Culture and Cosmos – 3, Part 2.1

The Evolutionary Avatar in the Cosmic Harmony and in Contemporary Vedic Culture

‘Aurobindo, build a temple, build a temple.’

 

(Message from Ramakrishna Paramhansa to Sri Aurobindo,

received psychically in Baroda, early 1900s.)

In this portion of the study I intend to focus on a very specific problem: the manner in which true renovation or reestablishment (of the Vedic Dharma) takes place. Experience has proven that very few truly understand what a process of this order entails. Nor is this an abstract discussion. Today the results of our ignorance in this regard are painfully evident in the rise of fundamentalist movements throughout the world. Or else, as in parts of Europe, there are so-called patriotic or nationalist movements, or ‘ethnic cleansing’ drives, all of which are causing alarm to the more liberal segments of European society. It would thus appear that not much or not enough progress has been made since Hitler stormed through Germany and parts of Europe, imposing his brand of nationalism and ‘Aryanism’ on the world.
     I have dealt with this issue to a certain extent earlier in this study, but it is well to analyse the subject more deeply. Regarding fundamentalism, it is important to point out that the question is not reestablishment in the way we understand and have discussed in these pages of VISHAAL with respect to the Vedic Dharma, largely because of the nature of what it is that seeks to be reestablished in the Indian context. The fundamentalism of Christianity or Islam which has been building up for the past quarter of a century is an attempt to reinstate original precepts and for this purpose to cleanse the existing faith of whatever the purists consider to be contaminants, corroding extrapolations accumulated over the centuries. The difficulty in this is the question of interpretation. Who is the supreme authority regarding those original precepts?

The Roman Church understood the problem and invested the pope with the seal of infallibility where matters of faith are involved. But Protestants do not concur. Thus today, as recently demonstrated in the Anglican Church, an essential issue such as the ordination of women to the priesthood has been decided by a democratic voting process. Interestingly, it is not a spiritual or mystical experience of a sage or saint of the faith that decides the issue, but rather a process similar to the election of a president or a bill passed in parliament. True, the Scriptures are scrutinised to reach some form of consensus prior to the final voting as to whether the motion can even be entertained at all. But given the often unclear or meagre Scriptural evidence, the onus of the decision falls on the question of interpretation by human agencies.

On this basis the faith may be thought to be changing with the times when a matter such as the ordination of women becomes accepted. However, under closer scrutiny we realise that this is not entirely the case. But in order to render the discussion non-speculative, it is wise to provide concrete examples of the act of reestablishment in the Vedic context, or the sanatan dharma, the eternal truth of the Veda. In this way it will become clear that the reestablishment we are discussing is unrelated in any way to fundamentalism and the changes taking place in the corridors of Christianity in its drive to move forward with the changing times.

The Vedic reestablishment is organic, evolutionary, cosmological. It is not a question of interpretation of Scripture but rather of VISION, drishti in the Vedic terminology. Whatever undergoes a change must pass this test, and this alone.

But, I repeat, this may be too abstract if it remains a simple statement of the fact. I am obliged therefore to provide non-speculative examples of the process in order to disclose exactly how the Dharma is revitalised and its foundations strengthened. Above all, how the essential truth or the seed of the Vision is never blemished or contaminated but that it is that very core which forces a reestablishment; and that this action is measurable given the fact that Time is the essential ingredient which produces an ineluctable reordering on a periodic basis and in accordance with the totality of conditions prevailing at certain crucial moments in the evolutionary experience.

To illustrate the action, I will draw from the tradition – for example the Puranic material on the geography of India and certain aspects of Vedic sciences as they have reached us today. But above all, I will use the science of temple building and its profound symbolism. By comparing the ancient concepts with the Mother’s contemporary act of seeing, it will be demonstrated exactly what is meant by reestablishing or revitalising, and how this is achieved in a non-speculative, yogic manner. The student will then be in a position to appreciate that in dealing with a sanatan dharma born of the Act of Seeing, or drishti, the democratic process of consensus or majority vote is out of place. The deciding factor is necessarily that act of superior Seeing which only the Seer can provide. At the same time, if such a Vision is not in evidence, there must prevail the humility to accept this fact and desist from any imposition which is not a result of the Vedic process of yoga.

When, however, that blessed Act has occurred, in a land where the seed of the Dharma is alive and still determinative, the lesser modes of decision making which may have their place in the political or diplomatic arena, are entirely inappropriate.

