blessing. The race was called off. But since F2’s sweepstakes race was a sponsored event with the highest prize money in that category for the season, it was unlikely that the card for that day would be cancelled entirely. In the meantime, we had a grace period of several days until a new date was set. No one was sure when that would be and various possibilities were mooted. But there was a 9-power day approaching, – the 12^th of October. I sensed that this would be the day. Moreover, I announced that if indeed the race was re-scheduled for that day, F2 would win. There was no doubt about it, she would win. It was not because this dramatic turn of events had given us a few more days to prepare the filly, who was badly in need of more time, that I made this categorical statement. Rather, it was the power of the 9 that encouraged me to believe we were in the midst of one of those rare and decisive ‘convergences’ of time and circumstances, and that a Power was ‘in control’ of events beyond the scope and wisdom of mere mortals, and that we were in the protective embrace of Durga/Chamundeswari whose conquering force was moving all things and all beings according to her divine plan. A new date set on a 9-power day was her signature.

This, of course, is not a simple matter to discuss or seek to explain ‘rationally’. In the first place, are we justified in being so arrogant and hardhearted as to believe that the Divine Mother had instigated an agitation in all of Bangalore, but especially right on the road to Mysore, the hub of the agitation, just to give us more time to heal and prepare F2 for her up-coming race? Is it proper to hold such beliefs which might, in fact, be deemed fanatical, or even dangerous? At the same time, these unexpected events did occur in the order I have described, and they did contribute to providing those few extra days we were desperately in need of.  Indeed, it was this turn of events that gave not only our team but astute observers of the racing scene a greater confidence in the performance of F2. Trainers who were seeing her condition and observing Adam trying to do his best to get the filly in shape for the race, were all aware that the Gods were smiling on him and had blessed his dedication and determination by this fateful happening.

It would be too simplistic to attribute all this to a response of the Supramental Shakti to our prayers, or a reward for our dedication or honesty or truth, or whatever of the moral attributes which the faithful believe causes the Divine to respond. This may be sufficient to satisfy the religiously fervent, but not a student of this New Way. Rather, the answer lies in a more mathematical accuracy which may or may not satisfy the emotional nature of the devout. And yet in this supramental work the emotional content, the bhakti or devotional, mystical part is not made to suffer or be impoverished in the effort to lay a more scientific foundation for our work. On the contrary, these aspects of the quest and parts of the being are often raised to the highest level of mystical, devotional fervour, while at the same time answering the needs of level-headed, grounded ‘science’. Indeed, this was the case when in the midst of the upsurge of violent, destructive forces one took refuge in the warm and protective embrace of the divine Durga, with the certainty that all was ‘under control’ and that everything, positive or negative, would serve the purposes of the One.

That ‘one’ held the key to the entire affair. At the centre of this newly-formed convergence of three powers, 9/6/3 of rajas, sattva, tamas, stood the Horse. The RELEASE occasioned by this compaction and the consolidation thereby of the Zero-nucleus was such that it could hold in the midst of the greatest agitation and turmoil. It was its own protection by virtue of this centering which placed it in another dimension, governed by other laws, where destructive forces such as those unleashed throughout the city could not impinge. It is not that the riots came because F2 needed more time before her race, and that this was the answer to our prayers. It was that F2’s poise and the existence of a Centre MADE USE of all converging and circumscribing circumstances to further its purposes. It is a question of the Centre able to organise circumstances for its expression, in this case the conditions to allow F2 to release that new-found energy.

Above all, it must be borne in mind that the work at this stage of the Descent, involving this question of centering and realignment, deals with the vital plane in large measure. Right now there is a tremendous re-ordering transpiring on that plane, in close proximity with the physical. This is the definition of the ‘bridge’ I have referred to time and again, which the Third contributes to the Work. The ‘order’ established in the vital plane, the ‘field’ of the Third, is that Bridge. It allows the new world to be born which is characterised by a self-engendered protection due to its centrality which places it in a dimension beyond the play of forces inimical to its existence in the physical dimension. The laws by which it is governed place it beyond the reach of the old creation. Indeed, the existence of such a centre in its midst is the signal that the old is destined to be transformed by a process which, under the circumstances, it cannot avoid. The forces of the old creation are doomed to play the role of ‘serving the One’, – whether this be positive or negative, as in the case of the riots which served F2 in her hour of need.

To perceive the workings of the Supramental Shakti requires a consciousness that is all-encompassing and untouched by the limitations a sentimental viewpoint imposes. A reading of the Devi Mahatmaya, with the details of the exploits of Durga in her 9-night siege of Tarak, is sufficient to establish this premise. We are dealing with powerful energies in these matters. Hence the wisdom of the Vedic tradition lies in its formulation of the Vir Marg, or Path of the Hero. Only a warrior of the Divine Mother can withstand the impact her sometimes ruthless actions provoke without flinching. And yet compassion must reign supreme, for this very Mother, ruthless at times and devastating in her use of force, is also the giver of the greatest boons. We were soon to appreciate this benign attribute as the newly-scheduled day for the race approached: 12 October. Indeed, a 9-power day as I had anticipated. The victory, as far as I was concerned, was thus certain.

At the Feet of Sri Chamundeswari

During the two months from F2’s sensational triumph on 5^th August, I noticed persistent, annoying interferences whenever I would set out to attend her races. This was seen to increase with each win, almost as if there were forces, energies, even little ‘beings’ deputed to place obstacles in the way. An example might be a punctured tire, or some other annoying situation intended to delay arrival. The matter was especially made evident when we left Bangalore for Mysore the very morning of the Equinox race. A punctured tire almost made it necessary to locate another vehicle in which Eve might continue the journey (Adam was already there) so as to reach the race on time. Fortunately the matter did not reach this extreme.

Thus, there seemed to be an increase in such ‘tactics’ the higher up in the scale F2 went. For this sweepstakes the whole area was ablaze, as if a gigantic culmination had been reached and powerful combustible energy had been set off. The intensity and suddenness of the eruption seemed disproportionate to the issue. And because of continuing violence especially along the route to Mysore, the day after F2’s postponed race the floats and trainers had to travel in a convoy with police escort. But by the 12^th everything had settled down and calm returned. There was a card scheduled for that day with a race in which Adam’s favourite gelding had been entered. To accommodate F2’s sponsored sweepstakes, that entire card was cancelled and all the races scheduled to be held on October 8^th were shifted to the 12^th. Adam targeted another race for his gelding: the last day of the season, 21 October.

In the meantime, I had returned to Skambha only to receive the news on arrival that F2’s race had finally been re-scheduled. I therefore set out for Mysore directly from Skambha, together with two other members of our Centre. We reached Mysore in the evening of the 11^th, the 6^th day of the festival and the beginning of its culmination. We were treated to an exotic display of India at her very best, because Mysore was a delight to behold and fulfilled any expectations we might have had.

We discovered when we arrived that there was to be a veena concert at the palace, open to the public. The veena, an ancient stringed instrument, is the most cherished instrument in South India, revered in fact because it is the sacred object of Mahasaraswati. In Hindu iconography, the Goddess is depicted seated on a lotus, holding this instrument in her lap. Approaching the venue, it was difficult to imagine a more elaborate setting for a concert. At one point, while engrossed in the inspired music, we were stunned by the appearance behind the dais where the musicians sat of a procession of elephants, camels, and even cows, all decorated tastefully, accompanied by nagaswaram players (a type of long-necked oboe, especially played on such occasions), drummers, and the like. Temple bells resounded through the air, but the veena concert went on in the midst of it all! The procession was winding its way beneath the arches of the interior of the palace, moving behind the dais and then out into the grounds in front. It was more than fairyland. This was the India of legend come alive before our eyes, as it was perhaps thousands of years ago. The palace itself was not as ancient as the rituals, but its Mysore-style architecture was lit up with thousands of tiny lights outlining its entire body against the deep night. The vast expanse filled with this ‘palace of light’ was awesome.

The setting seemed to enhance the magical atmosphere which had come to characterise our racing experience from the time Eve began to ride again, completing the tri-part nucleus and releasing that precious fuel which F2 seemed especially adept an instrument at utilising. It remained to be seen whether or not her physical condition would permit a fourth consecutive win. She was not the favourite this time. Rather, it was her main competitor who, in addition, was to be ridden by a top jockey. The filly having already won a number of races of this calibre, the public had more confidence in his mount, and this showed in the betting.

The next day, after that magical night in the palace, moved to the core by the sounds of the Goddess Saraswati’s sacred instrument, and in that special setting, the time of the race approached. When F2 entered the paddock, once again she was the object of everyone’s admiration, – public, trainers, officials. After three hard races, reaching the top class, there were no signs of deterioration at all. On the contrary, she continued to improve with each run. But this time we did not know what to expect. The four extra days had indeed been a great boon and were well utilised. She was that much better as a result. But her jump out of the gate was not as clean and as fluid as her other races, indicating a certain reluctance or reticence, and a desire perhaps to protect her left shoulder. Nonetheless, she was able to position herself in front and set her usual fast pace.

Her main competitor, the favourite, was in the hands of an experienced and talented jockey. He knew better than to challenge F2 for the lead at that pace, since his mount could not match F2’s initial speed. Instead he stayed just behind her in second or third position throughout, waiting for the pace to slow down. F2 kept the lead, but in the final stretch one could see that she was not going to relax and then kick off again, picking up speed. Eve rode her out but did not push her in excess. She kept herself still, steady, so as not to unbalance the filly, at a fast pace but without any noticeable acceleration. Yet that seemed enough. The other horses were still unable to reach her. The favourite was just behind in the final 100 metres, but given the pace she could not muster up enough fire power to pass; all her effort had gone to catching up.

Suddenly, with perhaps 50 metres left, another filly came from fourth or fifth position, moving at a terrific pace, gaining speed with each stride, as they all approached the winning post with F2 still leading and the new contender pressing ahead a full force. The crowd began to roar as this filly and F2 were careening neck-and-neck toward the winning post. With F2 barely a head in front and the favourite in third position a length or two behind, what looked like a near-miss turned into a victory. The race had almost been lost, but Eve and F2 had secured a well-deserved fourth consecutive win. The public showed their appreciation as filly and jockey came out of the race to resounding cheers.

It was the type of race that leaves one staggered, drained. By a head it was won, but if there had been a mere 20 metres more to cover, perhaps even less, F2 would have lost. As it was, the distance was not a true 1200 metres. Surprisingly for such a special race, false rails had been set inside the regular rails by 4 metres throughout, thereby increasing the distance accordingly, benefiting those horses who require more distance to catch up with a true sprinter like F2, similar to the filly who almost overtook her at the end of the race.

Eve knew better than to press her mount excessively, given her delicate condition. She rode a masterful race under the circumstances and brought F2 out in just the same condition as she went into the race. She kept her at a fast pace, enough that when fatigue had set in, and with it the real danger of injury, she was well in command and able to guide her steadily to the winning post just that much ahead of all the others to secure a hard-fought win.

In spite of all the obstacles, some covert, which would only come to light later on, F2 had drawn our racing experience into another category. She was not just a Class I horse, – indeed by then at the top of her class. She was a sweepstakes winner. I had always upheld the talents of my fillies, even in the face of their mediocre results and the derision of all. But when F2 steadily moved past the winning post on that 9-power day, not having allowed even one horse to get in front of her in a consecutive four races, along with the rest of her fans I was overcome with admiration and awe. Here was a horse which had been registering meagre results from the beginning. Suddenly, midway through her career and in a brief two months, she was contending the position of top sprinter of the country. In racing, this is indeed the stuff of fairy tale.

F2 exiting her sweepstakes race, Mysore, 12 October 1994

Temple of Goddess Chamundeswari in the background

The next morning we made a pilgrimage to the temple of Chamundeswari at whose feet this entire episode had unfolded, from the time of Eve’s first ‘accident’ on 22 September 1993. En route, there were pujas to the Goddess being celebrated everywhere, throughout the city, in streets, shops, little shrines, even service stations; wherever one went, her worship was going on. We had very special reason to give thanks by making our way to her sacred abode overlooking the race course on the plains below. F2 had caused Eve agony then, and ecstasy now. With this same creature Eve had known the abyss and the heights. We all had much to thank the Goddess for on that 9^th day of her festival, its culmination. It was, as well, the day pujas are done to Saraswati, since the last three days are dedicated each to one of the three Goddesses; Lakshmi, Kali and Saraswati.

Our racing cycle was thus closed with these 9 wins, – 3 for F1 and 6 for F2, only to open a new one. But the imprinting was done. The new boundary had been set, the spiralling out at the 9 Point had been masterfully accomplished. The dimensions of our racing endeavour had been enlarged and all was perfectly as it should be within the context of the new cosmos we were establishing. The lived experience followed exactly what had been defined by the supramental process: given certain ingredients, a certain alignment and balance, a particular release of energy must take place. Indeed, the precise quantity to reach the 9 summit.

This describes the path of the gnostic being. He or she must find the way to this release and on that basis the individual and collective boundary of destiny can be enlarged. The final quarter of the Gnostic Circle must be unveiled and integrated into our lived experience on this planet, which defines Sri Aurobindo’s promise of a life divine for this Earth.

The purpose of this saga is to provide a complete example of a supramental process, through to its culmination, – at least one of its culminations. For this does not mean the saga ends here. Not at all, since there are two more stages to cover with the third and fourth equine athletes taking part, and more to come regarding the contributions of F1 and F2. But one thing has been established: the foundation is laid and it is indestructible. This is the goal in our transition to a life divine.

There were certain matters left to complete the operation and make it ready for the next phase. There was Adam’s licence to secure somehow, which, when concluded, promised to open a new chapter. His talents were being widely acclaimed given F2’s spectacular performance. But the filly had run under another trainer’s name, since Adam was yet to receive a formal licence to train in Bangalore. For that he needed to secure ten Bangalore-based horses. In this context there was still one more item to ‘set in place’ in order to make our nucleus fully operational. Adam had to be centred on our work together, above all the rest. And this involved the horses he needed to make up the stipulated ten.

Previously, when based in Madras, he was training exclusively for his brother who had given him 22 horses. But in moving to Bangalore, his brother was reluctant to provide full support, considering perhaps that Adam would not be successful in gaining a licence in a centre coveted by many trainers. There were good grounds for his reluctance in that he knew Magog’s far-reaching power, and it was widely known that he was opposing Adam’s application in whatever way he could. His brother was therefore slow in offering horses. But he had placed four with him, one more than my three in his care.

Nine days after F2’s sweepstakes win, the last day of the season and a 9-power day, right after the races were over and Adam’s favourite gelding, who belonged to his brother, failed to win, Adam was informed that two of these horses were being given to another trainer in Madras. They were to be removed from Adam’s list of ten immediately, since the float was leaving that evening and these horses were included. Among the two was Adam’s favourite. Thus, unexpectedly he was left without the full count of ten and with hardly any time left to secure  horses from another owner before his application was to be discussed by the Board. But by far the most difficult part was the sudden loss of his gelding, transported off to the unknown, to the care of someone less sensitive to the needs of this particular horse, to whom Adam had been dedicated for so long.

This was the final ingredient and another ruthless display of the Power. Happening on a 9-power day, and 9 days after F2’s culminating win, I realised that this was indeed the close of the season, as well as the end of a chapter. The logic in this latest move seemed quite clear: our racing experience together had to be completely poised around the tri-part energies offered by the three fillies; all the rest was secondary for the time being. If Adam’s brother was to have four and more horses in his stables, and Adam would present  his application for a licence on that basis, with his brother as the main owner, that would not reflect a work balanced around a single point, centred on a unitary principle. There would be two foci and not one. This could not be. In spite of the pain at seeing his favourite gelding depart into the night and handed over to someone less caring and competent, and in spite of the unknowing this produced in the material details of his application for a licence (after all, his future hinged on that application), the Power established the correct basis for our work, seemingly with little care for these mundane details and human concerns.

These are harsh experiences, but in the context of yoga they have great value. They forge an inner strength, a steel-like determination. They thrust us back upon ourselves, because of which we are stimulated to extract a hitherto untapped source of energy and potential. Another value lies in the realisation that there is a Power in control and to which we must offer ourselves in a movement of conscious surrender. This is made simple when we have a gnostic key at our disposal with which we can monitor the often elusive movements of the Supramental Shakti and verify her influence and presence and actions – a key such as the measure of 9 and the Gnostic Circle. In Adam’s case, this Power was especially prominent. Or else, when one undergoes experiences such as Eve’s and the misery of two accidents so minutely controlled that it is  impossible not to SEE the Power behind the affair, arranging each small and larger detail, it is impossible to continue viewing oneself as the doer and ‘in control’ of one’s life, or even in control of the losses or wins in a race. One knows oneself to be a mere puppet, when ignorance prevails and gnosis is absent. Otherwise, when there is a certain illumination, one is a CONSCIOUS instrument and possessed of a conscious awareness. In both cases, Eve’s as well as Adam’s, the harshness is compensated for by the accelerated progress and the ecstasy of ‘seeing what none have eyes to see’.

Without this understanding, it would seem that these are insignificant details, too small to be worth the trouble to describe. But in a new world the result of a new Seeing, ‘everything is symbolic’, as the Mother said of her temple. Yet in this saga we are even redefining the word ‘symbol’. It is precisely this new definition that sets certain demands upon our work which formerly were considered insignificant, having no bearing on a spiritual work. We appreciate by this that indeed we are dealing with the Goddess Saraswati, renowned for her perfection of detail, her meticulous talent for ‘putting each thing in its place’. Sri Aurobindo stated that the presiding deity of this Age was Mahasaraswati. His statement is corroborated by this new cosmology. Mahasaraswati does indeed preside over this 9^th Manifestation of 6,480 years. Science is her child. Art and music as well. But there is more. She gives us the process of things supramental, the minute control over every little detail so that no contamination is found at the heart and in the seed of our new world.

We have seen this Power in action throughout our Saga. Even to the seemingly insignificant question of the amount given for the final entry fee which occasioned so much additional tension, and yet which followed the pattern of a gnostic formula. The fee was ten times the normal 3000 rupees. In a sweepstakes there is a certain amount guaranteed by the sponsor. In addition, there are the accumulated entry fees of all the participants at 3000 each. But my final fee added 30,000 more. The ‘perfection of detail’ was witnessed in the actual cost of this entry, a ‘harmony’ that was complex to arrange since the total stakes can only be tallied once the horses are all entered. Some are withdrawn before the entire amount is paid. Therefore, one cannot be sure until two days before the race just what the full stake money will be. The winner then receives 60% of that total. 30,000 was my contribution, 60% of which is 18,000 (9); and this would come to me by way of the win, leaving 12,000 (3) in the pool to be distributed to the second, third, and so on. Deducting the normal fee of 3000 which I would have had to pay had we entered F2 on time, this leaves 9000 as the actual amount ‘lost’. Indeed, had F2 lost the race, of course our loss would have been the full 30,000. But given the power of the 9, or the Goddess, clearly this was not meant to be. 9000 was more in harmony with the formula, 9, 6, and 3, as were all the numbers involved.

It is this sort of seemingly insignificant detail that one refuses to accept as relevant in a spiritual endeavour. One labels these details ‘coincidence’. Yet how many such coincidences are required before our scepticism is dissolved and one begins ‘to see in a new way’? In that vision with its compelling breadth and profundity, the mosaic is formed of countless little details of this order, without which our aspiration for a harmony of the One and the Many would not be satisfied. Life in the universe of 9, this material dimension, is a symphony of Number, formed of a thousand million minor and major harmonies, each note of which is related to the whole and consonant with the totality of notes we can ‘hear’ when realigned according to the supramental way. We do not ‘hear’ this harmony because we have no tool to do so. We are closed in our egocentrism and its binary prison, whereby nothing exists that cannot be cramped into the space of our impoverished ‘system’ of meagre energy and dim light. From this prison we view the world and on the basis of which we act, we pretend to evolve and move up the ladder of creation to something more refined and worthy of a species made in ‘God’s image’. But we believe that only OUR will prevails, only OUR mental judgements and mental ideas are valid and real, OUR life as we know it and live it alone is true. The rest is illusion, superstition, even dementia. We cannot perceive the Divine Maya executing the plan of a divine Harmony through us. We cling to our impotent condition because we consider only ourselves the originators of all that we can know with our senses made dull by a constant depletion of energy due to our binary condition.

Instead, the Goddess does it all, arranges each little and large detail. We are privileged to be her instruments in this grand Harmony and to see what none yet have eyes to see, but which Sri Aurobindo has ‘seen’ of Mahasaraswati, recorded in his collection of essays, The Mother. It was to this Goddess, as he has described her, that we paid homage in our pilgrimage to Chamundeswari’s abode the 9^th day of the Festival, Mahasaraswati’s day. Thereafter, the victorious ‘daughters’ returned ‘home’.

‘Mahasaraswati is the Mother’s Power of Work and her spirit of perfection and order. The youngest of the four (Mothers), she is the most skilled in executive faculty and the nearest to physical Nature. Maheswari lays down the large lines of the world-forces, Mahakali drives their energy and impetus, Mahalakshmi discovers their rhythms and measures, but Mahasaraswati presides over their detail of organisation and execution, relation of parts and effective combination of forces and unfailing exactitude of result and fulfilment. The science and craft and technique of things are Mahasaraswati’s province. Always she holds in her nature and can give to those whom she has chosen intimate and precise knowledge, the subtlety and patience, the accuracy of intuitive mind and conscious hand and discerning eye of the perfect worker. This Power is the strong, the tireless, the careful and efficient builder, organiser, administrator, technician, artisan and classifier of the worlds. When she takes up the transformation and new-building of the nature, her action is laborious and minute and often seems to our impatience slow and interminable, but it is persistent, integral and flawless. For the will in her works is scrupulous, unsleeping, indefatigable; leaning over us she notes and touches every little detail, finds out every minute defect, gap, twist or incompleteness, considers and weighs accurately all that has been done and all that remains still to be done hereafter. Nothing is too small or apparently trivial for her attention; nothing however impalpable or disguised or latent can escape her. Moulding and re-moulding she labours each part till it has attained its true form, is put in its exact place in the whole and fulfils its precise purpose. In her constant and diligent arrangement and rearrangement of things her eye is on all needs at once and the way to meet them and her intuition knows what is to be chosen and what rejected and successfully determines the right instrument, the right time, the right conditions and the right process. Carelessness and negligence and indolence she abhors; all scamped and hasty and shuffling work, all clumsiness and à peu près  and misfire, all false adaptation and misuse of instruments and faculties and leaving of things undone or half done is offensive and foreign to her temper. When her work is finished, nothing has been forgotten, no part has been misplaced or omitted or left in a faulty condition; all is solid, accurate, complete, admirable. Nothing short of a perfect perfection satisfies her and she is ready to face an eternity of toil if that is needed for the fullness of her creation. Therefore of all the Mother’s powers she is the most long-suffering with man and his thousand imperfections. Kind, smiling, close and helpful, not easily turned away or discouraged, insistent even after repeated failure, her hand sustains our every step on condition that we are single in our will and straightforward and sincere; for a double mind she will not tolerate and her revealing irony is merciless to drama and histrionics and self-deceit and pretence. A mother to our wants, a friend in our difficulties, a persistent and tranquil counsellor and mentor, chasing away with her radiant smile the clouds of gloom and fretfulness and depression, reminding always of the ever-present help, pointing to the eternal sunshine, she is firm, quiet and persevering in the deep and continuous urge that drives us towards the integrality of the higher nature. All the work of the other Powers leans on her for completeness; for she assures the material foundation, elaborates the stuff of detail and erects and rivets the armour of the structure.’

The Void gives up its Dead

The ‘daughters’ returned home for the 10^th Day, when traditionally daughters in Hindu society do return to their parents abode for the Vijaya Dashami, or the 10^th Day of Victory, in yearly commemoration of this hallowed myth. It had been played out in full, forces in opposition were conquered, but not for the usual purpose or to serve moralistic needs. This conquering, as Durga achieves over Tarakasura, is also ‘with a purpose’. That is, to serve the One. In the New Way, victory over those hostile powers is achieved when they are made to serve that One: they are organised, ordered, set in place. That is, they are INTEGRATED into the new cosmos. Otherwise, what would be the point?

If this Yoga of the Horse was simply the victory of good over evil, there would be no newness about it. Succinctly, it would mean that there was no birth of the One; or, as in the case of the Parvati/Durga myth, no birth of the divine warrior Son of Shiva. That having happened, the Goddess’s exploits cannot be of the order commonly found in myth. There has to be ‘something else’.

In this Yoga of the Horse, the Point, or the One, exists or came into being: the centre was forged at the heart of which stands that One. This is the ‘core of a divine Purpose’. It alters the entire panorama of our quest. Thereafter, everything has to be set in place, the energies circumscribing that core. This means that the Core does not bring a destruction of hostile powers. For if that were the case, then the method employed would have to be the old one, the one that has spawned a whole creation characterised by mortality, decay and collapse.

On the other hand, we are describing in these pages the new way, the way of harmony and integration. This means that Destruction, the third mode of the trinity, is TRANSFORMED. Dissolution is the new mode. This indicates another mechanism in operation by which energies are unknotted, if it may be so called. They are no longer isolated pockets in orbit of a void and hence able to create havoc, similar to a fragment from the Asteroid Belt without any binding core. Rather, the existence of a centrepoint means that there is a compelling mass which acts like the core of the Sun. And this has the power – i.e., concentration, or mass – to draw into its system or the emerging cosmos, those uncentred pockets of isolated, hardened energy. In the system they are OBLIGED to serve the purposes of that centrepoint; and indeed to further that purpose. We may even go so far as to state that in many cases their ‘service’ is, if not more precious, at least more decisive, since these pockets of hardened energy, which we call ‘hostile powers’, have trapped more energy than the other elements of the cosmos. It is a sort of ‘dark matter’ and this hitherto rebellious energy must be ordered, drawn into orbit of the centre-core and made to release its energy into the system which then accelerates the process, speeds up the manifestation from that Centre.

This is the meaning of Dissolution. What is dissolved is the ego structure which imprisons energy in orbit of a void: purposeless. That is, division, separation – not integration and oneness. The binary structure gives way to the unitary. In such a case, the ego function is superseded. It is no longer the mechanism to further evolution – as, for example, the current method of procreation which the ego structure, or the binary system utilises to facilitate and ensure continuity of the species. This new creation is propelled forward in its growth differently. It manifests from the centre, and from centre to centre. That is, a centre comes into existence, and another, and another. Right within and in the midst of the old. These centres usurp energy for their self-expression. That is, while fed by an ever-replenishing inner source, the cosmos of which they stand as luminous suns draws to itself by attraction those hardened pockets of dark matter ‘out there’ and dismantles the resistance which arises from energies in orbit of a void; and then that RELEASE is utilised to drive the manifestation. Like the recent discoveries regarding gyroscopes which have been discovered recently to propel a mechanism, seeming to contradict the laws of physics, this system is powered by balance and speed and alignment just like the cosmos we inhabit. And this is the way the world is transformed. Our moralistic ideas, or the attainments of the old spirituality, are useless for such a task. There has to be a mathematical, cosmological process to transform the old. Meaning, somehow the old has to ‘give up its dead’, to quote St John’s Revelation.

This is the New Way, the way of Dissolution and no longer Destruction: the truly non-violent way. Its keyword is control, which comes about only when there exists a centre and then an axis. On this basis, as I had explained in the early part of this study, the Supramental Shakti can ‘intervene’ because there is an emerging cosmos and centre-axis through which and by means of which, intervention produces action which is non-violent because it does not destroy or impose itself or force its way from the periphery upon all things in the cosmos.

This is the definition of Harmony: all things held in orbit of the Sun of Truth-Consciousness, to further the purposes of the One. There is no cacophony in such a system. What is being described here is simply the Cosmic Harmony. Can we say that the music of the spheres is a disharmony or a cacophony? The theme is the One, the essential Raga. The improvisation is the contribution of individual souls in orbit of that One, enhancing, embellishing, re-discovering the true divine Theme, expressed in multifarious new ways.

The Saga continues and we move forward in the discovery and establishment of that new supramental way for the world. The entire racing experience hereinafter could be more mathematical – arcane as well as mundane. The reason why it could not be prior to our consolidation was due to ‘gaps’ left in the nuclear structure. This meant  imbalance and indeed gaps through which unforeseen elements could enter the system and overturn calculations. There is the esoteric or deeper significance to this, – that is, relating to the cosmos in formation and the mathematical precision with which one can foresee with power the future course. For it is not a question of prediction based on a selection among numerous possibilities which, in this case, must also take into consideration the volatile, impressionable and unpredictable nature of the horse in addition to all the rest. In this New Way there is no such circumstance beyond the ‘control’ of the Centre. Horse included. Indeed, the horse is perhaps the least likely to step out of the harmony or permit an unexpected and unforeseen ‘asteroid’ to create havoc, as when a void lies at the centre.

In future issues, we will go deeply into these ‘mathematics’. I will discuss the workings of simultaneous time, or what Sri Aurobindo refers to as trikaladrishsti (‘three-time vision’) in the final chapter of his Synthesis of Yoga, which he entitled, ‘Towards the Supramental Time Vision’. Not clairvoyance, but by seeing that is power, when time is experienced in the Core. This is the property of a centre with an axis – the theme of our next treatment of the Yoga of the Horse.

February of 1995

Aeon Centre of Cosmology

at Skambha

Sri Aurobindo

‘The Mother’

from Chapter VI

…If you desire this transformation, put yourself in the hands of the Mother and her Powers without cavil or resistance and let her do unhindered her work within you. Three things you must have, consciousness, plasticity, unreserved surrender. For you must be conscious in your mind and soul and heart and life and the very cells of your body, aware of the Mother and her Powers and their working; for although she can and does work in you even in your obscurity and your unconscious parts and moments, it is not the same thing as when you are in an awakened and living communion with her. All your nature must be plastic to her touch, not questioning as the self-sufficient ignorant mind questions and doubts and disputes and is the enemy of its enlightenment and change; not insisting on its own movements as the vital in man insists and persistently opposes its refractory desires and ill-will to every divine influence; not obstructing and entrenched in incapacity, inertia and tamas as man’s physical consciousness obstructs and clinging to its pleasure in smallness and darkness cries out against each touch that disturbs its soulless routine or its dull sloth or its torpid slumber. The unreserved surrender of your inner and outer being will bring this plasticity into all the parts of your nature; consciousness will awaken everywhere in you by constant openness to the Wisdom and Light, the Force, the Harmony and Beauty, the Perfection that come flowing down from above. Even the body will awake and unite at last its consciousness subliminal no longer to the supramental super-conscious Force, feel her powers permeating from above and below and around it and thrill to a supreme Love and Ananda.

But be on your guard and do not try to understand and judge the Divine Mother by your little earthly mind that loves to subject even the things that are beyond it to its own norms and standards, its narrow reasonings and erring impressions, its bottomless aggressive ignorance and its petty self-confident knowledge. The human mind shut in the prison of its half-lit obscurity cannot follow the many-sided freedom of the steps of the Divine Shakti. The rapidity and complexity of her vision and action outrun its stumbling comprehension; the measures of her movement are not its measures. Bewildered by the swift alteration of her many different personalities, her making of rhythms and her breaking of rhythms, her accelerations of speed and her retardations, her varied ways of dealing with the problem of one and her gathering of them together, it will not recognise the way of the Supreme Power when it is circling and sweeping upwards through the maze of the Ignorance to a supernal Light. Open rather your soul to her and be content to feel her with the psychic nature and see her with the psychic vision that alone make a straight response to the Truth. Then the Mother herself will enlighten by their psychic elements your mind and heart and life and physical consciousness and reveal to them too her ways and her nature.

Avoid also the error of the ignorant mind’s demand on the Divine Power, to act always according to our crude surface notions of omniscience and omnipotence. For our mind clamours to be impressed at every turn by miraculous powers and easy success and dazzling splendour; otherwise it cannot believe that here is the Divine. The Mother is dealing with the Ignorance; she has descended there and is not all above. Partly she veils and partly she unveils her knowledge and her power, often holds them back from her instruments and personalities and follows that she may transform them the way of the seeking mind, the way of the aspiring psychic, the way of the battling vital, the way of the imprisoned and suffering physical nature. There are conditions that have been laid down by a Supreme Will, there are many tangled knots that have to be loosened and cannot be cut abruptly asunder. The Asura and the Rakshasa hold this evolving earthly nature and have to be met and conquered on their own terms in their own long-conquered fief and province; the human in us has to be led and prepared to transcend its limits and is too weak and obscure to be lifted up suddenly to a form far beyond it. The Divine Consciousness and Force are there and do at each moment the thing that is needed in the conditions of the labour, take always the step that is decreed and shape in the midst of imperfection the perfection that is to come. But only when the supermind has descended in you can she deal directly as the supramental Shakti with supramental natures. If you follow your mind, it will not recognise the Mother even when she is manifest before you. Follow your soul and not your mind, your soul that answers to the Truth, not your mind that leaps at appearances; trust the Divine Power and she will free the godlike element in you and shape all into an expression of Divine Nature.

The supramental change is a thing decreed and inevitable in the evolution of the earth-consciousness; for its upward ascent is not ended and mind is not the last summit. But that the change may arrive, take form and endure, there is needed the call from below with a will to recognise and not deny the Light when it comes, and there is needed the sanction of the Supreme from above. The power that mediates between the sanction and the call is the presence and power of the Divine Mother. The Mother’s power and not any human endeavour and tapasya can alone rend the lid and tear the covering and shape the vessel and bring down into this world of obscurity and falsehood and death and suffering Truth and Light and Life divine and the immortal’s Ananda.

A film last night, Dark Matter, caused me to ponder over certain aspects of the new cosmology and its reception – not in the corridors of science of course, but in India and abroad in quarters that should take a keen interest in this new postulation because it is the only Indocentric cosmology since the Vedic/Puranic Age. Further, there is nothing in it that would offend the scientifically-minded because it is based on facts that were not available in the Puranic era – certain truths seen in the innermost consciousness of the Seer many times had to be formulated figuratively, though the Indocentric cosmology of the sages did make perfect sense at the time because of a common ‘language’ understood by all. Fortunately, that sacred language continues to thrive throughout the world, except in India due to a clever strategy that was set in motion in the Dark Ages.

The New Way cosmology, on the other hand, follows similar principles and employs that very same language – the main ingredient being a contemporary version of the Mt Meru concept, the centrepiece of the Puranic vision; this was Bharat, the continental embodiment of the sacred Mountain, and all the other continents fanning out from that central point. However, the enormous leap forward is that now we take the full Earth, exactly as she stands in the planetary harmony, and using longitude and latitude coordinates we proceed to locate that sacred Mt Meru that is Bharat today on the globe, based on a zodiacal ‘ruler’ that provides a knowledge basis to the operation: Mt Meru is indeed the centre, India, via her zodiacal sign Capricorn, determined by the ruler laid horizontally (longitude) and vertically (latitude) across the Earth. Thus her ‘centrality’ is no longer restricted to the visionary plane of the Seer but given a factual basis in both time and space. Mt Meru/Bharat, so measured, is the embodiment of the sign known as India’s astrological ruler from time immemorial: Capricorn, the ‘mountain’ of the zodiac, confirming the earlier Seer’s vision based on an inner knowledge of the subcontinent’s essence properties. This is the knowledge-basis of the sacred mountain Meru, no longer condescendingly labelled a quaint tale or outright superstition.

Capricorn hieroglyph on undivided India

And here is the zodiacal symbol-map that confirms the antiquity of the knowledge, its Capricorn essence extending even to Bharat’s geography.

Indeed, there is not a trace of superstition in this new Indocentric cosmology, an updating from the Puranic Age. However, there are certain demands placed on its appraisers. One must first of all accept that the cosmology carries its own science with its own language; just as we accept that physics uses the language of mathematics, so must we realise that this postulation is also based on its own formulas and formulations which constitute its operational methodology via its own language, resulting ultimately in a new paradigm. And here is where problems arise from quarters none would have expected. But the film Dark Matter that set off these reflections, explains why. It portrays the travails of a brilliant Chinese cosmology student who enrols in an American university for his PhD. Eventually he is driven to a psychological breakdown by his doctoral mentor because the candidate’s thesis disproves certain conclusions in his own String Theory cosmology, on the basis of which the mentor’s scientific career had flourished, bringing him considerable fame. Now he sees it threatened by the candidate’s brilliant discovery regarding dark matter. He was consequently denied a PhD, based on what can only be termed vested interests. Vested interests cover a broad spectrum that can be more clearly defined as ego-interests with their zillion manifestations, proper to the billions of humans who populate this ego-driven world.

The film ends in tragedy and the viewer is left heartbroken at how a brilliant talent was shamelessly snuffed out.

Along with this viewing I happened to be reading an article in a past issue of Atlantis Rising, #107, September/October 2014, treating the very same theme when in the scientific community a new discovery forces the old guard to accept that they are faced with a ‘paradigm shift’ in light of which ‘physics would have to start over’. Moray King, a systems engineer is quoted as saying in an interview in Jeane Manning’s column ‘Tracking the News on the Coming Energy Revolution’. King comments on just how vicious the threatened group can get: ‘Talking about a paradigm violation becomes serious when a claim is declared as fraud’… Further on he lays down some rules for ‘online chat rooms’:

• When you call someone a fraud, name the type of fraud you think they’re perpetrating.
• Understand the paradigm you’re in so when you say ‘disobeyed the laws of physics’ you know which paradigm those laws are in…

Recent exchanges in our own online Forum under the topic ‘Sidereal or Tropical’ caused me to consider writing this article for our readers because of the play of circumstances that forced me to take a serious look at the similar allegations levelled at me personally and the new cosmology I have formulated; I repeat, from quarters that should rejoice in the updating it signifies and the potential for removing the taint of superstition on matters Puranic. I mentioned vested interests at the root of the accusations in the face of new and potentially threatening discoveries in science. On our own Forum we have a clear example of just how that works in the ego-centred human being. I too was recently labelled a fraud – and why? Simply because the basis of the new Indocentric cosmology is the zodiac; more specifically – and here lies the rub – the tropicalzodiac. This is what we find as the foundational language of the Puranas and its mythology and displayed in every temple across India. The sacred mountain is the most prominent and obvious connection. When the devotee passes through and beneath the main gopuram to enter the sacred precinct, it brings to his visit the lived experience of Mt Meru, the sacred Mountain of Capricorn. In the symbolism of sacred architecture the Gopurams are that Mountain.

The main Gopuram of the Srirangam temple
in Tamil Nadu, South India, where the purest tradition is found.

Lamentably, during the Dark Ages a different formulation gradually gained ascendancy and ultimately did away with the former based on the tropical zodiac and its related mythology, as in the cosmology of the New Way. It introduced another ‘zodiac’ based on the imaginative animal figures made up of the fixed stars in the sidereal sphere, called Nakshatras. In the traditional astrology practised outside of India they are known as the Mansions of the Moon and were brought from India by Al Biruni, the Arab scholar-traveller who in the 12^thcentury planted the damaging seeds that later flowered into the full-blown Nirayana system of astrological computations and ritual timings in use today.

I have stated many times and I must state again that these misguided reformists, whatever their motivation, are measuring in the wrong circle. At the end of this article I offer readers a graphic image of the problem and a brief explanation with the facts of the case.

Al Biruni’s Mansions of the Moon divides the zodiac circle into 27 parts based on the mean daily motion of the Moon which is 13.20 degrees. Moving through the circle cumulatively, from 0 degree through to the 360^th, each point where this measure falls is called a ‘critical degree’. Any competent astrologer knows that when a planet is located on one of those degrees, whatever that planet represents will play a prominent role in the individual’s life.

Unfortunately Nirayanis, who call themselves by the misnomer Vedic Astrologers, carried the matter further – because there is a secret agenda behind this rise of thought in India. Muslim invaders, their own history records, destroyed thousands of temples across the land because of the role temples stepped in to play during the Puranic Age to preserve the Veda. But there was a far more insidious attack in the wings, with the potential of bringing the Sanatana Dharma to an end as it was known in the Vedic Age. The simple yet potent device was 1) to do away with the Veda’s foundational language of the zodiac itself, whether tropical or sidereal, and pari passu 2) to destroy the cosmic connection India had enjoyed from time immemorial (see the Capricorn symbol-map); indeed, to disengage the cosmic wheel from the true Zero Point (ayanamsha), the start of the ‘journey’, as it was called in the Rig Veda, on the Aries equinox of 21 March each year. This was cleverly done by insisting on measuring in the wrong circle, and claiming, as Al Biruni had advocated centuries earlier and the Nirayanis continue to proclaim: Aries has shifted, it has moved on; it is no longer there (at the March equinoctial point). ‘The solstice has kept its place but the constellations have migrated, just the very opposite of what Vahara has fancied,’ he wrote (India, II, p.7). With this Al Biruni plants the undermining seed of a shifting zodiac, erroneously equated with and measured in the sidereal sphere.

There is what is called the Cardinal Cross in the tropical zodiac. It is composed of four signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. They are the equinoxes and solstices. Therefore an intrinsic part of the constitution of Aries is the thrust of energy as in the gunaic mode of Rajas, or Creation of the fundamental trinity Creation, Preservation, Dissolution. Actually Aries does not ‘exist’ disconnected from the March equinox; similarly with the others on the Rajas/Creation cross. So, to claim, as Al Biruni did, that while the solstice remained in place the constellations (zodiac) have moved away from the zodiacal connection with the Cardinal Cross, reveals a basic ignorance of the cosmic harmony. What is extraordinary is that no pundit, to my knowledge, rose up and refuted his claim. This is the crux of the Nirayana system Hindus follow, this claim that a ‘shift’ has taken place and therefore periodic ‘corrections’ must be made to accommodate it.

According to these Nirayanis, while measuring that purported 0 degree Aries in the wrong circle – the circle of fixed stars where no equinoxes and solstices exist – this 0 point has shifted, therefore a correction is needed to move the start of the circle back by 23 days. Consequently, based on their astronomical wisdom, disconnected from the alleged superstition of astrology which astronomers believe they have improved upon, we must agree to celebrate each new zodiacal year on April 14-15 and not 21 March; or, even worse, the Capricorn entry (Makar in Sanskrit, perhaps the most important festival for the Hindu collectivity) is also shifted by 23 days to 14-15 January, instead of the fourth Cardinal Cross solstice on 21 December each year when Capricorn actually begins for the whole world, not merely for Hindus, with no change – because these unchanging equinoxes and solstices are the temporal and spatial pillars of Hinduism.

In addition, the so-called shift that needs ‘correction’ varies from pundit to pundit because accuracy is impossible to achieve in the circle of fixed stars with relation to Earth, given that they are zillions of kilometres away from our solar system. The result is confusion and chaos; ultimately what should be the single most unifying factor for Hindus, a calendar that unequivocally secures the true cosmic connection, has become a most effective tool for dis-connection and endless dispute.

Today the supporting cosmic pillars of the Dharma have been wiped out of the cultural fabric where they can only be meaningful when the true link to the cosmic harmony exists. It no longer does for all practical purposes today in India, regardless of vociferous claims by the Nirayanis to the contrary. Practically, factually it exists only in the updated Indocentric cosmology of the New Way.

The tactic of undermining was superb indeed because Time itself, with each passing day, undoes the very Dharma it holds in the secret recesses of itself. Time, in the land where Mahakala is known to be above all the Gods, is made to work against itself: instead of a creative power it is one of undoing.

All is not doom and gloom however. The Vishnu Avatar’s mission stands completed. The Solar Line he heads covers all the bases, even this one, perhaps the most significant for Hindus today. The Third in the Line comes with the express mission of dismantling this falsehood and re-establishing the supremacy of Shiva as Mahakala. She takes birth to re-establish the tropical zodiac as the foundational language of the Tradition, for there are no Cardinal Poles – equinoxes and solstices – in the sidereal circle of the fixed stars beyond our solar system. Astronomers require – nay, demand – points of light in the heavens that they can see with their human naked or mechanical eyes; for them the division of the ecliptic into 12 signs (the tropical zodiac) does not exist, or is of no consequence because it is not visible, while the Sage sees the light manifested within as without, he does not need external points of light to measure Truth, for he is the truth-seer. For him there is no difference: truth, the Rishi knows, lies within, uncontaminated by human projections covered over in vested interests the ego feeds on. For the Seer all is One, and on the basis of Oneness the truth of the supramental Gnosis is known. Thus the Third’s mission is completed with the New Way and its updated cosmology. Those who see and wish to follow the Journey of the Rig Veda have this new paradigm at their disposal.

Why are the Nirayanis so incensed? They call the Third a fraud, and in times gone by in the print and electronic media, a charlatan – and even the most incendiary label of all: anti-Hindu. It is always the same group, then and now, the followers and practitioners of the sidereal Nirayana system of astrological computation, those who falsely call themselves Vedic Astrologers. The only truly Vedic astrology/cosmology exists in the New Way today. But their desperation to discredit is understandable from the ego-driven perspective. If the New Way rises, in that very rise their system crumbles into dust of its own and is cast into the cosmic waste bin as another of Time’s useless residues. It is the dross that is eliminated when the pure gold of the supramental Truth-Consciousness is cast into the alchemical cauldron to sort things out. We are in the midst of just such a period of conclusively defining and sorting things out.

After all, what have they to show for themselves? Dozens of ayanamshas, chaos, disunity in the Hindu community on this essential issue, and a total lack of higher knowledge – for the Nakshatras they base their system on do not contain Vedic knowledge. They served a purpose in the Dark Ages of anchoring in Time’s vast vault, but never were they meant to displace the Vedic initiate’s Journey.

Gnosis, now enhanced by the descent of Supermind, is found only in the Vedic Journey as mapped out in the tropical zodiac. And, above all, it is only with the tropical zodiac of the ecliptic plane, balanced on the unchanging equinoxes and solstices that we can read the cosmic credentials of the Vishnu Avatar and his line in this 9^th Manifestation. This, beyond any doubt, is the primary goal: to create such confusion in the most important area of the Sanatana Dharma, the cosmic harmony wherein the true Vishnu Avatar is recognised by his cosmic credentials, and the impostors unmasked. The Sanatana Dharma hinges on this recognition of the true emanation of Vishnu because yuge-yuge he comes to re-establish order, first and foremost the cosmic order.The Dasavataras themselves, for the Sanatana Dharma, are like unto the Polar Star of the zodiacal Age in which they appear. We are blessed to be living in this 9^th Manifestation, and in the Aquarian Age that ushered in the electronic revolution with the higher octave of its traditional ruling planet Mercury in the mix today – the 7^th planet Uranus. The Negators and nay-sayers can also have their day in the Sun by this new-found freedom, but Uranus allows the Internet to give us finally OUR place under the Sun as well, instead of being conveniently marginalised as this New Way has been for so long.***Diagrams for Part One:

Ganga, river of January, measured on
the body of India via the new cosmology’s
zodiacal ruler

Here we have the same constellation and sidereal spheres, but with the Vedic One Circle central, divided into the four Cardinal Points, the all-important equinoxes and solstices, with the 23-day ‘shift’ included to show the actual position of the Hindu calendar.

‘…The One whom we adore as the Mother

is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all

existence, one and yet so many-sided that to follow

her movement is impossible even for the quickest

mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence…’

Sri Aurobindo

‘The Mother’

There are two yogic experiences of the Mother which I shall discuss at length in the course of this analysis, insofar as they are relevant to our study, though initially this may not be apparent. The first, recorded on 25 April, 196l, throws light, though indirectly, on the importance and accuracy of the Horse as a key symbol in the Supramental Manifestation. The Mother’s experience reveals in astounding detail the contours of the Point in which, as she describes, ALL of creation is contained. And as the student has discovered, the Point is related to the Horse via its connection with the One.

But the most significant aspect of her experience is that her consciousness entered that ‘point’ and from her description in the light of the revolutionising event which was to take place just a few years later, it was devoid of all movement. The Becoming had not yet been integrated in the manifestation of the Supermind.

The Horse enters as symbol once the ‘reversal’ has taken place. Or, in the language of our new cosmology, once the 0 has given forth the 1.

Another example of fidelity to the experience, which is the hallmark of any true yogic realisation of any school, involves The Gnostic Circle itself. I wrote the book in 1974. This was two years before, in my own experience, the 0 had given forth the 1. But it can be observed that I divided the book into four sections, 9, 6, 3, and 0, with verbal codes pointing to the inner essence of these four constituents of the Knowledge. Because of a similar restriction as the Mother’s, it can be noted that the essence of the 0 was seen as ‘…the Womb, the cradle, the upholder – the Centre’. Which indeed it is. But ‘the cradle’ was empty. The ‘birth’ (in knowledge) had not taken place yet. This occurred two years later. At that point the complete formula was ‘born’: 9/6/3/0-1. The ‘reversal’ had occurred from Vertical to Horizontal. And out of that came the One.

Regarding the ‘upholder’ in the code, this too became realised only when the ‘void’ (0) was filled with the birth of the One – i.e., Skambha, pillar, support, the upholder of the worlds. All this was contained in the 0 waiting to be ‘born’.

It is an extremely interesting exercise to study the Mother’s experience because we have for the first time in the annals of recorded movements of Yoga, a faithful and true revelation of just what that ‘new’ zero is. Being the embodiment of the Cosmic Divine, or the 6 in the cosmological formula, and as such the very essence of creation, it is to be noted that though devoid of movement, the Mother is emphatic: it is not Nirvana, it contains even Nirvana, it contains all of creation, – everything.

In other words, the Mother was experiencing for the Earth the very first steps along the way to ‘filling the Void’, or shunya, emptiness, as the zero had come to be known.

But her experience did not reveal the passage from Zero to One, simply because that stage of the Manifestation had not arrived. It was only in 1963, on the basis of Sri Aurobindo’s yogic achievement ‘on the other side’, as it were, when he returned precisely as the One, that the possibility arose of registering this breakthrough via the yogic experience on Earth. It was then that the Horse could become the symbol of that transition – from stillness to movement; and Sri Aurobindo drew this connection in the deepest layers of the evolution of the species by re-entering the Earth plane precisely through the gateway of the zodiacal sign of the Horse, in an unbroken line of time with his former incarnation.

Prior to this spectacular achievement, the Mother began to probe these recondite dimensions of the Manifestation and with a fidelity to the Vision rarely encountered, even in the highest of the world’s spiritual luminaries, she unveiled the state of the process up to that year, 1961. That is, Sri Aurobindo was yet to make the transition physically, but nonetheless by that time the void had been filled. The Zero was restored to its status of fulness.

