The Gnostic Circle

Vedic Symbol of the Universe, Part 4 (of 6), The Horse as an Example in the Gnostic Circle Application, Volume 9, No 6, February 1995.

‘…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 18th, 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 19th, 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 1st 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 (1st October), came under the Rajas mode, or Cardinal; F2, born in Pisces (2nd 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 9th 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 19th. 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 26th 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 6th, 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.

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