For India this discussion is timely. It is thought by the world at large that India too is experiencing a form of fundamentalism or revivalism, following the patterns of Christianity and Islam, and coupled with a surge of unhealthy nationalism akin to what swept across Germany in the first half of this century. But the examples I am presenting will clear the atmosphere for a truer light to be shed on these very topical issues. India faces a critical threshold as far as her destiny is concerned: a civilisational crossroads, to use Sri Aurobindo’s words. Central to this is precisely the Act of Seeing which ‘puts each thing in its place’ – in particular the question of nationalism, and reestablishment versus fundamentalism.

The difficulty in comprehending the difference lies in the very nature of the Dharma in question. Having had its origin in the Vedic act of Seeing, it is understandable that this process must again be utilised whenever there is a need to widen the scope, to enhance the Vision so as to allow more light to illumine the multiple facets of that original essence. Or else for a wider or broader circumference to be drawn, always respecting the original and unchanging ‘centre’ of that ever-expanding periphery.

Indeed, this is the character of the Vedic Way which is modelled on the divine creative Seeing. Creation, as it was perceived by the early Rishis (those who ‘see’), composers of the Rigveda, is essentially an unfolding vision. The Mother has confirmed this perception on innumerable occasions when she too, in the course of her Yoga, made that same discovery: creation is a VISION that unfolds. Thus this question of seeing is central to the Vedic Way. Indeed, the Sanskrit word ved itself has been carried over into a number of European languages for the verb to see. Witness the Latin (vide), the Italian (vedere), the French (voir), the Spanish (ver), and so on. All have employed the same root for this act of seeing.

We note therefore that Europe incorporated in its languages one of the most important features of the Vedic Way, – i.e., that seeing is knowing is Knowledge. And then implied in this act is a special quality, a vision with power, a power to dispel the darkness.

The Rigvedic saga revolves entirely around the question of retrieval of the Light – specifically a ray of sunlight, a ray of the Sun. Given Sanskrit’s inherent capacity to integrate the symbol and the thing symbolised, this ray, go in Sanskrit, means also cow. Hostile powers steal the cows/rays, enclose them in a cave from where the Aryan warrior in the course of the year is expected to bring about their release. A simple tale, apparently primitive and unsophisticated. I shall provide evidence to disclose the deep and profound message of this eternal struggle, valid today as yesterday. For it is this simple exercise which is the crux of the Vedic eternal dharma.

Given its meaning of ray or beam of the Sun, ‘enclosure in the cave’ has profound implications for the practitioner of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga. Sri Aurobindo made this clear by attributing a special place to the symbol of the Sun in his work. The cave refers to a physical condition – that is, the nature of our existence not only in a physical body but in the material universe itself. And it also refers to a psychological state. The ‘cave of darkness and density’ is the nature of the Cosmic Ignorance. To provide a contemporary description of the same problem, it is similar to a cosmic Black Hole into which the light/energy collapses and finds no escape.

We note therefore that modern physics has come to the Vedic threshold in its theory of Black Holes and that this theory is nothing other than the contemporary explanation of the Rishi’s perception regarding the ray stolen by the powers of the Ignorance and enclosed in the dense cave or rock. That is, the alignment which produces a material embodiment susceptible to collapse. Special powers are required to release that light by way of a new alignment; or rather, a very specialised knowledge. And for this the Warrior undertakes a long and arduous quest in pursuit of that coveted knowledge or veda which will allow the Aryan to bring about this release. In the process, all strata of existence are affected. Individually it means that all parts of the being experience an INCREASE when that ray finds release from the cave of the practitioner’s own private cosmos.

If the principal aid the Rishi used in his quest was this act of seeing, then we are interested in discovering in what way this seemingly passive act can release energy, or increase power. The implication in the Veda is that there is a transmutation of the energy whereby what is extracted (from the cave of dense matter or darkness) is utilised as the supplementary power without which the rise to the summit and the completion of the quest (‘journey’) cannot take place.

The human species is burdened with a physical instrument which is veritably a cave of dense matter similar to the cave of the hostile powers in the Vedic tale. Composition of the organic matter of the human body is such that energy is locked in each cell which is never released in the course of our sojourn on this planet. The individual cell is indeed the Cave where light/energy is ‘penned in’, just as the Veda reveals, because of which that extra energy is not at the disposal of the traveller in his or her lifetime. The result is collapse of the cell at a given moment when only that special influx will prop up the cell, as it were, and permit a restructuring. Failing which – and this is the saga of our mortal creation – at the point when a REVERSAL is required and collapse must be curtailed, the process of ageing sets in which medical science has not only failed to understand but for which it has also failed to find a remedy. Death may appear to be postponed and the life span of the average human being seems to have been extended. But the finality of each member of the human race, come what may, is death; that is, the final and irrevocable collapse of the cells, the inability to regenerate them after that critical threshold has been crossed.