However, this was still on the other side. The Bridge had to be constructed and linked to this material plane on Earth. For this the Third in the Descent had to become involved, through whom the ‘birth’ was done. In late 1963, the Zero gave forth the One, – the Becoming was on its way to being integrated with the Being.

This is, of course, the real condition of our material creation. It is not that only in 1963 the Zero became the fulness and until that time it was ‘emptiness’. What is required is that this reality, this true and uncontaminated Reality has to be earned by the species in evolution, because each such perception removes veils in consciousness. The goal is to become that Seeing. This means that what is seen becomes the state of consciousness of the species. The human being then must grow into that Vision. While shunya describes the Zero in our consciousness and Nirvana, or dissolution, is the goal, then the species must reproduce that Seeing and spiritual attainment in society and civilisation. Thus, the Supramental Descent consists of four members who will not only enact the true creative process and thus imprint this reality on the consciousness in evolution, they must also provide the new Knowledge on which basis alone the process is integrated and made the foundation of the new world being born.

By this I seek to impress upon the reader the importance and true purpose of the Mother’s experience, as well as the necessity to record the achievement, because today it stands as the seal and sanction of the Supreme Mother on our work. This transcript was published only in 1978, two years after the veils had been drawn aside covering Sri Aurobindo’s achievement, and 17 years after the Mother’s first access into those recondite areas of the Manifestation. Of this experience she states (translated from the French),

‘The normal state of consciousness is to do something for something (else). For example, all those (Vedic) Rishis, they composed their hymns to reach a goal; life had a goal. For them it was to discover Immortality, or the Truth. But at every level there is always a goal. We here speak of the ‘supramental realisation’ as the goal.

‘But just lately – I don’t know what had happened, it was as if something had taken possession of me, I don’t know – with a (how to say) a perception of the Supreme who is all, everywhere, does all, that which was, is and will be, what is being done, all, all… Suddenly there was a sort of…it was not a thought, nor a sensation, rather it was something like a condition: the unreality of the goal. Now ‘unreality’: the futility. Not even futility: the non-existence of the goal.’

It is important to note the word which the Mother had finally accepted to describe her perception: non-existence. For indeed, in the ‘infinitesimal point’ before the transition is made, it is correct to describe its contents as non-existent. They have yet to cross the threshold into existence. She describes here the compressed contents of the ‘seed’.

‘It is like a means which existed and had its reason for being, and for that reason it persisted: do this to arrive at that, this leads to that (but it is not even that, it is more subtle than that)… And that ‘means’ seemed suddenly to become non-existent because it became useless.’

The point to note is that the Mother is clearly indicating a new poise. In other words, the old method disappeared because something had rendered it ‘useless’ and driven it into non-existence. Indeed, the shift that has taken place over these last decades of this millennium has introduced that new poise and extended our boundaries of consciousness whereby the old ways are no longer adequate both to describe the Reality of which we are a part, as well as to experience the newness we are in the process of establishing as a basis for the new world order, embracing all levels of existence on this planet. The Mother continues,

‘Now it is a sort of absolutism’ of each and every second, each movement from the most subtle, the most spiritual, to the most material:  it is the connecting links that have disappeared.  The connecting links have disappeared.  This is not the ’cause’ of that, and that is not done for this, one does not go ‘there’ – all of that has disappeared.’

This absolutism of each moment is precisely the character of that new foundation because of which we can move from ‘truth to greater truth’, in the words of Sri Aurobindo. Further on the Mother explains in very exact terms the contours of that absolutism with respect to the Point:

      ‘Perhaps that is how the Supreme sees? Perhaps it is that…
the perception, the supreme perception: an absolute.

‘It is very strange.

‘An innumerable and perpetual absolute, simultaneous.’

This is the accurate description of what I have called simultaneous time, or Time unextended, compressed. Exactly 9 years after the Mother’s experience, perhaps to the day, I recorded that same perception in our contemporary myth, The Magical Carousel. In the tenth chapter describing the Capricorn experience, there is the same perception of penetration into that ‘space’ of total stillness, yet it too was not a void. And within that compact mass ALL of creation was contained (of the individual in question) in the unextended destiny. The significant part of that mythic Seeing was the magical Clock which bore on its face the symbols of past, present and future, ‘…But there are no hands pointing anywhere as one would normally expect’    And yet there was a ticking, – the pulsation or heartbeat of the Supreme. In that ‘space’ one came upon the absolute truth in the core of simultaneous Time… ‘an innumerable and perpetual absolute, simultaneous…’.

‘The feeling of a connection is gone, of cause and effect. All of that belongs to the world of time and space.’

Indeed, the Mother had plunged into a compaction of space and an unextension of time. Space and time, as we know them, are identified with movement, linearly, it must be stated. Without that they do not exist. Formerly, to escape time and space the yogi extended his consciousness outward (the direction contrary to the Mother’s experience) to the point of dissolution (nirvana); and thus time and space were obliterated along with the nexus that connected his consciousness to the network of this material creation. In this case, the Mother is making the same distinction – beyond the world of time and space – but with a special and particular difference: She is not DISSOLVING that nexus. Rather, she is penetrating into the innermost, sacred-most depths of creation to the point of its total containment. Indeed, this is how the supreme ‘sees’, for it is the ‘awakening’ of that Eye which becomes the creation. What the Supreme sees, is.

    ‘Each…each what? What is ‘that’? One cannot say ‘movement’, one cannot say ‘a state of consciousness’, one cannot say a ‘vibration’ (all of that still belongs to our manner of perceiving). And so, one says ‘thing’ (thing does not signify anything). Each ‘thing’ carries within itself its absolute law.’

Surely there is no other sentence that best describes the essence of our work and the foundation of this new cosmology: each ‘thing’, which I have called ‘centre’, based on the new revelations of this unitary system, carries within that absolute truth, or ‘law’.

      ‘But what is entirely clear is the total absence of cause and effect and goal, intention: purpose. That type of connection does not exist (the Mother makes a horizontal gesture). It is like this (she makes a vertical gesture that dominates and embraces all at the same time).

‘This can translate itself in one’s consciousness as an infinitesimal point, which is a physical body and everything that depends on it, but which is exactly the same as the Supreme Point and everything that depends on it. It is the same thing. It is only like the shift of a glance (if one can call it a ‘glance’) which would be like a needle which does not occupy any space. But it is the same consciousness. ‘Consciousness’, is it ‘consciousness’?…Something like that. It is not ‘consciousness’ as we understand it; it is not perception as well: It is a sort of…willed seeing (my Lord, what words!). And then with a freedom and an absolute omnipotence, it can be this, it can be that, and it is exactly the same thing.’

With these remarkable words the Mother is describing the most intricate aspects of creation, or the essence of our material universe, – its origin, its process. It is indeed a question of seeing and will. These would accurately describe the third and fourth stages of the supramental Descent: the Third sees, the Fourth is. The Mother describes the passage from Transcendence to Imminence. There was no ‘big bang’ at the Origin, where things have their true beginning. There was will, there was seeing. These are the essence upholding everything we can perceive in this material dimension. And indeed, the ‘point’ is equal to the ‘whole’. The Mother exclaims,

       ‘Do not try to understand! It is obviously untranslatable.
       ‘But what can be translated is the sort of sensation that the connection
of cause and effect and purpose, goal, appears to be very far down, very, very far away…very human…
       ‘All that seems unreal. How strange.
       ‘It came during the night, slowly but very powerfully: no more connection, no more cause and effect, no goal, no purpose, no intention – a sort of absolute. And which does not exclude creation. This is not Nirvana, it has nothing to do with Nirvana (I know Nirvana well…). It is not that; it is above that, it contains Nirvana and it contains the manifest world, and it contains everything, the appearances (of the worlds) and the disappearances. All that is there…

‘Something that…has neither cause nor effect nor extension (the Mother makes a horizontal gesture), nor purpose, nor intention – intention of what? There is nothing that is to de done! It is like that (the Mother makes the same vertical gesture as before).
     ‘What is interesting is that everything stays the same – you see, I can do everything, I talk, I joke…Everything stays the same, it does not change anything (this seeing). But my problem starts when I ask myself how all this is going to change.’

Indeed, unless the transition from compaction to expansion or extension is made, all this cannot change. And it must be done in a ‘new way’, on a different basis entirely than before. The Mother is describing BEING. Her question to herself is most pertinent because that was then the great Secret: How was this essential seeing to express itself in the world if there is no extension, movement?

Ours is a world of time and space. Our universe balances itself on these cosmic principles. They are the vehicles for the Becoming; and while we remain rooted in the Being, or poised exclusively in the point of Unity, we cannot integrate the many levels of consciousness-being which are the vehicles for that Becoming in material creation, – i.e., the vital and the physical.

The passage or transition is the great key of the supramental realisation. Movement is the vehicle – that is, speed. It is a question of increasing the speed of the consciousness; and that acceleration is what the Horse as symbol embodies. Hence Sri Aurobindo stated that the Horse is the ‘prototype of the supramental form’. In other words, the symbol being the thing symbolised after the transition, this Horse Saga explains the new workings of the Supramental Shakti and the minute details of the mechanism by which this integration and harmonisation is accomplished.

The Horse embodies the One, or the divine Purpose. While there is only the Zero disconnected from the One, there is, or appears to be, no purpose. Indeed, if, as the Mother states, there is no extension – then there can be no purpose which is the upholding essence of the Becoming. The two go hand in hand.

Thus, in these pages we are exploring the Becoming as a minutely controlled process to render the symbol the thing symbolised, and to establish beyond any doubt not only the existence of the power which we describe as the Supramental Shakti, but to explain the manner in which the transition from the state of compact fullness which the Mother experienced in April of 1961 has taken shape in our world via the instrumentation of the Horse.

Sphericality replaces the Linear

One of the most intriguing parts in the above transcript of the Mother’s experience did not involve words at all. It was her gestures – vertical and horizontal, as described by the disciple who was present then. As the student of the New Way knows, I have often referred to these two ‘directions’, in particular regarding the ‘formula’: 9/6/3/0-1. The descent of 9-6-3 is the vertical direction (it is also related to Time). The movement of compaction or compression is the descending 9, 6, 3. These ‘press into’ the Zero, compact there; and then ‘reversal’ assures that the 1 is ‘born’; at which point the direction shifts to horizontal.

The Mother, faithful as ever to her seeing, emphasises the vertical direction by her gesture. Indeed, inasmuch as her vision involved the compressed Zero and not the One, the direction was perforce vertical. The horizontal is integrated once the transition is made.

Something else occurs when this transition is completed, something that distinguishes the new creation from the old. The linear progression becomes spherical. The totality of conditions operating in a given process is acted upon spherically, so to speak. This would be on the order of a series of concentric circles held together by a central Point. The progression through time and space then integrates these circles, draws them into a closely knit organism or system. These peripheries are held together and converge on the Centre. A ‘movement’ in that Point sends ripples throughout the system which consists of these various circles.

The human vision and perception is entirely linear. Our consciousness cannot function spherically, and therefore we can only refer to certain inexplicable happenings as ‘miracles’ because they cannot be accommodated within the linear paradigm. Or else we describe them as ‘coincidences’ for the same reason. The connections between these ‘coincidental’ events appear to be lacking because of our linear functioning which does not include a spheric mode. The connections do exist but they are on the order of webs of time in space extending from a centre. If one’s consciousness is poised centrally, or centred, then the connections in this spheric network are perceivable. Being centred is the key, however. This indicates that one stands at the heart of the cosmos, so to speak, like the Sun in our solar system. Only a person whose consciousness is thus poised can follow the movements of the Supramental Shakti which are entirely spherical and never linear.

The Mother emphasised on the basis of her penetration into the ‘infinitesimal point’ that there were ‘no connecting links’; all of that had disappeared. Indeed, as stated, those connections between things require time and space, which were excluded from the Mother’s experience. She was in the compact zone where there is no ‘space’ and hence no time, the power of the Divine Maya required to weave that web of connections with the tissue of consciousness. The Mother’s seeing was the step BEFORE that shift from vertical to horizontal. More precisely, it is not that they are consequential directions. They are simultaneous. But the transition from 0 to 1 is essential as a method of integration. 1 stands for the power that integrates. Then the 0 serves as the source of energy, a continuous supply feeding the system from ‘the other side’, so to speak.

The noteworthy aspect of the Mother’s experience is that she was opening the way to a supramental action on Earth. The distinction with the old way lies in the poise of the experiencer. In the Mother’s case, she was experiencing and describing the first step toward centredness, as I have called it. That is, the shift ultimately from linear to spherical. A person thus centred becomes the Sun, sees as ‘the Supreme sees’. Then the connections are perceivable but in this circular sense. Then one can see what none have eyes yet to see. We could say that the Mother was planting the first ‘seed’ of the future realisation and opening the way for the action of the Supramental Shakti. Or rather, through yoga she was opening the channel for the connecting Bridge to become established and operative on Earth, – what Sri Aurobindo referred to as ‘Supermind organised for Earth use’.

Further on we shall analyse another recorded experience the Mother had in 1969 in which she gives very accurate details of the ‘network’ consisting of two strands or lines, which I have called the Solar and Lunar Lines. She explains the place of number-power and the very specific operations of the Supramental Shakti. Between 1961 and 1969 many ‘shifts’ and ‘transitions’ had taken place. It was then possible to give specific details of the action of the Supermind on Earth via the instrumentation of the Supreme Shakti.

Thus, over these three final decades of the millennium, certain yogic achievements have established a new modus operandi in the world. This entails sphericality as opposed to a linear progression. It also entails a centred consciousness needed to perceive the action and thus collaborate consciously in the process, if a life divine is to be established on Earth, as Sri Aurobindo had foreseen it would.

The Divine action has of course always been spherical. When the Mother questions, Is this the way the supreme sees?, she is disclosing the primary difference between human and divine. But the importance of our Age is that on a collective basis and founded on an exacting ‘science’, or a body of higher Knowledge, we can now ‘see along with the Supreme’. The Mother and others of the Solar Line must open the way to this new capacity so that the human being can now extend the boundaries of consciousness and allow that Knowledge to be the new foundation upon which a new world must be built.

We engage in endless debates about the sorry condition of the world, embracing all aspects of life. The final answer, we all agree, lies in a ‘new consciousness’. Everyone is engaged in its elusive pursuit. One cannot take objection with that; however, none have provided a new blueprint, an applicable method whereby the human consciousness can acquire a more divine quality and on this basis affect conditions around us realistically. This is not done because in the first place none have truly and exactly dissected what that superior quality we yearn for might be, – much less to provide a methodology by which the human being can him or herself attain that superior status.

In her experience the Mother does just that. She describes how the Supreme SEES. This was the first step, since perception, or SEEING, lies at the root of all Being. Since then many more steps have been taken along this path. They have carried us to the point where now, in these closing years of the millennium, we can utilise the Horse to carry us across the threshold of an Age and into the new world that awaits us, with a carefully documented, methodically analysed and described supramental process.

Technology has carried us to the threshold of this attainment. But it cannot move us across that border and into the new creation simply because its creator is Mind and its methodology is therefore linear. It does not have the integrating capacity which binds the vertical and the horizontal. Above all, it does not have the creative power to arrange a set of circumstances spherically but from a central point of control. It cannot operate on the CONSCIOUSNESS LEVEL, only the mental at best. But it is through the medium of Consciousness, for lack of a better word, that the Supramental Action takes shape. It operates from centre to centre, from human to human through a channel above Mind, though this element is as yet unacknowledged in human consciousness, which integrates and harmonises. This is the new medium that will be utilised in the next millennium, represented planetarily by Venus and its higher octave Neptune. Cosmic harmonies will be central to that unfolding.

In the meantime, in this essay we set before us the task of providing seekers with the first and only minutely detailed and documented action of the Supramental Shakti on Earth – as a harbinger of things to come. The Horse is the key protagonist because, as the Rigveda describes, this is Usha’s carrier – the Divine Dawn. As we move into a new Dawn, we do so with Agni in the form of the Horse illuminating our way into this new future.

We must therefore present the minute details of our story because almost each and every detail becomes a piece in the extraordinary mosaic the Shakti created as a first detailed testimony of her actions on Earth involving a group of individuals and not simply one person, as was the case for example in The Tenth Day of Victory. It has always been my preference to transmit the Knowledge in an impersonal manner as far as possible. I now find myself constrained to discuss this magnificent collective yogic movement with very personalised inputs. The need for this is also a part of the process insofar as we move out of the sphere of the personal in a transition of this nature, and we become, as Sri Aurobindo has written, the real Person. The distinction is fundamental for it incorporates the main problem we as humans face in our endeavour. It is, quite simply, the supersedure of the ego as our driving mechanism and the apparatus on the basis of which we focus our lens of perception. Everything we know, see, do on this planet is impelled by the ego through a species in orbit of a Void. This describes the innards of the ego mechanism. To move to a higher level of evolution, we must learn to function on the basis of something transcendent to the ego but which, at the same time, incorporates its function though in a higher and wider scheme of things.

The ego was indeed ‘the helper’, as Sri Aurobindo has written. But it has truly become ‘the bar’. Yet if it persisted for so long and became the foundational principle of an entire species throughout countless ages, it had to have fulfilled an important and indispensable function. Thus, if we wish to supersede that principle because we have perceived its limitations and therefore the collective necessity to do so, as a sort of survival response, we have to introduce another principle which attends to the earlier needs and functions, albeit on a new and enhanced basis. It is then that the person becomes the Person.

The higher functioning of the Person

Because of the need to raise the level of consciousness consciously, and in the process to describe the passage from an ego-impelled humanity to a species poised to ‘see as the Supreme sees’, it is necessary to provide many particulars of the experience which I might normally have preferred to leave out. These details may appear commonplace and too small for so noble and expansive an enterprise, since they involve the level of the personality which in a yogic endeavour is often considered unworthy of attention. Precisely because of this age-old split the lesser arena has been left under the control of the Ignorance. This ‘field’ that is our planet Earth has been consistently under the rule of the Ignorance because it has yet to house a species which operates from a poise other than the ego-centred.

The result has been that every aspect of society bears intrinsically the stamp of the ego, and hence the Ignorance. No matter how lofty our ideals, no matter how noble our thoughts and aspirations, the result is a global civilisation at a crossroads: destruction appears inevitable unless a new creative principle comes to our rescue which is able to erase that contaminating grain running through all our creative activity.

This essay seeks to present an example of that new and higher modus operandi based on the Gnostic Circle, the new key of Knowledge for the new species. The main objective is to provide proof both of the supreme inner guidance we have access to now, as well as the mechanism used by that Power who guides our endeavour. In the process, this saga will reveal the means to attain that superior creative poise whereby the person can become the Person. That is, an instrument of the Divine, centred on the divine Purpose of any given system, and no longer on the ego. The protagonists of this drama were not consciously aspiring for this superior status. They were, however, destined to serve the purposes of the One. They had no ‘choice’ in the matter, as indeed the Earth herself has no choice but to house this superior species. This essay reveals the ineluctability we are subjected to, and the benefit we would derive from a conscious and knowledgeable surrender to the inevitable. Furthermore, it will reveal how the fulfilment of that divine Purpose is infinitely more satisfying for the participant in such a process than any ego-centred attainment might be. The ‘rewards’ for such an adherence to a higher Cause were unparalleled in their all-inclusiveness, covering countless dimensions and every corner of one’s being, each with their own particular aspirations. Nothing was left out in the final tally. All got their just dues and reaped a cornucopia of blessings, material and spiritual.

But the human being fears the unknown. Hence resistance to that one divine Purpose was a constant obstacle along the way. And the need for this detailed account is to provide a clear and indisputable example of the wisdom in the dictum, TRUST IN ME.

We return then to the minutiae of our analysis, realising that each little or larger item of the story had an intrinsic bearing on the final denouement, and without those ‘little details’ the Supramental Shakti’s masterful achievement would have been that much poorer. Multiplicity in unity, diversity in oneness, – these are the keys to integrality. And Harmony is the overall principle: each thing in its place within the whole of an enchanting mosaic never before ‘seen’.

Chaos in search of an Axis

In the last issue of VISHAAL, we left off our story with the first in a series of rather spectacular interventions by the Supramental Shakti, – i.e., jockey Eve’s retainer by one of the more prominent racehorse owners in India, a position coveted by all, even the senior-most jockeys. This irresistible offer could not be refused. Indeed, the Mother did not intend to have it refused, as we later came to appreciate, insofar as this intervention was a turning point and a key piece in the design.

Thus, Eve took F1 out in her last race in Madras on February 18^th, after which she moved to Bangalore. Interestingly, F1 also returned to the centre-base in Bangalore immediately after Eve’s departure, thereby fortifying the impression I had of her sojourn in Madras as being on the order of a lasso cast out to draw certain elements into a closer orbit of the central Sun of our endeavour; while on her part, F2 gave the impression of being a fixed pole, firmly ‘holding the centre’. Her intensity of purpose was both inspiring and poignant since the effort seemed to be taking a physical toll. F2 was wasting away. Something had to be done to halt the decline.

A series of events did indeed bring about a radical shift. Toward the end of November, I had instructed F2’s trainer, the third of her brief career, to enter her in two sweepstakes races before the closing deadline, and of course to prepare her accordingly. Not only did he ignore these instructions, without informing me, but he set about to prove the inadequacy of the filly and hence to expose my own eccentric foolishness. Apart from the decreased feed he was giving her which diminished her potential considerably, he also instructed the jockey to ride her in such a way as to ‘blow her out’, to use the turf jargon, in the first half of the race. F2 possesses natural initial speed, a coveted quality in a racehorse. But if improperly cared for and mishandled in a race, this precious gift would turn back on the horse and prove its downfall. A Thoroughbred cannot sustain such high speeds for more than a certain distance. And with the inadequate feeding and training programme she was receiving, sustaining the effort was an impossible feat.

This state of affairs continued for several races, until I finally insisted that she should be entered in a longer race, not a sprint, to prepare her for the up-coming mile sweepstakes, for which I believed she had been entered. I repeat, to prove my foolishness, the trainer instructed the jockey to extract the maximum speed from the beginning, certain that she would be too exhausted to cover the longer distance. But F2 surprised both trainer and jockey when, in spite of this initial burst, she kicked off again at 100 metres before the winning post and placed second. She proved that had she been ridden properly, she might even have won the race.

Given her performance and the fact that I was satisfied with only a place position in the final tally, not even a win, the trainer had no excuse to scratch her from the upcoming sweepstakes race. And thus it was exposed that she had not been entered at all. This went against all established conventions between trainer and owner in Thoroughbred racing. I had no option but to remove her from his care.

During this period, Eve was riding for Adam in Madras and there was therefore no jockey with whom I could tackle this hopeless situation as an ally. I put F2 in the care of another trainer, younger and more idealistic, explaining to him that as soon as Adam came to Bangalore she and her sisters would be transferred to his care. He accepted these conditions and seemed delighted to have the fillies, if even for a short time. Indeed, he even agreed to let Adam take charge of them while in his stables. The arrangement seemed a perfect one. The question was; Where was Adam?

The last race that F1 ran in Madras merits some discussion because of its central place in the unfolding of events which brought about a radical change. Eve had worked hard to bring F1 to the point of a win. In fact, when she entered this race all expected the filly to succeed, particularly in the expert hands of her favourite jockey. It was a 1600 metre race and she had been carefully prepared to handle the distance. Up to that point, I was not facing the usual trainer indifference in Adam that I had to deal with in Bangalore. But soon enough, Adam too would follow suit. Nonetheless, at that point of time he put his maximum effort into this race for a win.

But fate willed otherwise, as so often occurs on the racetrack. Two jockeys from the stables of a person who dominates the racing scene in Madras, whom I shall call Magog in this essay, succeeded in blocking F1 throughout in one of the most obnoxious and outrageous acts of obstruction ever witnessed. F1 with Eve steering her fought the onslaught bravely and determinedly. But the obstruction was so severe that she risked clipping the horse that finally jumped in front of her with barely 50 metres left in the race, while his companion from the same stable and the same owner was allowed to pass and win. Moreover, the two horses which placed first and second were from the highest class, brought down to this lower class for an easy win. Eve raised an objection, but, as we all expected, it was overruled. The places were left unchanged in spite of these blatant acts of relentless interference and obstruction from the beginning to the end of the race. F1 was in fine form and could have won. Not once did she flinch and back off from the challenge. Indeed, she seemed to enjoy the wildness of it all and was determined to press on. But Eve was also obliged to look out for the safety of both herself and the horse; thus, when the obstruction became too dangerous, she had to check the filly and thereby forfeit the win.

On my part, I halted any further participation of F1 in future races there. Not because she had been shamelessly deprived of a just and well-earned win, for after all, had this not been the case all along in her career, though not as blatant? By then we were accustomed to this sort of treatment meted out to her. Rather, I halted further participation because of the danger to rider and horse. Thus, shortly thereafter Eve left for Bangalore. F1 followed on her heels, having been entered in a race there to be run on the last day of the winter season, 19 March. The circumstances of that race proved that not only would we pose a threat to the racing establishment by our honest running and good horses, I, personally, would have to tackle another serious problem which surfaced fully in that race: the recalcitrant egocentricity which makes a work of harmony and integration impossible. I realised fully then that while the ego was in command and determining the course of events, our ‘team’ would never succeed in gathering together at the centre. Or if it did, it would be as it was for Eve, a peripheral engagement and not a central focus.

At about this time an acute anxiety descended. I had no certainty that F1 would be re-accepted in Bangalore once again. I knew that she could be given permission to participate in a race or two as an out-station horse, but with no assurance that once the Winter Season was over on March 19^th, the date of the race she was scheduled to run, that she would be allowed to stay on in the new trainer’s stable as a Bangalore based horse once again. Out-station participants are normally returned to the home base as soon as their race is over, given the scarcity of stables in most of the racing centres in India. But I had no intention of returning her to Magog’s turf, especially without Eve who was then riding in Bangalore.

More importantly, about this time another esoteric factor served to increase the  anxiety. I came to realise that these fillies covered within and among themselves the three gunas of Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas. On the basis of certain experiences regarding the future realisation introduced by the Supermind as an organising principle in creation, I suddenly understood a very deep ‘principle’ in the arrangement of this unique racing experience. Not only had F1 cemented by her birth on 1^st October the Gnostic Circle’s complicity in the matter, but the other two fillies who were to participate in a sequence after her would also serve to establish the new cosmology as a guiding principle in our endeavour.

In astrology as it has been practised throughout the ages and across the globe, these are the three modes of energy, called, Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. They are the exact translation of Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas of the Vedic Cosmology and yogic systems. The gunas are the pivot of these systems. Some schools, most in fact in present-day India, reject them entirely by stating that one must rise above the gunas which describe the movement or flow of energy and hence are pillars of the creative process. Rejecting material creation as an equal partner with the Spirit, necessarily the gunas came to be looked upon as the filaments of a web of illusion, hardening into an inexorable chain imprisoning the individual in the cycle of death and rebirth endlessly. As a sort of compromise the second of the gunas, Sattva, became exalted among the three and was shifted to the first position, thereby dismantling the harmony of the cosmic process.

If we seek to transform this material base that is our home and establish a species on the planet ‘in God’s image’ as it were, we can no longer mutely accept this distortion in so essential an area of existence, a function which lies at the root of that very material creation we seek to enlarge and enhance. When Sri Aurobindo once wrote of ‘a new base of life’, poised on the pillar of Immortality, clearly it was a clarion call to transform the gunas; or, we may say, to engage them in a creative process of a new order.

Thus, I realised that the Horse Saga was to be a part of this singular achievement. The gunas are repeated four times in the course of the 12 month-sign year. Each month is an expression of one of the three energy flows, and this triadic play is repeated four times, each quarter thus becoming associated with the four seasons we experience on Earth. They are therefore very deeply engrained in our cosmic/biological clocks.

F1, born in Libra (1^st October), came under the Rajas mode, or Cardinal; F2, born in Pisces (2^nd March), was born under Tamas, or Mutable; F3, born in Aquarius (23 January), was born under Sattva, or Fixed.

Inasmuch as we are intent on establishing the zero-base of the enterprise, it is clear that, as stated earlier, the trinity is a key feature of that zero. Similar to OM of the Hindu tradition, the first sound out of which all further vibrations emanate in the creative process, and which is also known to be triadic in its structure, the Gnostic Circle’s zero bears the same intrinsic stamp. In the Zero before the ‘reversal’, this trinity is expressed as 9, 6, 3 – pure number-power. These powers are compressed in the Zero. With the reversal or crossing of the critical threshold, the three powers are clothed in a body, as it were. The essential Powers are organised by the three modes for the purpose of establishing a creation in matter. The gunas deal with density and organisation. Being modes after the reversal, the 12-part division of the wheel becomes integrated with the 9-part on the basis of this triadic interplay repeated four times. In this manner the Zero has acquired a ‘body’, or a vehicle for the crossing, a channel by which it is able to densify and occupy a ‘space’ in this dimension, and by which means it can give rise to a ceaseless play of energy which is the support of the universe.

It is on this basis that the integration of the two circles (and directions, vertical and horizontal) comes to pass in the Gnostic Circle. The Gnostic Circle is therefore the most accurate key to the true process of creation at our disposal today. It faithfully describes that process as well as offering a sound method to enhance consciousness for the new future we are moving into and which demands a more conscious participation. It ought to serve as a consolation, amid the current turmoil and confusion, to know that the Gnostic Circle having been revealed at this time, the indication is a race  poised for a very important and critical breakthrough.

The present documentation offers the seeker a factual proof of the momentous point we have reached; as well, it is a first example of the process all higher expressions must follow in order to be a part of the new world that is arising in our midst. The Zero holds the key. Its triadic structure is the foundation of everything that has emanated from that original OM sounded at the ‘first time’. In other words, our material creation, from its most subtle sheath to its densest, is simply the extension of that triadic compression. In no other civilisation on Earth do we find, as we do in the Hindu tradition, such an accurate, elegant and sophisticated description of the process of creation founded on the sacred syllable OM. In addition, via the tradition of vahanas or carriers of the Gods (cosmic powers), we understand that this essential, foundational OM, once the critical threshold is reached, acquires a body, or bodies, – meaning, the gunas organised in a different manner so as to ‘carry forward’ that power or powers in a creative play of balanced energy.

The Gnostic Circle combines all of these processes of creation, foremost of which is the Transcendent, the 9, driven into compression by the 6, or the Cosmic Divine, and then becoming established as the soul in the 3, or the Individual; and out of that 3 is born the Point, the One, or the immanent Transcendent. This, briefly, is the story of creation as we experience it, see it in the material universe of 9 that we inhabit, the last and densest vibration originating in the 0.

The two directions are contained in the Gnostic Circle: vertical is the 9/6/3 compression in the 0. The reversal, which in the Circle is indicated by the 4.5 Orbit, snaps around, as it were, or wraps around itself, thus giving rise to that Skambha, or sacred pillar. In the terminology of this work, it is the axis arising out of the Point. It is the One. It is the Horse, vahana supreme of the divine Dawn, Usha, of the Goddess Earth.

The 12 circle is integrated with the 9 circle in this manner, as the horizontal direction or plane born of the 0 of the vertical. For it is then, in the 12-part wheel, also known as the zodiac, that the gunas arise. This is based on an energy interplay or flow, a rhythm and a harmony. Speed is thus a key feature since the description of that critical threshold is really the movement of consciousness at a speed the exceeding of which creates the new direction and emergence of a creation in matter.

With this understanding becoming consolidated via the lived experience, with each passing day I was becoming increasingly more anxious over the fact that F1, first of the ‘gunas’, in her action of ‘lasso’ to draw in those required energies for the zero-base-centre, might not make it back, thereby dismantling the harmony and consolidation of the three gunas at the outset and thus aborting the process. Thus, on 11 March 1994, I began expressing this anxiety in my journal in a series of entries, but together with significant reflections on what such an agitated condition might inflict on our endeavour:

      ‘If I could only let go of this anxiety? If I could only REMEMBER that a meticulous CONTROL exists in my affairs. And this includes above all the racing experience because it is the focus of the Yoga in this decade. This being the case, why this anxiety? All things will be arranged in this matter to forward the Yoga, and only the Yoga. Wins, losses, promotions, jockey and race details – all these things are under the umbrella of that controlling Power to do the Yoga and to get very precise results.

‘If only I could LET GO and truly leave it to Her. In any case, it IS left to Her. But there is this anxiety always…

‘What does this produce in a work of this sort? Surely it means that POLE is shaking. It means the immobile Centre is not at all immobile but in a state of agitation. If there is that agitation then the Power suffers. In what way? This is the question. In what way does my agitation affect the process?

‘Let us say that F1 is not meant to be based in Bangalore but must come home. I am anxious. I push, expend energy, agitate things. Whatever, she is going to come home. Period. Thus, it is all useless, wasted energy. But what does it do to the alchemy? Where does that influx in agitation go? Clearly it goes to fortifying opposition and antagonistic forces.

‘Perhaps it happens precisely because of WASTE. That is, ENERGIES WITHOUT A PURPOSE. This means energies not held in orbit of a centre and axis. Only those can be considered waste. So, when I am agitated and I cast those energies in a state of agitation into the alchemy, they must go to the periphery which opposes, they must feed that quarter. That is, there are knots (opposition) and these are parasites that thrive on waste. That is the only way they can survive: waste, spin off. It means that a correct balance of energies is of foremost importance, because this is CONTAINMENT which precludes waste. A balance of the ‘gunas’ indicates NO WASTE, and hence no energies usurped by the asuric knots.

‘…This is the importance of Sattva/Preservation. But what was missed was the balance. Preservation alone goes nowhere. It then hardens and collapses, opts out. There has to be a balance of energies whereby there is movement for rejuvenation and proper utilisation.

‘…This is key. This is the way. There is no waste. No usurpation. Whatever comes into the orbit of such a system is itself drained. This is how we work out the knots.

‘I must also keep reminding myself that I am doing this for the Yoga. That is the RESULT – not winning this race, that promotion, and so forth. For the Yoga apparent setbacks may be necessary. As long as there is the CONTROL. And I SEE this, then all is well and as it should be.

‘I am coming to the realisation that this question of a balance of the gunas is perhaps the most important aspect of the supramental yoga; and the map-symbol is a very fundamental key.

‘Always the Temple holds the key. By it I know, I have the guidance. The THREE circles which go to constituting the Shalagrama (see, The New Way, Volume 2, Chapter 11) are those energies in balance, held together by the central axis – this is like the Earth and the axis and the Van Allen Belt. The important part is the axis because without that energies are not held in orbit. Thus, for the sadhak it is the same: without that perfectly aligned axis WHICH IMPLIES CENTRALITY there can be no holding power.

‘HOLDING POWER: it implies an immobile axis. All held around the Core.

‘Applying this, in the racing experience my job is simply TO HOLD. Not to extend directly but rather through instruments. They ACT, I HOLD. This is the way.

‘What happens then? If I ‘hold’ then we can draw those knotted energies into our orbit, our control. The last time I did this EVERYTHING SHIFTED. Perhaps it is what is needed now to help those shifted energies to find their place. Perhaps now it means that Eve and F1 have to be integrated at the Centre. This requires a strong holding so that the negations, the knots do not succeed in BLOCKING. Their effort now is to render ineffective our ‘cosmos’. But as I see it, they are doomed to failure. The cosmos is too solid.

‘So, one HOLDS and thereby allows FREE action which then puts each thing in its place. One then permits those energies the freedom to draw and drain. When one agitates there are counter-currents which interfere. This diminishes the effectiveness of the Power. Agitation means setting currents into the system which weaken the holding power.  Then delays and all sorts of ‘unexpecteds’,

‘…In one’s individual sadhana this same action is imperative: an axis, holding power so that the energies in one’s being are not in a state of AGITATION producing counter-currents that lessen the power (of CONCENTRATION). Concentration thus means immobility. It is a poise which contains power and the immobility is what produces HOLDING POWER.

‘All of this comes about by a balance of the triune energies. This is clearly not meditation – at all. Meditation does not necessarily engender power because it is not concerned with a concentration and balance of energy. Usually one withdraws if energies are stirred. One steps out (of the body) and disengages oneself. But this does not produce holding capacity. Nor does it generate POWER. Indeed, when I concentrate in this way, I feel the concentration of power. I feel an immobility of contained power. This is the experience.

‘When I ceased extending and agitating (see TVN 9/4) it allowed the Force to work and bring an instant shift. This is what the inner Voice meant by “in a day”, because then it can do its job. Its own energies are released and allowed to concentrate on the task at hand. That is, the holding, the attracting Power is not interfered with. Some of its force is not needed or deviated from the task at hand to counteract the agitation.

‘If I were to succeed in that poise, right now, the result would be that all those antagonistic energies would INSTANTLY be brought into alignment. They would have to serve the One. Right now. The instant action is the result of my letting those energies do their job. Thus there is a RELEASE of energy and this influx into the system accelerates and makes things blocked become immediately unblocked. Then everything moves very fast.

            ‘The key to this work is Energy: allocation and organisation (balance) and transmutation. In this transitional phase the cosmos we are forming has to work within the field of the Old. That means we have to deal with those knots. We have to force them to release their energies. Otherwise, where is the increase to come from?

‘Is there a NEW influx? In a sense, yes; but then NO. This is because the newness resides not in an added influx. It is an ORGANISATION. A new arrangement or method of working with the energies at hand. Then in the human being there are ALL the energies we need to attain the supramental state. We have to find the way to get those energies RELEASED.

‘I had seen it already long ago. The Water element is where the energy is blocked or locked or hoarded away. This involves Cancer and Scorpio. Mars is in its “fall” in Cancer. It is exalted in Capricorn. It is ‘at home’ in Scorpio. In “detriment” in Taurus. Most important. We have TWO AXES here: Capricorn/Cancer, Taurus/Scorpio. Cardinal and Fixed. The Mutable is Pisces/Virgo…Surely this is the record of the Process.

‘…And so, the new creation is not really a matter of a DESCENT of Power. We speak of it like that but it is not really that. The LIGHT manifests or “descends” – but what really happens is that the Ray stands for a new axis, plain and simple. That means the capacity to bring about a new organisation: TO PUT EACH THING IN ITS PLACE. In so doing, a new organisation comes about of the existing energies. In order to attain the condition of Immortality we must RELEASE energy already contained in the system. The human body is one system. In the Water element the energy is locked. To transform the physical one has to release that energy. And to do that one has to bring what is there into that new organisation which compels those hoarded energies to SLOW DOWN the system. What happens when there is a release is an increase indeed, but of SPEED, – hence the symbol of the Horse. It is not increase of energy as a new influx from outside. It is an influx due to releasing energy in the system which then accelerates, speeds up. It is when a particular speed is reached that collapse no longer occurs. This is the magical threshold which when crossed prevents collapse. Where are we with relation to that? Where am I? Perhaps 1956 was the threshold for the Earth. 1962 for the Yoga. 1971 for the Individual. Who knows. But whatever, there is a threshold. There is a balance: Libra. The steady state. Then there is no more collapse and knotting up. That steady state is the balance of triune energies. It is all in the zodiac, hence the importance to preserve it across the ages.’

Dissecting the Ego

The necessity of the ego has been to serve as a motivating, driving apparatus by which or through which we can accomplish a certain cosmic and evolutionary function on this planet. The ego – and by this I mean the element which serves as a nexus of consciousness whereby the human being realises himself to be an individualised entity – cannot be eliminated in the evolutionary scheme without a replacement. It is this superior element, serving a ‘higher cause’ as it were, that we are intent on describing as deeply as permissible given the limited experiences available of this new functioning. In addition, this documentation deals with only a portion of the full action in that it describes the transitional period. In the future the supramental manifestation will be experienced differently given the present work of transition and initial transformation. Indeed, the Horse, as the Rigvedic myth described, carries us across the threshold, through the transitional phase and into the full supramental manifestation.

By this it can be appreciated that as a transitional species we are burdened with the ego mechanism but must somehow, in spite of this limitation, complete the crossing to a higher status. It is important therefore to locate the limiting component of ego-centredness so that we may come to a better understanding of the areas which need special attention and just what it is that must be transformed in the human consciousness.

To begin, and perhaps this is the sole item of importance, the ego functions through the principle of division, or separation. When I write of the binary status of the human creature, what is meant is precisely this question of division in the being: a higher and lower hemisphere, each with their separate foci. Sri Aurobindo’s integral yoga by its very name indicates that somehow in the midst of the divisive atmosphere we create for ourselves, there has to be an integration of these different hemispheres with their respective segments of consciousness-being.

Broadly speaking, these are divided into four parts: spiritual, mental, vital-emotional, and physical. The physical is, as it were, the densest material vessel that houses the other parts which in turn have ‘bodies’, – i.e., subtle sheaths laid into or upon the physical. It is entirely possible to ‘step out’ of the physical, placing one’s consciousness in any one of the other subtle sheaths and move about this physical dimension and the other natural habitats of those more rarefied dimensions. In the experience of the yoga described above, we have an example of just such an activity by the Mother. But she was treading ‘new terrain’, as her narration indicates. Indeed, she was opening the path for a very different structure to eventually replace the old. The distinguishing feature of this new structure is a shift from the binary status wherein the ego is the mechanism that drives the evolution forward, to a unitary system centred on a newly manifested principle. This principle is the Soul.

Of course the soul is not a new principle or evolutionary device. But it has never been the mechanism utilised for evolutionary purposes directly, as the driving power of the species. This is because the soul is a higher mechanism which presupposes an integrated structure. In a word, the soul stands as the centre of a circular or spherical ‘mass’, holding in orbit the various parts of an integrated being, much the same as the Sun stands central in our solar system and holds all the planets and their satellites in orbit of itself. This, indeed, is the figure we may keep before our inner vision as a model to be realised through the process of yoga, individually and collectively.

Thus, it can be noted that integration has to take place. Hence the need for an integral yoga which the Mother and Sri Aurobindo provided. With that accomplished, with that first foundation laid, the present phase is to make of that integrated being the vessel for this new poise to be established.

It is important to emphasise that we are not discussing an individual attainment in these pages. The purpose of this documentation is to provide an illustration of the complete process involving a collective experience so that an example is provided of the manner in which the transition to a ‘new consciousness’ will be made which can serve as a nuclear ‘holding point’ by which larger and larger segments of collective living may be drawn into this new cosmos we are in the process of establishing.

The soul has of course always been a key element in the evolution of consciousness. But the difference now is that its true and full function in creation is being unveiled for the first time. I hold that until this 9^th Manifestation only a fraction of the soul’s creative function and purpose has been experienced. However, we do have clues to not only its deepest purpose, but also to its method of unveiling as well. These have been handed down from age to age, from generation to generation across the globe in the form of Myth. Indeed, myth is the language of the ‘body’ of the soul.

Of all the nations on Earth, India has the purest collection of myths which most closely convey the cosmic purpose and process. The reason is that only India has an unbroken line of development which is the indispensable ingredient in this cosmic apotheosis. Significantly, the Mother once stated. ‘The victory belongs to those who can endure.’ Indeed, the victory of the soul’s affirmation, as the new principle or pivot of the species in evolution, can come to pass only if its full gestation, labour and birth are accomplished in an unbroken line. Thus in all my works I have indefatigably described a series of such uninterrupted fulfilments. But though the areas were seemingly different wherein these accomplishments occurred, the pattern or process was always the same: Birth of the One, the divine Son.

It is therefore that in the world’s store of Myth we find preserved this mysterious secret of Secrets: Birth of the One. For this is the soul’s purpose and no other in the evolution of consciousness. The soul, or in the language of the new cosmology, the Third, is the channel of birth. More than that, the Third is the power of birth. The Third therefore carries out the labour, – which means, she accomplishes the transition and sets the One on its way as the new axis, as Skambha, pillar or upholder of the worlds.

It does not require much ingenuity to understand that the cycle of 9 is the tool of the Third, being as it is the term of human gestation. It is more than that. It is the key to the creative process at the root of existence in this material universe, for which reason the highest species in evolution – the human – reproduces this cosmic formula through birth in the fulfilment of the aphorism, As above, so below.

In most ancient times India enjoyed the civilisation centred on that divine Principle – the Third Power. Hence the figure of the Divine Daughter is as prominent in its mythic tradition as the Son. The story of Durga is most significant in this regard, the consort of Shiva in one of her most appealing albeit demanding aspects, she who was sent by the divine Brahma to conquer and transform in order to save the Earth, she who is the very embodiment of that Soul.

This is the newness of our Age: the lived myth; or the mythic prophecy played out on the Earth’s stage in all its glorious and terrible details. In this Horse Saga we shall present a nuclear example of that mythic accomplishment with its culmination taking place at the feet of that very Durga whom we adore.

Before the importance of this achievement can be appreciated, we must return to the mechanisms, old and new, which have been the focus of the transformation so that the full extent of the achievement can be appreciated. As stated, the ego’s foremost ‘purpose’ is separation. On this basis, and this alone, it is able to function. The innards of its functioning merit a deeper investigation. If the One is the foundational principle of all creation, this implies that with its ‘birth’ is born that central divine Purpose. Thus, ‘man in our image’, to use the biblical term would mean a species displaying this divine element in every aspect of life and society, down to the physical. Needless to say, this has not been in evidence, at least during our historical period.

But the One implies centrality, integration and harmony. These, then have to form the foundational basis of a new society and a new world order. These principles must describe the ‘new consciousness’ we aspire to.

Herein lies the problem. The binary creature who functions on the basis of the ego-mechanism, cannot possibly recognise, much less accept, a displacement whereby his or her self-centred interests are made to orbit that divine Purpose. Resistance to the pressure for this shift lies at the root of contemporary unrest. If we delve deeply into our collective and individual poise of consciousness, we will come upon this one recalcitrant ‘knot’, master of all the rest: the human ego-centred being refuses to allow the divine Purpose to occupy, or be unveiled, as the true pivot of a new species and civilisation.

Our Horse Saga documents a process whereby all the protagonists of this contemporary myth were made to carry out that shift or displacement. Each one clung to his or her ego-centredness. Yet each had to forego the binary condition in favour of a higher poise. No resistance could withstand the promptings and tactics of the Supramental Shakti when she set upon its way the Design she had arranged for this saga. Rather, masterful strategist that she is, the ego-interests themselves were used to fulfil that divine Purpose. But for this to be successful prerequisites had to be fulfilled. Foremost was the existence and continuous presence of a ‘centre’ at the heart of the process. Without that nothing could be achieved since, as I reported in past treatments of this subject, the Supramental Shakti had to have a centre and axis through which she could intervene in a controlled and orderly fashion. Therefore, the Durga myth explains that the Goddess herself was sent to Earth in order to conquer the hostile power, inasmuch as she herself is that centred mechanism, the soul. Through this centrally aligned mechanism the other divine Powers collaborate with the Goddess and the victory is achieved. This may be ‘symbolic’ language. But it is ‘symbol’ of a new definition, as the student will appreciate anon. If the Horse is the symbol, being the thing symbolised, so too the Goddess descends to embody the Symbol and carry the Earth across the threshold of the new age.

The Imperatives for serving a Higher Cause

To return to the minutiae, the question of egocentric interests presented the single greatest obstacle to the successful attainment of the goal. While Eve clung to her resistances and ‘independence’, there was now Adam as well to contend with. The plan was that he would enter F1 in a race in Bangalore at the very end of the season there, and himself saddle her after having applied for a secondary licence to do so. The race was scheduled for March 19^th. The idea was that since he was supposed to move to Bangalore before long, rather than entrust her to the Bangalore based trainer, saddling her himself seemed to be a good opportunity to start the process of gradual penetration. Indeed, it was desirous that he should do so for the purpose of consolidation of forces, among other demands of the process we were carrying out. But there was the ego to contend with. The Supramental Shakti had dealt with Eve in the way in which she would ‘respond’ to the call, – that is, by dangling before her the irresistible enticements which would remove her resistances in one sweep. It was now the turn of Adam. He ‘agreed’ to be a part of this team strategy, but his heart was not in it. The reason being that he wanted to enter the Bangalore scene on the basis of the same condition set by Eve: his own terms, which translated into the clear language of this new cosmology meant his isolated interests disconnected from those of the ‘team’, though each one extolled ceaselessly the glories and the necessity of this ‘team’. None, however, realised the true definition of the word in the context of the process that was taking shape, precisely because none were at all aware that such a process was in force, much less that there was anything like the existence of a Power arranging minutely the details of the operation with the sole purpose of gathering this ‘team’ together at centre-stage, but always on the basis of adherence to that ‘higher cause’ and its divine Purpose. In other words, the means would have to harmonise with the end in some way.

In a word, the ego-interests had to be used to drive the mechanism of these individualised egos, but on no account could those self-interests infiltrate the ‘new cosmos’ and become established at its heart, thus contaminating the operation from the outset and thereby defeating its purpose. Rather, the ego was used to inch the operation along and at certain decisive turning points those artificial devices or crutches had to be ruthless removed, as indeed they were.

Thus, Adam ‘agreed’ to saddle F1 in her re-entry race in Bangalore, in order to make his first appearance on the scene and from there to gradually establish himself as a trainer with a new method and a ‘new purpose’. Above all, by that time it was clear that unless the three elements were working together – i.e., owner, trainer and jockey – we could never succeed. With ‘gaps’, as I called them, adverse forces could penetrate and bring our endeavour to grief. That is, all three had to concentrate on a single goal if these hostile forces were to be kept at bay. And only in so doing could the full potential of the fillies be revealed. It was therefore indispensable that Adam saddle F1 and that Eve ride her in the race, otherwise I feared a repetition of past experiences. Indeed, not only was there a repetition of the disasters the filly had already known, this race proved to be the proverbial ‘last straw’.

To be brief, Adam sent F1 to Bangalore and manoeuvred so that he would not have to saddle her and run her under his name, as we had planned. He devised that the new trainer should do so, pointing out that this would please him and therefore we would be assured of this cooperation thereafter. But the truth was different. Adam had a top class horse in his stable and being his only horse of a certain calibre, he centred all his hopes and ambitions on this animal to help establish his reputation. Thus, his real intention seemed to be to storm Bangalore with this horse in a sweepstakes race in early June, three months ahead in the new summer season. For that he would secure a secondary licence which would permit him to saddle his favourite horse in that special race. He was convinced that the gelding stood a good chance of winning and thus his reputation as a good trainer of top class horses would be established, opening the way for his eventual move to Bangalore. This objective played a significant role in the turn events took further on.

On the other hand, F1 was not the horse he felt he cold make his mark with, difficult and temperamental as she was. Hence he manoeuvred to extricate himself from the plan and remain in the background; moreover, she had contracted a skin disease in the dreadful conditions of the Madras stables; thus her appearance, usually spectacular, was far from appealing. In addition, she was yet to recover from the famous bolting madness. Therefore, in his view, it was unlikely that she would score a win. On my part, I believed firmly that she could win, or at least place and give a good showing of herself,

Yet all this played upon Adam’s decision, all the while feigning concern for the feelings of the new trainer in our midst, who, in effect, was disinterested in the matter, having his own plans for that very race. F1 was deprived of the services of Eve by a similar manipulation, but this time it was by certain powers-that-be who had arranged for a large betting operation on another horse in that same race, in fact, belonging to the new trainer.

The point I wish to make is that with this ‘gap’ left by Adam’s lack of commitment and solidarity, we were unable to fend off the other more serious problem: there was then no one to ride F1 who understood her character and temperament and could thus help her to at least enjoy herself in a race once again. Eve still bore the restriction of a limitation to a field of ten horses. It was therefore a simple matter to assure that there would be eleven in the race and thus keep her off the filly. An apprentice rider was put on in her place as a part of the plot to assure the success of the horse on whom heavy bets had been placed. It had been seen as a sure win, except for the last minute appearance of F1. But she was known to be adverse to the whip. Thus though the apprentice jockey was instructed not to use the whip at all by me in the paddock just before the race, when instructions are given to the riders, and seconded by the trainer who was saddling her, this crucial instruction was ignored. Not merely ignored, but it was clear that the jockey deliberately used the whip as a means to drive the filly out of the race by turning her sour. In addition, he put her at the rails in the middle of the bunch and kept her boxed in throughout, all the time whipping her like a maniac though she had no place to go even if she had wanted to respond. He lashed her savagely twenty-two times. It seemed clear that Eve’s months of hard labour to restore the filly’s mental balance and acceptance of the jockey was rendered useless.

I lodged a complaint with the stewards after the race, and thus began an open confrontation with the authorities of the turf who are supposed to enforce the rules and uncover illegal and corrupt practices. But the circumstances of this disastrous experience convinced me that unless the atmosphere of the field itself was cleansed to a degree where we could function as a team, with, as I put it, a small space in which SPORT could be practised without illegal drugs and free from the dreadful practices heavy betting seems to demand, there would be little point in pursuing the matter further. I started a campaign with the stewards to secure this ‘special space’ as it were, by an open confrontation and an all-out ‘war’. I was determined to have Eve’s restriction lifted and that the stewards would protect the interests of the few honest participants in the sport. Some of the details of this confrontation are memorable and deserve to be narrated, but they belong to another story and another time. Suffice to say that pari passu with my efforts to draw the two elements of the triangular nucleus into the central arena, a meticulous work was done to establish a certain boundary within which we would find shelter and be able to function as a single body in a more or less cleansed field.

This painful experience of seeing F1 savagely beaten for unhealthy gain served to draw from within a greater determination and clarity regarding the individual inputs of each of the components of the nuclear trinity. It was clear that all were concentrated on their own self-interests. Help was needed to dismantle these isolating barriers, and it did not take long for assistance of a higher order to surface.

Adam, in Madras, and spurred on by Eve’s departure to hasten his own move, began to organise matters by disposing of the horses in his stable, all of which belonged to his brother. Some were placed with other trainers, others were sold. But on the 26^th March, toward the end of the Madras season, coincidentally the anniversary of Eve’s first race a year earlier, he lost two horses through accidents that day though in different races. One was so bizarre that it left me with the impression that he was a solitary planet orbiting a void in space in the farthest reaches of the system. The horses jumped out of the starting gate, among which was one of Adam’s. But while they all set out in the usual clockwise direction around the course, heading for the winning post, one horse spun around, dislodged his jockey, and sped off in the opposite direction. He broke through the cordons and continued at a furious pace until he finally met the on-coming horses from the other direction who had reached the final stretch by that time. Leading the pack was Adam’s. The crazed horse continued its furious pace and crashed head on into Adam’s horse just before the winning post, throwing the rider off, while the two horses who collided had to be put down because of irreparable injuries.

In the next race another of Adam’s horses had an accident and similarly had to be put down on the track itself. This was the first time Adam had experienced the loss of a horse on the track. Needless to say, coming on the heels of Eve’s departure, along with F1’s, it seemed as if a protective connection had somehow been severed. On my part I felt that this was reinforced by the isolation ego-centredness seemed to have engendered, making it appear as a far off, distant ‘system’ in orbit of a void. In view of this I began to insist even more emphatically that he should dismantle his operations there as soon as possible to avoid further catastrophes. Indeed, I had already written after Eve’s last race there that it was time to leave the scene since catastrophes might be imminent. But Adam continued to move at his pace, according to his ‘time’.

In the meantime, while the stage was being set in Bangalore for certain dramatic twists to our story, I was planning a trip abroad. Racing came to an end with F1’s whipping orgy and I decided to take the two fillies home for rest and rehabilitation. F3 could not accompany her sisters since she had just commenced training in mid-February. F2 I felt was particularly in need of rest and special attention. F1 had ‘returned to the source’ early in her career (see TVN, 7/5) which had done her immense good. I felt the same would happen to F2. And indeed it did. Something very deep shifted in her when she came into contact with the nourishing spring of energy at Skambha. It was an almost immediate transformation. Thereafter, every effort was made to rehabilitate her physically within the brief month and a half that she and her sister were able to remain at the farm where they were born. When she was returned to the track in the second week of May, it was a psychologically transformed horse that entered the stables of the newly contracted trainer.

But on April 6^th, before departing for my trip, I met with students residing at Skambha and continued the discussion begun in early February (see TVN, 9/4) on various aspects of this process which were not on the surface to be easily perceived. The following are extracts from that discussion:

…This is a kind of continuation of ‘The Contract’ (see TVN, 9/4, October 1994) with a lot of other interesting details…some very clear perceptions about this yoga, about the supramental yoga, about the difference with the integral yoga, about what shape it is taking, what shape it took from 1971, and how it is expanding and how that beginning in 1971 is really playing itself out again and again, on different levels involving different people…

Last night I didn’t sleep at all because something happened to me similar to when Eve took off from here by bus the last time, not too long ago. It was when she took a bus at night and I was then awake the whole night feeling this rumbling of the bus. In fact, last night I had this vibration throughout the night, coming through my feet, just like when I drive. I took it as a coincidence. But last night it was a little more exact because I felt this vibration going through my legs like I feel when I have been driving the whole day. Then it takes an entire night to work it out. So, I was awake the whole night as if travelling on this bus. But some very interesting experiences started, to the point where I did not mind at all not sleeping. One was this incredible feeling of Skambha, the atmosphere of protection here which expanded out really like a cocoon. I realised how much more has gotten done now. How solid the atmosphere of this place is, and how protective – that was the main thing: this protection of all things here and going out from here and everything that happens, regardless of appearances, is so carefully protected and controlled. It was like cotton wool, you know, like being in an embrace. It was so magnificent.

(Eve) called me the day before leaving and she said she understood then fully what I meant by getting people to Bangalore for this work in a certain time frame; because if not, accidents happen. All kinds of gaps were there that allow these things. Of course the tragic accident of (Adam’s) horses she saw immediately as a case in point. And I felt it too. He was just left vulnerable, sort of dangling out there, and this extraordinary thing happened… I think all of this has left her quite pensive.

Then I was thinking about these concentric circles and the Mother’s plan of the temple, and how absolutely perfect they are. And how it describes this supramental yoga very accurately. You have the outer circle, and then you have the middle one defined by the pillars, and then you have the central one; and then there is the point in the centre of the Core. And you have all this held together by this extraordinary Core in the middle. But you have variations. You have an outer circle that is in the dark – virtually no light; and yet it is a part of the Chamber. Then you have the next one which has those pillars and which do support the Light – I have always seen that circle as a support. And then you have the inner circle.

So, I could see very clearly: Here you have a person who is in the outer circle, and it is darkness there, meaning unconsciousness. But out of one’s choice…And then you have the inner circle which is of course Skambha, here, and then you have the Point, centre of the whole affair. And progressively you get closer and closer to the Light. This is the whole point.

So, you can see how no violence is done to anybody in any situation here, – of the participants in this extraordinary drama, where you have people who choose to be where they are and they would not want it any other way. I will give you an example now, going back to 1971 and how two situations in this yoga were almost identical, but where the inner truth of the person determines what happens.

In 1971 I was totally manipulated to come to India, just like Eve felt she was manipulated to get to Bangalore; how it was really a manipulation. I saw it as being a manipulation (by this ‘contract’). As I said, What is (Eve’s) price? A horse. A car? It reminded me of what happened to me in Rome in ’71 where I had that initiation described in The Tenth Day of Victory. I was manipulated in absolutely the same manner. I was literally dragged here and everything was cut off there. Within 9 months…within 3 months of when it became really active and out in the open, I was here. I had no possibility of ever getting here. I had no money. I had nothing. Very much like (Eve’s) situation, but maybe even worse. Virtually nothing. And no connection here. There was this occult force. But (in this case) at least there were physical people you were dealing with; there, there was nothing. You had to rely on that inner guidance which was quite loony a lot of the time – the situations it created.

But what was interesting was this same kind of manipulation of the total environment. Everything conspired. All were like little puppets that were arranged to do this. Well, one had a particular ‘price’. That is, manipulation could come about because one was in the ego, so you have to manipulate then. It is not a conscious act. This is the important thing. These are two situations of unconsciousness. But yet, as I was always told, You have to be there by a certain time…And that was fulfilled.

But in my case the enticement was obviously Knowledge. They kept feeding me with this as an enticement; and of course this tremendous bhakti, because it was the Mother. Without that, I would not have budged. There was no question of the Ashram, I couldn’t have cared less, I wasn’t involved. I didn’t know anything, I didn’t even know who she was. But it was that inner Divine, who was also outside. So therefore I just had to get there…

So, there was this manipulation. I was really manipulated because she kept telling me, ‘You know, I am not going to leave, so when you come we will have a great time together!’

(Laughter)

Otherwise, if I had known she was going (to leave her body), I probably wouldn’t have…I don’t know what I would have done, but that might have influenced things. It was really a wicked manipulation. And very shortly, when I got to Pondicherry, I realised it, because then I found myself in the thick of it. It was like being on that race track. Dangers at every step, and that things were going to be very different from what I Imagined! I mean, you were really just thrown in the thick of the battle. But at the same time there was this Knowledge…

What was interesting was that the aspiration then was this union with the Divine. That never wavered. And it was because of that, or on the basis of that, that this manipulation was possible. It was that aspiration to have the total Union. That started before this occult process actually came out into the open. It was there. And I was thinking, now you have a similar situation and a similar manipulation, which we all saw, where I let the thing go, that Force took it up and just wrapped up everything and everybody was moved all over the place in no time. But you had a totally different condition. You had somebody who had to be enticed by separation, you understand, by being able to keep SEPARATE.

Now, this is what I am describing about the outer circle in the darkness, where there is no aspiration to be at the Centre, in the Light, or to have that total union, because that was offered at any time. It was a manipulation to keep out there, to keep out. But in my case everything was done to bring about that union as fast as possible. Here, everything was done to accommodate this non-union, to accommodate this placement on the outside. But interesting that in both cases you had a very similar set of circumstances, where people were moved all around and all the conspiring circumstances to do this by a Power, clearly, but never doing violence to that inner – I won’t say inner purpose, but to the poise of the individual at that given moment. In other words, one is fed what one really wants. But nonetheless one participates and one has to fulfil that (timing) because that is the overall plan.

So, I saw that there is really no lie. You either make your choice, you choose that divine life, or you don’t. If you haven’t done it then you have the different circles where, yes, you can participate, everybody participates. But they are in different positions. Whereas, clearly Skambha is this inner circle, meaning closer to the Light. So it means also that Union is much more possible; or whether you make a great effort or not, there is somebody right next to you who is ‘seeing’, who is keeping this atmosphere of Light here. Whereas the farther out you go the more difficult it becomes. Then you have to rely on your inner resources…

We may believe that we are doing a yoga very sincerely and that we are aspiring to inner communion with the Divine. That’s fine. But what can one expect in a circumstance like that? How can the union come about? This requires a total upheaval inside – a complete reversal inside. Everything turned on its head to have that vibrant, living, lasting union with the Divine – everything virtually turned on its head. You do not turn it on its head like this. I mean, you get nowhere. Or you get what you get, that’s all. You cannot expect anything more because you will get only what you put into it. And if you are only willing to go so far, you cannot get anything more out of it…

But what does this indicate? It indicates an egocentrism. That is all. What does it indicate in (Eve’s) situation? An egocentrism, which I have discussed with her and she has heard these tapes. It is there. There is nothing you can do about it. That is why it is so important to pray to God Almighty that the fire burns inside, because if it doesn’t you get nowhere. You have to have that burning flame inside that wants only that. Otherwise you end up out there in the darkness, and you stay there. You can keep fooling yourself that you are aspiring, that you are making this inner union. But you are not really doing anything but using that to feel comfortable where you are. That is all.

Again, no judgement. And this is what is very interesting. There is no violence done. There is no imposition of anything. You are left totally free to make your choice. Where do you want to be? What do you want to do? But that doesn’t mean that the work is not going to get done. Again, it is only a question of conscious awareness. So, are you going to do the work in ignorance, in darkness, or are you going to do it participating in the light.

Now, that was the difference with me in Rome, where notwithstanding everything that was happening there, which was very consciously carried out with the inner Divine, there was still total unconsciousness. I mean, I had to be brought here under false pretences. It wasn’t false pretences of…my God, I don’t know…being set up as a ‘guru’ or…That wasn’t it. The false pretences were that the Mother was never going to leave. That was the thing. Otherwise I would never have come. So, obviously this whole thing had to be built up that she was going to transform this, she was going to do that, she would be here…And of course that intense bhakti. Without that I would not have budged. But it was unconscious. It was not a CONSCIOUS participation. That came when I got thrust in the ‘school’ down there and then you started really realising…Wait a minute, this is something else now!

Then it began and very shortly after it became…Certainly by the time the Mother left…You really occupied the ‘centre’. You knew then what it was and there was no question of carrots dangling, or anything. It was then an inner impulse all the time, otherwise you couldn’t occupy that position.

But this question of ‘manipulation’ is very interesting because I am sure everybody has felt it in one form or another in the course of involvement with this work…But we need that. We need that kind of thing. Now, the interesting thing is to be more CONSCIOUS of what is driving you…

So, the interesting part of this supramental yoga is…Really the lines of it are very clear now, really very, very clear, where you have these ‘locations’ everything in its place. And you have ‘a centre that holds’, and you have everything held together by that ONE POINT – be it conscious elements, be it in the dark, be it negative, – whatever: they are going to serve the purposes of the One. Period. No matter how it gets done.

Now, that is the transformation of society. When that can take shape, and when that can grow – consciously grow, consciously take place on a wider and wider scale…Because that is the most important thing. In other words, when that central Light expands and expands so that pretty soon you have nothing but a luminous Glow.

This is the way you harmonise the One and the Many, the multiplicity and the unity. This is the way you do it. You HOLD each thing. Each one participates, no matter how far out in the periphery, provided there is that CENTRE that is conscious of what is going on. That is what ‘holding power’ is. Without that there is no cosmos. There is no ‘sun’ at the centre, there is no ‘glow’ in the centre of the Chamber – that POWER THAT HOLDS.

And what is that Power? It is nothing but this question of seeing – meaning, that awareness, that consciousness.

So, I found these developments very interesting this week. But sad in a way, this constant self-deception where you see something, ‘Oh yes, it’s clear and how stupid I was before!’ But you see it only at the point when it is convenient to see it or to accept it, because it continues to fortify what you want to do anyway. That is kind of pathetic. I mean, that is really moving backwards rather than forwards because then you use the yoga to fortify all the wrong things. At the same time, that is everybody’s choice. There is nothing you can do about it. You can only get the work done.

And this experience during the night, like actually being on that ‘bus ride’. It got me thinking about all of this. You know, I was having all those experiences in Rome and I would write them in my diary; and then I would read the Mother’s Agenda later, of the same dates, and she would be describing these same things. I quoted some in The Tenth Day of Victory because they were really quite remarkable. Well, now I understand them perfectly because this is the way, where literally, physically, you ARE experiencing what that person is experiencing. You are there. With me it would happen, as in this case with Eve, without wanting it, without sort of turning the tap on. With the Mother at her stage it was turning it on and off. It used to happen very, very regularly. Then when I was in the Ashram and she was there, that sense of having these ‘eyes’ looking through me and going out and participating in things through me. This was very, very clear and really very, very conscious; and I can see now how it would have been done…

So I wonder now where this next phase is going to lead us. I mean with all these energies gathered together, still not half of them conscious, except the horses (about the only conscious ones in this whole affair!) Everybody else is still there for their own purposes, really for their own purposes, each one. As united and as close as we may be on a certain level, which would be the level of sport – we want to get this done in a particular way, we want a particular training, we want a particular honest set up. But this is the very external level of it all. Clearly, what is going on over there is something much, much deeper, which (Eve) would have some insights into because of our discussions, and (Adam) none at all…and everybody else even less. These are all elements essentially in that farther circle and maybe even farther, farther out than that. So, it is going to be interesting to see what happens with this situation and gathering together of a group of people centred on one experience but many of them not at all aware of the deeper levels. How is this to be carried out?

But I think we should all realise that there are these circles and that it is everybody’s choice to be where they want to be, period. And that you really determine your destiny by your choice. And choice does not mean your choice to be in Bangalore or Madras. It means serving the One consciously or unconsciously. That is all it is, You want to be a conscious participant, or you want to mouth it, go along with it like that, but be manipulated.

You see, I told you I had destroyed all those diaries and communications that I had with the ‘Divine Mother’ (in Rome) and that was largely the reason. Because I knew very clearly that if I hung on to those things, if I kept them, that was the period of manipulation. That wasn’t the period of conscious awareness. I would be stuck with that. Like so many people who get stuck at that point when you must move on to another sphere. It may not, in certain aspects, be as pleasant as the other. You may have felt this tremendous bhakti that was carrying you, but it was…I would never go back to that. Regardless of the extraordinary experiences that one had, I would never go back to it because you really feel that it would be going back to unconsciousness. Therefore, that whole period represented…manipulation, because the ego was still there, because the knowledge was not solid. It takes a while before you can really, really…not obstruct. And maybe there would be a long period too where the most you can aspire for is at least not to interfere with the Divine Will and what has to be done. And then at a certain point, as is happening more frequently now, you really COLLABORATE, you really are an ally. A real ‘stalker’, in other words. And that is getting more and more polished as time goes by. But there are these different phases. Occupying the central point of anything, any endeavour, anything that is at the Centre means that that thing is aligned perfectly and no shadows fall. That is what it means. The centre, centre, centred in the Divine Purpose where nothing else can possibly interfere.

…Well, what I started out by saying was that all of these circles are fluid. That is what yoga is all about. Yoga means that ultimately you will end up with that perfect union with the Divine – that poise. That is the transformation that the whole Earth is moving toward, hopefully. But look at the difficulty, just look. Here you are dealing with a group of very sincere people, good people. People who really want this and yet really do not SEE.

Look, to do this, making that crucial choice…It is not easy, and yet when that happens it does make everything much easier because everything gets quite clear then. When you go along on that basis, things adjust and sort themselves out accordingly. But without that CENTRAL ASPIRATION, without that CENTRAL SURRENDER, it is very, very difficult.

And you see, a case like (Eve) where staying out in the darker circle means for her freedom. Being manipulated like that to keep separate is for her freedom, yet for me it means slavery. Now, this is what I mean by this total reversal that has to come because you have a person who is a total slave but who thinks she is free. So, somebody, something is topsy-turvy. You are either free or you are not. But to me this is slavery. It is like being a total slave of your lower nature, meaning your ego. And that the only freedom is, as I have said, in the Divine. Right there at the centre.

…My God, last night I felt something really so dark trying to get at the heart of this situation and destroy it, make it impossible (to realise). And (Adam) is playing a role in this right now. Now this is the one who has to get his head straight or this will never succeed…There will be one obstruction…it is a channel to allow these forces to come in.

The difficulty is what I said in the beginning: You are dealing with people who are not doing yoga, not conscious, not pretending to be conscious, and at the most want to do a job well. That is all… But there is something really very, very dark that wants to get in there. It is clear, because now we are beginning to really consolidate. Now you would have what I have always wanted: right at Bangalore would have the trainer, the jockey, and the owner, all of one mind. Now, that is extraordinary. It rarely happens anywhere, where you have the three. And when you do, you really make an impact. That is when you start.

So, it is obvious that this next month and a half is going to be crucial because they are going to try to block this (coming together). And then there is this other interesting aspect of the three energies, the fillies themselves being Raja, Sattva, and Tamas, in that order. Very interesting. And these two are out now and there is that Sattva/Preservation holding firm over there…It seemed very interesting to me that they should all be there at the same time, at least for one year.

I don’t know if we are going to be allowed to do this. I was just looking at those time cycles; and then (Adam) right now coming up to his 4.5, but I cannot see working with him like this, unless he makes a shift. It is not that. In his mind he is fine. He thinks everything is wonderful. He thinks everything is going smoothly. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what is happening. It is a bit like The Lord of the Rings, that force would come in and work and they wouldn’t realise it. Bilbo didn’t even realise what the ring was doing to him. It gradually corrodes and then it allows for all kinds of things…And that accident (to Adam’s horses on the track) was one of the signs of something very, very tremendous out there to really stop all of this, as a sign of where that could come (in).

…In a certain sense it is going very well, but in another sense you come to this critical passage…where something has to get established. But it is like a tumour there, a tumour. In other words, it is like a separate system disconnected from the whole. And that is the problem. It is something off on its own that drains energies away at that 4.5 Orbit. It just drains them away and you cannot consolidate so that you can make it through the full round, up and up. And that is exactly what is happening now in this little planetary system of Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve do not know anything. I mean, they are like innocents in the Garden of Eden. They haven’t a clue as to what they are actually doing. And that is very hard then.

So, how do you bring people to understand something that they really…It would be like a brick falling on their heads. They wouldn’t understand that there is this danger and what it means. Very few people would. It is difficult for people involved in this work to really understand. But I can tell you that this is what is happening. This is what is very, very dark, because if it comes into (the centre), we do not stand a chance out there. They are really petty tyrants with unlimited power. They’ll really finish us off on every level, absolutely every level. So, either we go in there with some other kind of – I won’t say just protection, but something else working for us so that we can really function in the middle of this, or we won’t be able to. It will be totally impossible.

…Now, I don’t know how it is going to go at this point. We have certainly come a long way, but we also have a longer way to go yet. We have really that whole upward swing and the really solid, solid stuff then. So, you can see why I was so concerned about him getting there and getting this consolidation done. Because this is the time cycle, whether we like it or not, that is what is being done. It is a work that has got to get done within these 9 years, and very important 9 years: the last of the millennium. The last ennead.

So, I really do not know how it is going to go. I think that we will have a very clear idea from (F1). If she cannot get back there, that is a very clear indication that it is not going to work.

Within a week of this discussion I left for a five-week trip abroad, filled with uncertainty about the shape our racing experience would take. It was not clear yet whether F1 would be allowed to return to the track since though she had been given permission, obstacles were put in her way making that return uncertain. It would have to be left to the Power. For one thing was more certain than ever: This experience was meant to continue. Indeed, we seemed to be nearing a most important turning point.

For Adam the move was true to the 4.5 Orbit passage which he was right then approaching according to his age. In the first week of May he would be 31.5 years old, or passing over the 4.5 Orbit in the Gnostic Circle, the orbit of the Asteroid Belt. As he edged closer to that point it seemed that everything was being inexorably shattered and stripped away. The loss of his two horses in one day provided an example. His whole life seemed to have been taken over by a force with its own time plan, its own compunctions and goals, different, or at least more accelerated, than Adam’s. He too had carrots dangling before him which served to keep his attention focussed on the need to put all this energies into the move to Bangalore. Already in February, in Madras, I could perceive that though be seemed to be fully intent on implementing the best training programme for his horses, his true being was elsewhere. He was already ‘gone’. But I doubt that he himself realised this.

On my part, I felt that the longer Adam delayed the more difficult would the move become for reasons external to our team equation. There was, as well, much inner work to get done within a certain time span. Nothing of this would be possible unless he disconnected himself from this former engagement entirely and took up residence in Bangalore as a part of the nucleus in formation.

Indeed, this was the focus during the months to come: the triadic nucleus at the heart of the endeavour had to become established, consolidated, functional. But there were certain prerequisites. Namely, the dissolving of all egocentric priorities and the unification of our energies around a common and central purpose. Ostensibly, this would be the training programme and the care of the horses with the objective of introducing clean and competent racing in a considerably polluted environment. But the ‘purpose’ I knew to be central went much deeper and covered a much wider dimension of life. It concerned the establishment of an uncontaminated nucleus of energy, – a triadic base whose purity would introduce a new functioning in the collective experience of life. The question of contamination was of paramount concern, since being an organic, evolutionary model, whatever is contained in the ‘seed’ inevitably manifests in the subsequent course of growth from that seed.

It is conceivable that an uncontaminated nucleus can come into being with conscious participation in a controlled environment. But even this presents certain difficulties. The contamination in question is elusive for the most part, insofar as the ego is adept at camouflaging its operations and hold over the individual. But on the basis of an integral approach to yoga, there is certainty of success. In this case, at least two of the protagonists were unaware of what the real ‘gathering together’ signified, nor in what way they might be obstructing that achievement. Moreover, each one had established priorities which could not be harmonised with the overall plan as I had come to perceive it. How, then, was this to be worked out?

These self-centred priorities from the ordinary perspective were legitimate. For example, by the time of my departure, Eve was thoroughly immersed in her new occupation as main jockey of Gog’s stables. How could it be otherwise? The ‘contract’ was with him and it was binding. She would be guilty of professional improprieties if she did not fulfil her commitment. And consisting of 30 or more horses, many of whom Eve had to exercise every day, work at this stables left little time for anything else, though she tried her best to honour the commitment given to my fillies.

The problem, however, lay more in attitude than schedule. By the time I arrived in Bangalore on my way out of the country, I found Eve entirely wrapped up in this new job, with no ‘space’, mentally or emotionally, for anything else. It was clear that this situation had gotten us no closer to the consolidation of the nucleus than before. We were, in my assessment, farther apart than ever, though closer physically. And there seemed to be no solution in sight.

There was another logistical complication. We were intent on implementing a new system of equine exercise physiology, never before practised in India. This highly refined programme, based on the experiments and discoveries of interval training of human athletes, combined with discoveries in equine nutritional science, demanded an increased period of exercise. Each horse would require at least a half an hour workout daily, if not more. And the participation of an intelligent, competent and willing jockey was essential for success. Eve’s commitment to Gog’s horses would never allow her to be a full and integrated part of that new phase we were trying to enter as a consolidated team. She had, it seemed, succeeded in fulfilling her desire to remain ‘separate’, – nearby, but not too close. Indeed, Gog’s stables happened to be situated next door to the stables where the fillies were lodged. Her ‘independence’ from the new cosmos in formation was established; but the price, as far as I could determine, was high and heavy: the atmosphere in Gog’s stables was anything but enlightened and inspiring. This pollution was increasingly becoming a part of Eve’s own atmosphere. She had taken on in full the burden of Gog’s own problems with this trainer, and everything else had  become secondary. It was clear that something would have to happen to ensure that this pollution would not infiltrate the new cosmos in formation.

Thus, with my departure I was forced once again to leave these details to the Supramental Shakti to handle, to arrange, to order. This isolated planetary system of Adam and Eve, like the Earth with its moon, had to be drawn into the greater harmony, on its own terms, according to the pulsation of the central Sun. It would not be possible while the binary structure remained intact. Eve’s occupation with Gog’s stables seemed to be reinforcing that separate system. But there was little I could do. The Supramental Shakti, on the other hand, had a meticulous plan arranged. It began unfolding in the first half of May while I was still abroad, as soon as the three fillies – Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas – were gathered together in one place at the centre of our endeavour in Bangalore; and with both trainer and jockey there as well, the drama began to unfold almost immediately.

Eve had been assiduously working Gog’s horses in preparation for the summer racing season which was to begin in mid May. While I was still abroad she was exercising my horses as a secondary engagement, also in preparation for the new season in which they too would be participating. But her attention, as well as that of her colleagues and the public, was on the start of the season as Gog’s main jockey. All eyes were focussed on her performance; and there was, as could be expected, considerable jealousy toward her on the part of the other more senior jockeys, many of whom had coveted the position she was holding.

The day approached for her first ride on one of Gog’s more promising 3-year old fillies. It was the debut for both jockey and horse on the first day of the new season.

Eve had requested that she be led into the starting gate last, since the filly was nervous and fractious. This request went unheeded. Eve was led in first. The filly was so charged and unruly that the handler had to hold her by the ear to distract her and keep her under control, while Eve awaited the opening of the gates and the start of the race. As fortune would have it, he let go of the filly’s ear a fraction before the gates opened. Nervous as she was and true to Eve’s reading of the situation, the filly plunged UNDER the still closed gate with Eve astride, colliding with its metal bars. The filly had to be withdrawn from the face, while Eve sustained a broken arm. It would require two months to heal. She would thus be out of racing for the whole of the summer season. The inexorable march of events had begun.

December 1994

Aeon Centre of Cosmology

at Skambha

Sri Aurobindo

‘The Mother’

Chapter V

If you want to be a true doer of divine works, your first aim must be to be totally free from all desire and self-regarding ego. All your life must be an offering and a sacrifice to the Supreme; your only object in action shall be to serve, to receive, to fulfil, to become a manifesting instrument of the Divine Shakti in her works. You must grow in the divine consciousness till there is no difference between your will and hers, no motive except her impulsion in you, no action that is not her conscious action in you and through you.

Until you are capable of this complete dynamic identification, you have to regard yourself as a soul and a body created for her service, one who does all for her sake. Even if the idea of a separate worker is strong in you and you feel that it is you who do the act, yet it must be done for her. All stress of egoistic choice, all hankering after personal profit, all stipulation of self-regarding desire must be extirpated from the nature. There must be no demand for fruit and no seeking for reward; the only fruit for you is the pleasure of the Divine Mother and the fulfilment of her work, your only reward a constant progression in divine consciousness and calm and strength and bliss. The joy of service and the joy of inner growth through works is the sufficient recompense of the selfless worker.

But a time will come when you will feel more and more that you are the instrument and not the worker. For first by the force of your devotion your contact with the Divine Mother will become so intimate that at all times you will have only to concentrate and to put everything into her hands to have her present guidance, her direct command or impulse, the sure indication of the thing to be done and the way to do it and the result. And afterwards you will realise that the divine Shakti not only inspires and guides, but initiates and carries out your works; all your movements are originated by her, all your powers are hers, mind, life and body are conscious and joyful instruments of her action, means for her play, moulds for her manifestation in the physical universe. There can be no more happy condition than this union and dependence; for this step carries you back beyond the border-line from the life of stress and suffering in the ignorance into the truth of your spiritual being, into its deep peace and its intense Ananda.

While this transformation is being done it is more than ever necessary to keep yourself free from all taint of the perversions of the ego. Let no demand or insistence creep in to stain the purity or the self-giving and the sacrifice. There must be no attachment to the work or the result, no laying down of conditions, no claim to possess the Power that should possess you, no pride of the instrument, no vanity or arrogance. Nothing in the mind or in the vital or physical parts should be suffered to distort to its own use or seize for its own personal and separate satisfaction the greatness of the forces that are acting through you. Let your faith, your sincerity, your purity of aspiration be absolute and pervasive of all the planes and layers of the being; then every disturbing element and distorting influence will progressively fall away from your nature.

The last stage of this perfection will come when you are completely identified with the Divine Mother and feel yourself to be no longer another and separate being, instrument, servant or worker but truly a child and eternal portion of her consciousness and force. Always she will be in you and you in her; it will be your constant, simple and natural experience that all your thought and seeing and action, your very breathing or moving come from her and are hers. You will know and see and feel that you are a person and power formed by her out of herself, put out from her for the play and yet always safe in her, being of her being, consciousness of her consciousness, force of her force, Ananda of her Ananda. When this condition is entire and her supramental energies can freely move you, then you will be perfect in divine works; knowledge, will, action will be sure, simple, luminous, spontaneous, flawless, an outflow from the Supreme, a divine movement of the Eternal.

When we have passed beyond individualising,

          then we shall be real Persons.  Ego was the helper;

                                                ego is the bar.

       Sri Aurobindo

‘Thoughts and Aphorisms

About this time every year since the beginning of our Horse Saga, the experience reaches a culmination. It is then possible to pause, assemble the components and analyse the work completed thus far. To date we have examined a series of races within the Gnostic Circle’s cycle of 9. There have been two major equine protagonists, F1 and F2. In addition, there was the jockey, whom I have called Eve for the purposes of this study, as well as the trainer who is referred to as Adam. The reasons for these designations were thoroughly explained in the last treatment which appeared in VISHAAL, 8/5, December 1993.

            In that issue I dealt with various recondite and ill-understood aspects of destiny. To recapitulate to some extent, it was made clear through the remarkable play of circumstances and the accompanying analysis that the Supramental Shakti, controller of destiny, is limited in her potential to intervene and arrange destiny according to higher laws simply because any such intervention within the existing boundaries of a given situation, whatever that may be, would bring colossal destruction or irredeemable chaos. Such intervention cannot occur unless there is a cosmos in existence, brought about by the formation of a centre according to certain laws. With a ‘centre that holds’ in this special way, intervention is possible in a safe and entirely, minutely controlled manner. The outcome of such an intervention is always an acceleration of the manifestation of the central divine Purpose of the particular cosmos in question.

The process of creation, or bringing a centre into being, refers to the macrocosm as well as to the microcosm. In particular for the purposes of our analysis, the human being is in an especially privileged position to participate consciously in the creation of a cosmos, – or a system wherein the ‘centre holds’ and can therefore serve as a nucleus on the basis of which a new world is born of whatever dimension.

I have often discussed the impact such a centre and nucleus have on the evolution of the species. But at this point it is important to dissect the nature of that action insofar as the process being enacted and described cannot be equated with evolution as we know it. Properly speaking, when a true centre has come into being and stands at the heart of such a process, there is no evolution as an outcome of its expanding, propelling activity. Rather, we must describe the new action as a manifestation and no longer an evolution. In the course of this analysis the reasons for the distinction will be made clear. In what way does this bear relevance to our Horse Saga will also be made clear when the experience draws to a culmination and a victorious breakthrough came to pass entirely under the tutelage and minute control of the Supramental Shakti.

In the early part of this century the Mother was practising occultism under the guidance of her then teacher, Theon. Regarding his teachings concerning the cosmos, the astrological ages and their characteristics, it seems he held that this Manifestation was the seventh, according to his calculations, and that unlike those before, this 7^th bore certain special characteristics. Primarily, this would be an eternal manifestation and would not be subjected to the usual process of creation and then destruction; or Pralaya, as it is called in the Vedic tradition. If the 7^th were related to the 7^th astrological sign, Libra, then it would indicate a sort of ‘steady state’ phenomenon whereby a balance of energies would come into being and thus an overpowering of one of the gunas, Rajas, Sattva and Tamas, could not take place. Hence, the unending unfolding of that particular creation.

This is one way of expressing the unusual importance of our Age. It is a period in which, as the Mother emphasised, a new world is being born. This cosmology offers a more comprehensive as well as a more applicable formula than Theon’s to describe the nature of this ‘new world’. In our terms, what renders the present times ‘new’, as well as offering the promise of a total shift in the mechanism of evolution, wherein destruction has always played a significant part in our human and cosmic destiny, is the experience of a process by which a centre is formed. On this basis there is a radical shift and the binary creation, hitherto the only poise we have known as individuals in the collective experience of evolution, gives way to a unitary system based on the principle of centrality. What is important to note is that such a shift and establishment of a unitary foundation introduces an entirely new set of laws which determine our future on this planet.

I use the word determine purposefully. One of the aspects of destiny most disturbing to the human being is the sense of determinism it seems to impose. From times immemorial the human creature has struggled to discover the true nature of consciousness and whether or not there is a power operating in evolution which sets before us a play of circumstances that do not permit the intervention of a human will and the expression of a free choice. The reason why the answer to this question has eluded us is that we ignore the real nature of this cosmic manifestation as well as the structure of the human consciousness itself within this organisation. In addition, we desire to come upon the answer from within the parameters of that very consciousness which is ill poised to ‘see’ in a more all-inclusive manner. We are restricted by the apparatus we employ in our quest which is Mind.

It is safe to state that the purpose of existence in this cosmic manifestation, and in particular having entered it through birth on planet Earth, in the third orbit from the Sun, is to grow into the expression of that vast harmony. Succinctly, our evolution, the transformation of the consciousness of the human creation, is intended to produce a race which mirrors or IS that Harmony. Presently we appear to be very far from that attainment, and in the course of this discussion I will analyse the reasons why this is so. But initially it can be said that the cause of all our woes as a collective expression is the essential structure of the human instrument. Being binary rather than unitary, certain limitations this imposes precludes the attainment of a poise of consciousness-being which can allow the human being to reflect that higher condition of the cosmic harmony. He or she is impeded from becoming THAT by this limiting structure with all its attending shortcomings. Our society in its actual immature condition, reflected in the improper and uncivilised answers we offer to existing problems, as well as the increasing acts of destruction we are subject to on a global scale, is governed by a set of laws which are the outcome of that binary structure.

When the time comes to experience a higher level, to move on to a higher position in the scale of creation and to express hitherto unknown capacities latent until now, then a new pattern has to be established. This ‘new order’ we often hear referred to in our contemporary discourses is essentially a new set of laws by which the evolving consciousness may be governed.

The process we are involved in and are describing in these pages has as its objective the introduction of that new set of laws taken directly from the cosmic harmony. ‘Man in our image’ is the precise description of the intended goal of the species. In the process the entire gamut of species on the planet must perforce experience an enhancement. This does not imply a displacement, as if the dog or the horse were meant to occupy another circle in the sphere of creation, but simply that levels of their inherent potential will be tapped and given expression once the expansion occurs in the overall structure. Being the highest in the echelon of creation, as housed on this planet, the human being is the instrument used to introduce the expansion simply because it requires a conscious participation and collaboration. Not that the animal does not collaborate and participate. Indeed, as this essay reveals, the horse is seen to offer a purer collaboration. Rather, there must be a capacity of integration and synthesis for which Mind is indispensable as an instrument of mediation, as it were.

The animal does not enjoy this capacity, centred as it is in the vital-physical. In other words, the level of participation and the position on the scale allotted to the participant is contingent upon the possession of all four aspects of consciousness-being, – physical, vital, mental and spiritual. More than that, for these four parts are present or involved in everything, there must be the capacity for harmonisation and integration of the four. To bring this about there must be the instrumentation of Mind.

To borrow an aphorism of Sri Aurobindo, with certain modifications, we may state, ‘Mind was the helper, Mind is the bar.’ The time has come to put Mind in its rightful place in the structure of being. This implies two things. First is the manifestation of a principle higher than Mind but which plays something of a similar function; and second, the binary response engendered by Mind due to its linear properties must as well be altered. With the emergence of the higher principle, Mind can finally express its true function in the overall scheme. Until now ours has been a lop-sided expression. The foremost indication of this imbalance is the destructive quality of life on this planet. Mind has served not as an intermediary or a channelling device for the higher light, but rather it has succumbed to the waves thrown up from the vital and physical planes which have imposed the way of destruction on its functioning. The result has been Mind’s ingenuity utilised to bring into existence the means for massive and perhaps conclusive destruction of the planet and all its species.

This fact alone ought to reveal to us that we live in a very special Age, a culmination of a development through the aeons. A turning point has been reached. It is now a question of destruction or creation. More specifically, our Age must introduce a new mode, a new energy flow or utilisation whereby destruction ceases to have its play and dissolution replaces the old response. All of this implies a transformation of Mars.

Mercury exalted and Mars transmuted

The acute malaise of our civilisation lies in the question of imbalance. There is a mental preponderance by default, so to speak. Our species has never known the other possibility on a global basis. More specifically, while there may have been sporadic expressions of a higher harmony governing the collective experience, as for example in ancient India where the fourfold caste order was one expression of that harmony, this serves now merely as an indication that such an order exists and can form the basis of cohesion of society. But when we seek to extend that and to embrace the entire globe, or else to encompass the human species as a whole, it is evident that these isolated experiences, as glorious as they may have been in the ages of their dominance, are inadequate to serve as models for contemporary society with its complex problems  the outcome precisely of the universality we are a part of. The new order must be such that it can offer a structure wherein unity and multiplicity are allowed their true expression and free play.

Mind as the highest governing principle cannot give rise to this new and higher integrating order. There has to be another principle which by its very nature sets the mental principle in its correct place within the whole. Mind in such a scenario will display its true potential. Something of this is already in evidence in the advancement of various technologies which are revolutionising many aspects of living as never before. This is particularly evidenced in areas within the sphere of Mind. In the astrological framework these fall under the rulership of Mercury, the planet of Mind pre-eminently. For example, the electronic communication media.

But in each sphere the old order as expressed by the former six known planets in orbit of the Sun is enhanced by the new triad of planets. In this cosmology we look upon the new triad as super exaltations. For example, Mercury as the planet of communications reaches its higher expression with the discovery of Uranus, its higher octave in the planetary harmony. Thus, Uranus adds to Mercury the electronic component. This is especially the case today, in this millennium which is, properly speaking, the millennium of Mercury. From the year 2000 onward another element becomes predominant due to the influence of Venus, the second planet from the Sun, its higher octave is Neptune. The coming millennium will see areas governed by these planets as foci for the great transformation.

By this it is not meant that electronics are the only meaningful offering of our civilisation, since we are describing a predominant and not exclusive influence. Pari passu with the Uranian permeation  of Mercury, other planetary influences are felt. Nonetheless, it is the Uranus electronic factor that allows the rest to come forward. Without this no new discoveries could bear fruit. Computers, for example, permit discoveries and explorations in a manner never before possible. This is, as it were, the foundation the 1900s have left. With that laid, new heights can be reached in other areas.

But our ‘measure’ as a planetary harmony is 9. That is, Pluto marks the boundary of our cosmic experience. Pluto is the higher octave of Mars; and therefore this ‘measure’ determines the very essence of our planetary experience, the purpose of our existence on this Earth, as well as the goal to be attained. Mars is par excellence the planet of energy. Pluto transmutes that energy base and connects its extremities as the serpent biting its tail in the ancient tradition. In the Gnostic Circle it is the 0 and the 9 joining at the apex of the wheel. The experience we are describing in this essay involving the Horse is the saga of Mars in the process of transmutation. The Horse is the saga of Mars in the process of transmutation. The Horse is virtually an energy machine. Carried over to the human being this process is the means to attain a release of a hitherto hidden plateau of energy, or to expand our actual base so that a greater release can be accommodated.

The binary structure is incapable of housing this additional release. It is stressed to the point of breakdown. Our present travails and civilisational woes are examples of such breakdowns given the new influx, accurately described by the new triad of planets which has extended our planetary harmony from 6 to 9.

Thus, the section of the Gnostic Circle that represents a great ‘unknown’ for us is the last quarter, or the final triad from the 6 point to the 9. From Saturn to Pluto. Interestingly, Pluto is the higher octave of Mars which is said to be ‘in exaltation’ in Capricorn, ruled by Saturn. Pluto closes the boundary at the 9 point, while Saturn stands at the threshold of the Unknown, being our entry or gateway into an area, as described in the Gnostic Circle, which was hitherto considered ‘heaven’, or the Beyond.

I have discussed this in many of my written works and especially in these pages, but the Horse Saga offers us a possibility of dissecting the process of transmutation itself based on the establishment of a new structure. In this analysis something of the victorious spirit of Mars will be revealed – that is, its transformed character based on the new possibilities the emergence of a centre presents, based on a triadic harmony replacing the dualistic structure of old.

The triadic energy base of the Zero

In previous issues describing the Horse Saga, it may be noted that nothing was mentioned of the Zero. We were dealing with cycles of nine races. But there was no detailed analysis of the element from which these 9 had issued. That is, the Zero. The reason for this is twofold. In the first place, regarding the preparation of a racehorse, it is obvious that the Zero must refer to the training process. Regarding our fillies this was indeed a void. The Zero was therefore the old and distorted form of itself – shunya or the void, rather than the true expression of Fulness. Secondly, and this is perhaps the most important factor, the Zero establishment  out of which the rest was to emerge, was only minimally concerned with the actual training of the horse and people  involved in the saga. Something much deeper was playing upon the events, something which alone could allow for that superior training to come into being. For the fact is these several years of involvement in this ‘sport’, governed by Mars as all sports are, have been entirely dedicated to gathering energies together for the formation of the Zero. On the basis of those energies and their interplay, human and equine, the victory could occur due to a flowering of the true potential of the participants finding their mode of expression in a field worked upon in a special manner so that it would be in harmony with that process. That is, while the Zero components were being drawn together, and this may be called the vertical direction of the experience; there was a simultaneous preparation of the field in which this Zero could be planted. This was the  horizontal direction. It is similar to a seed planted in a particular soil, the right type and condition of ‘soil’ to permit its flowering. If the soil is not adequate, the seed does not encounter proper nutrients to assure its growth. Thus, this experience describes a harmonious coming together of the two directions: vertical and horizontal. It is this that constitutes the successful, victorious implementation of a process monitored in the Gnostic Circle.

The Gnostic Circle, it must be emphasised, is a synthesis of these two directions. In every cycle of 9 (years, months, days, stages) we are incorporating or experiencing a gradation of 12. This is its unusual feature and for this reason it can be said to be the key of knowledge for the new age of Supermind. Until now seekers have dealt with either the enneagram or the circle divided into 9 parts; or else the zodiac, the circle divided into 12. Never before have the two been superimposed and synthesised as in the Gnostic Circle. Nor have these dimensions ever represented the two directions described above: vertical and horizontal, respectively. The element that permits a synthesis of this order is the Zero. In no school of higher knowledge do we encounter a similar usage of the Zero as we find in this new cosmology. Elsewhere the scale invariably commences with the number 1 and continues on to 9, or else 12. And it is the lack of the Zero which impeded seekers from rooting the operation in time and space simultaneously. The Zero is the point where the two join, as the serpent biting its tail in alchemy. Being the point of juncture or intersection, the Zero is our key to the source, the element or dimension which sustains the creation under discussion. It is therefore the Zero that offers us an understanding of a centre. By analysing its structure we come to appreciate the special properties which constitute a Centre and grant it the desired ability ‘to hold’.

But in this Horse Saga we do more than simply analyse. In this series I am offering a discussion of the lived experience. That is, we follow the process through via the racing experience until the formulation of that Zero is completed. Every aspect of the process is covered in the lived experience involving these superb animals.

Foremost to note is that the nature of a true centre is triadic. The Zero is thus comprised of three hidden elements. In our number scale these are 9, 6, and 3, in this descending order. But as these numbers reveal, each one consists of 3, or covers 3 stages, which brings us to the full gamut of 9 levels or stages or dimensions or powers. Thus, it is safe to state that the essence of life on this planet Earth in this third orbit from the Sun is encapsulated in the number 3, the triad or the trinity.

In the Gnostic Circle this is made clear by the harmonious combination of the Earth at its 3 point in the wheel. As discussed in earlier portions of this study, the ancient Indians not only understood the special characteristics of the Earth in the third orbit from the Sun, they also connected the planet specifically to the Horse by establishing this animal as the vahana or carrier of Usha, the divine Dawn, the most prominent ‘face’ of the Earth. Usha is, to be exact, the spirit of this planet. Her carrier is the Horse which in turn is a form of Agni, the Fire God, foremost of the Vedic pantheon. It is not unusual therefore that the Horse is the primary figure of this lived experience centred on the Zero with its triadic properties, the essence of the planet we inhabit. Any higher expression of the species in evolution will manifest in a triadic play. To illustrate, when the expansion of our solar system to the observing eye took place, it did so on the basis of a further trinity added to the previously known two, bringing the count of planets to 9, or 3 X 3.

Thus the present analysis will focus primarily on the formation of a centre and by consequence on the nature of the Zero to better comprehend the more recondite qualities of that Centre. I will demonstrate via this racing experience the meticulous manner in which the Supramental Shakti arranged all the circumscribing circumstances in this saga in such a way as to compel the emergence of this centre/zero. By so doing, and only on this basis, the full potential or inner truth of all the participants was revealed.

The flowering of an Inner Truth

It may be recalled from the previous treatments of the subject that the original purpose of this experience was to develop the fullest potential of the equine athlete. In the course of the present essay, just how far short of such an achievement almost all equines fall in racing will be made evident. This is made clear by the disharmony between all the participants involved in the collective effort to bring the horse to a peak, or to the point where its fullest potential is made manifest. Interestingly, and the student must realise through this that the choice of racing as a field for the experiment is indeed apt, there are three essential elements demanded by the sport: owner, trainer, and jockey. This triad forms the basis of the experience. We can visualise the three as segments of a circle divided into three parts in the following manner:

The ‘centre’ of this circle is of course the Horse. Onto this element the rest converges. That is, the Horse is the recipient of the efforts of the three and it is also the element that must express that part of itself which lies hidden and untapped. The Horse must manifest from within the energy which is contained in the innermost recesses of itself. That release constitutes the ‘fuel for the rise’ essential for a species which must scale hitherto unexplored heights and dimensions of consciousness-being if it is to rise on the ladder of creation to a new and wider plateau of existence.

The owner of the horse in the racing experience is equivalent to the 9 in any organisation of a true cosmos. That is, the 9 is related to the Transcendent Divine and in this context it must act as the spirit of the cosmos, the all-pervading essence. As a transcendent power it is the least involved in the day-to-day operations on the track, unlike trainer and jockey. Nonetheless, the owner’s function is of paramount importance for without a correct poise of the 9 nothing of the rest of the process could come to pass. The owner thus sets the ‘rhythm’ for the process or the heartbeat of the operation, and establishes its boundaries based on an all-inclusive vision and guiding spirit. He or she sets the goals and sees that they are attained, and constantly feeds the system with energy/fuel required to keep it moving forward and on its proper course. In large part this guiding spirit is conveyed by the fact that the owner pays the bills, keeps everyone employed, and indeed furnishes the horse to the trainer in the first place. The owner thus supplies the central commodity to be worked upon by trainer and jockey.