And yet the Veda speaks of immortality. Central to the realisation it propounds is the acquisition of that coveted amrit or nectar, and the state of immortal being. It would be a simple matter to explain away this realisation as reference to the undying condition of the soul and its immortal nature, and that the quest involves the discovery of this indestructible quality of the soul housed in a corruptible human body of flesh and bones. But penetration into the ancient Vedic spirit casts serious doubts on this simplistic explanation, however subtle the nuances provided by the various interpretations and philosophical discourses in this regard. Precisely because the Rishis used concrete, solid elements of our material world as ‘symbols’ of their Way, we are encouraged to believe that there was much more to the ancient quest and that this went beyond a mere ‘spiritual’ state and necessarily involved an integral realisation. There is, as well, solid evidence to suggest that the goal was a condition of Immortality not only integral and affecting the full strata of energy both individual and of the universe, but that it also indicated a condition realised on Earth, in a physical body; and moreover, at a particular location on the globe.

The key to these discoveries lies in a superior, enlightened perception of the role of Time in our world, and in particular in our understanding of the role the divine Maya plays in our quest – i.e., the measure of the Earth’s year, or the planet’s revolution around the Sun. The Rishi makes this aspect of the Veda unmistakably clear when he declares… ‘Certain eternal worlds are these which have come into being, their doors are shut to you (or opened) by the months and the years’… (II.24.5).

We shall explore these issues deeply in the remaining portion of this study, but not as an abstract discussion. Consequently, I shall use the new cosmology to reveal the manner in which not only is the Veda an APPLIED  methodology  to attain this multi-faceted immortality and Earth-orientation, but also how the question of reestablishment and its inner mechanism is central to the Dharma. That is, we shall apply the cosmological formulas to clarify the present, to release from the clutches of the Darkness that light hidden beneath the covers of the Ignorance. Thus the application will encompass contemporary history in the making.

In the course of this study, as well as in The Gnostic Circle and Volumes 1 and 2 of The New Way, the temple has been a focal point of the discussion. Indeed, in the latter, it assumes the role of leading protagonist; the text revolves around the temple in a sort of construction process within the book itself. As elements of the past, present and future are discussed, they are continuously related to particular aspects of the temple’s measurement and design. Pieces of the edifice are added via the events in time, in the lived experience which they represent. Apart from this contemporary formulation, the same process can be undertaken by an analysis of the ancient Vedic temple. This is because of the central role of the temple in Indian civilisation from time immemorial to the present as witnessed in the Ayodhya Ramjanambhoomi affair. Contemporaneously, there is the serious problem I have been treating in this study of the distortions brought into the Mother’s vision of, precisely, a temple. As I shall amply reveal, her vision provides the means to reestablish the Vedic Dharma in the context of contemporary history in the making, thus reducing speculative deductions to a minimum. In addition, the existence of this ‘new model of the universe’ provided by the Mother, once more highlights the central importance of the Temple in the Vedic Way. When this study is completed, it will have become quite clear why I have called this the new way. I have drawn into this body of Knowledge precisely all the salient ingredients of the former Way, that of the Vedic Rishis as it has reached us across the ages. But I have employed the formulas of the new cosmology to re-establish that former Way in the present, amidst the circumscribing conditions of today, as the seed from which the unfolding of the new Aquarian Age must take place. It will be revealed that this is the key to a true and proper reestablishment, for if not the discussion is simply abstract and speculative, contrary to the historical evidence of the role of Knowledge in India and the rest of the orient, and even in the ancient occidental world.

 

The practical Mind of India

 

Ancient scriptures in India are not in the least speculative. For the most part they are manuals, textbooks, describing either yogic methodologies which are anything but abstract; or else we have the vast collection of shastras or scriptures aiding the student in the practice of certain arts, – sculpture, music, drama, and so forth. Above all and pertinent to our study, are the manuals regarding temple building and related subjects; that is, the cosmological texts which form an intrinsic part of the construction of the Hindu temple.