Boundaries are continuously trespassed in racing however. Thus, more often than not, trainers are also owners of the horses they train. This may seem innocuous but in effect it colours the trainer’s participation and somewhat pollutes the atmosphere of racing as it is practised today in that a trainer takes more interest in the horse he owns than those of the owner for whom he trains. To illustrate further, trainers are often made part owner of a horse by owners themselves. This is done usually to secure the trainer’s interest in one’s animal since without a direct stake the trainer often fails to become sufficiently involved with the animal to secure the best results. On the trainer’s part, keeping a share in the horse also helps to pin the horse down to his stables, making it more difficult for the owner to remove the horse if its performance is not considered satisfactory.

Be all this as it may, one thing is clear: positions are usurped thereby creating ‘disturbances in the field’.

The owner is therefore the holder of the commodity – the horse – as well as the financier of the training and racing operation. Without the owner there is no racing anywhere in the world. This is truly the 9, first expression of the descending triad of 9, 6, and 3.

The trainer on the other hand is the equivalent of the 6. Like the Cosmic Divine in the trinity of Transcendent (9), Cosmic (6), and Individual (3), all the energies to be transformed are entrusted to the trainer, to be organised into a harmonious expression for the purpose of extracting the best from the equine athlete. One of the trainer’s most important qualities is thus a capacity for organisation, for controlling everything under his or her command, similar to the general of an army. Connected as the 6 is to the cosmic manifestation, it is clear that the trainer is required to offer the scientific dimension, the laws of the cosmos. His or her ability lies in the implementation of those laws to best suit each athlete. Indeed, to be in possession of a knowledge which permits him to develop the natural potential of the animal and to enhance that capacity to its utmost degree. In the course of this analysis, we will learn how the racing scene lacks proper or adequate science and how out-dated the present training of the Thoroughbred is. In a sense this mirrors the condition of the human being who goes through life invariably with only a fraction of his or her true potential utilised. We are in a position through this racing experience to prove just to what degree this failing on the part of trainers was acutely felt by our fillies.

The third ingredient is the jockey who holds the number 3 position in the descending scale. Everything the owner and trainer have done is finally handed over to the jockey for the race. The latter is in the privileged position of making or breaking those efforts. The jockey is, together with the horse, the performer. In the time scale the 3 point is equivalent to the present. Whatever the efforts of the 9 and the 6, all converges on the individual and the present. In this case, the jockey. The ultimate moment of truth is his or hers.

In numerical operations of the Gnostic Circle, it has been shown that the 0 and 9 are equal, and in this case the 0 has to be considered the horse, the centre of the operation. Equally, the 3 has affinity with the 0/9 in that it is ultimately through the 3, or the Individual, that the Supreme or Transcendent manifests. Thus in the jockey’s hands lies the responsibility of carrying to a successful completion the efforts and energies handed over to him or her by owner and trainer, or the 9 and the 6. But the Horse is not just the 0; rather, it is the One, the result of the transmutation of the 0, after the reversal, by which means the 0 gives birth to the One. In the ancient Vedic tradition this is Agni, the divine Son. One of his ‘forms’ is precisely the Horse. This ‘reversal’ is therefore crucial in the operation. It corresponds to the 4.5 Orbit of the Gnostic Circle.

In the racing world of today, these three functions are invariably perverted. None of the three play their proper roles or hold to their rightful positions. Owners sin for the most part by entering the sport without an adequate knowledge of their contribution and the larger parameters of the sport. Usually the initial motivation displays a perversion of the spirit of the endeavour. A person acquires a racehorse today either for prestige or for the gamble – rarely for the sport. While these can be secondary interests and therefore not overpowering and critically damaging, they are normally the primary forces of motivation.

Thus, since the owner/9 must provide the ‘seed’ of the endeavour, by which the rest will be determined, if there is this initial contamination the further development will always, or at certain crucial moments, reveal this initial, insidious contamination. These lesser priorities will be stamped on the experience from the outset, and everything else will be coloured thereby and have to accommodate these priorities of the owner, whatever they may be. In the racing experience where owner, trainer, and jockey all indulge in betting, often against their own horses, it is easy to understand that we are dealing with a highly polluted atmosphere. To illustrate, a jockey who bets on a horse other than the one he is riding in a race, as is often the case, is clearly undermining his own efforts to win. This is usually found to be the case when the odds are better on another horse. He cannot extract from his mount that victorious energy which will carry the horse past the winning post first. Not being yogis, it is safe to state that no jockey throughout the world is developed to the point where he can be on another horse in his race and still make the fullest effort with his own mount, whereby if he wins he would lose the money he placed elsewhere. Of course there are rules prohibiting these practices, but they are rarely enforced, in particular since detection of these mal-practices is often difficult.

Owners as well manipulate a race, often to the detriment of their own horses when the odds are better elsewhere. In such cases, the trainer is unaware that the owner has secretly commanded the jockey to hold his horse back from winning.

Thus, in the racing arena we encounter a microscopic field offering us a very precise image of the larger world: a field wherein nothing is in its place, no true functions are fulfilled, and where all the parts of the whole engage in a constant undermining of each other. Central to the experience, at the heart of the affair, stands the Horse. Being central the Horse in this instance is the representative of the incarnate divine Purpose and thus the number-power 1. By this the reverence with which the Horse was held in Vedic times is more easily appreciated.

The imbalance of our world determines the fact that little or nothing of that Purpose is allowed to express itself directly. That is, given our disharmonious condition, the divine Purpose, centre of our existence, can express itself only indirectly and never with its fullest power or control, or as a centre that ‘holds’. The parts of the periphery usurp that central position by appropriating to themselves properties of the Centre. Foremost of this is the conviction of being the Doer.

Egocentrism defined

The experiences I will relate in the following pages will serve to dissolve in the reader any sense of being the doer. What I will relate establishes definitively that the human being is simply an instrument of the Divine, and his or her greatest achievement in life is to be a conscious instrument, and only that. This is the goal of our yoga, even as it is the goal in this racing experience.

When we discuss ‘the doer’, it is perhaps necessary to provide a certain definition of the term. This refers the individual who believes he enjoys the full power of decision and action in life. It is an individual who ignores and adamantly refuses to accept the existence of a power or powers which may occupy that commanding and impelling position and hold over our lives. He decides it all, he does it all.

This is the most acute form of the malady. But there are lesser degrees as well. There are those who have had glimpses or sporadic experiences of ‘something else’ in control. But soon the sense of a higher power operating through the human instrument fades or becomes only a vague memory, a remote or sometimes repressed feeling of a divine agency determining our destiny. The waves of the ego rise again and cloud one’s intuition. Or else there are those who do admit that another force external to themselves operates through them, but this realisation is all too often incomplete. It lacks the full knowledge of the mechanism which would make the individual a fully conscious instrument in all parts of the being and thus eliminate the mixture of forces he is open to when ignorance taints the experience. One of the foremost aims of this yoga is precisely the attainment of a finely-tuned discrimination which closes out all but the highest guiding influence.

Thus, the purpose of this study is to assist the student in expanding his or her awareness by the lived experiences described herein, to the point where not only doubts vanish as to the existence or not of this power but the mechanism by which such action is possible will be revealed. In other words, knowledge must replace ignorance. In the process, all sense of being the doer will be dissolved.

However, this is a difficult transition to make. Our ‘scientific temper’ stands as a stark denial of this fact of our existence. The reason lies in science’s own limitations. Therefore, to attain this knowledge we have had to introduce a new cosmology which can provide a ‘scientific’ explanation of the creative process, one which offers a complete system with experiential and exponential capacities. These aspects are revealed in this study. The process I am describing has a mathematical foundation: given certain ingredients in their proper proportion, position and relationship to each other, the outcome of a given process can be predicted. To affirm this statement, in the course of the study I shall be quoting from my journal, or else from recorded discussions on the subject of this racing experience. These offer substantial proof of the predictability of the cosmological formula employed.

In addition, these extracts demonstrate the ineluctable fact that a power, working through not only the individual but organising all the circumstances which constitute the field of our endeavour, is provably by and within the laws that regulate this cosmology.

What limits the human being from appreciating the true condition of the instrument is the ego. And what the ego does is to displace the axis of being so that there arise centres competing for supremacy in the human consciousness. In other words, the human preference is never that central divine Purpose but rather a self-centred priority. Succinctly, this creates isolation, segregation, off-centredness. And this binary status with foci at two points, the lower and the higher hemispheres of being, impedes centrality, the key to expression of a divine Purpose in life. We become centred in our own private endeavours which are disconnected from the broader, all-inclusive goals available to each individual.

But for this to come to pass, the individual has to find his or her own centre which houses that divine Purpose. That is, involving the Zero as it does, the centre comprises that same triadic nucleus discussed above in the racing experience. There has to be a balance of energies.

In a collective experience such as the one analysed in these pages, these elements are collectively provided. The cosmos is not individual but embraces a larger circle in the true experience of the One and the Many. The difficulties experienced in this wider operation were the same as the individual experiences in seeking an integration and harmony of being. That is, each representative member of the trinity, – owner, trainer, and jockey – had to overcome the obstructions the ego presents in the process of creating or bringing into being a nucleus, in this instance which would permit the divine Purpose to express itself through the Horse. This involved dismantling isolating ego-interests, dissolving barriers which continuously sought to drive the process into the old patterns by which the world as we know it functions. The manner in which these resistances were ruthlessly undone makes for a remarkable documentation of the action of the Supramental Shakti. Indeed, this account will serve to draw a line separating the weak of spirit from the true intrepid warriors of the Divine. One may believe oneself to be open to the Divine, ready and willing to participate in the establishment of a life divine on Earth. But it is another thing to be ‘up front’ in the battle, bearing the brunt of the onslaughts offered by forces which strive to maintain their hold on the human creation. Insofar as this is indeed too much to expect of the human being – that is, a willing acceptance of the difficulties – the elements engaged in this operation enjoyed the comfort the ego provides: ignorance. Being ignorant and ego-centred, the participants in this Horse Saga rushed in like fools where angels indeed would fear to tread.

The following documentation will make it clear that at least in this early stage of the transformation, very few can participate consciously, aware of the difficulties which might surface and ready to accept the hardships attendant on such a transformation of society. At the same time, success of the endeavour lies in large part in a conscious awareness of at least the broad lines of the process, otherwise it cannot be done. Therefore, as the reader will come to appreciate, there had to be a delicate balance maintained between ignorance and knowledge: just enough illumination to render the process conscious, without removing the veils entirely which might have produced a recoiling before the inevitable which on many occasions was far from pleasant.

Dealing with the Underminers

The last instalment of our sage concluded with the dramatic description and analysis of Eve’s ‘accident’. The reasons for that unexpected happening, at the start of F2’s seventh race – falling in the orbit of Uranus the 7^th planet known in astrology to be precisely the planet of the unexpected – brought Eve’s participation to an abrupt end, or at least a suspension for a time. What was to follow would make this clear. But what was clear beyond any doubt was that in such a state of dependency inflicted by her binary representative status, Eve would not be allowed to continue riding the fillies. Or else, it remained to be seen whether or not a way would surface which would either correct that poise, or else somehow render it irrelevant and not definitively obstructive. On my part, I was completely open to other solutions since it seemed that the original vision would not be permitted to unfold.

With this race I realised in full the necessity for a harmonious interplay of energies as the first imperative of the collective transformative process. I sensed that nothing of the true potential of these animals would come forth without the right elements coming together for the purpose.

Racing thus continued under these inadequate conditions; the results were, on the whole, negative. F1 ‘turned off’ almost completely, while F2 placed second in her next race following the ‘accident’; an improvement on her 4^th but still far short of what I felt she was capable. By then racing at the summer venue had come to an end. The fillies returned to the home club without having produced the anticipated wins. And as for the experience of gathering the required energies together which I felt were necessary to set the process on its way in full, we seemed farther from the goal than ever.

By mid November, 1993, and after a few more inconsequential races, I realised F1 was in the same rut as in former times. From the beginning of her career she had experienced four different trainers, as well as Adam, Eve’s companion on the binary pole, the only one ‘to deliver the goods’, as the saying goes, – that is, to produce wins with this filly. Inasmuch as these sporadic shifts in management and training were taking their toll and I felt the filly was beginning to demonstrate her former unwillingness to cooperate with the jockey, whosoever that might be, I decided to send her to Adam’s stables in the city of her first win with him, Madras, since racing had resumed there after the summer break. It was clear that under the circumstances she would never improve. In addition, her current trainer, the fourth, was totally disinterested in her. Eve was not yet fully healed and in the saddle again, but there was another female rider in Adam’s club. Since F1 had acquired an intense dislike for male jockeys, I felt we could experiment with India’s only other woman jockey. Perhaps F1 would oblige. The filly had been given permission to absent herself from her home club at Bangalore for two races, after which she had to return.  But fate willed otherwise. In this case, God may have proposed, but man certainly disposed!

In the meantime, F2 was being prepared for her 10^th race at Bangalore, while F1 was sent afar, as it were. Yet interestingly, they were both scheduled to race on the same day, and at the very same time, 28 November, 3 PM.

I could not be in both cities at once, so a choice had to be made. After Eve’s ‘accident’, it seemed important to be present at each race, especially during this initial stage of the experience, when the play of forces was not entirely as it should be given certain misalignments and gaps in the system which could allow complications to ensue. And insofar as F1 was psychologically the more delicate of the two, requiring, I felt, more effort to bring her out of her shell, I decided to attend her race in Madras and send a representative to F2’s. Another factor that weighed on this decision was the general chaos prevailing in the venue of F1’s race. As a race course it had a poor reputation. In fact, other owners had warned me of this, stating as well that it was ‘a disgrace to send one’s horses there’.

It seemed I had no choice in the matter: it was either there, as a last chance, or retirement on the farm. But because of the reigning chaos, I found myself at 3 o’clock waiting for F1 to enter the starting gate with the other horses participating in her race. They were delayed at the gate while over the loudspeakers one could hear the commentary of, precisely, F2’s race some 300kms away. Interestingly, because of off-course betting, F1’s race could not be allowed to start until F2’s had finished, though they were scheduled for the same time. Hence the delay.

When F2’s finally came to an end it was a sort of suspended animation: a photo finish was called between F2 and another horse from the stables of one of India’s biggest owners. Thus when F1 jumped out of the gate for her 30^th race, with the other woman jockey steering her, we still did not know the outcome of her sister’s race at the home track.

F1 seemed happy enough with her female jockey. She finished third in a field of 14 horses. Meanwhile, our excitement knew no bounds when over the loud speakers the results of the photo finish were announced: F2 had notched the second win of her career and the first on her home turf in Bangalore. This was an important breakthrough considering that everyone was of the opinion that the former wins of both the fillies, in other turf clubs, were due to less stiff competition exclusively. I disagreed, but in racing words are of little value. The win alone speaks. In this sense it is a valuable field for yoga because all too often in the spiritual quest speculations and abstractions are made to take the place of concrete results.

There were interesting developments thereafter. Eve was back in the saddle but for exercise work only, since the orthopaedic surgeon had not yet given her a fitness certificate to ride in a race. F1 was due to run again on the 9^th of December, with the same woman jockey. Thereafter, we intended to enter her in an important race with increased stakes money. The competition would be stiff.

In preparation for these races, Eve was exercising her in morning track work. In fact, F1 was the first horse she took out after her ‘accident’. Predictably, the filly bolted, as was her want; and equally predictably, Eve could not (or would not) hold her back. The result was a mad escapade four times around the course, most of which was at a flat-out gallop. The filly covered 9000 metres or more at a blistering pace, a feat which would have finished off any other horse.

Though nothing severely damaging took place as a result of this madness, the filly was nonetheless unable to perform well in her subsequent races. She had lost weight in excess and had to be rested and then brought back slowly. Months would go by before she would regain her former condition.

Though this incident bore negative results for F1’s performance, there was a positive side to the mishap. As breeder and owner of these horses, I had always sustained that they were of a superior quality and that given the right inputs – proper training, nutrition, and rider, among other things – they could excel and even beat the most well-bred on the track. Needless to say, my views were considered the usual owner eccentricity who considers his or her mediocre horses to be better than Classic winners. In this case, their pedigree was considered worthless compared to almost all other competitors, and particularly because their sire was my own riding horse and not a fancy imported stallion standing at one of the more fashionable stud farms. Their dam was considered not at all fit for breeding and therefore she was presented to me as a gift for riding. As reported earlier in this series, unbeknown to the owners of the stud farm who gave me the mare, she was pregnant at the time and before long gave birth unexpectedly to F1. And thus began our saga.

Be this as it may, in my assessment based on some knowledge of horses, I had no doubt at all that my two fillies were of superior quality. Their performance to date had not proven me out. But I continued to ‘hold firm’. Indeed, this proved to be an essential ingredient in the final denouement.

Though Eve was thrilled to have these horses to ride on the track given her involvement with them from birth, she too was not convinced of their quality. But that mad escapade, four times around the track at full speed and especially the filly’s sustained power and desire to continue for another round and more, convinced her as I was convinced that my assessment was correct. She had never felt such power in a horse. The question was then, How to get her to give that in a race and not just in exercise? If this could be done, Eve was convinced F1 would reach the top.

Thus, with this apparently negative happening one more element of the nuclear components was converted. But the trainer, Adam, was still unconvinced. It needs to be emphasised that the principle feature of this experiment was the extraction of the fullest potential of the horse. As a microcosmic experience, from the beginning the point was that circumstances should arrange themselves which would permit this inherent potential to surface. It is obvious that in a situation such as this racing saga, and indeed in competitive sport in general, the ability to see the true inherent potential of the horse and not be mislead into believing that the potential is greater than it actually is, is essential. At the same time, disbelief is the most damaging element to contend with. It undermines the process and drains it of force, of the power to arrange circumstances that will permit the ‘field’ to come into being which will allow the potential to express itself. Once this ‘seeing’ is done, there must be a firm adherence to the vision. There must be a ‘pillar’ of sorts to steady the organisation and hold all the elements together by the power of Seeing. In a word, there must be a mechanism that ‘holds firm’ and counteracts any negativity seeking to undermine the process.

I repeat, after this dramatic bolting episode, the jockey, at least, was convinced of the filly’s potential. On her part, F1 was to experience her 31^st race on the 9^th of December. Falling at the 4 point of the Gnostic Circle, the area which demands a release of energy and a positive imprinting based on this release, the filly did not oblige by releasing the energy in the race but rather in the exercise session prior to the race. Nonetheless, I felt the imprinting had been achieved within her own being and that things would thereinafter be different for her. It was just a matter of orienting that potential to the race, it seemed. But there was far more to the matter than was immediately apparent.

Several aspects of the process were becoming clear by that time. We were at its nadir on all accounts. We seemed bogged down, driven to a standstill. Nothing real and lasting of the inherent potential of either filly was surfacing. For while F2 had scored a win at the home base, beating in the process some of the better bred horses India has to offer and dismantling the belief that my fillies could not compete there, she did not win as convincingly as I felt she should. Though she was carrying top weight, with the next horse carrying 9 kilos less, this win was in Class VA, the second to the last; and she won by a short head in a photo finish, not at all a spectacular achievement. If she could just manage to win in this lower class, what did this have to say about the potential I had seen from the beginning? To reach the higher classes a horse has to be able to win carrying top weight. With this performance, it would be hard to convince the trainer that this filly was worthy of a greater effort on his part.

Indeed, this was the principle obstacle we faced: disbelief of the trainer. It soon became clear that a horse will invariably perform according to the trainer’s expectations. If he or she believes the horse to be Class V material, the animal will oblige and never exceed those boundaries, simply because that is the type of training it will receive. Regarding F2, the woman trainer did indeed consider her to be Class III material. Even Adam, as idealistic and open as he was to the ‘new way’ of training, maintaining the highest standards possible, seconded this assessment.

But with F1’s spectacular bolting session, jockey Eve was then convinced that my horses did indeed hold an untapped source of energy within. But her new-found conviction was not sufficient to mould her into a total and dedicated ally in the transformation the process demanded of all participants. She was still firmly lodged in the binary pole together with trainer Adam, still clinging tenaciously to her notion of ‘independence’ and refusal to commit herself to a process which appeared to hold the threat of mysterious limitations. In a word, she was still thoroughly centred on her own interests and concerns and everything else was made to orbit those self-interests. There was no real and definitive adherence and openness to the Power that was seeking to make of this racing experience the foundation of a ‘new order’.

The demands of the ‘field’

Throughout this period the Yoga of the Horse, as I had by then come to call it, demanded a firm pillar central to the operation, a power to hold, as I have explained, which could gather into the cosmos in formation the energies required to complete the process. Contingent on this would also be a power to put each thing in its place within the whole. That is, the three elements of the nucleus not only had to be drawn within the boundaries of the cosmos but they had to occupy their rightful positions in this nucleus – i.e., a balance of energies in the triadic base.

In its deepest sense this meant a nucleus formed of equal portions, a balance of energies implying a level standing and no tilt into a binary poise. Given the relationship of Adam to Eve, representative as they were of the old binary system, this proved to be a formidable task.

Indeed, the process reached a phase where essentially the establishment of the Zero as the uninterrupted source of limitless energy fed into the system via the Horse had to be achieved. This means that if and when such a Zero-Centre-Nucleus would come into existence, the experience would find itself poised on an indestructible foundation and in contact with an ever-replenishing source of energy. More than this, it meant that everything connected to the process would attain this highest expression due to a proper field on which all these energies would converge. This means that if such a field does not exist, then whatever is fed or sought to be positioned in the field, would fail to reveal its potential. In a word, it would not find its rightful place.

This indicates that there are two simultaneous movements in the Yoga: vertical and horizontal. I will illustrate the process by the facts of our experience to make the matter clear.

The fillies were bred at Skambha. They came into being under special circumstances to serve a precise purpose in the Work. But their original and inner purpose would demand a particular arena for the fulfilment of these special attributes and compulsions of destiny. If the field for which they were targeted was not made ready and to a certain extent transformed, nothing of their inherent potential and purpose would surface. Indeed, this is the problem with humanity and society in general. An individual of superior qualities and inherent potential may take birth. But the arena in which this particular raw material must evolve acts upon the ‘seed’ and contributes its part to moulding that potential. That is, there are boundaries imposed by the horizontal base in which birth takes place. It can be visualised as being a vertical descent (birth), meeting the horizontal field of one’s environment, the circumscribing conditions one falls into, so to speak. These are the binding laws of the old creation. They condition the field and make it impossible for an individual to exceed those boundaries. At the same time, given these laws and cosmic constraints, as it were, a rigid perspective could evolve, such as we find in the degenerated caste system from the Middle Ages onward, insofar as sages understood that those circumstances of birth were ‘arranged’ given the connection between the subject and the field in which he or she would evolve.

This highlights one of the main considerations in the supramental yoga, which distinguishes it from the integral  yoga, or the early stages of the work the Mother and Sri Aurobindo established. The latter does not require any particular field for its development. A sadhak of the integral yoga can practice the sadhana anywhere, at any time, insofar as it is a question of moulding the individual consciousness to permit a special relationship to be established with the Divine Source of one’s being. The sadhak moves vertically, so to speak. He is not entirely impeded in his progress by the condition of the field in which his yoga is transpiring, except insofar as pressures are generated therein which act on his sadhana to urge him on.

As proof, we may analyse the field the Mother and Sri Aurobindo established for the purpose of providing an arena where the integral yoga could be carried out. This came to be known as their Ashram in Pondicherry, South India. But it was not a particularly special area, a secluded enclave, or a segregated place. Or, more specifically, a virgin terrain. Rather, the Ashram developed amidst an already established city. Even its buildings were acquisitions from the existing structures in the town. The yoga was carried on throughout their lives in the midst of this polluted atmosphere in a sense. That is, the yoga could be carried out in such a setting because this pollution had no bearing on the sadhana or on the larger work the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were carrying out in the world, except insofar as it might influence the sadhak negatively if he or she were not in a position to counteract forces from outside. Thus in the beginning and for many years, disciples were not permitted any contact with ‘outside elements’, or even to make forays into the town’s shopping areas without special permission. Discipline was strict in those early days. The work the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were doing was in the spiritual and cosmic dimensions essentially. The vital and the physical were not the focus then, as it now is. As such, the field was not ‘of this world’, if we may express it this way.

When the vital becomes the focus, as with this third level of the descent, then the field where the process is carried out must be transformed pari passu with the individualised work. Hence it is at the third and fourth stages, corresponding to the vital and physical planes, that the full supramental yoga begins because it is then and only then that a harmonisation of the One and the Many comes to pass.

The newness of this phase has been reflected in the demand for a new base, a new arena. This was indicated by the foundation of the City which the Mother undertook just before her passing. But it has to be borne in mind that the township she stated was physical before it was vital. By this it is meant that while the need arose for a new arena, removed from the old and uncontaminated by its rigid laws, as a place where the new could encounter an expanded and enhanced field of operation, the parameters of the work had to be respected. That is, the third and fourth levels of the Descent in their proper order, one opening up the path for the other, but as a dual operation, just as the first and second stages had been carried out together. In the present context, this means that before the true and transformed physical can be established – or rather, before the yoga can bear positive results in that densest plane – the vital must be transformed. This is what is being achieved at Skambha.

In the 1980s, the Yoga of the Chamber was carried out, when the centre was forged in the vital dimension of the yoga; regarding the ‘city’, this would be equivalent to the temple, its centre. The result of that process was the establishment of a physical centre at Skambha. But this was an entirely virgin field. It bore no contamination of any sort. It is the home of the supramental process whereby ‘the symbol is the thing symbolised’, the point where two cosmic directions meet, where ‘heaven’ joins ‘earth’. Thus, the results of the Yoga of the Chamber of the 1980s was the centering process, without which no supramental yoga is possible.

Once this centre is rooted in the earth, the bridge between the transformed vital plane and the Earth is forged. This is the essential work of the Third in the Solar Line. With this accomplished, a spheric, circular and centred expansion began from 1989, the start of the new and final ennead of the millennium. When the work of this final ennead is completed, the physical proper can be tacked in full.

The Horse and the racing ‘arena’ have been the selected field for the expansion from the centre, Skambha. And indeed, this began exactly on time, – that is, in 1989 with the entrance of the first protagonist, F1. But let us recapitulate somewhat to reveal just how exact and controlled this process has been from the beginning, when none knew what was being programmed as the next stage of the yoga.

Tilling the ‘soil’ of the Year

F1 was a ‘surprise’, as I have explained, her conception to this day being a mystery. The mare that gave birth to the filly foal was a gift, bearing this treasure hidden within, unknown to all. On 1 October 1988, F1 was born. I have discussed the happenings in Part I of this series, as well as in ‘Animals in the Emerging Cosmos’, also featured in VISHAAL, (see, TVN 3/4 and 3/5) but with only a cursory reference to the interesting timing of her birth, being as it was an exact 9 months from 1^st January, the official collective birth date of all Thoroughbreds in racing throughout the northern hemisphere. At the time there was no thought of sending her for race training; thus her ‘untimely’ birth was of little consequence. But on an official stud farm, an October birth for a potential Thoroughbred racehorse is unthinkable. All Thoroughbreds, as stated, collectively change their age on 1^st January each year. Thus, together with the rest targeted for racing in 1988, F1, with only three months of life, would be considered one year old in January, 1989. Such a circumstance would severely reduce the sales value of a foal and render its future racing career worthless, since the animal would be thought unable to compete with the more mature horses it would have to meet in its first outings on the track.

But inasmuch as Skambha is not a stud farm but rather a ‘centre’, and insofar as the happenings there are entirely under the tutelage of the Supramental Shakti, this consideration played no part at all in the racing prospects of F1. Rather, her ‘untimely’ birth offered a further proof of the exactitude of the Gnostic Circle and the new cosmology specifications for the supramental yoga.

To illustrate, I have often referred to the fact that the last three months of the year, from October 1^st to December 31^st, are reserved for a sort of soil preparation. In the 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th months, the soil is prepared to receive the ‘seed’ which is planted and nurtured through the 9 months. The ‘soil’ prepared to receive the ‘seed’ which is planted and nurtured through the 9 months. The ‘soil’ is actually the distilled essence of the previous seed which has gathered around itself a horizontal field during that 9-month period each year. In a superior 9-month process of this order, the fact that the soil is prepared during passage through Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius, or the Mental Quarter of the Gnostic Circle, is most important to note. For we are precisely intent on expanding that very area; or rather, on extending the boundaries beyond that  point so that the bridge formed will connect what was formerly considered the Beyond, or Heaven, to this Earth by a transformation of the vital plane. The birth of F1, exactly on 1^st October, set on its way a ‘soil’ preparation which would receive the ‘seed’ in January of the most important 9-year cycle of the millennium: its closing ennead, 1989-98. Thus, it was not simply a question of a 9-month period within the year; it was an entire ennead that was to be ushered in.

It does not require much elaboration to establish the crucial importance of that ennead right from its inception in 1989. History corroborates the point in that the binary structure, – i.e., the pole formed by the two super powers – collapsed, leaving a central void, entirely in keeping with the new cosmology; the Berlin Wall came down, socialism disintegrated, and so on. This is an indication on its own of the need to transform the field where the new creation must develop.  Shifts had to come about in order that the newly realised ‘centre’ could find the proper conditions of the soil, or the field, for its expression.

Thus, perfectly on time, F1 appeared unexpectedly, as the first filly in a series of three to permit work in a nuclear field wherein the vital as it manifests its power on Earth, – i.e., money power for example – could be worked upon and transformed. And in line with the conditions the third level of the Descent imposes, the field would have to permit the display of one of the primary components of the supramental yoga: the symbol is the thing symbolised. Hence the field of the vital transformation is precisely the expanse  of the Horse, supreme symbol of the Vital, and the vahana of the Third. This work bridges the new millennium and the birth of a new world.

The point I wish to make is that success in the endeavour did not mean simply breeding these animals and sending them off to conquer the racing world. For in what way would that have differed from the actual racing set-up throughout the world, where horses are bred and raced and some win while others lose, some break down and others thrive. Rather, this experiment, if it was to succeed according to the demands of the supramental yoga, required an integral and harmonious transformation: the One and the Many, the individual and the field simultaneously. The point proven by this exercise is that unless these operations are indeed simultaneous, we cannot speak of a supramental, gnostic accomplishment. Fortunately, this documentation will not only prove the truth of this statement, it will provide as well the irrefutable proof that the work is done.

The Turning Point

The new year, 1994, or the shift from a year of 4 number-power to 5, did indeed signify a reversal, as all passages from 4 to 5 do which are monitored in the Gnostic Circle. At that point, our endeavour not only lacked all promise for the future, it seemed, there began to surface at about that time the operations of a power with an almost ruthless capacity to direct these matters into avenues which were as yet unknown and therefore ominous.

In the first instance, F1 could not return to her home base in Bangalore and which was, in my assessment, the true centre of our yogic endeavour. Her then trainer there, disinterested as he had become in her, appeared to have contrived a situation in which it would be impossible for her to return after the two races for which she had been given permission to leave were over. She went into a third race on 25 December with owner, trainer and jockey, as well as the stewards of that club, believing she was free to participate, when in fact, permission had been withheld. This was communicated only when it would be impossible to withdraw her. To further compound matters, a tropical storm, or cyclone, as they are called in the subcontinent, hit the city at the same time, making communication outside all the more difficult, if not impossible. Indeed, the cyclone seemed to offer a visual impact of the nature of the forces we would be dealing with from that point onward.

On my part, given the definitive quality of the developments and my inability to find another solution, I agreed to leave F1 in Adam’s stables. Eve was racing again and had taken her in the 25^th December race which caused her to lose her place in the home turf. Thus, this seemed to be the best solution to F1’s problems: she could be re-based in Adam’s club in Madras and thus Eve would exercise her and even ride her in the races she would surely be in a position to enter before too long. Once again she was given a royal treatment in Adam’s stables. But in spite of the superior diet and attention, the bolting episode had taken its toll. After that third race in Madras, given her depleted condition, it was agreed that she should be rested and allowed to gain weight and put on condition, and then be brought back slowly until she was fit to race, and, hopefully, to win.

On her part, F2 remained at the base in Bangalore, holding the centre, as it were. The trainer, her third, was beginning to display the usual signs of disinterest as he had with F1, in spite of the win she registered on 28 November. This disinterest was evidenced by the degenerating condition of the filly. She seemed to be wasting away despite the infrequency of her races. By January 1, 1994, she had run 11 times, hardly a record to produce the kind of deterioration we were witnessing. Each time I visited the stables, I would come away distressed at the sight of this once imposing, powerful filly dwindling away in flesh and spirit.

Be this as it may, there was an unusual quality permeating F2’s appearance. In spite of her poor physical condition, she seemed firmly rooted in an unshakeable POINT. It was as if she were truly holding firm, guarding the centre; while F1 was being sent abroad. The reasons for the latter were not yet entirely clear. It seemed to be a conspiracy of circumstances, answering surface requirements, the only logical solution for her to somehow regain a balance between physical and vital which would encourage her to perform to a capacity she had not yet displayed. But logic was not the answer, that much was clear.  I sensed that there was something else, a method to the madness which at that point seemed to have little or nothing to do with her performance.

Even F2 seemed engaged in ‘something else’. Her track record did not appear to be central or prominent as we crossed the boundary between 1993 and 1994, moving out of the 4.5 Orbit of the ennead. She had always displayed a formidable sense of purpose which permeated her entire being. Indeed, in my assessment, as I had stated time and again, this was the truer racehorse of the two. Circumstances did indeed help to create this condition in that not having been turned sour by initial bad handling, like F1 before her, F2 did not need to erect those deadening buffers which her sister had had to construct around herself as a protective device, similar, as I wrote in Part 2 of this series, to the devices the ego constructs as a protective measure. F2 had no such buffers. She was therefore known as a ‘genuine filly’. She would always cooperate in a race, often to her own detriment in that what was being asked of her she was in no way prepared by the trainers to give.

Thus, this genuineness on her part was taking its toll. Her physical was slowly deteriorating. She had already experienced bleeding from the lungs, an affliction of many racehorses. But in her case it was clearly the result of improper cardiovascular development due to inadequate training. In my assessment, this condition surfaced only when she was weakened by lack of proper nutrition and exercise. It is to be noted that F2 gave of herself always, though this might cause her physical damage. But while F1 was also suffering from a physical depletion, it was for very different reasons: F2 was seeking to fulfil her ‘purpose’, – i.e., give her maximum in a race, while F1 indulged in her greatest, self-serving pleasure which was to bolt, and bolt, and go on bolting – but not in the race which might have produced a win! Her release was exclusively self-centred, in keeping with her off-centred axis due to the constraints of her early conditioning. This parallel can be extended to the human condition as well and precisely the affliction this racing process was seeking to transform. In one case, the exclusive concern was self-indulgence, even if it meant destruction; in the other, it was an entire giving of the self with the intent of fulfilling that inherent Purpose. This also highlights the emphatic need to transform the field together with the self because those circumstances condition one’s response thereafter.

F2, like her sister, seemed engaged in an aspect of the work quite different than anticipated. The focus had somehow shifted. Racing, much less winning, was secondary, second to that mysterious ‘something else’. But it would not be long before the way ahead began to show signs of a definite direction. There was indeed a grand, inspired ‘method to the madness’.

On another level, however, something else was becoming clear: our energies were being dispersed rather than consolidated in one spot. From the beginning I understood the operation to be a gradual but inexorable drawing together of all the components of the process to one point, the centre of the experience. To me it was clear that unless all of us were gathered together at the home base, which I realised at the outset was the true microcosm of the enterprise, the true centre and hub of the ‘field’, nothing substantial would be accomplished. Indeed, this was borne out by the facts: not only were my physical and material resources being taxed to the maximum by this split in centres, F1 in Madras, and F2 in Bangalore, we were being drained of the energies we needed to consolidate if at all we were to overcome the formidable obstacles to the fulfilment of the goal. Somehow we had to be drawn together. But I realised that the more I sought to draw Eve, for one, into a closer orbit of the Centre, and indeed at the heart of the operation in Bangalore, the farther away would she bound. At that point, I realised we would never succeed. And this admission meant that whatever ‘high purpose’ was involved in what we were doing, had failed. This left me with a profound sense of defeat, because of which a very intense period of introspection began. This period lasted from the beginning of the year until the 15^th of January, driving me deeper and deeper into the heart of the problem as the days passed.

Onset of the Labour

…The time has come to let go of the racing experience. I find myself too involved, too concerned, not accepting enough – pushing, demanding, disappointed when things do not go well… If (F2) has that magnetic centre, she will draw what she needs, when she needs it.

These words, entered in my journal on 5 January 1994, indicate the trend the yoga would take over the months to follow. Yes, it was a question of letting go. But of what? During December, 1993, and January, 1994, the racing experience was clearly at its lowest ebb. There were blockages everywhere, accompanied by a sense of helplessness. This inadequacy and inability to make any progress seemed to centre on a lack of energy. More of this will be said  further on. Initially, what seemed to be the need of the hour was this ‘letting go’. In the act of inner probing, given the latest racing results of both fillies, it seemed that what might be blocking progress was my clinging to illusions regarding the true potential of these horses, not uncommon in the racing world. Thus on 12 January, I wrote,

…Something is becoming clear. If I truly believe what I have written, that all this is CONTROLLED, then the blockage with (F2) and even (F1) is WILLED. It means that the time has not come for those blockages to be undone, that they are somehow needed. The totality of conditions in this SPHERIC process clearly demanded encumbrances to hold back things in the process of evolving until all comes into the harmony of gnostic time… In this vision, is it proper to feel frustrated?

Always one returns to the same point. If one is sure of the goal, one knows that there is only ONE ROAD and it carries us THERE. But this is spheric, a circle moving in. The other point is to know what that goal is, the TRUE goal. And above all to surrender to that will. I may be entirely wrong about the goal I cling to for (F2). Nothing has pointed to what I BELIEVE. It is not what I SEE – meaning a vision that unleashes POWER. I ‘believe’. And this may be an illusion. Hence it has no power. It does not accelerate, carry to the summit. That vision unleashing power is very different. Mine is a void. It is not REAL. So, I struggle with these mental, substanceless ideas with no reality –  i.e., no energy. How can there be acceleration, ordering, de-blocking when I am incapable of releasing power via the act of Seeing? And this is because I have not applied the true Seeing. I have been blocked by my mental ideas and thus I have been relying on mental means which go nowhere.

The miraculous ‘coming together’ cannot take place like this. This is not the power that completes, carries to the summit. But how to get the other? Clearly the first step is to forego these illusions of grandeur.

This is why detachment is vital. While I am clinging to the ‘idea’ there is no possibility to detach and allow things to find their place…

So, in this racing experience I must not expect victory – meaning success, Classic wins, a Class higher than III because even if this potential is there, I do not have the power to unleash the Energy that Saves…

One truly lives in illusion. Truly.

Thinking about X, – so much resistance. Like Eve. Resistance. I suppose Eve does have something to do with the blockage. But then, why didn’t I have the power to draw her in? All I did in her case too was to INCREASE HER RESISTANCE.

The serious problem that was surfacing with great force was due in large part to the constant undermining from all quarters regarding the qualities I considered my horses to possess. But given their mediocre record, lacking as it did any spectacular accomplishment – there were only five wins to date – the undermining seemed to be the voice of reason and sobriety as opposed to my illusions.

On the other hand there was ‘the process’. While others were dealing with these horses within the conventional framework of the sport, I alone was aware of its deeper purpose. Yet this too presented certain problems. It was all so utterly novel and at times bizarre that a total commitment and trust in that Vision and the Power guiding the operation was demanded. Throughout this period and with an increasing degree of frequency, it was necessary to draw back, plunge within and fortify that commitment to ‘a higher purpose’ in those deepest recesses of one’s being. Increasingly, the realisation of ‘centering’ was called upon so as to be in a position to hold firm while the periphery often wobbled to the point of spinning out of orbit entirely, as forces of many different hues sought to impede any progress.

In addition, and this proved to be the greatest challenge, I was attempting a transformation in an arena totally unconcerned, oblivious and ignorant of the reality, need and implications of such a process. None of the immediate protagonists in the affair were conscious and willing participants, – except, it needs to be added, the fillies themselves, central to it all. In them one could perceive a power of the Divine in its purest form, under the circumstances. They were not mentally aware and thus in possession of the ability to consciously cogitate to the extent that mentally-centred human beings are. Yet they were clearly aware though in a different manner, but which was nonetheless tremendously potent as a tool in this transformative process. This was possible largely because the animal did not offer the resistance we encounter in creatures in possession of a ‘free will’ and which places them in a position where ‘choice’ is considered one’s special prerogative in life. In effect, one has no such ‘choice’, in the truest sense of the word. The only illusion is indeed this question of the power to choose. One goes through life strengthening this illusion continuously and thereby missing the essence of life and the purpose for which we took birth on this third planet in orbit of the Sun.

The horse demonstrated will power. Indeed, a closer scrutiny and a deeper understanding of the word revealed that there was a special affinity between this particular species and Will. But it is quite different from the human assertion of will power. In the horse it is always a fulfilling of purpose, such as F2 demonstrated. Unaccustomed to viewing subjects of the animal kingdom in this light, we leap to conclusions and consider demonstrations of will simply instinct. But this is not the case. While instinct may be present and occupy a central position in the constitution of the horse, or any animal for that matter, it is the means to express that will. The human being drives himself by a mental impulse, while the horse utilises instinct as a motivating force. Nonetheless, the intent is a fulfilment of Will.

F1, on the other hand, exerted her will but perversely, as the outcome of her early conditioning. But neither suffered from the human affliction of ‘freedom to choose’. By this I mean that they could serve as purer instruments simply because they did not suffer from these mental conflicts. Whereas the human being constantly interferes with the Power by virtue of this inner conflict that cannot be resolved while we live in the illusion of unreal prerogatives. Consequently, one of the most severe afflictions of the human being is the varying degrees of self-importance we encounter in almost the entire humanity. This self-importance is a direct outcome of an erroneous assumption that we can DO, that we initiate all action, and that we are in command of our destiny.

The binary creation holds itself together on the basis of precisely such illusions. This is possible, as I have written earlier, because as a race we orbit a void, a central emptiness. We are not centred and unitary creatures. But while the horse in this case can occupy the Centre, at the heart of the process, and carry out its role therein to perfection, we cannot describe the animal as centred. That is, there is no conscious awareness of that condition. The horse simply IS, and does not reflect on this is-ness. Therefore, though connected to the zero of our operations, rightfully speaking the Horse is the One emerging from the Zero because that One represents BEING. It is as a natural, organic flowering from the Zero.

Regarding the transformation, the principle difficulty was this question of carrying out such an operation in an entirely alien field. But having reached the third level of the Descent, the work is destined to be accomplished in this very manner. One aspect of the work at the third level, as described earlier, is the need for a virgin field. There are two ways in which this can be achieved. One is a physically virgin terrain – that is, rural, undiscovered, unpopulated, such as Skambha. The second is an arena which, while populated, is still ‘virgin’ by way of its total ignorance of the process evolving in its midst and with no connection between the two. In this case, the racing scene centred in Bangalore and from there reaching out to the nine racing centres in India. That is, this web of 9 embraces the entire width and breadth of the land. It is, of course, not insignificant that they number 9, given that this is the key number or our work.

There may appear to be a contradiction here. Earlier I wrote that Pondicherry, where Sri Aurobindo and the Mother carried to a successful conclusion the first and second levels of the Work, was not a virgin field. And that regarding the integral yoga this was immaterial insofar as the pollution caused by such a contamination through an interpenetration of the old world would not unduly obstruct the disciple in his or her endeavour. But one could argue that the town of Pondicherry was as ignorant of the yoga being performed in its midst as the racing arena of our study. In what way could the latter be considered ‘virgin’ while the former could not?

The answer lies in the maturity of the work, precisely in the question of centering. This operation, based as it is on the existence of a Centre, is in a position where it makes use of all that surrounds it but is never contaminated by the periphery of which it stands as its hub. In other words, those peripheral elements, in this case the network of racing with all its constituent parts and ramifications, are made to serve the purposes of the One, – i.e., the zero-centre of our exercise. More particularly, with the establishment of the Centre-Zero, the entire process lies beyond reach of the periphery. It is poised in another dimension but within the same physical field. Such a positioning was impossible until the Yoga of the Chamber was completed in the 1980s.

Yet it is essential for the transformation that we carry out the work in the midst of the old, precisely because our work at this third stage deals expressly with the vital plane and is hence the primary instrument of the Becoming, – that is, movement organised in a special way to carry out the purposes of the One. The great symbol of this action is the Horse. Hence we employ the Horse itself in this transformation because ‘the symbol is indeed the thing symbolised’. That we are able to do so clearly reveals that the marriage of ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ has taken place, as prophesied, for one, in St John’s Revelation (see The Hidden Manna, Aeon Books, 1976).

To sum up, the virginity of this field lies in its disregard of what is transpiring in its midst, of the nature of the transformation, or, for that matter, of any possibility that such a thing could happen anywhere at all, in any corner of the globe. At the same time, the newness of our work lies in the fact that though unaware, unconscious and alien to the endeavour, those unconscious parts themselves were key elements in that they were instruments in equal measure to the rest; and they, more than others, were the channels through which the Supramental Shakti could display her most remarkable capacity to create order in the field and thus to compel the multiplicity no less than the Unity to serve the purposes of the One.

Nothing of this was possible in the days when Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were guiding disciples through the labyrinthine ways of the integral yoga. It is only now, after the Supramental Manifestation of 1956 and events thereafter, that those ‘seeds’ planted then can be cast abroad into the larger field with the mathematical precision that is indeed the principle revealing character of the actions of the Truth-Consciousness, or the Supermind. To further emphasise this point, it was precisely in 1956, after India attained independence that the state of Karnataka was established, whose capital, Bangalore, is the chosen arena for this Yoga of the Horse, harmonising and integrating the One and the Many, the supramental process described herein.

The Third’s Symbol: the organisation of the Vital Plane

The above can, however, help the student to understand the intricate difficulties we have faced in seeking to carry forward the banner of this new and exciting yoga, in the world, of it, but not contaminated by the old. That we were obliged to make use of that very field and no other indicates that the time has come to expand the truth-conscious ‘seed’ at the heart of their work and slowly, gradually, organically and in stages, infiltrate the field beyond. In the 1980s the work of centering was completed. It became possible then to extend beyond the Centre thus established, but carrying within the laws pertaining to the new cosmos and implant them there in the larger field selected for the process. It is a question of various concentric circles, expanding from the central Point. Our present work, involving as it does the 0, the Triad, and the 9, is best described by the diagram here reproduced, the symbol of the Third in the Descent.he centre of the circle is the 0/1 – in this case, it is the Horses. They were bred at Skambha which is the realised physical centre of the Work. Similar to Triptolemos of the Greek Mysteries, the divine Son who is sent abroad to carry the golden ‘seeds’ (symbolised by the grain), so too our first-born have carried the seeds abroad as the One, number-power of the Son. Indeed, the very first to do so was F1 whose birth date does equal 1: 1.10.1988(=1). She was the first in a line of three fillies. The three occupy the inner circle holding the Point of the above symbol, the essential and initial triad of involved energies. And then there is the next circle with the human triad of owner, trainer and jockey. We shall proceed now to describe the exact manner in which the above symbol became a living reality, mathematically ‘reproduced’ in the heart of this unknowing racing arena. It now stands as a blazing emblem to attest to the victory of the Divine and to the prowess of the Supramental Shakti as nothing before it has done.

The trinity was the key to the realisation that would permit these spectacular events to take shape. In January, I was still groping with this matter, painfully aware that an inner movement was required before anything could become unravelled and the desired coming together of the triadic energies would take place. I was also tormented by the fact that F1 had been sent to Madras, the last place I would have wanted any of my horses to race, given its decline over the years. I was bothered by the division of energies, the depletion this was causing of our meagre resources. Above all, by the fact that I intuited what the realisation should be and yet I seemed incapable of attaining the correct poise. One of the impediments was the emotional component brought in  by these ‘pets’. The fillies were not just racing machines, purchased in some unknown stud farm or at a yearling sale. They were born and bred at the centre of our work, and had remained in our midst for more that two years before being sent for training. There was thus an emotional bond established with these horses which was hard to ignore or set aside. In other words, sending F1 to Madras and realising that she was ‘trapped’ there, and that this was of my own doing, greatly increased the pressure of this period.

Then there was the time factor. We could not wait eternally for breakthroughs. In racing the horse is limited to just a few years, and within that period the fillies had to fulfil their purpose in this process, whatever that was meant to be. Time was thus slipping by all too quickly. Yet we seemed farther from the goal than ever. We were already into the second half of the Winter Season, and there were no signs of any real progress. F1 had been sent ‘abroad’, but it seemed that through her I was drawn out of my base and trapped in a beyond which was hostile to our endeavour and that this might be a ploy to disperse our energies rather than consolidate them at the centre. Thus, on 12.1.1994, I wrote in my journal,

…What has happened is clear. I have been trapped in their orbit, not they in mine. This means that this Sun is too weak. It does not have the power, the MASS to draw things to itself.

Sending F1 there was the indication that I could not draw to myself what she needed. So, I reached out with her. The result is that I got bogged down THERE, not that she serves to draw THEM here…

…I should have understood that to have mass one has to concentrate in the centre and not extend out. The Sun is what it is because it draws to itself by its mass; and this mass comes by concentration of energy. I have never let this happen. I have always extended out and never accumulated MASS. I thus have no power to draw…

This certainly does not bode well. For even if (Adam) does go to Bangalore it is likely to be the same thing. (Eve) is full of love and goodwill but she ignores her own condition and therefore this goodwill goes nowhere. When she decided to go with (Adam) she became trapped. She did this to keep out of my ‘influence’. The result is that she is trapped in the old creation with him, so totally UNFREE.

But knowing this, why did I not just bide my time, HOLD FIRM and draw the entire system to me?

…I get no answers. At the same time, perhaps it is because I want answers I cannot get. These are not THE answers, they are not WHAT IS. What is is what IS: We are bogged down completely and the only thing to do is BE STILL and wait it out. In the meantime, since I cannot DO anything to de-block, then I have to hand this whole issue – F1 and F2, (Eve) and (Adam) – over to HER (the Supramental Shakti). I must give this to her to handle in her way, leaving her completely FREE to act by virtue of STILLNESS. This immobility is what ‘allows’ her to act through this channel.

‘Mass’ then would simply be immobility, stillness in the core, centred IN HER which then creates an anchor of stillness. This is what is meant by not REACHING OUT, extending beyond. If I remain centred in HER, then she will arrange everything (as often She does irrespective of me).

I understand the problem now. I am relying on MYSELF, while all I should do is gain the poise that will allow HER to act through me. Then she will draw what is needed, repel what is not. It is not only surrendering. It is holding firm too. No movement. No extending. No reaching out.

The mechanism was becoming clear. But it should be pointed out that this was not a new realisation, as such. It formed the basis of my work since 1983-84. In a nutshell, it was the realisation of the Temple, becoming THAT. But while then it was an individual attainment, now the demands of the Yoga were to extend that to the larger arena, the next circle in the ‘symbol’ (reproduced above). Thus the impulse to ‘extend’, to ‘reach out’ was precisely the confusion which this need brought forth. In the process, there was the problem of having to deal with unconscious, or at best semi-conscious instruments, and with no possibility of evading the issue. This was the new field; these were the instruments. And so, beyond any doubt the problem lay in my own inability to ‘hold the centre’, with all that this entailed. That is, to create sufficient ‘mass’ so that, as I had done in the reduced sphere, whatever that ‘sun’ required would be drawn in, and what needed to be rejected would be cast out of the System. The goal was always a manifestation of the inherent divine Purpose which lies in the core of the Sun. In mystic symbolism, it is the divine Son, the One.

After a night spent in this contemplation which offered a clear vision of the realisation required to attain that goal, or at least to approach its attainment, I found myself falling back into the old habits. Thus, on 15.1.1994, just after midnight I wrote,

I have spent the whole day REACHING OUT. Mon Dieu, just what I did not want to do.

Things have to mature. In all this I have pushed and pushed and pushed. It has gotten everything knotted up. That is what happens when there is no energy balance. Then the flow is not smooth. Too much RAJAS causes knots. Too much TAMAS causes collapse. The middle? That alone means no renewal. Stasis. That is not the Horse.

I will never learn. I am the cause of this breakdown. Why blame anyone else? It was my pushing all along that created the problems. And now I want to go on pushing. Let them go at their pace because that is the only pace they can go at.

But my heart weeps for the (fillies) – caught in this trap of no movement because of me. Who knows if and when they will emerge…

What is TRUTH in this?  Absolute. Not relative. The truth in that Core. What is it? Who would ever believe I would get so worked up over horses. Mon Dieu, a total immersion.

To see what I have seen today (the inner problems and condition of Eve) is not the problem. The problem is what use I make of it. I want to use that Seeing. But nothing changes, resistances only increase…I have hardened everything by my insistence.

All are instruments of the Shakti. All. And even if I SEE more than they, I cannot make them BE on the basis of my Seeing. They have to see on their own. My insistence is useless. It only hardens…

I have got to let it go. Otherwise the fillies are going to suffer. Let go. NOW.

Mon Dieu how RAJASIC…Always reaching out, pushing out. Never rooted in the centre.

I know perfectly well what the realisation is: the Immobile amidst the Mobile. I know it. I see it. And I realise I do not have it. This is the only thing that matters. Nothing else. No one else. That realisation. While I do not have THAT all the rest means nothing. I just create more confusion.

This is the supramental realisation – or the first along that path. Without this one cannot advance. This is the poise, the AXIS – everything I have been writing about. The Axis means that Immobile amidst the Mobile. It does not mean sitting still, not moving physically. It means that wherever I move I move that Axis along with me, in me. It means I am the Temple.

No, meditation is not all the answer. The ‘technique’ must be something else, something like the Mother said: concentration, not meditation. One can learn to sit still, but then when one gets up and moves that stillness as axis goes. An axis implies that concentration of power like the Shaft of Light. So it is not rigid. It is rooted in the Core. It is simultaneous time. That is the axis – time’s energy compressed, but fluid, supple. Always all things as they should be.

‘It’ does not reach out. Extend. It influences by attraction. By immobility. Can I do it? Mon Dieu… it seems I cannot. I pray it just happens, parce que moi…

The movement of Yoga continued throughout the night. The next morning, at 9:35AM, I took up my journal and began writing again,

Such a hard night realising the acute inadequacies, incapacities. And finally coming to terms with this rajasic pushing, extending, reaching out. Never centred, rooted in the axial alignment. Mon Dieu, I cannot understand how I managed to get anything done at all!

But I must go on. And above all, in this ennead the field of yoga is racing. There I have to learn what I can, and do what I am able to do. Right now I cannot say that anything revolutionary has happened…

We are now in a 5 year. The reversal has taken place. Interestingly, these horses had ALL their wins in 1993, the 4 year. Perhaps they are more in tune with the ennead rhythm than ever I imagined. If so, what does 5 mean in their careers?

One thing seems to have ‘settled in’ from the hard night. I do seem more contained. There are still mental impulsions from time to time leaping out, but it is different. It is less rajasic and combative, more sober. It seems as if there is a greater balance of energies. Rajas is subdued somewhat by Sattva. This is true. And that is what gives more sobriety and less ‘fanaticism’. Would that it could last!

I see now given this new mood that I have to let go of F1’s experience (in Madras) for a while, with the faith that if I keep the right poise it will facilitate what has to be done and that shifts will take place at deeper levels than I can reach with words. I feel this so strongly. But I beg You to protect her and to be everpresent and watchful over the whole unfolding.

…As I observe I realise something has indeed happened: I have LET GO OF MADRAS. I have offered (F1) to you to carry out what you will. Yesterday was decisive. And now perhaps this will allow the knots there to be undone. I cannot expect the conscious awareness I wrote about to come into being overnight. But perhaps my poise will allow the Mother to have free access. After all, one thing is the centre – in this case Bangalore. Another is the periphery. The action has to be different. One DELEGATES. And it is far more mechanical out there. In that sense, probably when shifts occur in the centre they have to have immediate repercussions ‘out there’ because it is so mechanical. So, one puts it in a different gear, and the effects must be felt throughout. Knowing the way this work goes, I suppose it won’t be long before I have confirmation, one way or the other.

The commanding Power that executes

Indeed the results were immediate in coming, but they were not made known to any of us. However, that same day, the Makar Sankranti, celebrated throughout the country as the Sun’s entry into Capricorn, something took place in Bangalore that set in motion a train of events which had bearing on our racing experience. In a race that very day, one of India’s top jockeys failed to perform as the owner by whom he was retained thought he should. It proved to be the proverbial last drop in the bucket. The jockey was sacked. On his part, the owner felt the stewards did not do justice to his complaint and he therefore brought the participation of his 40 horses stabled in Bangalore to a halt. They would be rested for the remainder of the season until a decision would be taken. This left one of the most sought after jobs open and a number of prominent jockeys expressed interest to the owner and his racing manager.

On the heels of this experience, an article appeared in a magazine dedicated to the Indian thoroughbred, featuring women in racing. Eve was interviewed extensively. By then she had acquired the reputation of honesty and ability. The owner, whom we shall call Gog in this essay for the purpose of clarity, was impressed and decided to make a ‘statement’ by turning to this newcomer, renowned for honest riding, rather than hire one of the old guard.

This took some days to materialise. In the meantime, the next night, 16 January, I had an interesting dream which I found important because of the serious introspection of the night before. The gist was that Eve was in Bangalore, where we met. There was a luxurious white car and my own. The white one was ‘powerless’, mine was solid. A curious detail at the end of the dream was that I had finally managed to get my car repaired (during the time of this introspection it had indeed been dysfunctional). I drove off alone, feeling its solidity and power. When I approached a ramp leading on to the highway, I noticed a post in the middle of the road, blocking the way. I kept moving forward confidently, not really knowing how I would manage when I got to the blockade. But as I neared the post, a man, on the order of a lesser highway official, stepped onto the road with impeccable synchronicity and removed it, without causing me even to slow down. I moved onto the highway and joined the other cars.

I awoke from this very long and detailed dream, only a fraction of which I have mentioned here, feeling that ‘something’ was happening out there and that ‘someone’ would provide ‘help’, right on time. Eve was central to the dream and so I felt that she would play a pivotal role in what was to come.

But, let us return to the chronological flow of events. By early February nothing had budged, it seemed. Eve was as determined as ever to maintain her ‘independence’ and cling to her binary status, sharing an entrenched polarity with trainer Adam. On his  part, Adam, while desiring to make a break with the past and the decadent condition of the track where he was then based, and move his operation to Bangalore as a part of our ‘team’, was proceeding at his own pace, according to his priorities and private calculations of what was convenient for him.

There were, to be sure, practical justifications for the above. Eve did not have the means to finance a move to Bangalore; while Adam had professional commitments and would not be free until the close of the summer season of the Madras Club, held in Udhagamandalam, or Ooty, as it is known colloquially. This meant another six months, if at all it would come to pass. On her part, at the close of the Madras season and  awaiting the commencement of the Ooty summer session, Eve intended to give herself another break and return home. When Adam was ready with his horses in Ooty, she would move there. In other words, as things were proceeding, it was unlikely that this ‘gathering together’ would actually materialise. And meanwhile I felt that time was irretrievably slipping by without anything of the Vision taking shape. We were farther from the goal than ever. Material objections, it was clear, would not hold back the coming together of these energies once resistance to the promptings of the Shakti were overcome. The material details, I knew, would fall into place almost miraculously. But this called for a conscious adherence and willing surrender to that Power. However, this adherence and surrender were no where in evidence. Each participant was centred on his or her own objectives and self-interests. We would get no where on this basis, that much was more than clear.

But the Supramental Shakti had a precise plan envisioned; its details began to surface in early February when, unexpectedly, Gog sent his racing manager to Madras to offer Eve the job coveted by jockeys throughout the whole of India. Not only would she have some of the best horses to ride, she would be given a retainer fee, an apartment and transport. It was an offer impossible to refuse.

The ‘temptation’ of Eve 

I was not aware of what was right then transpiring in Madras when I went to Bangalore for F2’s 13^th race on February 5^th. But just before leaving for the racing venue that day, I found Eve at my door. She informed me of the developments and that she had come for a meeting with Gog to discuss the terms of the contract. In addition, she made it clear, when asked if there were any commitments on her part which would stand in the way of accepting his offer, that there was only one: my three fillies would have to have priority over his horses, given that she had entered racing because of me. He accepted her condition.

This was an extraordinary development. Eve was in racing barely a year, yet she had been offered a position that most of the top jockeys coveted. Accepting this offer would entail an almost immediate move to Bangalore, leaving Adam’s stables in Madras where F1 was then based. But I had no intention of letting the filly stay there for much longer; and Eve, on her part, arranged to be in Bangalore, ready for work, by the middle of March. This would give us time to complete F1’s training. My intention was to enter her in a race in Bangalore, with Adam saddling her, on the 19^th of March. After that it would be necessary to arrange to have her re-based there. I was confident this could be worked out.

Thus, on first appearance Gog’s contract seemed like the answer we were all seeking. Eve would move to what I considered the centre of the process, financed by him; but at the same time, she would be able to ride my horses. In addition, this would spur Adam to make his move, I felt, since where the rib goes the body is sure to follow!

However, an uneasiness prevailed. I pondered deeply over the process of yoga leading immediately to this unexpected development. I reflected on the deep introspection, the conviction that there was too much ‘leaping out’ and not enough contained power which seemed to be the means for drawing energies together around a central Sun. I relived the experience of ‘letting go’ and handing the entire affair over to the Supramental Shakti so that there would be no disturbance presented by a rajasic attitude on my part, which, I felt, was the main reason why this triad could not converge at the centre-base of the microcosm. Having done this, the almost immediate result was this spectacular turn of events, set in motion the very day this yogic movement was completed. Was it therefore a blessing or a bane? This was the question. For while Eve would be based at the centre she would nonetheless be involved elsewhere. Things were not entirely clear, but this much was indeed clear: This turn of events was somehow intrinsically related to that yogic movement of ‘letting go’ and surrender.

The salient point of the process and which presented the main obstacle to our endeavour was a conflict of purpose afflicting the participants of our ‘team’. Each had his or her prerogatives; each ignored the divine Purpose that stood at the heart of the process and with which only the horses were in perfect attunement. The task was therefore to dismantle those ‘knots’ which presented something on the order of ‘dark suns’ around which the consciousness of these two protagonists was orbiting. The ‘mass’ I felt lacking in me needed to be enough to dislodge them from their isolated orbits and draw them into the system of the central Sun of a divine Purpose. In a word, ego-interests had to give way to that higher light and power.

For a humanity orbiting a void by virtue of its binary condition, this is an immensely difficult transition to make, particularly so since everything and everyone surrounding the subject reinforces the misalignment. And when dealing with a situation such as a partnership or a relationship based on an emotional attachment, the matter is even more complex because each props up the other on the binary polarity. The pole is thus hardened, reinforced continuously, making any breakthrough difficult if not impossible. To add to the complexity of the problem, it seemed that my yogic movement of stillness and surrender had simply allowed the Supramental Shakti to arrange matters in such a way as to draw Eve to Bangalore but not at all in orbit of this divine Purpose. Rather, her ‘independence’ was reinforced regardless of the condition she set for accepting the offer, – that is, priority to my horses. How this would be managed once she took up her work was not entirely clear. And however we assessed the matter, a stable of 30 or 40 horses compared to my 3 would perforce represent the greater ‘mass.’

The contract was clearly a personal victory for Eve and a great boost to her career. She had started late – at the age of 33, perhaps unheard of in the world of racing. She had had to bear all the difficulties a woman faces when entering a male dominated sphere of activity. This, then, seemed to be the blessings of the Mother showered upon her. I expressed my delight and encouraged her to accept and not look back. By that time I was in a state of total acceptance. The matter had been ‘handed over’. Whatever evolved from that point on was in ‘her hands’. I would not, could not interfere.

But it was a strange turn of events. However magnanimous I sought to be there was that fact that adherence on the part of these two key protagonists of the ‘team’ was not in evidence. Rather, this contract provided Eve with a means to come to Bangalore on her own terms and completely independent of whatever I sought to do. Though drawn to the centre in this irresistible manner, she was, in consciousness, farther away than ever because that move simply meant a reinforcement of the binary condition. As far as my perception went, I sensed an increase of resistance, a definitive statement. Difficulties were likely to increase rather than decrease, even though the practical problem of finance was apparently being resolved.

Thus, when I returned from Bangalore after this meeting with Eve and F2’s race, I held a discussion on the 8^th and 9^th of February with students residing at Skambha who had been closely following the developments. None, much less Eve, knew of the intense yoga I had been engaged in regarding this matter during the first half of January:

8 February 1994

…I started recapitulating, going over it and I thought, ‘Well, what happened here?’ Let’s see…for 9 days there was no communication whatsoever. Madras was like in a black hole. What caused that?
     Now, I keep saying that all of this had to do with the yoga I was doing. This was very mathematical…And it did. The only thing is that if we are rejoicing, thinking that this means everything is solved, we are just BEGINNING. This is just the beginning. Not only did I take all of (Eve’s) ‘baggage’. I’ve got all this other from the periphery swept in. And why? Because the instruments aren’t given. So, every time you do this you get the work done somehow, but you take in added baggage. Remember we were talking about encumbrances, how out in the periphery you get these encumbrances, and they slow everything down. Then I started going over it and I remember giving it up, letting Madras go. That is when it fell into a black hole. All of this happened at exactly the same time.
     Absolutely fascinating. It started from my birthday and it went on; because the letter I wrote to (Eve) which I never mailed (and that makes interesting reading now) was on the 14^th, exactly 9 days after my birthday. Then the 15^th was the turning point because I held it back and said, No, let it go, let the Force handle it. The 15^th was that race, on the Makar Sankranti, and all those days there was that intense period when all that yoga was done. Then it went into that black hole, completely cut off out there. And suddenly this. It all comes to life again.
     So, you think, my God, this is incredible. I leave it to the Supramental Shakti, because only in that way can she arrange things… And she really did. It seems incredible.
      But I know better. And I knew that nothing was worked out on that level, and that somebody is having a good laugh at all of us because the whole thing isn’t as simple as it seems. I mean, on a certain level, yes. Obviously (Eve) being there and (Adam), I have peace of mind about the horses. But in terms of the energies and what we brought in, we were really just beginning.
     Remember that I was telling you about this sort of ‘felt vision’, about generally what my yoga is: putting ‘order’ in the periphery, draining it of those energies that would slow down the movement, and arranging for that ‘birth’ to take place. So, in order for this birth to take place you have to settle that ‘womb’, – because the Mother just left the energies there and took off! What I have to do is arrange it so that the ‘birth’ is allowed.
     We have done this with the horses. We’ve done this with (F1) going first; take it as the 9: she opens the path. Unknown pedigree, we go through all of that, she starts her career the same month as (Adam) gets his licence and starts training. And ostensibly, it seems that Gog came in at the same time. We were all there, somewhere. We come together at certain points…
     But there is this ‘putting order’ because in order to give the right ‘birth’, you have to have the right ingredients of the field, otherwise the field will overpower it; and you will have the same contamination. So, the work was very clear: you have to put order in all of this to allow for that.
     Then along comes (F2) and she does her bit by holding firm at the centre and from that position everything is beginning to be put in place. Then we come to the third (F3) and it is very clear that she has to have all of that ready and done because that is not her job. So it is very interesting that she is not to leave (for training) until these final pieces are put in. To the day! Because she isn’t supposed to move from trainer to trainer and go through all that. What she has to do, in other words, is the job of the Third which is the PROCESS. She is to establish the 0 in interval training. She is supposed to have the full 9 months (interval training’s 3+3+3). How are we going to arrange this? …Obviously some of the key elements are brought in now, exactly on time, so that when she gets there it seems she will be able to do her job, now that everyone else has done theirs.
     I have always said that in this racing experience the ‘void’ is that 0 which is the training. We are discussing 9 races all the time. But we just went in from the 0 point. I have hardly discussed anything of the training period. We never discussed it because that was the void. It didn’t exist. All right. But first you have to do the whole field, you have to organise the ‘womb’ …You have to draw all this in and put everything in its place and settle everything to allow for this. We assume then that is what is happening because (F3) seems to be taken care of in this respect.

So, this was going on from my birthday.  What was interesting was this: [my] trying to avoid the ‘labour’.  You know, it is so hard, and dangerous, not really realising that that is one of the most attractive aspects of this work – it is to be able to CONSCIOUSLY do this. And you know what you are doing in setting these things in their place, as disagreeable as it is.  [But] you always want the easy way.  You want it to be nice and happy-go-lucky and . . . But it doesn’t really happen that way because all of that is superficial.  All of that has absolutely nothing to do . . . I mean, we may think that getting this job done is going to be straightening out the racing scene.
And . . . it has absolutely nothing to do with that at all.  That is just the field where this work has to be done.  More interesting is the forces drawn in.  Much more to the mark.

So, that was partly why I had to be put in a state where I wouldn’t see it.  In other words, I had to be sufficiently depleted of energy [with a cold] that I wouldn’t interfere with what was going to happen – namely, [Eve] coming with the proposition and asking me, ‘What do you think?’  Had I been in my ‘senses’, you know, fully alert, which I wasn’t, I probably would have interfered.  That is, I would have put some doubts which might have stalled this whole thing.  I can’t say that I would have, but I would have taken a little bit more time and gone into it; and (then) I would have made connections right away which I was not able to do until I had last night’s sleep and slept until 5 in the morning, straight through.  When I woke up, I said, ‘Oh, my God, what a fool you are . . . ‘, realising where we really are.  Not that anything had changed.  Just really realising what you set in motion, that you handed it over to the Shakti to arrange because you didn’t want to interfere.  You didn’t want to ‘leap out’, to do anything and that therefore this is what happened!

So, then you think, ‘Oh, it’s wonderful.  I made the right move in yoga’. But no.  I got myself into deeper water because it is in the logic of what is happening that when you draw in the periphery like this, you are bound to bring in contamination because that is where it (lies).  Nobody has made any progress there at all.  They are totally unconscious.

Even [Eve] now things, ‘I’m saved . . . because I put the right condition: her horses!’  So, everybody thinks , Isn’t that wonderful, she did the right thing.  Whereas, in effect, what all of this tells you is, What is [Eve’s] price in this?  An apartment, a car .  . . ?  You understand?  Does she really realise what has happened?  The Shakti wants to get her there because I am told, ‘Look, this has got to go fast and in your “time”, not theirs.  Leave it to me.’  So, she is brought there and in the only way she will accept.  [Eve] thinks she is not open to any of this [material enticements], that she is above it all…. It had to be made sufficiently ‘attractive, all the ‘adventure’ involved, getting back at everyone [for the difficulties put in her way as a woman in a traditionally man’s field], all of these legitimate things on the human level.  Very legitimate.

Then finally, the key in this is she is coming on her terms not mine.  You understand?  That’s the key element in that the contract is between her and Gog.  She calls the shots.  He wants her and needs her.  I have needed her for a whole year and she has been resisting and resisting.  And suddenly he comes up with this offer, and she is right there!

The temptation?  Now you are getting closer to the mark, because Eve and the temptation, you know . . . What is it?  What does she do?  She really corrupts the whole scene!  And in effect that is what happened.

Now I have the feeling that somewhere in the back of her mind a little voice is telling her, ‘Now, wait a minute, you are flying too high.  Something is going to hit you . . . ‘.

But before all of this, by the 12th I was really in the dumps.  By the 12th I was saying, ‘You just don’t have it, you just are not . . .’  I remember waking up in the middle of the night and thinking, ‘Oh, this is just too difficult.’  It was about all those ‘encumbrances’ and the weight of all that.  And there was [F1] out there, adding HER weight to the whole thing, you see.  And so, I said, ‘You yourself sent her out there, and then, not only do you have all of that, but you’ve got [F1], that bolting, which is all that ENERGY thrown in.

So, what is required?  This ‘mass’.  What is the characteristic of this mass?  How does it ‘hold’?  It holds by its mass, and what is that really?  And so, all of this was going on . . . You saw that it isn’t by extending out.  But how do you really get that ‘magnet’, that ‘mass’ sufficient to pull in?  Because what is happening is that I have done it INDIVIDUALLY.  I could do it in this sphere.  But we are extending this arena considerably.

Then, when you get somebody like [F1] who had it all inside of her throughout – much more than [F2] would ever have, because she had been containing it for two or three years – and then throws it all out, you know that all of that is THERE.  And it is TREMENDOUS.  This is just too much.  There is not enough mass to pull all of that in.  I could see it.  I could see that the movement was wrong.  It was like . . . Trying to deal with that, that effort . . .  Whereas the only effort was . . .
     What does the Mother mean by ‘concentration’ in the Room (of the Temple). Of course I was thinking of the Room, and I said, ‘Well, the axis. This is clearly it – the Immobile amidst the Mobile.’ But it’s not non-action. It’s ‘immobile’, but it MOVES, because obviously the symbol of the Horse couldn’t be used if it didn’t move. So, that’s not it. It’s just concentration of power and… How do you do that? You do that by that axis which BALANCES all these energies.
     So, I was watching all these movements and I could see that rajasic tendency. Break through. Put your effort out, break through that. I saw that all of that was going into making that mass in the periphery even heavier. That the more you did THERE, the more resistance. However, and here comes the most important part: What are we trying to do?
     What has happened now is simply again the victory of the old creation. Meaning totally unconscious elements are made to do the Divine Will, without any consciousness of what they are doing, without any overt participation. That is the story of the old creation.
     The Divine can intervene, yes, but what are WE trying to do? We are trying to make a CONSCIOUS movement, and that is the whole key. So, when I ‘let go’, what happened was… There’s a particular thing that has to be fulfilled. It has to be on time. So those elements are going to be brought in line. But they are brought in line TOTALLY UNCONSCIOUSLY. And that is when you draw in darkness. That is when this one, that one gets an opening. Because those elements out there are unconscious. Yet they must be drawn in.

It’s obviously the process that took place in the Ashram too, when the Mother needed someone and she had to take in all that baggage (the whole family) in order to get the work done.

Exactly. Now, if we continue in this way we will get nowhere, you understand. This is defeating its own purpose. That is why I am writing and writing, trying to enlighten. Because I know that we can’t do it in that way. It has to be conscious awareness. It has to be for the simple reason that as long as we continue like that, resisting, we have two possibilities. One is destruction – the earthquakes, this and that, the ‘accident’, falling, breaking… But which makes no difference because, you see, it changed nothing in (Eve). Absolutely nothing. She may feel she has changed, but there is not one iota of change. The proof is: What was needed to get her to Bangalore? You see, You had to prey on the ego totally. There wasn’t one element of the Divine there. Give everything that the ego wants, give it all, and she leaps to the whole thing. Every single condition of the ego was fulfilled.
     So, we have a choice.  Do we want that? For people who are on the periphery it is okay, but when you are in the centre of this work obviously we cannot do that…(Eve) thinks that she is doing it, but in effect, unless you make that central surrender you can never do it. You get exactly what you have.
     Now, if you like that, that’s fine. Then you become an unconscious instrument. But at the same time I have to take the repercussions. I am going to have to deal with that. If I thought I was going to be let off the hook? …You see, that is my problem. ‘I’ve got to get this out of the way because I have to get on with my work.’ And then I stop and say, ‘Who are you fooling? Where is the work?’ I know that it’s here. I know what I am doing, very aware of it every minute. But it begins to get very disagreeable. Then you realise, I’ve got all this (at Skambha) to do, all of this weighing (down). I won’t be able to cope with it all. So, you would like something nice and easy to come in and sort it all out.
     But in effect I know that if I get the training and the care and the exercise under control it is only because I am going to have to deal with another level of what is going on there. Which is obviously much more demanding. So, who knows what lies ahead. The fact is that if this gets settled to relieve me of a certain amount of involvement and releases my energies and concentration, it doesn’t mean that it will allow me to go somewhere else and do something else. It means that we are going to be in a different phase which is symbolised by (F3), the third. We are making the Bridge now. But especially that ‘choice’ – the old creation or the new. There is no way out. And the only way that this work will get done is with the ‘conscious awareness’. So, let me go on and read the letter which I wrote to (Eve) and never sent. It is extremely interesting reading…

Vertical splits and Hemispheric divides

In the midst of the intense movement of yoga of early January, culminating on the 14^th and 15^th of the month, I ‘saw’ the problem of someone like Eve, – that is, people of goodwill but afflicted with the burden of unconsciousness. It seemed obvious that insofar as a conscious awareness was demanded of this work, then somehow this unconsciousness had to be dealt with. For each individual the problem is different, each one has his or her individual ‘knot’ in this lifetime. Often the zodiacal sign of birth can assist the subject to understand what that ‘knot’ is and the means to unravel it and be freed of its deadening weight. This seemed to be particularly the case with Eve since she was, in my view, an almost archetypal Sagittarian. In the following letter I discuss this question of a zodiacal pattern, as well as other relevant matters concerning our ‘process’. But, as stated, the letter was never mailed.

For a long while now, since our experience together came to an abrupt end in Mysore (venue of the ‘accident’; see TVN 8/4), I have been keenly observing the ‘flow’ of things. My impression is that there are ENCUMBRANCES, and that these are slowing the flow down. I try therefore to make a separation, keep things from getting mixed up and thus one thing contaminating the other. But the truth is we are dealing with ONE SYSTEM, with one Sun, like it or not; and then planets with their satellites, as I described in ‘Vishaal’ (ibid).

The point is, something is WEIGHING DOWN the System, slowing down the movement, the ‘speed’ which the Horse is supposed to represent. Almost to a standstill. My innermost feeling is that something ‘out there’, in that far periphery, has hardened almost to a rock. All this hardening has added more weight to these encumbrances so that they have the power to slow everything down and bring the impulsion to a halt.

What is more than clear is that we are not advancing toward any form of unity, unifying the System, with all energies brought INTO HARMONY and working together in unison so that the One Goal is achieved. At this stage in the endeavour, this ‘one goal’ would obviously mean the formidable task of getting everyone in Bangalore, collected together in one spot. Not only are we not nearer this goal, as things have taken shape since Mysore, even if we do get to Bangalore as one team at some point, it will not be in the RIGHT POISE. It will be carrying that contamination to Bangalore itself, rather than bring anything ‘higher’ into that centre.

Though I have tried to arrange things differently, you are central to all this, therefore I am writing to you in detail, spelling it out as I see it, in the hope that you will somehow come to understand what you are doing, how your poise is serving only to harden that satellite system to the point of rendering it an encumbrance. In other words, a WEIGHT pulling everything out of gear so that nothing is ‘in its place’. Therefore, right use cannot be made out of these available energies. Not being ‘in place’ means that they cannot combine IN HARMONY – the only way such an ambitious endeavour can succeed, the only way to fulfil the Purpose, the Goal.

Even now all the work you are doing with (F1) is simply going into consolidation of that separate system and not to bring harmony and unity. This may seem impossible to believe. You surely feel you are ‘getting your act together’ very nicely. While that may be true, the question is, what act?or whose? and for what ‘purpose’? This is what I propose to explain.

When I got involved in this I realised that I was taking on the burden of a TEAM. In a sense, Skambha was and is a collective endeavour, but with a clear purpose and goal. No one disputes that fact…

But this horse experience with you and (Adam) was different. It was trying to create a ‘team harmony’ – that is, ALL energies gathered together with a common purpose, a higher purpose at that – and in orbit of a CENTRAL WILL. Not yours, or (Adam’s), or mine. Something else, beyond all of us. Most important. However, I attempted to do this not with ‘my own people’ as it were, but with people out there, in the world, you and (Adam) who are ‘of the world’, worldly, not doing yoga, making no attempt to rid yourselves of your egos. In fact, not even knowing what that is or might signify, that it means the obstinacy of the sex-centre will in opposition to the divine Will. I was pretending to work with these elements and somehow expected to get this act together. Clearly, it was doomed to failure because all of this hinges entirely on CONSCIOUS AWARENESS. This had not been in evidence at any time. Hence the failure to succeed and the present impasse.

Indeed, not only did I fail, it gets worse and worse. Perhaps this is because the ego is very clever at camouflaging itself and getting its way by fooling you into believing it is not what it truly is.

…There has been a steady degeneration of a very insidious type, very hard to detect because it was so camouflaged. The result of this mechanical response has been the fortification built up so that nothing could disturb that satellite-system, draw it off ITS chosen course and into another world, a higher dimension. All this time this hardening has been going on…together with the hardening of your bones.

When the ‘accident’ took place, with everything that led to it, I realised just how hard those crusts were. So hard that (F2’s) act of ‘putting each thing in its place’ (see TVN 8/4) had to be done via CATASTROPHE. The accident by its very necessity meant that crusts were such that any action of ‘adjustment’ was going to have to be catastrophic. That is, it would be IN PROPORTION TO THE RESISTANCE. And so it was…

Then there was (F1) to attend to. The blockage in Bangalore seemed to indicate that she, unlike (F2), could be ‘sent beyond’ again for cure. But the fact that, unlike before, she got STUCK THERE, in that hole, proved that the hardness has increased enormously. The mass/gravity is such that once in the vicinity of that satellite she could not get out! (That was the sadness I felt in her when I saw her there…)

…For the fact is, she is now adding HER weight to that encumbrance. And her energy/weight/mass is quite formidable, much more than anything you could add with your ego-centre. The proof is all the energy she put into her Sagittarian bolting saga with you, which was not really wasted but went into SLOWING EVERYTHING DOWN. It is not only affecting her. It is having a direct repercussion on (F2). She is there is Bangalore, at the centre, trying to hold everything together on her own, alone. But she is weighed down by (F1) in the outer reaches of the System. She is supposed to draw all that to herself. But she is finding it too ‘weighty’. This is because (F1) is there, compelled by the mess in that periphery, to pit her weight against (F2’s). Clearly the former is winning out because (F2) is ‘genuine’; and she stands alone. While (F1) has you and Adam to help sustain the ego-system… Being so ‘unfree’, she is compelled TO SERVE YOUR PURPOSE, your ego-will, and not the central Sun which (F2) stands for.

(The discussion at Skambha resumed here): There was this understanding of having (F1’s) weight out there. This is when it becomes overbearing. And (Eve’s) participation, so much in darkness, so unconscious. But it seemed all of my own doing, that all these people are being drawn in and that I could not run away from my own responsibility and certain decisions, like sending (F1)…

(F2) hadn’t raced for five weeks. It was all during this time that I could not deal with her because I was caught, and I said, ‘I’m caught in their orbit, and I know what is going on: this is the old creation, Adam and Eve.’ Each time you have to deal with that you are making the wrong movement because you are adding to the resistance. So the whole shift had to come about and this was very difficult ‘seeing’ because I was completely in a fog about how to cope with this situation. When (Eve) decided to go there she became trapped. She did this to keep out of my ‘influence’. This is exactly the way things got sorted out.

It then becomes an extension of her decision, this Gog matter.

Of course. It was before that (offer) that I wrote this…trapped in the old creation, so totally unfree…

Do you think that if you would have offered her the same thing she would have accepted?

No, because it was to get out of my ‘influence’. And that is the key to the whole thing. This is anti-divine, this resistance. I told (Eve) the same thing. She can even hear this tape and it wouldn’t matter anyway. People, when you are OUT THERE you have ‘crusts’. That is why destruction doesn’t matter because all it does is create more ‘crusts’. So, the whole ‘accident’ thing was useless…

…Now, how does she respond to that (destruction)? She responds by making these crusts and buffers and that is what the ego does. So that if you go along so many times like that you have no chance at redemption. Not because the Divine Grace is not there, but simply because you are not able to get in the right poise. You cannot put yourself in the right poise in order to receive that Grace and allow it to work on you. You are closing it out virtually by your own poise.

Well, in a sense that is what I am doing with myself. Because if I talk to you like this, I am much more demanding of myself, but also much more picayune. I mean, I go into every nook and corner; so it ends up that the demands I put on myself are a hundred times more. And until I am satisfied, and it is clear, I’ll just hang in there and go on and on until it is finally cleared up.

So, it is this ‘poise’. I could see it, – the rajasic, you leap out and then rajas is no good. You stay static in sattva and you are static. That is not the point. The other caves in, tamas. You really have to have the proper alignment and that is when that beautiful spontaneity, that axis, is there, the Shakti can work through you.

So, I was asking these questions. What went wrong? Because, you see, I was getting no answers. That was quite depressing. And then of course it occurred to me that I wasn’t getting the answers because they were the ones I WANTED, and they were not the answers that WERE. What IS, what IS, what really IS. And so, I realised that we were completely bogged down and that the only thing to do at that point was really: BE STILL, and wait it out.

Now starts the whole thing…because since I cannot DO anything, (reads from journal) …to de-block, then I have to hand this whole issue over to Her to handle in Her own way.

This becomes very interesting: In Her way…leaving Her completely FREE to act, because I realised that when you are out of that poise then you are blocking the free action of that Power…leaving her completely free to act by virtue of stillness. This immobility is what allows her to act through this channel.

Now, knowing this so thoroughly, when I cleared up all of that, then it went on from there:

Mass then would simply be immobility, stillness in the Core, centred in her which then creates an anchor of stillness. I was getting all this from (F2). She was like this ANCHOR, really holding the CENTRE.

You see, it is a question of power. This yoga is very difficult because you say ‘surrender’, and what happens, you fall into tamas. You think, I am not doing anything, I am not interfering. It is not that at all because you have to concentrate the power. It is very different. You can surrender, ‘You deal with it, I don’t want to be bothered.’ And you sit back and pat yourself on the back because you think, ‘I’ve surrendered!’ That is the old stuff and it has nothing to do with this yoga. This is a conscious poise and that ‘action in non-action’, yes, very much. But it is even more than that, more than that.

…When all of this started becoming clear, then, my usual self, I thought, ‘I’ve got to enlighten (Eve), she’s got to know this!’ because then I realised she was in the ‘degrees of the Chamber’ (in her movement through the Gnostic Circle: 10 degrees to 15 degrees Capricorn). Isn’t this interesting, I thought, maybe this is the moment. So then I wrote all of this…

(The reading of the letter resumes): …And this brings me to the core of the problem: unconsciousness. Because of this the ego can camouflage itself so thoroughly. I am going to dissect this because it is important to do so at this very time…

   Like the true ‘centaur’ that you are, there is a complete split, – of hemispheres. Gemini suffers from a split, but that is vertical (hence the image of the Twins in The Magical Carousel speaking in unison but separate). It is a left/right split. The being is divided down the middle but all the centres are nonetheless involved. But though they are involved, they are weakened. Hence in The Magical Carousel the Twins exclaim, ‘Two minds are better than one!’ For unless they are ‘brought into harmony’ (Shiva/Shakti) the split renders the subject too weak.

    Your sign opposite to Gemini is different. It also suffers from a split, but this is HORIZONTAL. The being is split into two hemispheres. Thus there is a LOWER and a HIGHER being. The two have no connection because the linking mechanism (the higher centre of Mind and the psyche) is missing. Actually, the soul is in the middle of it all. It can exert influence on both lower and higher from this central position and thereby draw the two into harmony. But since most humans are not under the influence of the soul, that option is excluded. They have to use the mind, a poor second choice. Everyone has to rely on the higher hemisphere mental centre to cajole and coerce the naughty Centaur lower half (vital, physical, instinctive) to ‘obey’. Thus, as The Magical Carousel says, to get ‘the heart and the mind to work together’. When this does not happen we have a creature in one or the other hemisphere, disconnected. In your case, you are identified with the vital and physical centres. And these are cut off from any higher light. So, they are ‘in the dark’. These are the centres of your being which govern, control your life. They determine all your actions. And yet they are completely devoid of Light. This means UNCONSCIOUS. The hard part for the Centaur is precisely the fact that the split is horizontal and therefore CUT OFF. It is another being entirely…

    You want sincerely to help. And yet, as you can see, everything you do serves to draw you farther and farther away and apart from the goal you might believe you are working for. In effect, there is only one objective in your life, in this and any other matter, and there always has been. And that is to keep ‘control’ and ‘free’. Meaning, to make sure that nothing, no HIGHER power and light interferes and pulls you out of that rut and into another TRULY FREE System…

(The discussion continues): …This (reading) is like a lesson. We can all translate this into our lives, every step of the way. Precious. This is the old creation I am describing – these ‘ruts’. This is exactly the problem.

Remember then that I did not send the letter, I sent ‘the (chocolate) apple’, and I wrote, “This is the temptation!” (The pun was that as a jockey she had to watch her weight.)

That is why the Mother wrote, – the Truth-Consciousness: only without ego. That is the key.

You can see why I did not send this letter off. I let go of it and said, ‘P, you are doing the same thing again. You are pretending to enlighten and all of this will only go to the resistance because that is the whole point: unconsciousness.’ That is when the whole thing fell into a black hole with no communication. Then the Shakti did it. She gave in, – that is, she worked it out with the ego enticements and it was done in a day.

And it seems so miraculous, so ideal. It is neither ideal or not ideal. It has nothing to do with that. It is just that, given the condition of alignment, the condition of the human being, there is nothing that can be done but to use the means of the ego to get the work done. And of course, after all of this came that dream. You understand then why it was so very important, because it came right after. The beautiful white car, obviously Gog’s offer; no power, the enticement, my car, the obstacle removed (obviously his racing manager) and we get on the highway…

So, the real problem is that this work cannot be done effectively with unconsciousness because you draw in too much. It then becomes the mass that outweighs everything else. So, in order to avoid all of this you have to make this conscious surrender on the basis of a conscious awareness. And this is what is difficult to achieve. In this case, all that has happened is that these people had to be there and the only way they could be gotten there was through the ego and nothing else.

What does that bring to our work? Well, it brings in all of that baggage… Lord knows what we are headed for out there, but it is not going to be easy because the thing is really just starting. And I do not mean for (Eve). I think it will be all right for her. I think the burden is in my Yoga. The burden is that you have taken in a lot more energies and let us hope that we can sustain it, that’s all.

9 February 1994

The first option would have been conscious forces, but since that didn’t happen and you had to use mechanical forces, is that part of the transformation of these people who are involved in this? Or is it a higher purpose and is it something that they’ll be involved in, like the horses…

Well, you have to remember, this is always a microscopic experiment for a larger purpose of which the Horse is always central. They are the ones doing the ‘yoga’ really, and are the instruments, and everyone else is just facilitating that. So, calling in those mechanical forces…

It is not an individual transformation there, I don’t think. Because individual transformation relies entirely on consciousness and the desire to (transform). At the same time, you cannot supersede the instrument. I mean, the instrument is very valuable and this work is based on that. It has to go through an individual instrument. So how much of a transformation are you expecting there? I do not know. When they play a representative role, obviously you deal with them as if they are the elements because they are representing something. So you must work with that, the agency that is to be transformed. How far can you go in this case? Because, as I say, mechanical responses are such that… It is the difference between Western psychology and the Indian. That is fundamental to the issue right now at all levels: How deep do you go?

…What we are talking about when we say, transform an instrument. I am talking about the poise vis-à-vis the Divine and not the ego. So, are these people even aware of any kind of distinction like that? Obviously they cannot be, you know, because that would mean having made the choice of Yoga. Having made that choice in life. Like I said, any of you would have taken this whole thing quite differently because you have at least seen that necessity, to make the choice. But of course these people aren’t (doing yoga).

So, what we could say is that (we are) perhaps bringing in all that mechanical dark energy in order to change it. Not change it as such, but have it serve the purposes of the One. And that will definitely happen, whatever. But changing it, transforming it? I don’t know how far it can go because these levels are very deep, mechanical responses. This fact of having had to rely on that really causes a bit of concern. Such a definitive statement made that this is as much as we can do, and that is all… The Ignorance is in power and it is able to do this much damage.

            It is also able to manipulate everything into this situation.

Sure. But then again, as I said, by mechanical means, by using people’s egos, dangling carrots…and everybody took the bait. But at the cost of what? At the cost of drawing in a lot of extra baggage.

So, when you say, we’ll re-group, we’ll gather there, – on what basis? This remains to be seen now. This is the stage we are entering. On what basis? The third horse has gone today, just arrived there on the scene. So you can expect that at this level we are not going to be much concerned with ‘gathering in the energies’, which (F2) did, collecting all these energies in one big ‘pot’, let us say. She would be equivalent to the Mother’s position in the scale, the 6. This is now putting each thing in its place.

So, you would imagine a lot of that is going to be going on now, when this little ‘cosmos’ is to get very well defined. And all of this will involve the training process, which is what has been lacking until now, and which is what I added to this work also: that process.

This will be tremendously interesting to see. And it will call in its own play of forces, resistances, and all kinds of things – from outside even…

My goal right now is just to study this whole thing very carefully and let things get drawn in and find their place, and let the horses ‘do the yoga’, do what they have to do out there.

I feel that I have to let things settle now, like aftershocks. Let them settle in and start on this new phase gradually. And there is also (F1). I don’t know what is going to happen with her, but if she is meant to go on racing, it certainly has to be in Bangalore. How is she going to get back there?

To wind this up, the points to be made are really the difference in this yoga. You know, in that Chamber it is very interesting. There is the outer circle…You have three concentric circles. The centre, then the one formed by the pillars, and then the walls. And of course, I always saw that the outer one is in the dark. The only light that is supposed to be in the room is the Globe. You have that outer periphery and there are instruments that are placed out there. Now, the question is, How to hold them in orbit anyway? Well, that was the work I was doing, – that ‘centering’, that concentration of power, like the Mother said. That mass which is sufficient to…But then we could say that that tremendous effort I made, which shook me up physically a bit, was also considering the weight that one was bringing in. Now, what I read yesterday…that having (F1) out there was like adding a tremendous power. And she has more power than the other horses. I have always known this, that she has had it all closed up.

And that is the great contribution of the Ignorance. The Ignorance is like an inert stone that contains power unleashed. That is how it is able to be this mass which pulls everything off orbit. So, it just closes the Light in. It is really like a dark black hole that pulls everything off. (F1) is like that with these hard crusts: all this power never comes out. Then she releases it out there. Of course, it was an extremely interesting fact – she did release it, she added her weight to all of that and then you had to make this even greater effort to ‘pull’. To centre this thing.

So, it worked, it did. Except that we had to use the means of the ego. And there was no way out because in no way would (Eve) have come to Bangalore with me central to the operation. She honestly would have found, not consciously…A hundred things would have gotten in the way, would have conspired…Legitimate, you know, she would have been with her horses in Ooty, exercising would have been out, there would have been that dispersal of energy on (Adam’s) part which I hope is eliminated now. He would have had one half of his brain up there and the other in Bangalore and nothing would have been accomplished. So the fact that she has something else, somebody else at the centre and she can do that, is fine.

Now, is that allowed to be, and for how long? Because me being on the periphery of all this, with a few horses that she will be exercising in a way that does not conflict with Gog’s interests, is a very meaningful statement. I mean, whether you say it is priority to me or not, he is paying. The contract is with him…

You want that freedom? You want to be out of (this orbit)…? Of course we have to accept the situation. But I can accept it beautifully as long as I am able to go on doing my thing. I am quite happy. And as long as the horses are able to perform their ‘yoga’, so to speak. I am happy too. But in the higher vision of the thing, what is really meant to be? I know we are just beginning. I know that this is now stepping ‘over the threshold’. We are going from the 0 to the 1. Now we are just beginning. And this means also that this is the beginning of the performance of the horses. The horses are going to start performing like they never have before. All of this is just beginning.

But, at the same time, you know, each thing, each little progress that you make calls in a lot of other energy that you have to deal with – antagonisms, and all that sort of thing.

Mechanical nature – you know the Indian psychology, that is why they go so deeply. They have this Purush/Prakriti, and that is the lower hemisphere still. And yet, a lot of their yogas are based on the dual power, Purush/Prakriti. Prakriti is mechanical nature and the Purush is the conscious Witness – consciousness, you know. But this thing is even higher than that. You have even got to go a step above that.

Certainly anything mechanical in evidence means that…And the physical is practically governed by mechanical responses. You can imagine, to transform that…When you talk of transforming the physical it means an enormous job. But this is the same process. This is the way to the transformation of the physical. You have to start first by getting that ‘axis’, that poise of consciousness; and then in the same way that we are working this out, the same has to be translated into the individual transformation on all levels of the being, down to the physical. The same formula all the way down the line. Very same formula. You are dealing with energies, you have got to release energies. You have got to get their consent. Like these people that X is guiding. It is nonsense. And this isn’t something you can do with ‘goodwill’ and ‘surrender’. You have to have KNOWLEDGE. You simply cannot because like the experiences I have been going through: I knew there was an inadequacy there.

That is what started the whole movement. I knew this is not sufficient power: the poise that I now have is insufficient to deal with this. It cannot. That was a fact, and until I made that adjustment, until I readjusted everything and very meticulously, everything was blocked. It was going nowhere. You had to reach out; you had to make that leap, let’s say. There was this ‘process’, or whatever you want to call it. It was there, this integration process was there. But I could see that the mass, the concentrated power was not enough to be able to handle all of this; and so, very meticulously, you tune up again. You tune up again and get it to the point where it does…

So, you cannot do this just like that. You’ve got to KNOW, like a scientist, exactly what you are doing. I knew exactly what was going on. I knew that there was a deficiency. I knew where the deficiency was. I could see it. I could see the movements, the inner movement of consciousness which was depleting, which was…And with a specific purpose, I knew what had to be done.

I don’t know of anyone else who is doing this kind of work. Clearly this has been building up for many years, so it is going on and it is succeeding, if only to get to the point when you know where the deficiencies are; and you are actually able to tune them up. But, as I say, the response, though spectacular as it was, was spectacular because it was so mechanical.

Now, what is it the Mother said? Something about…how was it…‘In this yoga the victory does not come with a roar of a lion or the beat of a drum’, or something like that. You know, it is very true. It doesn’t happen. That is why I got suspicious…from the beginning (about Eve’s contract). This is a little bit too ‘miraculous’ for my taste. This is the old way. An imposition from outside. Meaning, every time there is an imposition, the ego is involved. It means that your outer nature is imposing on the inner and getting its way. So, you have to use that. You end up using that and it can do spectacular things. You understand then why gurus like X and others can get certain spectacular results. They are using the wrong way. But for their devotees, it is the right way, it is the only way they know. To them it is all that matters, and that is fine. But when you analyse it in the terms of what we are supposed to do, remember always this: growth from within, not (imposed from) outside. That is a very key point and that is why there are usually no spectacular happenings, because you know…

The really spectacular happening was what was going on in this room days before. That was the really spectacular event which nobody knew anything about. And then you get this outer flapping out there and that is ‘spectacular’, you know.  And of course it will serve our purposes. Obviously there are a lot of things put in place by this in terms of the resistances that we were having to face. It was pretty tough. And that will be for a purpose, obviously, because we are going to go into a phase where that process has to be worked out. So, probably at this point we cannot be bothered with (the search for jockey, etc.) and all this nonsense. We need to have all our energies geared to work out this process which is going to be very much aligned to the process of yoga and the process of transformation of energies, you see.

That is why we need to have this ‘team’ functioning with reasonable acceptance there so that we don’t have to face all this other nonsense. And, you know, those restrictions (that Eve could not ride in a race with more than ten horses in the field, etc.) would never have been lifted because they were in her being. Not that she didn’t want it lifted, but for reasons totally mechanical. And so they never would have been lifted, you understand, because she would never have been able to deal with that central problem…

So they could have been lifted if she had made the right (inner) movement?

First of all, they never would have happened; and second, they would have been over in a day had the right movement at that end been made. This would not have existed…What I was saying is that the darkness is getting darker. The more I put into it, the more I was ‘leaping out’ and pushing, the more that this thing was getting like a solid mass. And what was happening pari passu was that this movement…You know, here you are pulling in the planet (Adam), you are moving it into this orbit more and more. And so, more and more the ‘threat’ is there. Therefore the resistances have to increase. Unconscious again. The whole process is unconscious. Therefore, there would be any number of ‘gaps’ for little things like this ‘only ten horses in a field’ to happen. One after another.

The point is, Will this still go on? Probably not to that extent because…It means that we are to put our energies into another dimension of the work to be done. Very consciously. It requires a lot of hard work on their part; probably on mine also, I don’t know, where we have to work out a ‘process’ that is going to be extremely important. And (F3) is the one we have to do this with…

She probably has a very different work (than F1 and F2). She is going to be the real racehorse, if you know what I mean. Whatever she has to do is going to be proven in her performance, in her progress. Unlike (F2) where it was ‘holding firm’, get (Eve) off, knock this one out, this, that, whatever, just to get things where they should be. But with (F3) it will probably be entirely concentrated on this performance of hers and opening the way for the birth of the whole ‘system’ which of course has its other dimensions and ramifications, and which is what interests us.

Psychology in the West is so shallow, if people only knew. I mean, really the things that constitute success there are so shallow. They never touch anything that changes anything. By that system you can never change anything. You fortify it more and more. You know, in this case having to use the ego mechanism: it is so easily manipulated, my God – so tremendous. But then, you know things will all serve the purposes of the One, and this is it. So, clearly this is what is going to be a major feature of the days to come, the months to come. It is going to be the question of this mechanical response entering. Totally consciously, let’s say, drawing in a mechanical element very consciously and having it very central to the whole operation.

Let’s see where it leads.

October of 1994

Aeon Centre of Cosmology

at Skambha

                            The whole world yearns after freedom,

                        yet each creature is in love with his chains;

                        this is the first paradox and inextricable knot

                        of our nature.

                                                    Sri Aurobindo                

‘Thoughts and Glimpses’

‘…Moulding and remoulding (Mahasaraswati) labours each part till it has attained its true form, is put in its exact place in the whole and fulfils its precise purpose. In her constant and diligent arrangement and rearrangement of things her eye is on all needs at once and the way to meet them and her intuition knows what is to be chosen and what rejected and successfully determines the right instrument, the right time, the right conditions and the right process…’.

Sri Aurobindo

‘The Mother’

About this time last year I began writing what I considered would be one of the clearest example for the student of transformational operations involving the Gnostic Circle. The result of that exercise, published in the December 1992 VISHAAL (TVN 7/5), did indeed clarify the Gnostic Circle for many students to a greater degree it seems than any of my previous treatments of the subject.

A full year has passed since that first exposition involving the Horse, and two further cycles in the racing history of our filly, whom we shall give the designation F1 in this study insofar as more equine participants enter the field which will be F2, and so on. Not only has more light been cast on the operations of the Gnostic Circle through these two additional cycles of nine races each, but the unusual or rather astonishing accuracy of the power of the Gnostic Time brought into clearer focus certain perplexing questions which have haunted the mind of humanity for many thousands of years. The developments contained in and described by the Gnostic Circle brought into focus particularly significant aspects of destiny such as free will, predetermination, freedom of choice, and so forth. In all my experience of a lifetime dedicated to these matters, I have rarely encountered a better means to explain these elusive and mysterious aspects of destiny than the description of events involving the Horse in the following pages.

By way of an introduction, it may be interesting for the student to review certain aspects of the Gnostic Circle in the context of the last cycle of nine, as well as the new material. What must be held foremost in mind is the essential function of the Gnostic Circle and the different approach it provides to questions of destiny compared to traditional methods of discovery such as astrology. I have touched upon this subject earlier but with the new developments since then far more has been perceived and though the essence was known even before, the recent happenings offer now the possibility to transmit these essential truths in a manner which ought to silence speculation.

To begin, let us review the main difference between traditional astrology and the Gnostic Circle of the new cosmology. The usual tool for analysis and prediction in the former is the natal horoscope. With that as the basis of enquiry the astrologer proceeds to describe the character and destiny of the individual. The natal chart also serves as the basis for prediction throughout the lifetime of the subject in that for specific details in one’s evolution at any given time, the astrologer progresses that natal configuration of the planets on a yearly basis. Added to this are the actual planetary positions which are said to be in transit over sensitive points in the original natal horoscope.

The art of astrology has evolved over the ages to the point where sometimes a great degree of accuracy is obtained in analysis of the enquirer’s character and destiny. Indeed, the celestial wheel of twelve signs, the basis for the construction, is understood to bear relevance to or to influence a host of mundane affairs, anything ranging from parental influence and interaction with the subject, marriage, the procreative capacity of not only the enquirer but also of his or her spouse. There are segments of the chart which deal with inherent talents as well as the ability to utilise those talents in life, or the obstructions one may encounter in doing so. Thus, the career potential is seen, successes, failures in the fulfilment of ambitions, and so on. Every aspect of life is seen to be covered by the twelve signs of the zodiac and the houses of the chart which form the structure of every horoscope, being as they are the traditional divisions of the celestial wheel which constitutes our planet’s orbit of the Sun.

Earlier on, the focus of the chart must have been different, if we analyse in depth the significance of the twelve hieroglyphs which antiquity has bequeathed to us. It is clear that the symbols enshrine a process of development, of evolution of consciousness above all else. Indeed, the later development was simply a degeneration or a ‘fall’, a lapse into the lesser aspects of the art because its loftier truths had been lost sight of. A simple means to demonstrate this discrepancy regarding the deeper significance of the hieroglyphs is by studying the symbols on the basis of the higher understanding of the zodiac’s function and contrasting that with the contemporary understanding.  The symbol of the fifth sign Leo,  for example, is considered by the contemporary astrologer to represent the tail of the lion. This would seem logical insofar as it is precisely the sign of the Lion. However, it is also the sign of paternity, the Purush, the masculine principle and the creative capacity, among other things. As far as its natural house is concerned, the fifth sign/house is the segment of the chart which, among other things, refers to the birth of children for the subject. Thus, on this basis it should be evident that this  is not really the lion’s tail but rather a male sperm. Similarly, the symbol for the fourth sign Cancer, preceding Leo, depicts the feminine organs of reproduction, as well as the breasts, . We assume that the creators of the twelve hieroglyphs did not possess microscopes and so could not have ‘seen’ the minuscule sperm; therefore we have never ‘seen’ it in the symbol – only the common lion’s tail. Similarly, we assume that the creator of the Capricorn hieroglyph could not have known the configuration of the Indian landmass and therefore it never occurred to us to ‘see’ that land delineated in the hieroglyph, a land Capricorn is said to rule.

Today there are schools which do indeed seek to understand these higher aspects of the art in their respective disciplines on the road to a transformation of consciousness. But to my knowledge none of these attempts have penetrated the fullest dimensions of the art and unravelled its deepest mysteries. This is largely because we stand at the threshold of a very great and revolutionising change in the evolution of the species. Hence everything that seemed to provide the human being with a firm footing in the soil of past ages is unable to serve in the same manner in the new future that awaits us. In our present 9^th Manifestation the birth of the Child has occurred. This means the birth of a new creation, a new species, a new world. We are able to look at our surroundings, even at our circumscribing cosmic space in which the twelve heavenly hieroglyphs are etched, with new eyes, in the act of a new seeing. When truths of this nature are lost, when a degeneration sets in with the flow of time, when disorder ensues, it indicates that a renewal is demanded. Sometimes the consciousness-structure can accompany us in the passage with minor changes introduced here and there. In the case of our present passage, the changes demanded are not minor. They are total.

Thus we seem to be standing on very shaky foundations. It appears that everything we have found adequate to sustain our march into the future is now being ruthlessly attacked and often entirely torn down. This may well be true, but it is also true that the perceptive eye is able to focus on elements of the old creation which are not meant to be destroyed but rather transformed. The human species, for example. They are, as it were, eternal truths. However they too, notwithstanding the eternity of their essence, require a periodic restructuring of the outer forms which encase this essence. The method to bring about this restructuring of the form of things to better express the eternal divine Essence is the subject of the Gnostic Circle. Consequently, the Circle explains the operations of the Becoming in ways never before perceived precisely because we have entered the Age in which a harmonisation must occur between the Being and the Becoming.

Ostensibly the traditional horoscope deals with the Becoming also. Indeed, astrology of whatever school is concerned with Time, and by consequence with the Becoming which is regulated by Time. But there are fundamental differences between the new and the old ways of perceiving destiny. While the horoscope based on the wheel of twelve provides insights into our participation in the Becoming during the course of our lives, the Gnostic Circle is a diagram which though essentially a wheel of time is first and foremost a tool to help us perceive the process involved in the transformation which will permit new forms to evolve adequate to express the new consciousness which has dawned in this new Age of the Supermind.

Thus the Gnostic Circle’s main feature is a means to understand the manner in which aspects of the Becoming are utilised in this act of transformation. In this lies its revolutionising capacity. Indeed, the principal tool at our disposal in any real transformation involving consciousness and form is precisely the act of seeing. The Gnostic Circle refocuses our ‘lens’ of perception so that light from a hitherto untapped source may penetrate areas of our individual and collective consciousness until now closed to this essence due to in-built inadequacies of the perceiving eye, which in turn is conditioned by its ‘encasement’.

It is for this reason that we are unable to describe minute details of the external trappings of destiny of the events being monitored in the Gnostic Circle. Prediction as it is currently understood and practised is not possible with the Gnostic Circle. As the example I will offer in the following pages reveals, at no time were these events foreseen in the shape they took. We are able to predict by the Gnostic Circle the circumstances in which and by which our transformation may occur, and we can only appreciate by its aid the stages of the development and the control existent over that eternal play. Indeed, the Gnostic Circle provides the key to perceive the manner in which the Becoming of any event central to the operation is drawn into the arena and controlled by the central Sun of that particular cosmos in evolution so that all may serve ‘the purposes of the One’.

Process is the keyword. Not prediction. In the first part of this series I discussed an aspect of this particular example which could be applied to any other application of the Gnostic Circle. It was the question of extraction and expression of the true potential of a given subject. Therefore, the selection of horse racing seemed felicitous in that the main objective of the proper training of a racehorse is precisely the development of the equine athlete’s fullest potential. There are various obvious reasons why competitive sport is a good field of observation, and in particular the racing scene. Millions of dollars, pounds, yen, or rupees are involved in the exercise. Given this enormous investment we may assume that everything possible will be done to secure ideal conditions for the extraction of the horse’s fullest potential. On the success or failure of the development hinges the outcome of the expenditure and desired profits.

It may be argued that any athletic endeavour today would serve the same purpose in that most sports now involve as large an investment to develop the human potential as the output for the equine athlete, minus the initial investment in the purchase of the horse, which is usually the largest part of the racing investment. However, the nature of the horse in this instance is more suited to our purposes than the human being given its connection in the first instance with the vital plane and the life force which are directly connected to the play of circumstances of the Becoming. And secondly, because of its structure which permits the force of consciousness to operate in a more direct and undiluted fashion whereby not only is the operation purer, so to speak, but it is more easily perceived due to this uncontaminated condition, unlike with the human being. Indeed the present discussion will reveal just how difficult any real transformation is for the human creature, and by this example involving the horse, exactly what the limitations are that we face as a species in transition to a higher level of evolution. In particular regarding the cycles under observation in this part of the series, we will appreciate the dilemma of women, how they continue to reinforce the shackles which ostensibly they seek to become free of. Horse racing is, it seems, the only major sport where men and women as jockeys participate equally. Hence this too will be featured in our discussion with respect to the evolution of the human race to a more equitable manifestation of the sexes.

The Earth, the Third and the Horse Vahana

The field of our experience is this Earth plane, this particular planet in the third orbit from the Sun. Our location in this solar system indicates the nature of our planetary purpose within the Sun’s family of nine. Through the new cosmology we know that the third orbit in the Gnostic Circle refers to the Individual Divine in the essential trinity which the Sacred Triangle highlights: Transcendent, Cosmic and Individual. It is the planet suited to house a creation in which the soul may govern the evolution; or rather, may use the evolution for its divine Purpose. That is, the fullest expression of the Truth it contains. Therefore, the soul is as it were the vahana or carrier of the Supreme in this material universe to move through the Becoming of Itself, organising the circumstances of its play in creation to better express that Supreme Consciousness in time and space. The soul is thus similar to the horse in relation to man. It is the Supreme’s carrier or vahana just as the horse is the human’s. And insofar as the 3 falls in the section of the Circle covering the vital being, the connection between Horse Symbol and Soul in evolution is clear. In the Rigveda this connection is described accurately in the hymns to Usha, the Divine Dawn, the Earth’s first experience of the Light. Her vahana is the Horse – precisely the One of the divine Purpose: Agni.

The Veda’s prolific contribution of Gods, Goddesses, their carriers, and indeed the rich store of Myth are means to describe this journey of the Supreme in creation through the instrumentation of the Soul, a ‘ray’ of Itself. Thus, to deny the validity and reality of material creation and participation therein, exhorting the seeker to reject this cosmic manifestation by labelling it ‘illusion’, as most spirituality does, is to deny the Supreme Consciousness its medium of self-expression in the creation it gave rise to and continues to support; it is to deny our real birthright as participants in the Earth’s evolution as the third planet in the system.

The nature of the soul is not understood in its fuller dimensions, indeed in its most fascinating and awe-inspiring aspects. This is particularly the case for those who have had the misfortune – or good fortune, when we view the evolution of the species in its most comprehensive arc – to be a part of one or the other of the Earth’s civilisations during the past two thousand years or so. For it was during this period, the entire Age of Pisces, that this understanding was lost. The outer proof is to be found in the rise of religions as organised belief systems, displacing the Vedic injunction of a direct experience of God rather than mere faith; but above all that none have respected or followed the line of development from antiquity which produced Myth.

All civilisations on Earth, products of the Piscean Age, experienced a complete break with tradition in this regard. All, that is, except India. It was in fact during the Age of Pisces that India consolidated its position regarding Myth in the formulation of the divine Reality. Hence it is, truly speaking, only in India that we can find elements of the tradition intact and indeed thriving. This is simply because the Veda continues to occupy centrestage and Myth is still the cultural backdrop of Indian society in spite of invasions from Semitic cultures and the relentless efforts of conquerors to exterminate Myth; and of course, ‘idol worship’ which is its companion. Indeed, the term itself now bears a negative connotation, so powerful has been the rise of a consciousness which represents an antithesis of the ancient tradition. If India had not preserved this tradition, it is unlikely that the experience with the Horse I am describing in this series would have been possible anywhere else. That it transpires in India is an additional proof that the Sanatan Dharma, the eternal truth, is alive and well.

A central part of this age-old tradition is the knowledge of the Ten Avatars. It is interesting to note that the tenth or last in the Line is none other than Kalki, the ‘horse’ Avatar. For not only is the manifestation represented as a man astride a white horse with sword in hand, there are even more powerful depictions where the Avatar himself is the Horse, as the figure following demonstrates. Kalki in fact is an appearance of our very Age. We are in the period of Kalki whose birth sign is precisely Sagittarius, the sign of the Horse.

These revelations arise in the soul. This seeing is only offered to the human creation through that channel – hence I have often written that it is a plunge within which opens these doors of the innermost chamber of being. And there the Gods and Goddesses and their vahanas and all else – indeed, the Supreme Consciousness itself in the form of Skambha – are seen, lived, known.

Given this involvement, or involution, of the Divine Consciousness in creation in this intrinsic way, there is no reason why escape from material, cosmic manifestation is required. Indeed, it is, as stated, a denial or a perversion of our birthright, and as a spiritual experience it certainly marked the nadir of the human quest. But the human being is given a choice. Escape itself is provided as ‘a way out’. If the iron grip of Time is too hard to bear, the seeker may find relief from the pressure by exiting for a time until a solid core is forged which can withstand the contracting power without recoil or collapse. It is clear that in the middle of the last Manifestation, the 8^th, some 5000 years ago, seekers encountered the same difficulty. It is expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, a product of that Manifestation, in the description of the recoil experienced when, after beseeching his Friend and Guide, Krishna, to reveal his true divine form, Arjun then pleads with Krishna to return to the image he can bear, that of his loving mentor and friend. Krishna as the Avatar, emanation of Vishnu, had appeared to him precisely in the form of the Time-Spirit in the process of creating and devouring the worlds in manifestation.

Myth and the Paradox of Compressed Time

This brings us to the main function of the soul in creation, as well as a deeper understanding of time, destiny and circumstance. For the soul is indeed the encasement of the Supreme or Absolute Consciousness. While at the same time it IS that very Consciousness which it envelops. This paradox is beautifully expressed in the ancient Vedic myth concerning the origin of Daksha, progenitor of the Gods and father of Sati, Shiva’s first consort, and his connection at the origin with Aditi, the Divine Mother of creation. For Daksha is both father and son of Aditi. In the words of the Rigveda, ‘…Daksha sprang from Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha.’

Naturally scholars who study these stories with a view to comprehending the ancient spirit and mind of the Indian people, without the soul initiation that opens the innermost chamber of higher knowledge, cannot understand anything of their deeper meaning and cosmic sense, imposing as they must perforce do the limitations of scholastic conditioning on a realm of experience and discovery quite foreign to that world.

But we need not extend our investigation into remote times since we have the new cosmology and the actual experience it describes of the Solar Line to clarify the very same paradox: the 9 of the Line is both father to his ‘daughter’ (the 3), as well as her own son (the 0/1). This is made clear only when we realise that Sri Aurobindo as the Transcendent 9 left this plane and in an unbroken line of time took birth through the Third who is his own ‘daughter’ in the Solar Line. She is ‘daughter’ by way of her FUNCTION in the scale of creation. It is the cosmic principle which we relate to our birth experience on Earth in this way, because she is the distilled essence of the 9 and the Cosmic Mother, the 6. The Daughter Principle is the bridge which the Transcendent 9 crosses in his voyage to Immanence. Through her he takes birth as the compressed SEED of himself, or the Immanent One. Then at this stage there is a ‘reversal’. The other side finds its bridge linking our time and space; the Son is not only a ‘principle’. He takes birth as a physical son as well, for the Physical and Spiritual have been joined.

This profound truth of material creation is found retold time and again in India in all of the different periods of her long and unbroken civilisation. In the Puranic period, after the Vedic, it surfaces in the tale of Shiva, Sati, Parvati, and Kartikeya, Parvati’s son who is ‘Shiva himself’. Thus this re-echoes the tale of Daksha who is son of the divine Aditi while at the same time he is her father. The coherency and consistency of the teaching over such vast movements of time is testimony to the power of the original act of seeing, to the vigour of that eternal truth-seed which is the origin of what we now call Hinduism.

As a similar but contemporary Myth, we have Sri Aurobindo’s epic poem, Savitri. It presents the same truth, perhaps clearer in that his writing has been simultaneous with the myth’s unfolding in time. Thus in Savitri we have the same four components. There is Ashwapathy, Savitri’s father, the Queen Mother, Savitri and finally Satyavan. They very accurately correspond to the 9, 6, 3, and 0-1 of the Solar Line in the new cosmology, as well as the same cosmo-geneology expressed in the tales of Shiva. The contemporary myth is so accurate that Savitri’s father is called Ashwapathy, which means Lord of the Horse.

Disciples are fully aware that Sri Aurobindo identified with Ashwapathy and that his own yoga is described in the epic as Ashwapathy’s experiences. At the same time, disciples believe that Satyavan is truly Sri Aurobindo inasmuch as he is the consort of the divine Savitri, whom they understand to be the Mother. But paradoxically, while Satyavan is the central figure in the story, he is rather obscure, his character is the least defined, he is virtually an unknown quantity and figures only as the main object in Savitri’s quest and ultimate victory over Death when she redeems his soul and brings him back to Earth. Virtually throughout the entire epic Satyavan spends his time in the sleep of death!

Sri Aurobindo, when commenting on the epic’s symbolism, referred to Satyavan as the ‘soul of the Earth’. It is the new cosmic formula that more accurately details the participation and function of each of the four elements. It also casts light on a rather ambiguous aspect of the yoga regarding the nature of the psychic being and the soul. The two are often confused and difficult to define properly. Sri Aurobindo has sought to remove the terminological confusion on a number of occasions. In his letters to disciples he has clarified that the psychic being is on the order of the soul’s personality or encasement when incarnating. The new cosmology would explain it as the Third, and indeed in this sense it is related to the Person; while the fourth, the soul, is that innermost, centremost Point, the Son, the One. In this light, it is entirely true that Satyavan as fourth is the ‘soul of the Earth’.

Returning to our analysis, by including the details of the Solar Line in this regard, the intention is to consolidate or render concrete and substantial a knowledge which is all too often elusive and therefore open to innumerable ‘interpretations’, and hence falsification. The paternity of the Third of the Solar Line lies in the law she embodies and her enactment thereof in this special 9^th Manifestation. She is in this essential way the (9) Father’s ‘daughter’ because in her essential nature she cannot be anything else. At the same time, she gives birth to him as the Son (0/1) because he is as well bound to this channel of manifestation by laws which he embodies. In a word, the Avatar, and in particular the Avatars of this Age of the Supermind, simply re-enact the process of creation in its most essential, psychic features. Not because to do so helps the seeker to understand the phenomenon of which he or she is an unconscious and often blind participant, but because they are simply true to their nature or inherent DHARMA, to the law that drives their Being in this Becoming. And in this manner the Supreme descends, takes birth in time and thus etches this higher Purpose and Function on the canvas of the evolution of consciousness on Earth. But it is not all the Avatars who enact this drama of creation captured in the ancient myths. For it is only in the 9^th Manifestation that the work is done. The full Four Powers incarnate and bring to a close the process described in the Puranic line of the Ten Avatars. They forge the connection between Swar, ‘heaven’ of the Veda, and this physical Earth plane.

Thus the Third is, properly speaking, the SOUL – be it individual or collective. She is the encasement of the Supreme Consciousness just as each human being is and can know him or herself to be. She holds within the seed, the Transcendent 9, compressed by the action of the Mother into that tiny Point: Skambha, the support of the worlds, or the Supreme Principle at the heart of creation.

What we call the Timeless is thus involved, the Transcendent takes birth in time through this medium which is the essence of Itself but simply compressed. The product of that great cosmic act of creation is the Golden Seed or Hiranyaretas: Agni, the cosmic principle of Fire. Science will make this discovery when it is able to step beyond the barriers death imposes which closes out our perception and observation the process of creation on the other side. It is blocked at observation, at scrutiny of the 1, the first point of space, disconnected from the origin of Itself (the 0) which lies in that dimension beyond and from where the material universe has spring. It was no ‘big bang’ as such. It was imply the birth of the One from the fulness of Itself.

The Golden Seed is thus the compressed 9, 6, 3. That is, Future, Past and Present are its essence. In other words, compressed Time. If this were not so, if this compression of the future, for example, did not exist there would be no explanation – nay, occurrence – of the phenomena known as precognition, deja vu, prophecy, prediction, and so forth. One cannot foresee what does not exist somewhere, somehow. Because the Transcendent is compressed into the substance of our individual soul, we are at times able to rend the veil and perceive aspects of our future inasmuch as the Transcendent is the ALL. It is the foundation of being. But it is the future undifferentiated. That is, it has not crossed the bridge provided by the soul, the Third, by which channel order is established. Thus the Third ‘puts order’ into things of this creation. She channels time from the present of itself – for she is indeed the present in the trinity and hence the centre. She is, or gives birth to, the ‘centre that holds’ and without which things ‘fall apart’, time reverts to chaos and not cosmos, collapses, falls back into the Fulness from where it emerged, only to repeat the creative process throughout eternity.

The Third is therefore a sort of regulating apparatus. What she regulates is movement, speed. Thus her vahana is necessarily the Horse; and in this special 9^th Manifestation of the 9^th sign Sagittarius, horse racing is an especially suited endeavour to demonstrate the action as well as to work out certain ‘knots’ which have arisen with the passage of time (‘knots’ precisely of time’s energy) affecting that regulated flow which threatens to drive into disorder the energies operating through the evolution of consciousness and being on Earth. This ‘working out’ is aimed at the vital centre and plane of consciousness; and indeed this is the field of operation of the Third, while for the 6th and the Cosmic Divine it was the mental plane with which the 6 has special affinity. The field of the 9, the father of the Line, is the spiritual plane, while for the 0-1 it is the Physical. The four powers thus gather into themselves all the planes of creation.

Money, the Vital and the Horse

The racing animal is thus a sublime ‘symbol’ of the process which regulates speed (of consciousness), for in the rightful experience of such a process lies the success or failure of the horse to pass the winning post before the other equine competitors.

But there is more involved in the matter, of a perhaps less elusive or esoteric nature. This is money power, plain and simple. This is easily appreciated if we reflect on a simple equation: energy is time is money. With this any businessman or entrepreneur would agree. But there is a cosmic sense to the equation whereby money becomes the outer symbol of that play of energy in its cosmic import. The ‘knots’ I have discussed above are equally the knotted condition of the Earth’s wealth, with money power in the hands of a few, depriving the many of their basic needs and just share. Yet this would not be a problem if the flow were as harmonious as the cosmic order demands. The ‘knots’ in the flow are precisely those transgressions in the vital dimension of being which hamper any real and equitable distribution of this energy/power in such a way as to ensure that it provides for all while at the same time there is no strangulation of the channels which are by destiny meant to draw that energy onto this Earth-plane and place it at the service of humanity at large.

Insofar as we are at the Third’s level in the Supramental Descent, and that to this manifestation is connected the vital and by consequence money power, the stock exchange, for example, is a perfect ‘field’ for a display of the power of the Third by its involvement with money power or the energy it represents or ties up. In ‘knots’ for the most part. Hence Sri Aurobindo wrote of the need to re-conquer this energy for the Divine since it is presently in the hands of the titans, the Asuras:

‘Money is the visible sign of a universal force, and this force in its manifestation on earth works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life. In its origin and its true action it belongs to the Divine. But like other powers of the Divine it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego or held by Asuric influences and perverted to their purpose. This is indeed one of the three forces – power, wealth, sex – that have the strongest attraction for the human ego and the Asura and are most generally misheld and misused by those who retain them. The seekers or keepers of wealth are more often possessed rather than its possessors; few escape entirely a certain distorting influence stamped on it by its long seizure and perversion by the Asura. For this reason most spiritual disciplines insist on a complete self-control, detachment and renunciation of all bondage to wealth and of all personal and egoistic desire for its possession. Some even put a ban on money and riches and proclaim poverty and bareness of life as the only spiritual condition. But this is an error; it leaves the power in the hands of the hostile forces. To reconquer it for the Divine to whom it belongs and use it divinely for the divine life is the supramental way…’. (The Mother, 1928)

It may be interesting to note that in 1992, when the yoga of the Third reached a major turning point, when the Asura threatened to overtake precisely the source of power which was and remains her symbol-field, the Indian stock exchange went into convulsions. First it soared to unimaginable, delirious heights, then it was plunged into the darkness of ‘scams’ and the like. These are an example of the ‘knots’. That is, pockets of darkness, of twisted energy which, because of their compressed, obscure condition are able to usurp the power. That phase of the yoga accomplished successfully, it produced an inevitable ‘reversal’ in the following year. The effects were felt on our filly, completing the combined work of 1992 and 1993 of the Yoga. Also of note in view of the connection between horse, the vital plane and money power is the fact that India’s experiment with a liberalisation of the economy began when our filly started her racing career.

All the characteristics of the vital are contained in the contemporary phenomenon of the prosaic and utterly mundane stock market, to the extent that when the movement of stocks is described in newspapers, it reads more like a log of a mental patient in an asylum. For indeed ‘all life is yoga’, to borrow Sri Aurobindo’s aphorism once again. We refer to the stock market as ‘buoyant’, ‘excited’, ‘depressed’, – or even more aptly, ‘bullish’, since indeed the zodiacal sign that rules money and thus the stock market is Taurus, sign of the Bull. These are all terms reflective of the vital function in the consciousness-being of the individual and the collectivity. But a field for the play of energy allotted to the vital in the schema of evolution from involution is nowhere more suited to a working-out process than the betting arena of the race course. In this nuclear field we find all the ‘excitement’ and ‘depression’ of the ordinary stock exchange, with the difference that at the centre of the exercise stands not the human being or industry but the Horse, supreme symbol precisely of the Vital. This is therefore the best arena at our disposal to prove the new cosmology’s choicest aphorism, ‘the symbol is the thing symbolised’.

The Present is the time-energy arena of the Third. Horse racing and its betting structure fall in line with this time-boundary in that everything involved plays itself out fully and immediately in the race for which the bets are being taken. Though the stock exchange is also a field of manifestation of the vital plane, the betting arena of racing serves as a more appropriate ‘symbol’ insofar as there is no carry over. The race of the moment is the focus. Bets are placed and either won or lost with the instant outcome. There are no stocks to negotiate and re-negotiate, to hold, to sell, to buy and re-sell. No accumulation, as such. It is all decided by the race of the moment. And the fever at the time punters are placing their bets in the precincts of betting is in no way inferior to the well of the stock exchange building for a physical, visual image of the hysteria, excitement, agitation and rise in the vital temperature the exercise provokes.

But in racing with its mini-stock exchange there are the same ‘knots’ as in its macro model. The flow is disturbed by gaps, seepages, furtive drains, siphoning off energy from the system. It is indeed a perfect symbol of the condition we seek to transform in the evolution of the species so that energy now drained away, usurped, wasted, may go to the Divine, at the service of the process to effect a rise of the species to a higher level of creation on this Earth and for which much larger stores of energy have to be put at the disposal of the human being. The vehicle is the Vital, centre of the combustion of energy. The symbol is the Horse.

It is when the level of the Third is reached in the Supramental Descent that the present of time’s energy becomes the focus. Hence it is, rightfully speaking, only at this, our actual level, that the symbol can become ‘the very thing symbolised’. In the present, distance vanishes, spaces between things, between the observer and the observed. As such what the symbol stands for is the very object of the transformation. In this case, the Horse. It is not ‘up there’ any longer, in the ‘ideal plane’ where ‘symbols’ are born and remain separate from the thing symbolised. It is here, rooted in the NOW. Physical. Measurable. Irrefragable in the truth it conveys, to use the word Sri Aurobindo employed to describe the truth of the supramental Gnosis. Similarly, the Solar Line Transcendent is no longer ‘up there’. He is immanent. He is driven into the compressed Point, first principle of Matter, by the power of the 6 and the 3. Heaven descends upon Earth.

Grappling with the Shadow-Residue

We left off the analysis of F1’s racing experience with the completion of her 9^th race and thus the close of the first ennead and the opening of the second – 9 to 18. It may be recalled that the filly had been turned completely sour by the dubious antics of the jockey who rode her during that first cycle. At this point, it is important to discuss the meaning of the first ennead in any process monitored in the Gnostic Circle; or for that matter, the first ennead of life. In the present example we are concerned with stages of the development signalled by a series of horse races. Whereas for the human being it is a question of time cycles of days/months/years. But the same process or development pertains to both. The essential point to bear in mind is that the first cycle of 9 sets the tone for the further development.

Thus, in the case of F1, it was clear that the negative imprinting she received during passage over the 4.5 Orbit – or between her 4^th and 5^th races, would constitute a formidable ‘handicap’ in the future play-out. It soon became more than clear, as had been earlier foreseen, that the next cycle – 9 to 18 – would be almost entirely focussed on an undoing of that negative imprint, if at all it could be done.

If this occurs in racing, normally the trainer will not waste his time, especially at racing centres where competition is stiff. In the case of fillies this is even more the case because, unlike colts or geldings, the filly’s career though unsatisfactory on the track can be redeemed in breeding. This is especially true when the pedigree is good or above average.

To avoid this situation, F1 was sent to a sensitive and caring woman trainer, the only female in that particular centre and perhaps in all of India. Thus, when F1 returned to the track after her 7^th race which resulted in a three-month rest on the farm where she was bred, she was placed in this young trainer’s yard because it was felt that only in such an environment would the filly encounter the right atmosphere for rehabilitation, if this was at all still possible.

The sojourn on the farm, at the source, as I have explained in the first part of this series, was indeed beneficial. Her sourness disappeared instantly when she reached the farm; returned to the track, she was healthier and happier. Her first race in these new conditions – the 8^th – reflected this changed state of affairs, as I have described in the last article.

Thus, the new cycle opened on this positive note. Racing was shifted to the summer venue, since the season in her base city had come to an end, making of the 9^th truly a new beginning. What transpired thereafter is especially important to note in the context of F1’s particular problem, – that is, her recovery from a sour condition caused by the mixed signals she had received early in her career. In such a case and when opening a new cycle, of special significance is the need not to reinforce the imprint one wishes to dismantle. This is fundamental, otherwise the second ennead will serve only to burden the subject with more negativity. And thus it was, to a certain extent, for our filly.

Her 9^th race, as reported earlier, was successful in that for the first time she seemed to be a willing participant. If she lost that race it was simply due to her heavy handicap (she was almost top weight), and the fact that the winner, carrying 9 kilos less, was clearly of a higher class brought down to Class VA, or the second to the last, which was still the classification of our filly. But from the point of view of the psychological problems of F1 – that is, the need to work out the shadow-residue left by the previous negative imprinting – the race was a definite success. It seemed that she had finally decided to accept the jockey, any jockey, and did not look upon him as an enemy working at cross-purposes with her. However, there was soon to be a set-back in this regard. The filly’s 10^th race proved to be a disaster in terms of the shedding of any negative residue from the first cycle of 9.

For the 10^th race F1 was allotted the same mediocre jockey as before simply for the fact that she had responded to him well, it seemed. Therefore, given her problem with jockeys it was felt that rather than change for a better jockey, more experienced and with a better track record, there should be no change which might upset her again. However, in the interim between her 9^th and 10^th races that jockey had raced and received a suspension of his license for one year for ‘not allowing his mount to run on its merits’; or, put more plainly, for pulling the horse, for holding him back and not allowing him to win. To further secure that he could not encourage his mount as is customary in the last stretch, he made it a point to lose his whip early on. This seemed to cast further doubt on his intentions and was duly noted by the stewards.

The jockey of course denied the charges and appealed the punishment. His suspension was to have started immediately, but given the appeal it was postponed until a particular date when the appeal would be heard. This allowed him to continue riding at that centre until then. If heard and rejected, the jockey would neither be able to ride in that centre where the transgression took place or in any other throughout the world which is connected to the international racing network.

In spite of this situation the trainer retained him for the filly’s 10^th race because of the reasons given above. But this proved to be a misjudgement. Insofar as his permanent suspension was a certainty and that his appeal would be rejected, it seems he became even more reckless. As the video of the race reveals, the jockey fought a constant battle with the filly who wanted only to get in the lead and stay there till the end. He interfered shamelessly with her performance, being seen to yank her head from side to side violently in the struggle to place her in the rear, though she jumped out of the gate and had placed herself first, her preferred position.

The result of his vigorous efforts was that she passed the winning post last – the first time in her career. By the time the horses reached the last stretch and were accelerating toward the post, our filly lost heart and resigned herself to her trailing position where the jockey had succeeded in pinning her down. We were thus faced with potentially a terrible set-back, given the dedication with which all the participants in her career had sought to ease up the burden of her negative imprint. It seemed by this that she would experience a reinforcement of the very thing we strove to dissolve. On his part, the jockey then departed for a racing venue in the Middle East, outside the international network to continue his ‘career’.

The harmony of parts within the whole

At this point it is well to discuss an aspect of the experience which reflects on any situation where teamwork is required. For the purposes of our study – that is, the Gnostic Circle as a tool or guide in the transformation of consciousness – the field under observation is not restricted to sports and the racing endeavour. Though the latter does offer a splendid means for highlighting the difficulty the human being faces when he or she requires a cooperative attitude on behalf of others in order to succeed in life. Indeed, if we consider ourselves isolated and completely auto-dependent during our sojourn on this planet, we are mistaken. The human being is a social creature, for reasons quite cosmic in nature. The collectivity of which he is a part is fundamental to the fulfilment of his destiny. There is what is known as the self-made man or woman. But this is only relative. It may pertain to the development of talents in order to reach a certain self-expression; but the field within which that expression must evolve is populated by other humans without whose collaboration our self-made individual could not succeed.

Yet this ‘collaboration’ need not be positive. At times tension is required when the individual bears a certain character which demands such a ‘stimulus’ in order to achieve a desired end.

It is clear that in a sports enterprise there must be positive collaboration between all the elements involved – i.e., owner, trainer, jockey; and then the stewards and other officials of the turf’s team who are supposed to assure that the highest standards are maintained in a sport where large quantities of public and state money are involved.

By the time the filly had experienced her 10^th (negative) race, an important feature of the experience was beginning to crystallise. It was the lack of cooperation between all the elements involved. It would seem obvious that for a horse to win, trainer, jockey and owner should present a united front and goal – i.e., to win. But often this is not the case. Each one is a separate entity with his or her goals, compulsions, priorities and machinations to achieve them. Moreover, even when the three are working in unison there is the rest of the set-up to contend with: the stewards, the attitude of the other competitors who may be in the game for entirely different reasons and using underhand means to achieve certain ends which are not exactly compatible with honest and fair sport. In other words, the field in which all of this transpires.

Though I was aware of the jockey’s potential to interfere with the attainment of the goal, the filly’s 10^th race brought to the fore the difficulty an owner can face with his or her trainer; or vice-versa, the trainer with the owner. Indeed, many times the trainer prepares the horse for a sure win but the owner enters into a secret agreement with the jockey to see that his own horse loses, while he places his bet elsewhere.

One would expect that faced with such a perverse twist, with such a wicked undermining of one’s hard efforts, the trainer would be inclined to denounce the fraudulent practice before the stewards if the situation had reached the point of an enquiry. But in my experience this was never the case. The trainer invariably stood by the jockey regardless of his dubious, surreptitious machinations which caused the trainer to lose the race and lay waste his efforts. Moreover, as anyone knows who has followed the ‘sport’ for any length of time, jockeys often heed neither trainer nor owner but rather the shadowy injunctions of some bookmaker who has a stake in the horse’s failure to win. Though I am not proficient in this aspect of the ‘sport’ – that is, the gambling, betting part – insofar as my interest lies in the sport for sport’s sake, not to speak of the rigorous demands of the Gnostic Circle, it is clear that betting on a race is an unavoidable part of the enterprise and will not go away. Indeed, it is even an accepted and welcome part of amateur or gymkhana racing. For the purpose of our study and the connection between the Horse and the Vital Plane, and by consequence money power, betting in racing and the mini stock exchange excitement it engenders is a necessary ‘evil’. It creates an atmosphere which is conducive to the sort of experience the horse needs to serve the purpose for which he is drawn into the world of racing. From its higher perspective, it is clear.

Thus gambling on the part of most of the participants in the ‘sport’ creates conditions which would not exist if the practice were banned. And then horse racing would not serve us as it does in this nuclear experience which draws together various dimensions of human activity and planes of consciousness-being.

It needs also to be mentioned that the costs of maintaining a race horse being as high as they are, while the stake money in India is relatively low, owners often have no choice but to engage in betting just to be able to keep the horse in the sport. Without the successful gamble, usually two wins are required in order to meet costs. In addition, horses are rarely trained to race as well and as much as they could, and in which case more money could be earned without betting, given the archaic methods still practiced by almost all trainers. The advances made in training methods of human athletes over the past two decades have not percolated down to the equine athlete as yet.

The outcome of F1’s 10^th race was therefore the realisation that between all the elements ostensibly engaged in the common enterprise of getting this equine athlete to perform at her best and hopefully to win, there was no essential harmony. Indeed, in the racing set-up in general there is little harmony; jockeys often demonstrate disregard for trainer or owner; owners often mistrust them both; between trainer and jockeys and stewards there is a decided we-against-them atmosphere and the latter are seen as ‘enemies’ to be either fooled, cajoled or humoured, if not feared. Indeed, the steward is not only god, he is, like the Semitic deity, a god whom all fear, though often his credentials do not qualify him for the job of either steward or ‘god’.

It does not require much depth of perception to realise that this condition is applicable to almost every aspect of life, every human endeavour. Harmony is not a feature of the human condition except in exceptional situations when it cannot be otherwise; not for harmony’s sake but for survival or other demands of self-interest. Our political systems throughout the world, democracies, for example, thrive on tension and confrontation, even within the parties themselves. The human condition seems to impose an atmosphere where the collectivity works at cross-purposes. Indeed, we shall explore the reasons for this condition in the subsequent pages.

In racing the element tainting everything is of course money. Not unlike politics throughout the world. Lust for more and more – and ‘the easy win’. What this implies is that often a horse of a particular calibre, say the highest Classes I and II, is consistently ‘pulled down’ to find itself in one of the lowest classes, VA or VB. This is done in a host of ways; by getting the horse in poor condition by restricting his diet, or arranging with the jockey to hold him back. Finally, when the desired lower class is reached, his condition is restored and he finds himself out-classing the other competitors. Bets are then placed and the ‘sure win’ in such conditions brings large dividends on the gambling front. None seem to care about the humiliation this signifies for the horse. Indeed, there are times when the animal displays far more sense and decency than humans and simply refuses to go along with the fraud, refuses to ‘cooperate’, turns off, closes up and is then labelled ‘sour’. This is more often than not the equine athlete’s only protective device when faced with insurmountable obstacles – i.e., everybody and everything against the fulfilment of its purpose: display of its maximum potential under optimum conditions in a healthy atmosphere of respect, dignity, understanding and passionate desire to excel. This spirit is found for the most part only in Classic and not handicap races, the category to which our filly was restricted because of her unknown pedigree. But in Classic races, while ‘pulling’ and the like is at a minimum, another problem is found, also connected to the Vital dimension of being. This is lust for power, a perverted desire to reach the top at all costs, by whatever means, not so much for the higher stakes involved, but for prestige.

All of this simply reflects the human condition as it truly is, with no masks. Thoroughbred racing seems to encapsulate it all and thus serves our purpose well as a nuclear field for the transformation.

Another perversion which has to be mentioned is the nasty habit of doping the animals, or else filling them with substances which ‘enhance’ their performance, similar of course to human athletes. Thus if one does not agree to the practice, rarely is one’s animal competing with horses on the basis of their true potential. This sort of violence is done to the animal almost as a regular practice and our fillies have had to face the additional ‘handicap’ of performing on their own merits and not on the basis of artificial substances. Veterinary science has come a long way in this regard. More and more sophisticated techniques have been devised to administer drugs which cannot be detected given the present means of scrutiny available to the race course. Owners and trainers can be assured of the ‘collaboration’ of the vet to fulfil illegitimate and perverse ambitions, often to the physical detriment of the horse, especially stallions and mares.

Be all this as it may and to return to our case under analysis, the 10^th race brought home the fact that we found ourselves decidedly at odds with our environment – both filly and owner. The sort of ‘team spirit’ one had dreamt of was absent. Everyone seemed to be working at cross-purposes and even the honest had no courage and stamina to endure the hardships and difficulties which would perforce accompany any attempt to ‘break the system’.

Cancer and the mechanical response

The filly’s 11^th race, this time with a good and reliable jockey, brought to the fore a certain aspect of this section of the Gnostic Circle – i.e., passage over the first Cardinal Point, Cancer, serves to reinforce mechanical responses. It is in this section that ruts are carved out and one thereafter slips into these grooves in the effort to secure a ‘safe niche’.

The fourth sign Cancer, traditional astrology will affirm, is the sign most expressive of a sense of insecurity. The animal symbol, the Crab is notorious for its instant recoil within its shell at the very first signs of real or imaginary approaching danger. Animals in their instinctive state will of course always react to danger by either flight or attack out of panic, but the Crab is a select symbol in that it carries on its back, as part of its very structure, that item which offers it a secure refuge: its shell. Another point to note is its devious movement in an oblique fashion, to further confound its aggressor.

But all this is simply to emphasise the fact that at this point in the passage one must come to terms with these insecurities and the consequent carving out of what appear to be secure ruts. In a word, the ego is greatly enhanced in this segment insofar as it is the human being’s device or inbuilt mechanism to protect oneself by isolation. The shell of the Crab indicates this self-containment, the element which cuts us off from our surroundings and the experience of oneness and unity with the rest of creation. A binary creature, structured around the ego-axis, cannot experience this oneness and unity with the all, – unless the individual comes upon a method to dislocate him or herself, to detach from creation and the universal manifestation by techniques available in yogas of various sorts. In creation, as an integrated part of the cosmic process and the evolution of the species, it is only a unitary creation, poised around a true centre that can live in this state of oneness.

There are any number of justifications the human being can offer to support the notion that secure ruts, buffers or shields, are the only means to survive in the hostility that surrounds us. In the case of our filly the justification came by way of her previous race in the hands of the suspended jockey, his shameless holding her back and forcing her to trail the field. Needless to say, this confirmed her distrust and fortified her hardening self-centredness.

It is this that needs to be highlighted and was clearly demonstrated in the subsequent behaviour of our filly. Up to that point, that passage over the first Cardinal Point, Cancer, there was still a certain openness which was revealed in her attitude to the jockey during her 9^th race. She cooperated to some degree and was seen to enjoy the effort, though this signified an output of only a fraction of her true potential. Nonetheless it was a positive sign and seemed to be the promise of an even better performance in her next race, in spite of the heavy handicap she was obliged to carry. With relative ease she not only kept pace with the other competitors but managed to hold her own in spite of carrying many more kilos than they.

All the psychological gains of not only that race but the efforts of the new woman trainer to diminish if not eliminate entirely the filly’s former sourness were laid waste by the suspended jockey’s outright efforts to hold the filly back. The effects of this pathetic set-back were that in her next race, the 11^th and her approach to the Cancer segment in the Gnostic Circle, it was clear that she was beginning to forge a protective mechanism around herself. Barriers were being erected in her consciousness to this end. She was closing herself up within her ‘shell’, constructing the edifice that would permit her to behave in a way that would thereinafter be her hallmark. She was withdrawing into her shell. Not sour. Indeed, she seemed totally at ease and appreciative of the loving care the new trainer was lavishing on her, pampering her status of ‘pet’ rather than racing machine. Her sister (F2) had returned from the farm-source with her; and this companionship also contributed to her sense of well-being and contentment. It seems as if she was able to distinguish between things and people in a highly accurate manner. On the one hand there was the trainer, syce and owner – all to her liking. On the other there was the jockey, her arch enemy. Her ire and distrust were saved for the latter. And thus the pattern began to take shape, so true to passage through the Cancer segment of the Circle, which allowed her to enjoy her environment but turn off any form of cooperation in the race.

The clear signs of this were noted in her 11^th race. The newspapers favoured her. They were sure that the able jockey who had agreed to ride her would ‘succeed in raising a gallop’. For by then it was evident to all that any positive performance so far was accomplished virtually at a canter. She was again favoured in the betting arena. But at the 400 mark when the jockey began to ask for a kick off in the final stretch, she closed up and refused. The result was fourth place – on the board but not in any way ‘in the race’. This became thereafter her pattern, her rut, carved out over the Cancer point in order to provide the protection she felt she needed from the onslaught of the jockeys.

Another interesting feature of this development was that from that time onward no one cared to penetrate into the psychological recesses of the filly and discover why and what she was doing. The jockey’s comment after the race was the she ‘blew out’ due to the handicap she was carrying (56 kgs). In his opinion she should be given an allowance rider to counteract the problem. Everyone seemed to forget that just a month earlier she had breezed into second place with 58 kilos on her back, well ahead of her fellow competitors with far less.

The subsequent races proved true to the indications of the Gnostic Circle. She was in a fixed rut and there seemed to be no way to draw her out. Moreover, she was so happy with her situation that one hesitated to disturb her! Time, however, was slipping by and it was clear by her 15^th race that she could go on and on in this same pattern, this same rut. Something else was needed which her environment could not provide. To explain the nature of the ‘jolt’ administered to shake her out of her rut, we must move back in time and discuss parallel developments intended to overcome the impasse brought about by unreliable jockeys, inadequate training, monitoring, controlling and the like. But first a word must be said about the difference between a binary creation, the actual human species, and a unitary creation.

Women and the Power

The Gnostic Circle indicates the method to attain a poise of unity; or how to forge that central axis and so ‘to become the Sun’, as the ancient Veda exhorts. It documents the movement of consciousness in transition to the new state of being, unknown on this planet as a collective experience. In other words, a new species destined to replace the old in the highest echelon of the animal-human kingdom. A being with a unitary axis is ever central to the unfolding of time from the innermost compressed seed lodged in the sacred precincts of the soul. In contrast, a binary creature has no central axis and therefore cannot aspire to that centremost position and the unfolding of destiny from this innermost position. He or she can only aspire to a peripheral location and consequent poise. That is, as a binary subject the only position attainable is akin to a moon of a planet. Direct circumvention of the central Sun is impossible, much less ‘to become the Sun’. There has to be an intermediary agent – in other words, a planet.

Our binary human race is, in effect, nothing more than a satellite in orbit of a planet, which in turn orbits the Sun. This is meant to indicate the poise of the species. There are numerous factors which conspire to impose this condition, not least of which is the actual physical structure of the human being. Our bodies offer just so much leeway in the question of placement within the System. To attain a different poise and position, it is clear that our vahana or carrier – that is, our physical embodiment – must undergo some form of transformation if physically we are indeed intended to accomplish this great crossing.

The role of women in this passage is crucial. Indeed, we are given the indication of this pre-eminent contribution by the status of women in different traditions. The Semitic, for example.

In the Semitic paradigm of creation based on the Old Testament, the genesis of woman demonstrates the fact that in the binary creation which Genesis describes, she is but a rib of the male. She has no individual, intrinsic truth of being. It is Adam who was fashioned first by Yahweh in his image; thereafter, when Adam lamented his solitary condition, God acceded and created the woman by taking a rib from Adam’s side.

Eve thus comes into being, ‘bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh’, – Adams’s, that is – in this once-removed fashion. In essence it means that she has no intrinsic or direct divine likeness but is merely an appendage of Adam who in turn is created in God’s image. The evolution of religions and cultures having Genesis as their foundation have simply materialised in human civilisation throughout the Age of Pisces, when they came into being, this dependent status of the female of the species.

And yet the order described in Genesis – first male, then female out of that male – is contradicted by biological studies. For in terms of the physical components which make up the human being, it is the female who takes shape first. The male evolves at a later stage in the development when a certain chromosome becomes activated to convert the foetus into a male. Without that activation, all creatures born on Earth would be female. Science therefore puts into question the Scriptural belief that Eve, first woman on Earth, was a rib or appendage of Adam.

However, this paradigm has indeed coloured our attitude toward women throughout the past Age of Pisces. An awakening is only beginning now, but just a beginning and nothing more as yet. The notion of appendage status was imported into India through Islamic and later Christian invaders and rulers during that Age and has come to colour heavily even the Indian perception of womanhood. Yet culturally India responds to a completely different perception. This is demonstrated in the Ardhanarisvar image of Shiva/Shakti. That is, the idol consisting of half Shiva, half Parvati, his consort. In other words, a total equality of being. Indeed, though Semitic religions and cultures have obfuscated this perception to a large extent, we are forced to recognise that India is virtually the only country in the world to preserve Goddess worship from antiquity in an unbroken line, and that the Feminine Principle should continue to hold a pre-eminent position in philosophies and yogic systems which inhabit its cultural and spiritual firmament. The attacks on idol worship which Hinduism has had to endure throughout the Age of Pisces were simply attacks on the predominance of the Feminine in the culture, for it is Woman that is connected to form and multiplicity, the essential meaning and purpose of the exuberant proliferation of idols in Vedic tradition.

What, it is legitimate to ask, does this have to do with the Horse, and moreover with Thoroughbred racing in this 20^th Century opening up to the 21^st?

The Shakti is the Divine Energy, consort in equal status of being with the male Godhead. It is she who engenders movement (of energy) and it is movement that binds forms. Speed is a crucial factor in the process of creation of form. Hence in the Rigveda we find innumerable hymns praising speed as a direct attribute and contribution of the Horse to the creative process. I have quoted some verses in the closing portion of Part 1 of this series, those praising Dadhikravan, the Vedic Horse.

…Dadhikravan who is the truth in his running,

 – yea, he gallops and he flies, – brings into being

the impulsion, and the abundant force, the heavenly light.

When he runs, when he speeds in his passage,

as the wing of the Bird is a wind that blows about him

in his greed of the gallop; as the wing that beats about

the breast of the rushing Eagle, so about the breast of

Dadhikravan when he with the Force carries us beyond…

As I mentioned in the introduction, horse racing, where of course speed is everything, is the only major sport where men and women compete equally as jockeys, on equal terms with no concession granted to the female participant. In all other major sports the ‘weaker’ condition of the female is taken into consideration and she is made to compete only with and among other women. Even in tennis, the highly individualised, highly popular, highly lucrative major sport, though attempts have been made to range men against women or otherwise equalise the sport, they have only proven that the present female of the species cannot be pitted against the level of strength and stamina of male competitors.

This is not the case in horse racing. And yet anyone who has ridden a Thoroughbred racehorse realises instantly the tremendous strength required of the jockey to control the animal, as well as to encourage the horse in the last stretch to excel and pass the winning post first. Pushing, as it is sometimes called, in the last stretch requires very great physical exertion as well as stamina. Normally one would expect the female jockey to perform inferior to her male counterpart. But this has not been the case. Indeed, there is an interesting aspect to this dimension of racing: the male generally relies on his physical strength to check the animal’s speed, to control it, as well as to push when required. But the female rider operates differently. She can, if she so desires (and this is an option even for the male jockey), enter into a greater inner communion with the horse and control by virtue of centering. It is only because most, if not all, female jockeys unconsciously operate in this way that they find themselves competing equally in races with males as in no other major sport, – and successfully at that.

In this context, the Mother’s statement that her Force ‘works best through women’ is better understood. She did not elaborate but it is clear that she was referring to a particular inner mechanism or structure which was in a better position to receive the Power without disruption to the instrument and consequent deformation of the force or power of inspiration. Above all, this instrumental capacity is what softens the female’s response to certain situations. Violence, for example. The violent response usually associated with the male of the species (not the animal species) is simply reflective of a breakdown under the impact of vital energies unleashed in given situations. Women respond differently because their natural poise is closer to the centering we are describing in this series. I shall elaborate this point in the course of this analysis.

The question of Control and the illusion of Freedom

There is a misconception regarding a term used frequently when discussing the function of the Gnostic Circle. It concerns the control which is evidenced in operations monitored in the Circle. There is a need to clarify because control is most often confused with the power to determine the course of one’s life and the power to alter one’s destiny. Those on a path of yoga are especially prone to this sort of interpretation. Their understanding is that yoga confers a capacity of control which really means the power to alter what may be for the ordinary mortal a fixed pattern.

In the New Way this is not what the seeker must aspire for. I hope to demonstrate this by the example from racing I am providing. For there was never a question of altering the course of events or even of predicting what would transpire. The exercise was from the outset intended to offer the possibility of attaining a poise of consciousness which facilitates the establishment of a new principle of Gnosis as the governing power on Earth.

Control in this context means a centre that holds. And this too requires some elaboration. The famous line from W. B. Yeats’ poem, The Second Coming, ‘…Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold…’, has been quoted innumerable times, especially in moments of unknowing and global crisis. Things then do appear to be ‘falling apart’, to quote the poet. In my view Yeats was touching upon a visionary capacity in these lines akin to the ability of the ancient Vedic Rishis, inasmuch as not only was he foreseeing future conditions, he was also describing the realisation required to reverse the process.

A centre is indeed crucial in the situation he described in his apocalyptic vision. The lack of one which could provide holding power was the cause of things falling apart. In a word, what Yeats foresaw was a state of chaos in its entirely cosmic sense. What the New Way introduces by way of a ‘centre that holds’ is cosmos.

The essential factor is a knowledge whereby a cosmos comes into being. For that the centre must indeed ‘hold’. When this occurs the control is simply the harmony of all the parts. It is everything that comes within the boundary of a particular cosmos working in unison, in harmony for the fulfilment of the purpose contained in that special ‘centre’ which in turn is a compressed seed of time and hence destiny.

Thus there is no question of struggling with one’s destiny, with forestalling events, changing the apparently inevitable. There is only the attainment of a correct poise vis-à-vis the inner Divine, the centremost ‘point’ of our beings. Once this link is forged there is harmony of consciousness-being. And that is the purpose of life on Earth: an expression of the Supreme’s harmony – and freedom.

It is the latter that draws our attention in the context of this analysis. In the worldly or even yogic sense, to be ‘free’ means to be in a position both to choose, and on the basis of that ‘free choice’, to determine one’s destiny. Predetermination in the conventional perception is non-existent. In particular with the advent of quantum physics, nothing is pre-set but rather the course our lives take is entirely the outcome of that freedom to choose and hence to determine what we believe is one selection among a number of possibilities which constitute our ‘future’.

In such a scenario the human being is all-powerful by virtue of this ‘choice’. He or she determines what will be. That is, the entire process is self-contained and self-determined. In a word, it is the human will which is central to the operation.

The new cosmology and the supramental yoga it describes prove that this ‘freedom’ is an illusion. Everything is not only predetermined but a key feature of the situation is precisely the illusion of auto-determination. Our ability to choose is contained within the larger framework of predetermined destiny. But this is still a superficial or partial view. For finally what is required, or what comes into being with the practice of that yoga is a complete reversal: the problem ceases to exist. Or rather, the concept of freedom as formulated by the human mind undergoes a radical alteration. We are no longer concerned with this question of freedom and the human will because we realise that the only ‘freedom’ available to the human creation is the free choice which one confronts of service to a higher cause, or a lesser. That is, we can choose to serve the Divine or the human. Nothing more.

But this ‘choice’ already indicates a highly evolved individual. For a key feature in this matter is precisely conscious awareness. That is, what contributes to the rise in the echelon is the realisation of the limitations physical embodiment and birth impose; and that to cling to the lower poise represents a choice in favour of the illusion of freedom. On the other hand, the conscious choice produces that condition of centering where the binding mortar of being is laid within and around that Pivot and the individual’s life unfolds like a flower from a seed. The description of that seed is the Divine Will in creation, or Agni of the ancient Vedic tradition. Because of this he is rightfully perceived as the navel of the world, the axis mundi; or in the more accurate terminology of the Veda: SKAMBHA, support of the worlds. In the Vedic perception an essential feature of the operation is explained, for Skambha as support immediately implies a firm base and hence the opposite of emptiness.

The illusion of freedom which sustains the human creation is an outcome of the Cosmic Ignorance which is, in turn, the outcome of the perception of the Void. The Void can persist in our perception and fashion the outlook of an entire species simply because the human being indeed orbits a void. And this is possible only because he or she has not unveiled that Divine Son, the One – or the centremost point of being. In other words, the Void is the ‘centre’ of the binary creation.

Illusion is the prerogative of a consciousness orbiting the Void. Thus, the spiritual attainments of the old yogas which proclaimed creation to be an ‘illusion’ and divorced Maya from her divine essence, compelling her to mother the binary creation of Eve, were simply attempts to overcome the apparently inexorable fate of a creature born into this irredeemable world of chaos. Insofar as the yogis who have dealt with the problem over the past 2000 years in India were not stupid and they realised that fate and a fixed destiny are the unavoidable attendants of human birth, methods were devised to escape the iron clasp of time and destiny. Within the totality of circumstances which constitute the world we live in, the way they discovered to handle the problem was to view that circumscribing space as an illusion at whose heart stands Nothingness. In other words, they did not deal with the problem of fate, free will and/or predetermination at all. They simply dismissed the entire question as unworthy of attention, as ‘beneath’ the true spiritual attainment. They dismissed the entire field within which these strictures operate by labelling it all illusion or maya and hence intrinsically unreal. To do so required a positioning of the consciousness through yogic techniques on the extreme periphery of being, and even beyond by virtue of dissolution. They shot out like rockets into space and beyond the solar system, finally disintegrating in the farthest reaches of outer space, in the most rarefied atmosphere of what appeared to be non-Being.

Thus, all the old yogas were accommodations based on an intrinsically wrong perception. Or we can look at it this way: the perception of Illusion was unalterable given the binary alignment based on a central void.

The revolutionary significance of the new age of the Supermind is that we can now begin to ask the right questions because we are poised properly to do so. We are a centred species, unitary and no longer binary. Therefore an entirely new range of answers are available simply because the right questions are now being asked. We are now in a position to do so, as never before.

Likewise, given the fact that the Yoga of the Chamber has brought into being on a collective scale the Centre – and a key element in that process was precisely the Horse – we are witness to what were believed hitherto to be impossible attainments on the world stage. Knots in international relations are coming undone apparently on their own, or with little or no effort. Or else, the little effort employed today is contrasted with the tremendous efforts of the recent past which seemed to produce no results at all. We seem to have been thrust into an entirely new dimension of collective experience given the collapse of the polarised world of super powers.

Indeed, this is exactly true of the human individual. So willing, he or she can discover that the former boundaries of consciousness to which every human creature was subjected are being superseded, extended. Into this expanded field completely new possibilities have entered the range of our perception. But let us return to the Thoroughbred racing experience under analysis for a very accurate description of the mechanism governing the operation.

In the binary condition one is always a victim of circumstances. This can best be explained by the condition of F1. At the same time, the buffer or shell she had erected around herself made it appear as if she were ‘calling the shots’, as it were. Yet what was truly transpiring was that she had by then constructed around herself a boundary wall which cut her off or closed out elements which could allow her access to that innermost Source which could put her in touch with the ‘centre that holds’. Failing to do so left her in an entirely unfree condition. That is, the energy release, if at all it was released during the second passage over the 4.5 Orbit, went not to thrust her as a booster rocket into those innermost recesses, into that inner universe. Rather, it turned back on itself and was utilised for this fortification, this crust. Thus, the Mother in 1971 lamented that adults were ‘crusted over’ and that only children, some children, were free of those hard crusts. This is another description of the Crab’s shell. A refuge from a hostile world. In this case too the Crab does not find solace and solution in its innermost centre of being. Rather it relies on a hardened outer crust for protection, and not assimilation and oneness.

In The Magical Carousel this reliance on unsound ‘foundations’ is described precisely in the Cancer chapter. It is the area in the zodiacal passage where the ego comes to the rescue, as it were. One believes it to be ‘as solid as a rock’, only to find that, like the ground struck by an unexpected Uranian earthquake, it can crumble beneath us without the least warning. And so, the children in The Magical Carousel odyssey are carried by the Gemini bird in their descent into Cancerland over the surface of water until finally their carrier places them on…

‘…what appears to be a rock slightly protruding above the top of the water. He then takes flight once more and is quickly lost in the ink black above.

‘Only the silvery water and the shiny rock where the children are standing can be seen. Tired now after the long journey and in spite of their fear, they curl up close to each other and fall into a deep sleep, in part brought on by the blackness enveloping them. For a long while they remain like this – who knows how long really – until they are awakened from their slumber by a soft rocking motion, ever so soft.

‘”What?” cries Val, “the rock is moving! We’re moving, Pom-pom. Wake up!”

‘They shake the sleep out of their frail bodies and in no time are wide awake, with eyes enormous and shiny in the pitch darkness, trying to see where they are being taken. After a seemingly endless ride the water becomes less and less deep, more shallow until very soon the rock cautiously emerges from the water and to the amazement, horror, fright and wonder of Val and Pom-pom, they see it is a huge crab they have been sleeping on, an enormous coral-coloured Crab!’ (Aeon Books, 1979, pages 32-33.)

We must contrast this situation with Cancer’s opposite sign, Capricorn, where the same children are thrust into the innermost recesses of the Mountain and there they witness, in the figure of the Time-Spirit, the birth that fills the void and the solidity this engenders.

F1, by her ‘determination’ not to cooperate and her uncanny ability to know when to turn on and off, was simply a victim of circumstance. She was entirely poised on the periphery due to the energies of her being which had gone into the fabrication of that ‘crust’ and hence a reliance on her own determination to withhold cooperation, which in her case meant the non-fulfilment of her inner truth or dharma, – the law of her being.

This is the central point: the purpose of the Horse, and reflected especially well in Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the attainment of speed, excelling, and the exceeding of limits. Being stuck in the rut carved out by the former negative imprinting, F1 could not express that inner truth or purpose. She could not reach the depths of her being because ‘circumstances’ had pinned her to the periphery or the outer shell she had constructed with energies which should have gone elsewhere. She was locked in that orbit and could not escape, a condition apparently willed. And yet from this analysis we realise that a ‘will’ thus forged is simply a prisoner of circumstance. She had no choice given the hostile conditions of her environment. Thus the terms used to describe her such as ‘strong-willed’, ‘head-strong’, ‘obstinate’, and so forth, were entirely off the mark. What we witness in such cases are attitudes of compromise and accommodation which reflect the inherent weakness of a creation orbiting a void, and thus a victim of the play of circumstances of the periphery. In such a condition there is no possibility at all of self-determination and ‘freedom’. There is an unassailable imprisonment in the rigid orbits we have driven ourselves into by virtue of our inability to hold and thus to draw to ourselves the conditions or elements by which we can be truly free. To understand this we must introduce the second participant in this equine sage, F2, and contrast her racing experience with F1’s. At the same time, we will analyse the means employed to provide F1 with ‘salvation’, an element external to her environment which could be used to ‘carry her beyond’ these constricting limitations.

A race in need of a Saviour

While the Gnostic Circle provides guidelines for the establishment of a gnostic creation on the planet, at the same time it reveals the shortcomings of the present human species. The Circle discloses the flaws which do not permit the human being to effect the crossing which the Aryan warrior of the Rigveda is encouraged to do by the aid of certain cosmic powers. Central to the issue, however, is the quantum of energy available, released at certain specific points in the passage. When that release has occurred and is at the disposal of the traveller through gnostic time, then certain controls must be exerted to regulate that increase so that it is utilised for the crossing and does not fall back, collapse or go to the construction of self-enclosing barriers as F1 had done.

This is usually finalised in the course of the first and second passage through the enneads. F1 failed to experience the release in optimum conditions which would have placed that energy at the service of ‘a higher cause’. Instead, her first passage over the 4.5 Orbit (her 4^th and 5^th races) when the release can take place, witnessed a suppression of the force and hence a turning back upon itself. She had turned ‘sour’ as a result. The second passage went to fortifying buffers or devices to cut her off from her environment. She became a self-enclosed system; not a cosmos which in a sense is self-contained. It is self-contained but ordered, with energies rightly allocated in the service of a central purpose. That purpose is the fulfilment of one’s inner truth, whatever that may be for the individual.

In the case of the racehorse it is the extraction of maximum potential and the utilisation of the force for achievement of the highest goals open to that inherent potential. This is cosmos for the racehorse. F1’s self-centredness was a reaction to an environment she found hostile to that purpose. Therefore a closing up was necessary almost as an attempt to protect that fragile inner space and a tenuous balance on this unsound foundation.

The human being invariably experiences life in this condition. There may be exceptions to the rule but even such cases do not enjoy an integral development and hence a harmony of all parts of the being, including the physical. For in the final analysis, though the higher dimensions may experience a certain harmony, the physical will ultimately impede the exceeding of limits which our Earthly vahanas demand. In the waking consciousness we cannot attain certain higher supramental states and sustain the special play of energy proper to those planes with the present structure. Realignment is required to do so. And this is the objective of the Gnostic Circle.

The critical passage is when one steps into the higher hemisphere. This would be passage above the horizon, so to speak. It takes place between Virgo and Libra in the 12-part division, and at the 4.5 Orbit in the 9-part division of the Gnostic Circle. Diagram A below indicates this special area.

F1 had experienced her 15^th race, at which point it was clear that she would progress no further. Each race in that condition served to fortify the grooves into which she was trapped. Her ‘cosmos’, such as it was, consisted of a limited expanse. It would be equivalent to our solar system with its former measure of 6 planets in orbit of the Sun, rather than the full 9. In other words, this was her ‘measure’ in terms of energy release. A full one-third of the wheel, which indicates the range of energy available to the species, was closed up in her inner recesses.

When one reaches the 6 point, (detailed insert, Diagram B), it is time for a combustion which serves as fuel for the rise. This means extension of one’s boundaries of consciousness-being so that the increase can be accommodated. Insofar as this expansion does not occur in the human being, passage through Scorpio to reach the 6 point and the planet Saturn results in physical death. That increase does not encounter an adequate vessel to contain it. Therefore the species ‘opts’ for death rather than transformation; and continuity is maintained through death and rebirth, or in the fruition of one’s seed, as the Bible indicates. In terms of the spiritual experience, at this point the attitude of otherworldliness triumphs and the accommodation occurs by way of trance or samadhi; be it in death or in trance, one loses touch with the physical plane and this increase and its impact is not felt by a body which is inadequate to sustain the release.

Thus, the important feature of the 6 point is the first stirrings of a cosmic manifestation. Saturn with its notorious reputation in traditional astrology for holding back, limiting, obstructing, stands at the 6^th orbit as a regulator of energy. He may be seen as in the Greek myth to ‘eat his children’ – Uranus, for one and the next in the solar system; or in more appropriate terms, to devour those energies which cannot be accommodated within the existent system or physical structure. One may give birth to such energies, but if the process is not integral, they are thrust into the cosmic waste bin and serve no purpose for the individual’s evolution of consciousness and being.

The impulsion indicated at this point in the Gnostic Circle is proper to Sagittarius, the sign following Scorpio. The speed indicated by Sagittarius is meant to carry one within, into the depths of one’s inner universe. It is the first step in the forging of a centre. The turning inward means a reliance on the inner Divine in the supramental experience. The 6 point is allocated to the Cosmic Divine in the Gnostic Circle’s Sacred Triangle. Hence it is from this point onward that a cosmos or a solar system comes into being, where orbits are defined, arranged around a central Sun. A species that has not attained this condition cannot truly live in the light of that inner Sun. It must seek help and salvation outside itself. This may also take shape as in the Vedantic schools of yoga by a stress on otherworldliness. Or else in religions it is anticipation of a saviour, someone, something from beyond, outside of oneself who comes to save the day, as it were.

In the case of F1 this ‘saviour’ appeared in the shape of a jockey (and trainer) outsider her ‘system’ – that is, the turf club of home base. After her first passage when the results of the 7^th race made clear that the 6^th race left no positive impact, ‘salvation’ was presented in the form of a return to the farm-source, – indeed, beyond her racing base. But this second passage saw the filly once again removed from her base and ‘sent beyond’ for help. In other words, failing to utilise a release of energy for that reversal which brings about the formation of a magnetic centre such as in the core of a sun, there was no such centre in charge of her racing destiny. That meant that she had no power to draw to herself, into her own system, what she required to ‘complete the crossing’. Successful encounter with the 6 point implies that a certain harmony comes into being and cosmos or order is the result.

The 6 point of the Gnostic Circle – the Cosmic Divine – is the great divide whereby the choice appears of opting to be a satellite in orbit of a planet, a planet itself, or else, ‘to become the Sun’. This is the beginning of the order represented by the imposing presence of Saturn at the portals of Sagittarius.

In The Magical Carousel this ‘choice’ is described in the tale by the option offered to attend the Foundation for Higher Knowledge of Heropidus Heronimus. The naughty Centaur, always running off into strange lands in pursuit of adventure, stimulus, excitement, is the classic example of a self-indulgent race, a self-centred humanity whose sole concern is self-gratification.

By an unanticipated turn of events, this Centaur is forced to attend HH’s foundation and so to learn how to make ‘the heart and mind work together’. We shall soon observe how this took shape in the careers of our racing fillies. But as a demonstration of the Gnostic Circle’s capacity to indicate the shape the transformation takes, suffice to say that the act of choosing implicit in Sagittarius brings about a special ordering of energy at one’s command. This is the first step to ‘become the Sun’. That act sets one in orbit. That is, either as a satellite such as the Moon, or a planet such as the Earth; or else the supramental realisation of becoming the Sun, the perfect centre.

F1 could not ‘become the Sun’ given the fact that the energy was used to harden the crusts rather than to propel her inward and to bring about the alignment required to unveil the centre that holds. In the latter we are not dealing with orbits. In the case of the creation of a sun, or a perfect centre, it is a question of cosmic directions: a proper balance between contraction and expansion in such a manner as to bring into being a centre. Then the poise is inner, centred. Whereas for the Moon or a planet, it is a question of orbits being arranged and one’s ‘choice’ thrusts one into that position. The magnetic centre either exists or it does not. In this realm there is no pretence possible. These are in a sense entirely mechanical operations. Regarding our fillies and analysis of their racing experiences in the Gnostic Circle, this mechanism will be more than clear – indeed, ruthlessly clear.

A satellite or a planet requires thus a ‘saviour’, a magnetic centre outside itself to hold it within the system. All organised religions have come into being on this basis; and most even await the return of that Saviour to carry followers through turbulent waters across to the other shore. Or else, there is the Guru in yogic tradition – once again an outer source. The difference between the Guru and the Saviour of religions is that the former is intended to unveil the inner Light in the disciple and cause him or her to realise the Divine according to the chosen path. Religions demand faith and point to a heaven beyond which the Saviour can ensure. The Guru demands a realisation which is itself the salvation, even if that is meant, similar to religions, to carry the disciple to a form of a better Beyond. In both cases nothing is done to transform conditions here; or better said, to place before the human being another possibility. Within the confines of the old creation one can be either a planet or a satellite, but never the Sun. This was not the case in the Vedic Age, if the Rigveda is to be believed. And the fact that its verses are incomprehensible to us today is an indication of how far we have descended from that Vedic pinnacle. The proverbial ‘fall of man’ is a definite fact of the evolution of the species; though it may mean something quite different than the upholders of the Faith believe.

The Fall and the story of Adam and Eve is the truth of the binary creation, a fact of evolution, and as such we may indeed call it divine revelation. But is that the intended or predetermined finality of the race, its highest attainment? Certainly this is the case for the binary creation but not the unitary, born from the soil of the former. For the present species the Gnostic Circle indicates an extension of boundaries from 6 to 9, the final passage through the newly-opened triad of planets encompassing the supramental planes: the human creation thus gives way to the gnostic.

Defining the character of the Old Creation

Eve is the name of the female of the species and she is certainly an appendage of her mate, Adam. Inasmuch as the Mother considered that her force could work best through women, it is not surprising that the jockey-saviour for F1 should indeed have been a woman. Certainly this was an unusual turn of events in the racing scene in India, a country which in its long history of racing has had only one or two female jockeys in contrast to America, for example, with over four hundred.

It happened that after F1’s first passage over the 4.5 Orbit, that is in February of 1992, when I realised the critical role the jockey plays in the equine athlete’s performance, it was clear even at that early and relatively inexperienced stage that success would never come our way given the lack of a trusted and talented jockey. This was difficult enough to secure with the first trainer, but it was even more difficult with the second. Being a young woman trainer with limited means, few horses and none of any great potential, she had even greater difficulty in securing the services of the better jockeys. The affluent and successful trainers retain jockeys who work exclusively for their stables; or else owners with a string of expensive horses may also retain a jockey or two. In such cases the results are invariably better than for the trainer and owner who must search high and low for a jockey at the last moment, never being entirely sure if the right jockey will be free or willing to ride.

The woman trainer had an especially hard time with this problem, often having to wait till right before the deadline to know who would be racing her horse. And the owner was left in this state of suspension, not knowing what to expect of the race. The horse would rarely find himself carrying the same jockey who had been exercising him in the morning workouts. The entire experience was coloured by this uncertainty and the results were predictable: the filly failed to produce a win.

By that time I had begun working on the problem with a very talented and impeccably honest woman rider, unusually in tune with horses and familiar enough with the nature of the transformation being attempted to serve as a proper instrument both as a conventional jockey in a conventional race, as also a jockey ‘with a higher purpose’.

The introduction of a female participant was not without its difficulties. What we were attempting would have been problematic enough with a male jockey; a woman complicated the matter even more. Indeed, the first attempt to secure her a place in the home base of the filly failed. But already at that time it was becoming clear that this new addition to the ‘cosmos’ in formation was bringing an increase in ‘knots’ to be worked out, and that these concerned the status of women – that is, woman for and within herself, as well as in society. The attempt to introduce a woman in a domain reserved until that time for the male of the species, and indeed where women compete on equal terms with their male counterparts, extended the field or laboratory of our experience in a marked way from the very outset. Moreover, this particular participant was evidently handpicked; she brought her own ‘baggage’ into the alchemy and numerous ‘knots’, all of which were representative of her genus.

The intention was to form an alliance between jockey and owner, and hopefully trainer, once resistances were broken down and the female participant was accepted. On this basis, with total trust in the jockey who in the bargain was far more able, even with the little actual racing experience she had, than many male jockeys, we were assured of a more conscious unfolding of the experience. However, as mentioned, the would-be jockey had her own ‘knots’ and these prevented her from responding directly to the force which was guiding the operation. That is, she could not enter the process directly in orbit of the central Sun. She could only do so by linking into the orbit of a male trainer in another racing establishment beyond the confines of our nuclear experiment.

The main feature in that first attempt to overcome the impasse the lack of a trusted and talented jockey produced was the realisation that direct action might not be possible. Moreover, gnostic time was ticking on and hurdles had to be surpassed to keep in tune with the rhythm, on time, as it were. We were not only attempting to introduce a female into a male domain, we had to do so in record time.

The attempt floundered initially. This was during F1’s sojourn on the farm. During that period work was done to prepare the would-be jockey for her profession. Destiny indeed set her on her way to jockeyhood, but this was in orbit of another trainer and not the woman trainer at the centre where our experience was taking place. It was clear that we were in the presence of a certain pattern which may be considered a blessing of nature or a bane. It is the actual condition of women and their mechanical response to a force which seeks to help them transcend the shackles they have constructed around themselves throughout the ages.

The same shackles were constructed around F1 by herself, as a response to a hostile environment. These are security devices and also our means of imprisonment. But the point to note is that a choice exists for the female of the species as well: she can choose to remain in the orbit of another, a satellite and nothing more, receiving a reflected light of the Sun but never becoming the Sun. Or she can choose to ‘become the Sun’ in equal measure as her male counterpart. She can be Eve or Shakti, Adam’s ‘rib’, or Shiva’s other half. Needless to say, the ‘choice’ is invariably for the status quo, largely because women are not aware of the nature of the choice offered. They cannot see their true condition except in the shallow levels of social or psychological subjugation. They cannot dig into the innards of the problem and discover the cosmic knot which lies at the basis of their incomplete status.

Juxtaposing Eve and Shakti in this analysis is not insignificant; nor is it simply ‘symbolic’. In the difference between the two lies the key to the true new world order. This cannot come to pass unless the condition of women in this entirely cosmological/evolutionary sense is transformed. Equality in the deepest sense is conveyed in the Ardhnariswar idol of the Vedic iconography. The lack of such a balance of energies within one figure or being was evident in our woman jockey who revealed herself to be symbolic of the general condition of all women, unable to stand as a body directly in orbit of the central Sun but rather in need of a planet to orbit, in this case the male trainer, a transmitter of the force rather than its direct recipient. In the circumstance, it may be appropriate to refer to her as jockey Eve; not exactly in the sense that ‘eve’ is used in sports reporting in Asia to indicate a woman’s team or female athlete, but more aptly in this wider sense of symbol of the old creation. To further eliminate confusion, we shall call the trainer she partnered, Adam.

Furthermore, it ought to be evident by now that in this nuclear experience with the Horse the equine participants have been and continue to be female. We may consider this an accident of birth on the farm-source which was furnishing the protagonists in the saga. But the truth of the matter is that these fillies are indeed proving true the Mother’s statement that her force works best through women. In racing it is known that fillies are ‘difficult’, ‘unpredictable’, ‘moody’, and generally far more high strung than the male of the species. In my view, it is what allowed them to be the subject of this transformational, representative experience of the Gnostic Circle. They were highly sensitive to the power of the Supramental Shakti which was seen to operate through them in an extremely pure form, with no distortions. And above all, without sentimentality or any recoiling such as the human being experiences when faced with this awesome impact of force. They were and remain impeccable instruments of the Divine Shakti, never failing to carry forward the process of which they were so centrally significant. To the extent that, as if in homage to the Mother, our filly scored a breakthrough in a way that would pay direct homage to the Mother whose force she was embodying so well. But let us proceed step by step.

Beyond or Within: the Act of Choosing

Even in the Rigveda the segment of the Gnostic Circle from Libra to Capricorn is known as critical (see Diagram B, above). It is the passage where the Aryan warrior must face the inertia of death and the antagonism of the hostile powers known as the ‘hoarders’ (of energy). In other words, energy becomes entrapped; but to reach the summit of Being a way must be found to secure its release from the ‘cave of the hoarders’. That one-third until now untapped energy must be released in the human consciousness-being.

This cave is Scorpio. Thus, passage over the 6 point as the diagram indicates, must find the subject with that released energy. Moreover, it must be ordered – that is, brought to serve the traveller for the rise to the summit. A cosmos must thus come into being; and Sagittarius of the 6 point provides the ‘education’ for the purpose. But in the old creation this attainment is not possible given the inadequacies of the species. The human instrument either breaks down under the impact, or the energy is placed on the periphery of consciousness where it serves to fortify isolating barriers, as in F1’s case. In such a situation salvation comes, if at all, from beyond the inner boundaries of the subject. In the case of F1, she had to be sent to another turf club where jockey Eve and trainer Adam were in a better position to understand and cope with her needs, mainly because they believed in her capacity and in their ability to solve the problem. Fundamental to its solution was this positive atmosphere, entirely lacking in her home base. We shall see later on in F2’s case how this same 6 point and Sagittarius presented the other side of the coin, as it were: a thrust within rather than beyond.

In the words of The Magical Carousel, our ‘mythic’ guide to the process, after ‘education’ the Centaur becomes the Saviour of the children, Val and Pom-pom, and carries the tiny travellers on the path of gnostic time to this innermost point:

‘They gallop off at great speed, crossing the violet and fuchsia coloured land, for the Centaur makes every effort to fulfil his mission properly and to bring the children to their destination on time. He travels so swiftly they seem to go even faster than sound and light, and at a certain moment the very space around them disappears, they are almost unaware of moving at all and seem to have entered a point right within themselves.’ (Aeon Books, page 102)

These are the two options facing the subject in the ‘choice’ provided at the 6 point and Sagittarius: beyond or within.

If the latter is the ‘choice’, then a magnetic centre becomes operative which draws to the subject the elements needed in the subsequent unfolding for the fulfilment of the inner and divine Purpose, without any need for extension beyond the boundaries of the field. Salvation in such cases is auto-engendered by a particular release and proper utilisation of energy on the basis of centering of cosmic directions. The key to the establishment of a gnostic species on Earth lies in this attainment.

F1 found herself for her 16^th race (again at the 7 point of the Circle) in congenial circumstances. She was one of the best horses in trainer Adam’s yard and she was treated accordingly. But it may be remembered that at her first passage over this point and her 7^th race, she was returned to the farm-source as a display of the 7 point’s meaning: contact with the Source and the truth of one’s being. This time a similar circumstance presented itself because of the presence of would-be jockey Eve who had linked up with the young and idealistic trainer as partner and who had known and ridden the filly many times precisely at the farm-source. Indeed, it was this familiarity and personal involvement and consequent appreciation of the filly’s talents, together with this indirect connection with the farm-source via the jockey that provided the correct chemistry for healing. Indeed, she had been sent ‘beyond’ precisely as therapy.

Trainer Adam scheduled two races for her, of his own selection. The first, or her 16^th, was to transpire on 12.2.1993, and the second 9 days later. I observed that unwittingly the day he selected was one of 9 number-power, and the second as well. Therefore, I was curious to see what the outcome might be. In my heart I considered that this was F1’s last chance. If this new strategy did not succeed, she would have to be retired to the farm for good, without ever having fulfilled that ‘purpose’; and this non-performance would adversely affect her breeding career – not to speak of the portents for the process monitored in the Gnostic Circle of this failure. If she could not be made to overcome the obstacles brought about by the play of circumstances in a hostile atmosphere, then there seemed little likelihood that the human being subject to similar hostile conditions, as every human being is, could effect a breakthrough. The nuclear experience was directly connected to the larger process. Like F1 each individual is a ‘victim of circumstance’. This is the hallmark of our species and for which reason it is known as mortal and founded on the laws imposed by the Cosmic Ignorance. A binary creation is always a victim of circumstance because it is peripherally and not centrally poised. At the same time, we have to accomplish the crossing to a higher status in these very conditions which Earth evolution provides, if we are to be faithful to the planet’s own purpose in the cosmic harmony which is precisely to house this very process, to provide a field for the transition, and establishment of a gnostic species.

Thus, the fate of F1’s experience was pertinent to the larger development in no uncertain terms in that a means had to be provided for her to overcome the obstacles. She might not be able to draw to herself the elements for the victory because of her failure within the Gnostic Circle’s timing to forge a magnetic centre; but she still had to fulfil her own purpose in the experiment. And this was to open the pathway for others to follow, to work out certain initial ‘knots’. She had to assemble conditions in the periphery in such a way as to drain it of power to halt the operation before it had matured. Therefore, the second passage over this 7 point was crucial. Would it fail or would it succeed?

When I reached the venue for the filly’s 16^th race and visited her in the stables the day before, I realised immediately that exercise in the hands of would-be jockey Eve, known to her from the farm and with whom she had a very special relationship, had produced results. The filly was eager, keen, happy and emanated a sense of power and fulfilment. The young trainer had done his job well in collaboration with the would-be jockey. There remained to be seen whether this enhanced state would help her to forget that jockey Eve would not be the one to take her in the race since she still had no licence to ride other than exercise track work. As it turned out, this presented no obstacle.

The allowance rider who raced her on that 12^th of February of 9 number-power, was not capable of getting her out of the gate quickly. By consequence, she was trailing the field by about six lengths. However, this seemed to make no difference to her, and I could not help recalling her very first race as I watched her perform. The jockey carried her on the outside, she collaborated and moved up and up and up, passing with the utmost ease horse after horse of the 20 horses in the field. She was keen, she was determined to reach the post first. But unfortunately, by the time the jockey had settled her into the race after the poor jump out of the gate and the ground lost there, the distance was too short. The race was only 1000 metres, the shortest possible, and there was simply not enough time. She finished 4^th but was clearly headed for first if she had had even 50 metres more of track, as the jockey declared at the end of the race.

I was elated, relieved, heartened at future prospects. I returned to the home base track for her sister’s second race the next day, the 13^th of February, and announced, ‘She is cured, there is no stopping her now.’

In racing it is the win or nothing. No one considers anything less as a ‘sign’, much less for this filly who had already had 16 races, and in most of them she had also finished on the board. But I knew she was cured. The proof came in her 17^th race at that same neighbouring venue.

The field this time consisted of only 8 horses; she was to carry a crippling 60 kilos handicap, and still in Class VA, second to the lowest. In the 9 days from her last race she had been well tuned by the trainer and would-be jockey Eve in the morning exercises. After a last minute change of jockey, she was handed over to the same allowance rider of her 16^th race, and thus carried 2 ½ kilos less than the prescribed 60. The distance was the same 1000 metres.

This time he brought her out of the gate more confidently. She immediately moved into first place and held this position throughout in a start-to-finish race revealing for the first time something of her true potential. She moved confidently and triumphantly passed the winning post, well in advance of the other competitors carrying much less weight. She had out-classed them all. And this had transpired on the 21^st of February, also a 9-power day, but more significantly, the Mother’s birthday. In this way, by this spontaneous scheduling ‘right on time’, the Mother seemed to be giving the filly and all concerned her blessings and seal and sanction for the victory of Gnostic Time.

The filly then returned to her home base having been promoted to Class IV, to experience her 18^th race and the start of a new ennead. This time, true to the ‘residue-karma’ that had been worked out, she was carrying the lowest weight on promotion. The handicap and new classification reflected the new times. But unfortunately the woman trainer could not provide the same conditions for success as in the neighbouring track and she performed accordingly in the hands of a mediocre jockey, with a perverse liking for the whip. Thus, she finished 4^th. However, in her 19^th she found herself in the hands of the same competent and reliable jockey of her 11^th race. The result was 2^nd place in an exciting photo finish: she lost by a mere half a nostril.

In the meantime, F2 had begun her career proper on January 20, 1993, when she made her debut.

Release and Reversal

From the beginning it was clear that F2’s racing career would be different from her sister’s. Perhaps it was that we were now familiar with the process and the Gnostic Circle relevance and therefore everything was clearer since we knew what to look for. Or else it was the fact that F1 had done some spade work. She had opened the path and prepared the field. This seemed to be the case because certain ‘knots’ appeared loosened in F2’s early races. This pertained mainly to jockeys. While F1 had to contend with mediocre or inexperienced or downright perverse riders, F2’s first and second races brought her the good fortune of two competent and reliable foreign jockeys of considerable repute abroad. She found herself immediately in the hands of able and talented riders and she responded accordingly.

Her woman trainer was known to be slow in preparing youngsters, as the 2- and 3-year olds are called. Thus, when F2 entered her first race she was not ready or tuned for the win. Moreover, being her first she was given an easy ride and the jockey was instructed to let her run without demanding more than she felt she could give. If she went on to win, fine; but if she showed any hesitancy, then he was to respect that and not use the whip to urge her on. Thus she finished 5^th in a field of 8, but showed signs of great promise, given the proper preparation. The foreign jockey was all praises for her after the race and commented that she could do anything one asked of her because she had speed and willingness. She cooperated well and in fact moved through a small gap at one point, which many youngsters are unwilling to do, to take the lead for a short time.

Unlike her sister, F2 was not racing as an Unknown Pedigree. Her birth having been duly registered, she could be entered in all races, even what are known as Classics, and not simply handicap races. She could move along with her age group in ‘terms’ of races, unlike F1 whose birth on 1^st October saddled her with an immediate handicap for being months younger than any of her fellow competitors. In a word, F2 faced none of the initial problems of her sister.

To the more perceptive eye something deeper was involved than a mere accident of birth. The pathway had been opened in the dimensions of gnostic time. F2 was poised differently. She seemed to have the ability to draw to herself the conditions and elements for the fulfilment of  her destiny, rather than any reaching out, stepping out of the boundaries of her chosen field. Thus, even though she was not prepared for these early races, this ability was demonstrated in the jockeys she spontaneously drew to herself of a superior calibre than what her sister had known early on. In the beginning it could be termed coincidence, the jockeys ‘happened’ to be there and available. But as the experience grew it was evident that there was something more than just coincidence at work. This was also reflected in her stabling arrangement. The woman trainer was known for her excellent stable management and the superior condition of her yard. Entering the premises felt like entering an oasis in the middle of a desert. There were plants everywhere and a canopy of creepers covering the entire area, providing protection from dust and heat. And while the woman trainer might be faulted for her slow approach, at the same time this inspired confidence that the fillies would not experience any break down due to excessive haste and demands on the horse, common to many trainers. Thus, from the beginning F2 seemed more favoured by the Gods.

F2’s second race brought her an even more renowned and talented foreign jockey, and with the experience of her first race, she finished in 2^nd place, 1¾ lengths behind the winner, but an easy 3 lengths in front of the horse behind her. With this performance she was beginning to be talked of as one of the better fillies among the youngsters. The trainer had arranged for her to be entered in a number of classic and sweepstake races which would be held in the course of that racing year, 1993. One such race was scheduled for March 20^th. I was very keen to have her compete, but I was also aware that she was not being prepared properly for the distance (1600 metres) and the stiff competition.

By her third race the foreign jockeys had left and we were faced with the same problem of old. The choice the trainer made for this important trial before the big race was unfortunate. Indeed, it was probably that jockey’s most miserable display. On the basis of that race it was not possible for me to instruct the trainer to withdraw her from the sweepstakes race on the basis of her poor performance because it simply reflected the jockey’s mediocrity and not the filly’s.

Thus, on 20^th March, F2 entered the first important race of her career, but with another uninspiring jockey which the trainer had arranged, though she had the opportunity to use a top jockey. In this there was something of self-defeatism beginning to surface which was to be proven true later on. The result was 4^th place in a field of only 6 horses. On the board but in no way demonstrating the potential which she revealed in her first two races. She was clearly slipping backward rather than moving forward in her training. And we were once again bogged down in the same mire having to accept lesser jockeys to handle a filly that clearly required more competent skills.

By the March Equinox, Eve had become a full-fledged jockey in the neighbouring track and was beginning to prove herself a talented rider. Racing for F1 and F2 ended on the 20^th with the close of the winter season at their home base. I had to decide whether they would pass the next two hottest months there, waiting for the new season to start in mid May, and with hardly any training taking place for at least the next few weeks; or else bring them home to the farm to relieve them of the heat. But with the entry on the scene of jockey Eve, another possibility presented itself. My decision therefore to send them to the summer venue of Eve’s turf club where races were soon to begin in the cool of the mountains of South India, was for the fact that this competent jockey would be riding there, and also they would have no interruption in training. I was especially concerned that F2’s training should not be interrupted since she had just begun and her future schedule at the home base was very demanding. A break at this point would make it difficult to retrieve lost ground. Of special concern was the fact that she had not yet vindicated the high expectations everyone had of her capacity to win.

On a deeper level and with the knowledge of F1’s negative imprinting precisely over the first 4.5 passage, where F2 now stood, I understood that she had a far clearer course mapped out and that it was possible, given the timing of things and the conspiracy of circumstances, to kill a number of birds with one stone as it were, by sending both fillies to Adam and Eve. There they would have a cold climate, similar to the farm where they were bred; they would thus escape the heat of the plains and at a time when no racing was being held there; they would not have their training interrupted, as F1 had had hers with a three-month sojourn on the farm; and they might even produce wins in the bargain, as F1 had already done in the hands of the same trainer. But foremost was the fact that F2 demanded a positive imprinting at that first 4.5 passage. I also realised that she had to release energy if at all she was to forge a magnetic centre which F1 lacked.

All of these objectives were accomplished.

The fillies, because of their 15-day break after the winter season and with virtually no exercise, were not in the best shape when they reached the mountain venue by mid April. F1, being older and with more training and racing experience, picked up relatively quickly and was entered in a race for May 1^st. She was being exercised by jockey Eve and relished every minute of it. Meanwhile, F2 was being handled slowly and with care. I was more interested in the positive imprinting I knew the jockey would provide, given their past involvement on the farm, than any race, as such.

Jockey Eve had had many rides and even some wins when the time came for her to mount F1 in the paddock for the 20^th race of the filly’s career on May 1^st. Her surprise when she realised it was actually Eve who had mounted and not the usual male jockey was clearly displayed for any discerning eye to appreciate. And she performed accordingly, almost as if to show her appreciation and approval. It was another start-to-finish race, though she did not exert herself excessively. She did not need to, clearly out-classing all the other horses. She passed the winning post 3½ lengths ahead of the rest in excellent timing, and both filly and rider won accolades from all. Punters who had bet on the filly, not because of her record but rather her looks, were happy since the odds were good; the trainer was pleased with the performance of both filly and jockey; and the owner was more delighted than all to see that the filly had proven her capacity to win in this higher class, and jockey Eve had demonstrated that in able hands this could be done. The race had been a successful challenge for both.

The fillies would soon have to return to their home base to start the new season there on 15^th May. There was therefore barely fifteen days to accomplish whatever more could be done in that cool and beneficent atmosphere – positive in more ways than one. F1 was scheduled therefore for her 21^st race on 9 May, while F2 had been entered for the 5^th race of her career on May 8^th. The jockey would of course be Eve.

On 8 May F2 displayed something of her true potential, even though she was, in the opinion of both jockey and trainer, only 60% fit. Not only did she win in a field of 15 three-year olds, some of more expensive breeding, she did so easily and confidently, and above all, giving that much desired kick off just when the jockey demanded it after moving through a small gap. Again the public and the newspapers were all praises for both filly and rider.

From a deeper level of observation that 5^th race revealed (especially the timely kick off) that the desired release of energy had occurred, so important for passage over the 4.5 Orbit, or between her 4^th and 5^th races. The question now was, how to channel that energy for the rise once she was back in her home base and in different, less favourable conditions?

Moreover, there were certain signals being given by the fillies that all was not exactly as it should be. F2 had, in fact, thrown the jockey in the gate just before start of the race. A dangerous accident was only barely avoided and the jockey remounted to go on and win the race. But the next day the harmony between Jockey Eve and F1 was not as it was for their first ride (and win) together on May 1^st. This time the distance was longer by 200 metres and therefore the jockey calculated that F1 should be kept behind somewhat to save her for the last stretch. The filly’s preference had always been to position herself up front. Failing to attain this position, the tone set was not to her liking. Moreover, she was boxed in at the rails (in the video replay it looks  deliberate) and could not be pulled outside to overtake. She even stumbled badly, having to check her pace so as not to clip the horse in front. Finally, as she passed the post in the middle of the group, she reacted angrily by deliberately throwing the rider off! Though the jockey was again saved from a potentially dreadful accident, the result of the slight injury sustained was that she could not take F1 into her 22^nd race three days later, on May 12^th.

Oblivious to the fact, F1 again rode her start-to-finish race in the hands of the allowance rider of her first win, and easily led the field by several lengths past the winning post. She was then returned with her sister to the home base, having been promoted to Class III. None of the other horses from their home base who had been sent to compete had performed as well as the fillies. Almost all had in fact failed to win, though they were reputed to be superior. Indeed, it was only the fillies who held the banner of the Club high in this neighbouring centre. And yet F1 and F2 gained the reputation by their superior performances of being able to win only outside the home base, that they could not compete with the superior horses of their own centre and that in order to win they had to be sent where, supposedly, competition was less stiff. Their impressive timings and the fact that the other horses from the same centre had failed to win, could not erase this general impression. And the subsequent circumstances did not help.

The fact that F1 had had an extra unplanned race brought her tally to 22. Interestingly, this time passage over that 4 Point (22) brought the much desired release of energy which is demanded at the 4.5 Orbit in ideal conditions, unlike in her previous two passages, her 4^th and 13^th races. While for F2 the release took place in her 5^th race. Thus both wins of the fillies cupped the 4.5 Orbit, the 4 Point win of F1, and the 5 Point win of F2. The significance of this passage is both release and dismantling, usually of an unexpected nature, similar to the shattered particles in the Asteroid Belt which is located at this point in the Gnostic Circle. Indeed, we were soon to experience such happenings. A completely new set of circumstances awaited us all at the home turf.

From a deeper perspective, the fact that jockey Eve had experienced two falls, and both from these fillies, seemed to signal that at some deeper level all was not right, in harmony, in place. Indeed, F2 was the catalyst to ‘put each thing in its rightful place’. This delicate operation began immediately on return to the home centre. It carries us into the most awesome portion of this analysis.

Defining a Centre that holds

The first problem to be met was the search for a new trainer. The woman trainer finally found the pressures and stresses of her profession too difficult to cope with. She decided to discontinue training. In a way this was a relief because something of a negative cloud seemed to hang over the experience which is engendered by a failure to take a major decision in life. Release, and relief, is usually felt as soon as a firm decision puts an end to months of uncertainty.

I was primarily concerned for the well-being of the fillies because I knew they would have difficulty finding an equally good stable management and the loving care of the woman trainer, though their training might be improved elsewhere. There was also the question of the lovely stables which would have to be vacated with her departure. But as it turned out, they stayed where they were. The new trainer was nearby and when he took over their training he left them in these same quarters.

I found the timing of these events noteworthy, especially in connection with F2’s more fluid passage through gnostic time. It seemed that her first passage over the 4.5 Orbit with its successful release of energy demanded a different field insofar as the former conditions seemed inadequate for further development and hence utilisation of that release. It was becoming clear that unlike her sister, F2 was able to draw to herself the conditions she required for the expansion which was to come, based on her inherent potential. Indeed, as a symbol of sorts of this nascent ability there was the fact that a very major shift had taken place in her career and yet she and her sister remained in the woman trainer’s superior stables, as if at the centre of a periphery which was being shaken up – true to the 4.5 Orbit – while leaving them untouched, unmoved, untroubled. The inherent potential of F2 clearly demanded different conditions in that periphery or field for its proper expression. It seemed evident that her win at the 5 Point of Jupiter and the enormous store of energy at her disposal required different conditions. The woman trainer thus seemed to have withdrawn ‘right on time’.

But there was an uneasiness prevailing and this caused a certain fatigue which was destined to increase with the unfolding of events; there was more energy at our disposal than we seemed in a position to utilise efficiently and effectively. The less elusive indication that such was the case was the fact that though the fillies had just come down from a high altitude and should have been raced immediately to benefit by this advantage in fitness and keenness, the new trainer did not oblige for various reasons of his own. It was clear that we had wasted that energy to a certain extent and a good opportunity for the fillies to score wins was missed.

In the meantime, jockey Eve had obtained a licence to ride also in the fillies’ turf club. But this fact produced a certain disturbance in the atmosphere, not just because she was the first woman to race there, but also because the season was still in progress in trainer Adam’s centre. Thus, while the problem of jockey had been solved by Eve’s entry, to ride the fillies she had to disengage herself from her commitments in Adam’s centre; this was done, but it took a certain toll.

On 6 June and her 23^rd race, F1 introduced her favourite jockey to her home base audience. It was an historic ride, the first for a woman jockey at that centre: F1 was proving true to her path-opening destiny. The race was impeccable and impressive for both filly and jockey. F1 placed 2^nd to a 3-year old filly who had not lost any of her previous races and was considered one of the best of the season. While she won by 2 lengths, F1 left the rest of the field behind her by 5½ lengths. This was her first race in Class III after promotion and the competition was tougher than what she had ever known.

A performance such as F1 gave should have silenced her critics who had all along claimed she was ‘no good’. These included foremost the jockeys whose egos she took special delight in demolishing by not cooperating when they had finally wanted her to win. But for some reason F1 always seemed to stir up controversy and intense likes and dislikes.

Her 24^th race was again with jockey Eve. This time the field was larger; 11 horses. She placed 3^rd. But the importance of this race resided in its implications for the Gnostic Circle operation. Sagittarius and the 6 Point require a harmony between rider and horse. This is explained in The Magical Carousel when the Centaur must attend the Foundation for Higher Knowledge so that ‘the mind and heart must learn to work together’. In a race at the 6 Point, the energy released over the preceding 4.5 passage has to witness this favourable coming together or harmonising, if it is to be utilised properly.

Regarding F1 her problem was precisely the fact that she refused any such collaboration. Formerly, before the advent of jockey Eve, she was seen to close herself off not only from the jockey but even the other equine competitors. There was no question of the mind (jockey) and heart (horse and the vital) working in tandem. But with Eve it was different, and in this 6 Point race we were given the proof.

As the horses were powerfully approaching the winning post and competing to pass first, all more or less in a bunch, I saw F1 respond to the jockey’s prompting by a decisive leap forward that served to put her in 3^rd place, just a head in front of the horse beside her. Given her ‘problem’ and given the fact that the 6 Point requires this collaboration and response to a higher centre as it were, the filly’s jump forward at the behest of the jockey, almost imperceptible to anyone who was not looking for such a sign, was far more important than a win. It was a further indication that the therapy had worked and that the harmony of gnostic time was still prevailing.

Differences were beginning to surface with the new trainer. Foremost was the fact that he had an almost instinctive distrust of female jockeys. He seemed to be hand-picked, of the mould that considers two women equal to one man. Try as we might, he was never able to overcome this handicap no matter how well jockey Eve performed; the problem became a troublesome factor soon after, with F2’s first race at the home base. It was clear with that race that F2 was setting the tone of the entire Gnostic Circle experience. She was the instrument, the channel at the centre of the transformational process. The clarity with which this was demonstrated was both awe-inspiring and disturbing. There was a ruthlessness to her actions which was the quality of a true ‘warrior’.

Defining Chaos: energy without an axis

The matter-of-fact manner in which this analysis is being carried out may cause the reader to believe that a similar analysis can be done regarding any racing experience. This may not be the case. Nonetheless, exclusive or not, it must be noted that the elements of each race which allowed it to be located within gnostic time as we are dong, are assessed by hindsight to a large extent. At no time was it possible to interfere in the process or to arrange these elements so as to accommodate the Gnostic Circle’s specific demands. An example to prove this point is F2’s 6^th race. It may be said that the only intervention permitted in such a process is exclusively one of axial alignment.

Favourable imprinting had taken place for F2 exactly when required: passage over the 4.5 Orbit. Release of energy had also occurred in her 5^th race and the orbit of Jupiter, the planet known to be a supreme source of energy, hence its connection in traditional astrology with the Horse and the sign Sagittarius which it rules. The demands of the 6^th race and passage through Sagittarius (see Diagram B), were of a very special order in her case, having experienced these positive developments. But difficulties had surfaced during the last two races of F1 in the hands of the new trainer. His mistrust of and refusal to accept a woman jockey were more than clear. Moreover, jockey Eve herself was having difficulty participating in the experience on the terms set out by the experience itself. Above all, her alignment in keeping with the structure of the binary creation, introduced serious disturbances in the formation of the new cosmos. And this involved very deep levels of being where no pretence exists. One is either aligned in harmony with the new, or one is not; regardless of one’s mental determination and heartfelt sentiment. The Divine is not sentimental and the creation of a cosmos is not a mental operation. It is a state of being dependent on the yoga that can introduce such deep-rooted shifts which touch one’s innermost essence.

The Horse was seen to be a favoured instrument in questions of Being. The reason is that in this third level of the Supramental Descent the symbol is the thing symbolised. And the Horse is the supreme symbol of the movement of gnostic time precisely to effect the crossing to higher states of Being. An enigmatic experience of the Mother in her early yoga and practice of occultism confirms the relevance of the Horse for both the Gnostic Circle symbolism as well as the reason for the prominence it was given in the Vedic Age.

The Mother had come out of her body and passed through numerous planes until she reached the Borderline which humans could not cross. There she met ‘the principle of human form’, to quote her own words. But strangely enough it was a horse… ‘right on the frontier between the world of form and the Formless, and it was like a stallion.’

As if this description in itself were not sufficient confirmation of the importance of the Horse as symbol, the Mother continues to say that years later when she met Sri Aurobindo, she spoke to him about ‘the secret’ she had discovered and which no one seemed to know. To which he replied. ‘It is certainly the prototype of the supramental form’.  (See: The Magical Carousel  ‘Commentaries’, Aeon Books, 1979, page 141)

We are interested in demonstrating in this series the precise manner in which the Horse is the ‘prototype of the supramental form’, mainly because there are peculiar ideas about the nature of the transformation, all of which have very little to do with the real experience. Clearly this does not mean that human beings crossing the ‘borderline’ are going to assume the form of a horse when supramentalised. Then what is the deeper significance?

The answer lies in the PROCESS described in these pages involving the Gnostic Circle; and when the work evolves to the point where ‘the symbol is the thing symbolised’, as it has at present, then the Horse can be directly involved in the transformation and itself ‘carry us across’ that Borderline to ‘realms beyond’. This refers to the quarter of the Circle beyond Sagittarius and the 6 Point. The borderline is the last Cardinal Point, Capricorn. It is reached in life and not through death, by speed of consciousness REDIRECTED. To achieve this ‘mind and heart must work together’. Centres of energy must collaborate, must be harmonised.

This imperative was displayed with exceptional clarity by F2 in her 6^th race with jockey Eve taking her in her first Classic for fillies. Similar to F1’s 24^th (6 Point) race, a harmony between mount and rider was called for, but in this case it failed to materialise as the description of the race will reveal. At the same time, the true ‘mind’ in the operation, the trainer, fell woefully below expectations. Though certainly qualified to prepare a horse for a classic, in this instance F2 was a disturbance. He had two fillies as the focus of all his attention in his stables, both of whom he was  preparing from the beginning of their training with very special dedication for this very race and other classics to come. Insisting that the newcomer, F2, be prepared for the same race provoked a situation between owner and trainer which was anything but harmonious. In addition, there was Eve to contend with. He ‘agreed’ to let F2 run, but he failed to provide the proper training. Moreover, his instructions in the race, coupled with his disregard for the jockey’s protestations that if she carried out those instructions it might prove disastrous, proved to be the proverbial last straw and decided the ultimate close of the relationship. Not too long after this race the fillies were removed from his care.

F2’s 6^th race provides us with all the elements of verification of the Gnostic Circle as a guide to the transformation, to the crossing of the borderline into the supramental world. The jockey was instructed to bring the filly quickly out of the gate and position her in front. Having drawn gate 10, it was clear that this might prove problematic. Both trainer and jockey knew that the keenness of the filly was such that she would do her utmost to reach the front. And so she did.

The jockey managed to keep her in a straight course until she had passed almost all the other horses, but nearing the front the filly pulled into the rails brusquely – a habit of hers which the jockey (and owner) pointed out to the trainer, but which he refused to hear. This habit which other jockeys before Eve had noted, caused the filly to crash into the horse beside her, which happened to be our trainer’s favourite. While Eve warned the rider that her filly was ‘moving in’ and he braced himself, the bump caused the jockey to check his mount somewhat, which in turn, in the tightly packed field, caused the horse behind to be check abruptly, with the result that its jockey fell off in the middle of thundering galloping hoofs at full speed. Miraculously the jockey received no injury.

But this left his mount riderless and leading the pack throughout the entire race. Our filly predictably ‘blew out’ due to the uncontrolled pace she was keeping, but not before jockey Eve had to contend with the riderless horse who was moving from side to side, blocking F2’s smooth and straight course, as well as the other competitors. At one point, the interference of the riderless horse was so bad that the jockey who finally went on to win was seen whipping the weaving filly to get her out of the way. She then positioned herself farther in front and led the entire race – riderless as she was.

Jockey Eve realised that she had been used by the trainer to set the pace for the horses, to blow out given the high speed which no horse could sustain over that distance, 1600 metres; and thereby, in the trainer’s strategy, to tire all the other horses except his own fillies, one of whom he felt certain would win. But she did not. She placed 3^rd while F2, ridden badly, not held in check behind and allowed to quicken only in the final stretch, trailed the field.

This Classic was televised throughout Asia and much was made of the fact that for the first time a woman jockey was participating. Witnessing the race or seeing the video confirmed the inner impression of utter chaos. And it set the tone for chaos in the remainder of the season and well beyond. Jockey Eve was suspended for four racing days for ‘dangerous riding’; she was forbidden to ride in Classics; she was restricted to a field of only ten horses. Needless to say, apart from the suspension the other penalties were entirely arbitrary. The trainer insisted on this punishment, holding Eve responsible for his filly losing the race, but they did not conform to the usual procedure. They were ‘exceptions’, tailored for this specific case. It was also suspected that such measures might not have been imposed had the rider been a male. The trainer was convinced, and possibly convinced others, that the fault lay in Eve’s inability ‘to control’ a horse. There was certainly much truth in this, but of a different order than he could grasp. And finally, it was unfortunate that given his patently wrong instructions for ulterior motives, the trainer received no censures.

From the Gnostic Circle’s perspective, all was as it should be, given the prevailing conditions, – namely, the poise of the jockey and the demands of the 6 Point which could not be met due to those prevailing conditions. The filly had done her part by release of energy at the 4.5 Orbit. The problem was that none of it was utilised according to the demands of the 6 Point. That is, the beginning of ‘putting order’ for the forging of a magnetic centre where that energy must propel one inward, which means centering. On this basis, by this compression through ordering, the centre is forged and can thereafter hold. To achieve this ‘mind and heart’ had to be in harmony, poised around ONE AXIS, as it were – the symbol of the Sagittarian Centaur. Something of this was achieved but with considerable toll for both filly and jockey. The latter saw her professional progress greatly impeded, and the filly experienced a physical breakdown.

At the 6 Point if conditions are not met to contain the increase and channel it properly, the result is an unsustainable impact on the instrument (this is the point of death in traditional astrology). F2 suffered such an mpact because of her early training which did not provide the needed cardiovascular development to permit her to compete according to her inner potential. Sentimental concerns have no place in the training of an athlete. If one considers that it is unreasonable to race horses at a young age, then it is better to withdraw from the profession of trainer, as F2’s first trainer did. For to send them into a race having ‘spared’ them from the work demanded in order to permit them to sustain the rigours of a race, is to cause harm to the animal which one professes to love. The horse is constantly ‘surprised’, asked to do what it has not been prepared for. Breakdown is inevitably the result.

The 6 Point forces the issue. It may be recalled that over this passage F1 suffered a physical problem. She spent three months recuperating. F2 would also require the same period to regain condition. The superficial assessment would be that she was competing with horses far superior and could not withstand the strain. Time would be required to ascertain which assessment was correct, and indeed if any rectification would be possible.

As for Eve, the poise of women in the old creation was displayed in F2’s 6^th race and in all the races to follow until her participation was brought dramatically to a halt. It was evident that she relied on the axis trainer Adam provided and could not sustain any pressure independent of that axis-support, or outside its orbit. Indeed, the first two races she rode in the fillies’ home base were for jockey Eve still within Adam’s orbit, insofar as she was racing his horses, in his centre in the mountains, and was sent down to the plains only to ride F1 and F2 when their races were scheduled. She was, as such, on borrowed time. That is, she was simply extended into this other field, like an asteroid intruding into the orbits of other planets, while never being fully a part of those orbits. Indeed, the result of this situation was a constant sense of uncertainty and unpredictability, similar in fact to the impression of chaos the Asteroid Belt presents (the 4.5 Orbit of the Gnostic Circle).

Indeed. F2’s classic race on 13^th June transpired the day after trainer Adam’s season ended. Jockey Eve was then on her own, orbitless, as it were. Representing women of the old creation, she could not maintain her poise in such a situation and the chaos of that race was akin to a satellite spinning out of orbit, crashing into this object, throwing that other off course, herself swerving here and there due to the filly’s habit and the presence of the riderless horse.

Indeed, the riderless horse provided the key to the deepest significance of this particular 6 Point experience. This was precisely when rider and horse had to fuse, as it were, to harmonise, work together, blend into one as the figure of the Centaur suggests. F2 had no such possibility. She was indeed as riderless as the filly leading the field whose jockey she had contributed to dislodging. And thereafter the public, both present and watching the television transmission, were subjected to the display of this chaotic performance led by a horse with no rider, setting the pace, as it were, totally uncontrolled by any ‘higher centre’.

On her part F1 took due revenge. Her 25^th race consisted of 15 horses, therefore jockey Eve could not ride her. This was to the liking of the then trainer; in fact, the jockey who did agree to ride was precisely the one he considered would have won the previous two races on the filly, rather than Eve. F1 was favoured and the jockey was confident. But she soon demolished his ego, as only she can do. At the 400 mark, coming into the last stretch, she simply refused to oblige when the jockey tried to open her up. His frustration was such that F1 succeeded in adding another jockey to her list of ‘enemies’. The trainer on his part promptly lost interest in the filly. She was too unpredictable. This race was at the 7 Point with its intense pressure for truth.

The fillies continued their career under another trainer. Interestingly, still in their beautiful stables, still drawing to themselves what was required without budging. They seemed to be firmly rooted in an immobile centre at the heart of it all.

Within a few weeks F2 revealed her physical ailment and was rested for a time and then slowly brought back into condition. In the meantime, racing at their turf club came to an end and the club’s next season began in mid August in a neighbouring city. For the entire period the experience was coloured by a state of uncertainty which had extremely negative effects on the fillies, especially F1 who had a specific problem with jockeys. Thus, the fact that we were never certain how many horses were to race on any given day, we could never plan ahead, confident that jockey Eve would be able to ride. The restriction to a field of ten horses proved a terrible set-back; but at the same time it was a faithful symbol of the jockey’s own state. She was never centred and hence this uncertainty was symptomatic of an inner condition.

Trainer Adam had sent four of his horses to this same venue where F1 and F2 were racing, though under another trainer’s care for the several races they were scheduled to run. He was therefore present each time that jockey Eve rode his horses, scheduled to coincide with the fillies’ races. Eve was thus still in orbit of his operation and while he was involved some form of ‘stability’ prevailed amid the uncertainty the prevailing restrictions created. But it was clear that with F2’s 6 Point race a form of ‘choosing’ had been offered: this orbit or that. The ‘choice’ decided the issue and left the system wobbling thereafter. However, F2 was to ‘put each thing in its place’ in the 7^th race. This transpired on the September Equinox. But to appreciate in full the remarkable implications of what transpired then, a certain background must be provided. In addition, we must consider the nature of the world in which we live in greater depth. That is, this perplexing question of predetermination as well as control. The experience I shall relate, exactly as it transpired, will force a review of our firm convictions and ‘scientific’ deductions regarding the nature of reality.

Truth, or each thing in its place: The Anatomy of ‘Accidents’

Something of a preface is required to help the student understand the nature of the 7 point in the Gnostic Circle and its vital importance. It is in this segment that an axis comes into being or becomes established. Thereafter, everything in orbit of this central axis is ‘put in place’. This means that orbital adjustment is determined; as well, there is an action of repelling and attracting the elements which find themselves within the periphery of this particular system. F2’s 7^th race makes the latter quite clear.

This is what is meant by the process – the action whereby cosmos is established and the method to achieve this harmonious condition of being. The reason why it is essential to carry out such a process consciously is for the fact that to graduate to a higher level on the ladder of evolution, conscious awareness is precisely the factor that distinguishes the new level from the old. As a result of this increased capacity of perception attained when frontiers are exceeded and new boundaries come into being (Sagittarius and the 6 point), we are able to understand aspects of the old creation which have eluded us while we have been a part of that system. We have not been able to understand key features of the reality we are a part of because our boundaries of consciousness have not permitted a wider vision. Particularly difficult, given our limited range of perception, is the question of determinism in contrast to freedom or random choice, as it were. It is almost impossible for the human being to comprehend these elusive aspects of life. And yet, if we are to move up the ladder of evolution, and the process demands conscious participation, we have to come to terms with these questions. Failing which we experience recoil at crucial moments when precisely the process demands immobility.

This is the principle upon which the world is founded: the Immobile amidst the Mobile. These words are used in the Rigveda to describe Agni, first of the Vedic Gods and foremost figure of almost all the hymns. The reason is that Agni, as the Son, the One, is the manifestation of that principle. He is the perfect centre, hence he is known as the navel of the world. One of his most renowned forms is the Horse. Let us explore the reasons why. At the same time, deeper levels of reality and life in a physical embodiment will be made somewhat clearer. All these dimensions of the question are captured in F2’s 7^th race.

Skambha (‘pillar’, ‘support’) of the Veda is clearly the Supreme Principle of creation. Yet very little is understood of Skambha. Moreover, it seems no one since the Vedic Age has actually realised Skambha, though its eminence stands beyond doubt. Today we consider the Brahman as the principle of Unity and therefore the Supreme Principle, or the umbrella covering everything else. The goal of all Indian spirituality is to attain that Brahman consciousness; or to dissolve one’s small ‘self’ in that larger Self whose essence is Brahman which transcends the lesser.

Yet Skambha haunts us. The sublime verses of the Atharvaveda (see TVN 7/1, April 1992) leave little doubt that the composer of the hymn had realised Skambha intimately and confirmed it to be the foundation of creation – the ‘fulcrum’, as one researcher has called it.

The new cosmology of the supramental yoga clarifies the matter. Brahman is THAT in its transcendent form (9); Skambha is THIS in its immanent form (0-1). In between stand two powers/principles, 6 and 3. They represent the process whereby THAT becomes THIS.

In ancient times it was known, realised. But at a certain point, when the realisation had become commonplace, shall we say, transformation of THAT into THIS was superseded. The realiser leapt from unity to unity, as it were. As a result, the intermediate passage fell into obscurity and was soon considered irrelevant. The Brahman was known to permeate everything, but how had It become the all was a mystery. The Multiple therefore lost its direct and immediate touch with that Unity and the cleavage between THAT and THIS was complete.

We pick up the threads of this development today, some two thousand years later, and must reconstruct that very process, that very passage if at all we are to understand anything of reality in its true nature and divested of the falsifications brought about by the limitations of our perceptive capacity which suffers from seepage of the energy required to carry out the process. The immediate problem the human being faces in attaining that increased capacity is precisely one of concentration, accumulation of energy to serve as fuel. The transformation of the human species to a higher echelon requires knowledge of the process whereby THAT becomes THIS. Failing which essential features of the experience are not CONSCIOUS; hence no concentration and immobility accompany the action.

The common perception in spirituality today is that it is all ‘one’, all a ‘unity’. But there are different aspects to that ‘one’, that ‘unity’, which we ignore and our ignorance is therefore stamped on everything we do, everything we create, on the whole of our civilisation. A simple means to illustrate, though the connection might appear far-fetched, is cheese. We know the underlying essence of cheese is milk. This is its substance, its foundational base, its unity principle,. But milk (unity) is not cheese. Something else intervenes to alter that essential unity while ever retaining the original substance. That ‘something else’ is the process whereby milk becomes cheese.

Likewise, THAT, the Absolute or Brahman, is the overall Unity. While retaining that essentiality, something occurs to embed that principle, that essence, in creation, for which reason alone the yogi can proclaim that ‘all is one’. Yes, it is one, but THIS is different from THAT. The process is the Becoming. Hence Sri Aurobindo can rightfully state that to become is the highest truth of our existence. We are the process. Material creation is Brahman becoming Skambha, the ‘point’ of Itself. The process is the movement of THAT to transmute it to THIS. Hence the Horse and its speed is the great symbol of this act of Becoming. The Horse is indeed Agni and the first point of space, the coming into being of which requires two cosmic powers: contraction and expansion. And these are in turn the 6 of the new cosmology, who compresses That into a point, or who creates conditions for the compression; while the 3 gives it birth, or creates the bridge from plane to plane for the manifestation of That. The 6 is rightfully speaking the Mother, the Cosmic Womb. She is the great Placenta which feeds the process, whence all energies are drawn. The 3 draws from that Womb and carries out the labour, as it were. In our material creation, in this particular 9^th Manifestation, it is therefore the harmony of 9 that sets the tone, similar to a human gestation.

What had been missed throughout the thousands of years of the Age of Pisces are the details of that operation, that passage. Thus in the final stage of the Supramental Descent it is necessary to live and to explain the process of this Becoming. The Third thus defines and adds precision to the process. She ‘puts each thing in its place’.

F2, at the 7^th stage of the process, did just that – with a ruthlessness characteristic of the Divine Warrior. There was no sentimentality. No recoil. No hesitation. There was, however, an extraordinary control. When the process is integral – that is, covering all the stages and crossing all the planes in a conscious unbroken line, – then this control is evident.

Seeing only the permissible

Some background must be given to appreciate the control of each detail of the experience. At the same time, what I will relate draws into greater focus the question of determinism and certain perplexing aspects of prevision, in particular through dreams, or what are commonly considered to be dreams.

But first, mention must be made of the way in which the experience was rendered conscious, or at least more conscious. This happened on 17^th September, five days before F2’s seventh race. By a certain yogic methodology, I delved deeply into the essence of the 7^th stage and in particular its significance in this racing experience in the light of what had transpired so far, one thing stood out prominently in this probing. I ‘saw’ that the 7^th would produce what I called a ‘crisis of adjustment’. That is, from the experience of the 6^th it was evident that a great store of energy or elements to be integrated populated this nascent ‘cosmos’, but that indeed we had nothing but chaos. The 7 Point was to bring order into that chaos, to define – or better, to put each thing in place. Given the fact that there was a disharmony and some elements were not engaged or aligned properly for the experience, it seemed clear that the adjustment would not be without its toll. This meant that a selective action of attraction and repelling was demanded in order to form this cosmos. In other words, the 7^th stage introduces an axis, the first prerequisite of a cosmic manifestation.

This ought to have begun at the 6 Point and Saturn, but we saw that the axial alignment required, symbolised in the Centaur in whose single body two ‘hemispheres’ are harmonised, did not take place. Arriving at the 7^th stage beyond the ‘borderline’ in such a condition made it evident that a ‘crisis of adjustment’ might take place. The central figure was F2 with her capacity ‘to hold’, to remain ‘immobile’, both features of which are part of the creative, transformative process.

Two days after this ‘seeing’, there was another revelation regarding the 7^th race/stage but which I did not understand at the time for reasons that became clear later on. On 19 September, in the early hours of the morning just before leaving for the racing venue where the filly’s 7^th was to be held on the 22^nd, I had the following dream:

I was with a man and a young woman. We went into a stationary car, a convertible. The top was down. The three of us sat in the back seat, – myself, the gentleman, and the young woman, in this order. I do not know who the driver was to be, he was not present; nor do I recall who these two people were. These details may have been known, but they seem to have been blotted out by the dramatic scene to follow.

When we were seated and ready to set off, a white horse (technically known as a grey) came cantering up to the car from my side, the left. He quickly reached us and instead of stopping, he leapt up into the air above the open-top car, turned on his side and came down on the three of us. I ‘felt’ the impact lightly by his head and shoulders, the portion which came down on me, while the gentleman beside me received the middle portion. But the impact was entirely muted, if I may use the word. It was as if a cloud had come down and not a 600-kilo horse. However, I said to the gentleman seated beside me when we got out of the car that surely the young woman was ‘finished’ since she had received all the impact of the largest portion, the quarters. But in the commotion that ensued, I was told that nothing had happened to her.

Needless to say, such a dream just before leaving for a race seemed ominous. At the same time, I analysed the dream and since I could not recognise any of the participants, above all the horse which was a grey, I concluded that it was ‘symbolic’ and not previsionary. The salient points seemed to be the vulnerability indicated by the open-top car, and no control by any of us; the car was to be driven by a driver though he was not present. But this surely had no bearing on the forthcoming race.

There was a third element injected into the affair. The day before leaving I received a letter from abroad. It informed me that Julie Krone, America’s top female jockey, had had an accident (30 August). Her ankle was smashed. She would be out of racing for a year. My interest in this very fine jockey was stimulated by an article sent to me a month earlier when she won the Belmont Stakes. Hence friends who knew sent me her news. They related only that her ankle was smashed, nothing more.

On 22^nd September, I reached the racing venue just as the race was to begin. I met the trainer and jockey Eve, attired in my racing colours, orange and gold, in the paddock as the horses were being paraded, F2 among them. The trainer gave the jockey instructions in my presence, after which I left the paddock while the jockey was still talking to the trainer. But as I stepped out of the paddock, something made me turn around and walk back in. I went up to the jockey, still with the trainer, and said, ‘I want to see you mount’.

The other jockeys were beginning to mount for the race. Jockey Eve went up to the filly and was given a leg-up. Then the drama began right before me, the stewards and the other officials, and before the public. F2 reared slightly when Eve sat in the saddle. This was not unusual and Eve paid no attention. But the syce became nervous and yanked down on the lead he was holding. As Eve was in the saddle and starting to put her feet in the stirrups, his action caused the filly to rear once more. He yanked again, and again, and again. And with each pull downward the filly reared higher and higher, never touching the ground. But still he did not understand his mistake. The final yank caused the filly to lose balance and keel over, falling on her back. Eve was still on her, crushed beneath.

There was a moment of suspension, it seemed. No one moved, not even the filly who had her four legs in the air and the rider under her! She was clearly trying to figure out how she was going to get up without having to step on the jockey (horses will do their utmost to avoid trampling a person). No one could approach. No one could help. All was in the hands – or rather, hoofs – of F2. And divine Providence.

In such a case, in the excitement of the paddock before a large gathering and the nervous atmosphere that precedes a race, the filly herself ought to have panicked, in which case she would be seen flaying her legs about and thereby keeping all at bay and any help that might be possible. But for some reason she did not panic. She wriggled somewhat and made her move. She threw her legs to one side, Eve underneath her 600 kilos all the time, and pushed herself up. One hoof was planted right on Eve’s chest, right over her heart. The crowd gasped. Everyone thought she was finished.

At that moment I remembered my dream. I said to the trainer, ‘she’ll be all right’. It was clear: the man in my dream was the trainer, the girl was jockey Eve. The stationary car meant an accident before the race.

As soon as the filly was up, officials, doctors, trainers rushed to the jockey, all convinced her vital organs were smashed. It had to be. The filly came down on her chest. How could her ribs withstand the impact?

But no, Eve pulled herself up somewhat and pointed to her ankle. The problem was there, just like Julie Krone.

After ridding herself of Eve in this dramatic fashion, F2 was resaddled; another jockey took over and she placed 4^th. This was her first run after a gap of three months and was meant to be easy to make sure her physical could withstand the rigours of a race.

As for Eve, before long it was known that her injury was minor. It was not her ankle as such that had been fractured. It was only the fibula, sometimes called the useless bone because it bears no weight. Apart from this, there was also a tiny chip on the tibia, so small that not even a screw could be inserted to secure it in place. Nothing more. Even the spot where the hoof had come down bore only the slightest trace of a bruise, almost as if to confirm that indeed a 600kg horse had pulled herself up from the ground with one hoof planted right there; because as far as Eve was concerned, she had not even lost her breath, so light was the pressure. F2 is skittish, similar to many youngsters of her breeding, very finely tuned and somewhat high strung like most Thoroughbreds. Therefore, her sudden composure left us amazed. The injury was not actually caused by the weight falling on Eve, but somehow her leg got twisted when falling, though her feet were not in the stirrups. The ankle was missed by a mere centimetre or two. Otherwise, according to the doctor, her fate would have been similar to Krone’s: many months laid up, perhaps even a year.

But nothing of this transpired. There was, I repeat, a palpable control over every detail of this ‘accident’. The impression it left was as if a very great power of harmony permeated everything. It was more like a dance than an accident. True, my dream had forewarned me that nothing serious would happen, but the problem with accidents and what causes real damage is precisely the panic pervading the atmosphere. This space does not permit a lengthy discussion of the nature of accidents. Suffice to say that if a centre holds the process together, as it were, even a potentially fatal accident such as Eve’s can be ‘harmonised’. While witnessing the scene I realised why I was driven back into the paddock to be close at hand for the event. A conscious poise of immobility is the mechanism which permits the Power of Harmony to operate, to put each thing in its place, but with only minimal damage, if at all it can be called that. Indeed, this is the point we must stress. A centre that ‘holds’ does not produce accidents – a word which is the antithesis of control. Accidents come to pass in a lesser world, within the parameters of the old creation. They do not occur in the new creation.

The difference is between cosmos and chaos. When energies are not centrally held in orbit of an axis, then in that uncontrolled play in the periphery anything is possible at any given moment. But this too has to be clarified. Anything can happen has a specific meaning: any ‘asteroid’ can enter the system and create havoc, – and then exit once more. The point I wish to make is precisely the question of forces operating outside the boundary of that particular destiny and which can find access into the destiny-system (of an individual or a collectivity) because of gaps in the structure due to a lack of integrality or sphericality.

Thus, forces operate from outside, press into, find an opening, and then do their deeds, whatever these may be, positive or negative; in any case, it is all ‘relative’. Whatever the action, it is relative and not absolute, thus even negative or positive in such a world is meaningless. Nothing is in its place because nothing holds the energy to itself. At the centre lies a void, devoid of that crucial axis which permits a centrally-based action. Unlike an asteroid (force) entering the systems of the old creation from beyond, so to speak, and creating havoc in a field characterised by chaos, in the new creation all action is centrally impelled. Thus, if an ‘asteroid’ does gain access, and in the early stages of this transitional period the world is experiencing this is still possible, that force encounters the Power of Harmony attracting and repelling; by which mechanism such forces are ‘put in place’ along with all the rest. Or else rejected, expelled from the System. Whatever the case, the most important aspect to bear in mind is that negative or positive, all serve the purposes of the One, centre of the cosmos, axis mundi in the deepest sense of the term.

To be even more specific, let us juxtapose Eve’s ‘accident’ and Julie Krone’s. But to make the comparison even more convincing, I must mention that shortly after returning to the farm-source when the details of Eve’s convalescence had been worked out, the mail awaiting me contained an article from The New York Times of 21 September, on Julie Krone’s accident. I quote the relevant portion:

Julie Krone can talk about it now, now that the danger has passed from a 1,200-pound horse hitting her directly above the heart, now that she has survived a cardiac contusion through the help of a 2-pound vest.

         ‘It was a breath-taking force,’ she recalled. ‘But at the time, I could feel the vest protecting me.’

            The tough little jockey met the press yesterday for the first time since Aug. 30 when she tumbled off her horse at Saratoga. Dr Frank Ariosta…who put her right ankle together in two complicated operations, has assured her she will ride again…And the two of them agreed that the accident could have been worse, much worse…’

The similarity between the experiences was total. Any qualification such as ‘coincidence’ is futile and simply serves as a distraction. Both were female jockeys; both suffered accidents, and within 22 days of each other; both had right-ankle injuries; both had a horse step on their chests, right over their hearts. The difference lies in the consequences, along with the mechanisms obtaining for each jockey. The anatomy of the two explains in full why Krone is laid up for six months and more, and Eve is right now, after only six weeks, riding again and preparing to return to the track. Krone’s accident was a veritable, authentic accident; while Eve’s was an ‘accident’. That is, it formed a part of a supramental process and as such it was entirely controlled, harmonised, utilised for the purposes of the One.

Even the dream sequence prior to the race was ‘controlled’. None of the figures were recognisable. For had I been able to do so I certainly would have concentrated on the race and taken some decisions according to its portents. But recognition was purposely withheld. This brings to the fore another aspect of destiny: we cannot interfere, rightly speaking, with destiny by way of prevision unless that prevision is a part of the unfolding of that destiny. In other words, I could not have known who the characters in the dream were precisely because had I known I would have interfered. Yet, prevision of the outcome was ‘willed’ and served me well in that crucial moment in the paddock. It helped to ‘hold together’, to create the right atmosphere for the power of harmony to operate. Immobility was essential. No panic. Perfect equanimity. This condition was made possible in large part by the dream.

There is another aspect we must note. Krone’s accident was also ‘held together’, as it were. It also formed a part of a system. But this was individual, limited, contained within the boundaries of her personal destiny disconnected in its essentiality from everything else. If she was saved and did not suffer fatal injuries, the more religious might view the matter as the grace of God: God saved Julie Krone. But to be precise, God did not save Krone. She saved herself. Whereas ‘god’ did indeed ‘save’ Eve.

Within the boundaries of the old creation, with the limited perspective its horizons permit, this may appear blasphemous. We may consider that where chaos is found only the divine Grace can ‘save’. Actually this is a fallacy. Yet religions throughout the Age of Pisces have thrived because of this assumption. We are victims of fate, therefore we must implore the help of God and his intermediaries (the priests) in order to mitigate the blows an unpredictable fate (chaos) must surely offer. However, in such a condition of misalignment there is no possibility of ‘grace’ saving the day, in the sense that we understand the term. The divine Power is limited, entirely constrained by the off-centre alignment of the human instrument. Whatever the case, the individual is crucial. The instrument is the key feature of material creation, or the field wherein the Supreme Principle materialises itself. Everything converges there, on the individual. The Supramental Shakti operates within creation according to laws inherent in the creative process which she herself set in motion and supports in its eternal manifestation. To render these obsolete would mean that there is no sense to a material manifestation, no purpose. Hence, the Mother was emphatic on this point: If there were no determinism in every detail, there would be no ‘sense’ to creation. On 31 January 1970, she discussed the matter with a disciple, having reached this conclusion after years of yoga, realisation. ‘seeing’:

‘You know, my child, more and more and in an absolute way, I see – I see – yes, I see, I feel: everything has been decided.

‘And everything has its reason for existence, which eludes us because our vision is not wide enough.

‘And you understand, life, existence, indeed the world itself would have no sense if it were otherwise.

‘It is a kind of absolute conviction. And I see it. Yes, it is a thing I see.’

The disciple then asks if that Consciousness one can understand might govern the vast and the eternal, ‘but does it govern all in all the small details?’ To this the Mother replies, ‘In the microscopic.’ She continues,

‘…the individual consciousness, even when it is very wide, is not able to realise, that is to say, understand concretely, that it is possible to become conscious of all at the same time. For it is not of that kind. It has just the difficulty of understanding that the Consciousness is conscious of all at the same time, all together, in its totality and in the smallest detail…’ (The Mother’s Agenda, Volume 11, 1970)

In this analysis I wish to clarify the implications of the Mother’s rather startling disclosures, since they appear to contradict the objectives of yoga which are to make one ‘free’, ‘master of one’s fate’, rid of ‘karma’, and so forth. According to the Mother’s experience, the deeper one penetrates the clearer it is that ‘everything has been decided’, even the ‘microscopic details’. We seem to be faced here with another ‘paradox’.

Yet, as explained above, the human creature cannot expect ‘God’ to help. One can only help oneself. Thus, we have stated that the only true and real freedom lies in the freedom to choose to move up the ladder to the new, wider, and conscious condition of being, and thus to allow the Divine to use that instrument for the manifestation of cosmos. Or, we can remain in our present misaligned structure which limits the Power insofar as the instrument cannot withstand the impact, lacking as it does a centred axial structure.

It is only the centred operation that permits the Divine to control, to harmonise, to put each thing in place, to utilise the individual for the expression of the Supreme’s Freedom and Harmony and Truth. Not our own ‘truth’. The Supreme’s, the Absolute’s.

What ‘saved’ Krone were the boundaries of her own destiny and nothing more. Within that there was a ‘weak’ force operating, to borrow the term from physics, which could mitigate only within that limited boundary. There is no contradiction since within that boundary ‘everything is known, determined’ – even in the smallest detail. But only within the periphery of her destiny. Thus, knowing that parameter we could ‘predict’ Krone’s salvation. But with the wider vision we could also declare that nothing was permitted to enter that system, enclosed within itself, centreless, since there was no area of access.

Our universe is a cosmos because the First Cause was a centre, a perfect alignment. The new cosmology seeks to describe the mechanism or process both to bring a centre into being as well as to discover the method whereby each human being can ‘become the Sun’, to borrow the Vedic injunction. Indeed, in the Vedic Age this realisation, mechanism, process, anatomy of creation was known. It was also known that praying to a God outside to act as saviour was an illusion, if at all such a situation was even contemplated (some of our readers may recall that the Toltec master, don Juan, made similar declarations to his pupil, Carlos Castaneda, when he ridiculed the latter’s sentimental attachment to ‘God’, whom don Juan called simply the mould of man). For the Vedic Seer everything was founded on the realisation of Skambha. The journey was undertaken to carry the seeker into those innermost universes where Agni could be established as the purohit, or the priest officiating over the sacrifice. This Purohit was an inner reality. Each one had to become that power, realise or unveil its function; and from this centremost Point move through the corridors of creation in conquest of the Summit, victorious over each and every pani, or hostile force, met along the way.

This same ‘journey’ is now, today, being undertaken not merely by an individual or even a group of individuals. It is the Earth herself who is engaged. Thus it is that we say, a new world is being born, the Earth is giving birth, as in the Puranic myth, to the 4^th, or Mars, or Agni.

Blessed are the Lesser, for they can BE

In this particular experiment animals, particularly the Horse, are used. This is because being creatures of the lower hemisphere, shall we say, they are not disturbed in their instrumentation by the proclivities of a mentally-poised species such as the human. Problems arise when we move up the ladder somewhat, when we begin to experience something of that divine light, but not the fullest Light. Then concepts such as freedom, free will and the like suffer from the limitations such a partial vision imposes. It is only when the time arrives for a progress such as the Earth is experiencing today, in this 9^th Manifestation that we can begin to understand our limitations and shed the baggage accumulated over the ages of wrong perceptions based on this instrumental inadequacy.

The animal is not hampered in this way. His only limitation is due to the position he occupies on the scale of creation which places him under the human. But this describes a linear assessment and not spherical. In the latter there is no question of higher and lower. There is a total equality based on equal participation; or rather, equal instrumentation: everything is the Divine, a channel for the Divine Play in creation. Indeed, the animal is more fortunate. He does not have to grapple with Mind at all. This does not mean he is not ‘intelligent’ – for this notion, in particular regarding the horse, is meaningless. What it means is that the Power works directly through the vital and physical centres without the interference of Mind. Hence the action is as pure as we are describing in these pages regarding F2’s participation and her ‘ruthlessness’. She cast Eve off her back simply because Eve was not properly aligned to serve the purposes of that One which F2 can serve faithfully and inconspicuously, with the least damage and interference.

When it was clear that Eve could not handle the energy release, F2 would not allow her to take her in even one more race. Whereas, she peacefully, obediently allowed the second rider to mount and behaved admirably thereafter, once she had put ‘each thing in its place’. For the fact is that the second rider was not involved in the process like Eve and hence he would not interfere. He was ‘centred’ in his own human way, or like every other human being – that is, there and rooted in the action of the moment. The reason may be banal, mundane – ambition, for example – but he was there. Whereas Eve was elsewhere. She belonged to another ‘system’ and when the linchpin of that system was removed, she was thrown after it! She did not race again at that centre once Adam had stepped out. F2 saw to it that Eve would follow. Such are the actions of the Impeccable Warrior.

The final outcome of this Biblical foray, or the female/male adventure within the contours of the old creation, was loss, waste, – or at least so it would seem in terms of the racing experience. Eve is nursing her wounds, while the fillies, F1 and F2, had to suffer the humiliation of demotion: F1 back to Class IV, and F2 to Class VA. At the same time, both were saddled with top weights in the handicaps of the lower classes in which they found themselves, and the saga goes on. F2 completed the first ennead with a heavy handicap/karma; she would have to work this off somehow during the next round. We would have to make up the lost ground, and for this she would have to draw to herself those elements which might help her to recuperate and to redeem herself. Physically she was nearing a peak. The new trainer was bringing her on slowly and carefully. The results were positive. But there was more to do. A new chapter was opening just as the new ennead had also begun. The fillies were still in their pleasant stables, still rooted in the process and central to it all.

Survival and affirmation in a hostile world

Determinism in every detail was obvious in Eve’s fall and salvation. Without the presence of a centre in the paddock, the centimetre miss which ‘saved’ her ankle, the light pressure of the filly’s hoof which left her heart intact could not have taken place. It would have been a question of ‘destiny’, – i.e., chaos. Julie Krone relied totally on human aids – for example, the jockey’s vest she wore which in her opinion saved her. Entirely true. But even this is significant in terms of our analysis. We do, as humans relying on our own mental devices, require aids for protection. Without that Julie Krone would probably have died. But Eve demonstrated a new power at work.

The Mother spoke of this power toward the end of her life. She was occupied with the problem of protection for the new creation. She knew there would have to be a method to secure its survival while in infancy insofar as there is only one field in which to plant the seed, and that is the soil of the Earth. But this soil is already polluted; or shall we say, the field is occupied and there is no other, no other ‘space’ for the new to arise. Thus, it is obliged to take shape here in the midst of a hostile world, similar to the terrain the Aryan warrior of old had to cross en route to the Mountaintop. Therefore the Mother knew that concurrent with planting that Seed, a ‘power’ would have to manifest to accompany its growth and assure its protection. She located the operation in the vital, truly the energy base of the Warrior, that it was a power manifesting from or in that plane – and she connected it to the Power of Love.

In these pages I have provided details of just how that Power the Mother anticipated operates. I have centred the discussion on the Horse, supreme symbol of the Vital, of the Hero, of Agni, in a further demonstration of the symbol is the thing symbolised.

The key to a supramental creation is freedom, for which reason the present human species in transition to a higher status is so obsessed with the concept and its establishment in society. It is one’s ‘unalienable right’. But I have demonstrated in this analysis that such freedom, any freedom, is an illusion. There is only one true freedom: the Supreme’s.

The significance of the Supreme’s freedom concerns the laws by virtue of which the Divine Shakti can or cannot manifest through the material instrument, or even the vital and the mental in the other intermediate planes of existence. In the human mental creation, as I have explained earlier, there is virtually no freedom for the Consciousness to operate. And this has a specific definition. To be bound by laws means a curtailment in the expression of the Supreme’s spontaneity. The next legitimate question is, What is spontaneity?

We have the two accidents under discussion for elucidation. The order in which they occurred is one important clue. The first, Julie Krone’s, set the broad lines for the second. Krone’s conformed to the laws of the human creation, – i.e., totally bound, unfree. The ‘power’ at work to save or not save was entirely determined by the parameters of Krone’s individual destiny. Hence, a necessary reliance on human aids such as the jockey’s vest. Those aids, the prowess of the other jockeys to avoid the dislodged rider, the horses’ natural instinct to avoid trampling a person, and so forth, are all indications of the episode following the normal laws of the species, without any higher intervention. Knowing those boundaries and that there can be nothing higher introduced makes it possible to predict the outcome of such a happening, provided one has access to certain facts. In many cases the horoscope can provide this information. But only partially. There could be no ‘intervention’ to complicate a reading of that nature because, as I have explained, there was no area of access and the field was too limited. That is, there was no possibility of spontaneity.

Nonetheless, this accident set the lines for the second, 22/23 days later. It also permits us to gauge the greater conscious participation in the second. There were certain key features which would have to be respected – or rather, repeated. These were mainly the right-ankle injury and the hoof on the heart, apart from the fact that both involved female jockeys, in itself an unusual circumstance to duplicate, especially in Asia. To make this nuclear experience valid there had to be the possibility of comparison, as it were. And for this, similarities between the two had to preclude the escape route of ‘coincidence’.

Thus, Krone’s which could not accommodate spontaneity, set the tone for the second from the outset. With these givens the Supramental Shakti had to ‘organise her manifestation’, in Sri Aurobindo’s words. That is, with the existence of a centre in the field of manifestation, the Shakti could have access to the procedure in that no ‘catastrophe’ would result. This merits some clarification before we proceed further.

If the centre does not exist at the heart of the endeavour, then the Divine Consciousness can of course ‘intervene’ – but the problem is that chaos prevails due to the lack of a holding axis. Thus, intervention in such a field would simply agitate those energies even more. More chaos, in other words. Hence clash, conflict, catastrophe. To use the great Puranic myth imagery, it would be as if the churning of the primordial ocean had taken place without Mt Meru as the central axis or ‘churning stick’, around which the churning took place as order, cosmos. If Mt Meru were eliminated, then we would have chaos leading to catastrophe and destruction.

For this reason the Supramental Shakti does not intervene directly in the lower levels of creation where Mind operates as regent or highest principle. To do so would create tremendous disorder. Consequently, the evolution under such conditions is slow and laborious and at times appears to grind to a halt. This is because there are pockets of energy knotted up along the way; and sometimes those ‘knots’ cannot be undone but must be cut out of the system. We witness then great upheavals in the life of society or the individual.

On the other hand, the moment the centre and axis come into being, time is accelerated. This means that what took eight Manifestations of 6480 years each to evolve, can now bear fruit in a matter of decades, unbelievable as it may seem. Time is never superseded, blotted out, eliminated, as many spiritualists and yogis would have us aspire for. It is simply accelerated, which is what the Churning of the Ocean myth foretells. A year becomes a day in the sense that the terrain covered is condensed, the pace is speeded up, as it were.

Thus, we cannot expect interventions before that centre and axis come into being for the sake of the survival of the species. The human consciousness prefers to view this as a divine compassion; but this is simply the human interpretation. There is no question of ‘compassion’ in the sense we mortals understand the term. It is rather self-preservation – but not of the human, rather the Divine. The Supreme Consciousness preserves her creative activity by regulating the Power according to the limits or boundaries of the field of operation. At the most, what can be done is to forge a certain protective shield to keep out interfering forces which may make ‘preservation’ more complex. But to alter the destiny in any substantial way is impossible. Hence the legendary ‘resignation’ of the Hindu. It is a civilisation which has seen and hence cannot act when it knows that action is an illusion. It is a nation nurtured by the words of Sri Krishna to the warrior Arjun, ‘Slay, because your opponents are already slain!’

Science as we know it today is entirely a product of the mental human species; that much is clear. It is bound by the same laws, limited in its perceptions by the same constraints of the instrument. In that arena to declare that the universe is merely a machine and that everything in this universe, including human evolution, is mechanically impelled and hence determined, and that therein ‘consciousness’ plays no part, is entirely true. But it is a ‘relative’ truth – hence Einstein easily revolutionised the world of science with his relativity theories. But that was a world seen through the eyes of the unfree scientist. Science of tomorrow is something else.

In the Rigveda we have an example of a civilisation which made a choice: it could follow the mechanical human path with its resultant ‘progress’, or the path of the Sun, to become the Sun. Clearly the ancient Seers had access to a source of knowledge which could have produced the technological and scientific marvels of our 20^th Century thousands of years ago. But the hymns they left us reveal that the Seers understood the complexities of the problem just as we are analysing them here, and the futility of imprisoning oneself in the lesser, limited range which could never describe the true workings of the Divine Consciousness and hence the correct understanding of the creation, preservation and destruction of the world. To change anything one had to ‘become the Sun’ – ergo, forge a centre/axis. Nothing more.

Achieving that through alignment of the consciousness, the Supramental Shakti was then ‘free’ to use that embodiment as her direct instrument, with no intermediaries from the intervening planes such as the vital and the mental. Rather, that centre/axis would then hold those forces of the intermediate planes to itself in an orderly fashion, similar to a cosmos. And thus the Seer ‘became the Sun’. He was a light unto himself just like the Sun, a self-replenishing source with a generative capacity similar to the operations in the core of a sun.

With this centre/axis established in our nuclear equine experience, there was a channel for the Shakti to ‘organise her manifestation’ on Earth, as Sri Aurobindo had prophesied, and in each ‘microscopic detail’, to quote the Mother. As a further clarification, this equine experience has served to elucidate exactly what Sri Aurobindo meant when he communicated to the Mother after his passing that he would ‘return in a supramental body prepared in a supramental way’.

Since 1950, this statement has engendered unending speculation among disciples. The pathetic part is that none know what to look for, hence the prevalence of spiritually immature speculation and expectations. Indeed, as the equine experience reveals, there were perhaps 1000 witnesses to Eve’s fall on that momentous September Equinox of 1993. Yet none saw. At best some understood that they had witnessed a ‘miraculous escape’. But none knew, none saw the Divine in their midst.

The Supramental Shakti does not perform miracles. She does not need to. The miracle is the manifestation of the Supreme’s freedom and spontaneity. To have direct access to such a happening is the greatest blessing for the human creature today. The very fact that we are able to describe the operation in these analytical, clinical terms, with the precision of the new science, is indication that the work is done. The new world is born.

The field where Eve’s fall took place bore a centre and an axis. Hence the Supramental Shakti could operate through that channel without breaking laws which she herself gave rise to and continues to support. That field then provided a nuclear arena where the Supreme could express spontaneity amid freedom. We witnessed this in the organisation of the episode to fit it into Krone’s accident pattern. It is not that Krone’s determined the other, or that Krone’s was determined by this one. It was simply a spontaneous play of the Supramental Shakti to demonstrate the ‘organisation in every detail’ amid the ‘control’ for which she is renown; but at the same time, to supersede the mechanical character of the former. For this reason one of the principal objectives of the Yoga is plasticity of the being. Where there is rigidity we have a field ideal for the play of Purush and Prakriti and their mechanical displays; but not the Shiva/Shakti Ardhanarisvar which requires freedom and spontaneity.

With this background it becomes clearer why prediction is impossible in the new dispensation. For who could have predicted the delightful exploits of the Shakti on that Equinox day in South India? The human being cannot aspire to know such details. He or she can only align the individual consciousness-being in such a way as to be an instrument through which the Supramental Shakti manifests her Freedom and Spontaneity. F1 could not serve in this way once ‘crusts’ had formed and self-centredness set in, the bane of all humans. F2 was the perfect channel, the impeccable divine Warrior. And we were witness to it all.

We will leave the analysis here for the time being, while our saga of Horse, Woman and Man on the road to Supermanhood continues, ever faithful to Sri Aurobindo’s dictum, ‘All life is yoga’.

                                                                                                                           PN-B

Aeon Centre of Cosmology at Skambha

Deepavali, November of 1993