An example of this sort of practical application of the shastras can be found in what has come to be known as VEDIC MATHEMATICS. In our times a sage rediscovered a unique method of mathematical calculation based on the utilisation of precise keys which he was able to extract from the sacred texts and apply to various branches of the discipline, from the simplest to the most complex operations. The result, as revealed in Sri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaj’s book, Vedic Mathematics (1965), is simply startling. The method permits the student to carry out complex mathematical processes without the need of any written aid, simply by applying to each case in question the sloka or stanza whose cryptic language contains the formula for the operation in just a few words. But what is more important in such a system is that the intuitive faculty is drawn in. That is, the student is encouraged to utilise what in modern parlance would be both hemispheres of the brain, right and left, unlike in ordinary mathematics. This is perhaps the most important feature of the rediscovery; and it is also the reason why it is essential to reintroduce this system in schools throughout India, not only as a means of acquainting the student with the genial accomplishments of the ancient sages of the land he or she inhabits, but also because this unique system encourages an INTEGRAL development, unlike anything known in educational systems throughout the world. In addition, this reintroduction is in itself another means of reestablishment of the Dharma insofar as it helps the youth to experience something of the ancient character and methodology, thus allowing that seed to flower anew, in the midst of our contemporary soil enriched throughout the ages which have passed since those former times.

Thus there is a striking difference between Indian shastras and occidental treatments of the same subjects in contemporary studies such as sacred architecture. The latter introduce the element of speculation to the ‘meaning’ of the symbolism, or the reason for a particular alignment in temple building, for example, or the edifice’s measurements. But in the Indian texts there is no evidence of this brand of abstractionism. For example, we do not find phrases such as ‘…this symbol stands for…’ in the shastras. In other words, as I have pointed out earlier, in the Vedic seeing there is nothing that STANDS FOR something else. It always deals with reality, with the truth that IS. Therefore, no energy is wasted in a fruitless attempt to interpret, or else to symbolise – that is, to use the mountain imagery, let us say, to symbolise the highest truth, or whatever. This sort of transference in the manner common to all contemporary scholarship was unknown to the ancients. When accurate cosmic alignments are captured in the construction through very precise measurements, then the symbol becomes the thing symbolised. It is not a question thereafter of interpretation: the temple is that very cosmic harmony.

And yet we do find usage of Symbols. The Cow, for example, is taken as a symbol of the Light, a ray of the Sun. Thus it would appear a contradiction to state that this Cow was equal to the thing symbolised. Or the mountain symbolism which is central to all temple structures in India. Regarding the Cow, I must point out, she is indeed equal to the thing symbolised by virtue of her 9-month gestation, or her connection with time and the gestation of the ‘seed’. Consequently, the period of the year allotted to this creature is January and the December solstice period. If there is a month which can be attributed to Kamadhenu, as the progenetrix of all other ‘rays of the Sun’ is called, it is this apex month of the uttarayana, or the northern hemisphere. And this is Capricorn, India’s ruling zodiacal sign. Similarly, it is the sign-month of the Mountain, and hence Capricorn is equally the sign-month encompassing all that the Hindu temple represents. In addition, having her origin in this sacred mountain, Ganga herself is connected to this special sign-month. Her ‘descent’ to Earth is therefore a principal feature of Vedic/Puranic cosmogony. For from this mountain territory, Ganga is believed to have spread her benevolence through arteries covering the full seven continents.

The Rigveda states, and I refer to this very valuable verse once again, that these are certain worlds or levels of existence whose doors are ‘closed (or opened) by the months and the years’. Thus the doors of perception are somehow opened by this measurable periodicity of time. For indeed it is Time and the sacred divine Maya of 365 days/years which establishes these symbols as one with the thing they symbolise. And it is precisely the most auspicious month of them all – Capricorn – which provides us with the very ‘keys’ that will open those doors/months/years.

The contemporary scholar who scrutinises texts without the yogic realisation which connects the ‘symbol’ with reality, can never enter that Vedic universe and see the symbol as one with the thing symbolised. Hence they always ‘stand for’ something in his analysis. And it is always interpretative, – ergo relative. Thus for one scholar the Mountain means one thing, for another it is something else. And for no scholar is it the very thing symbolised.

The work of Keith Critchlow comes to mind in this respect. He has made serious efforts to present the contemporary seeker with solid evidence of the enlightened understanding of the ancient mind in geometry and architecture which elevate these studies to the dimension of the sacred. But writing from the mind shorn of that original, underpinning yogic realisation which must PRECEDE the written formulation, Critchlow simply collects information from the old texts and strings this data together in his lengthy analyses. The result is a dry speculative exercise. In no way can the reader APPLY this data to his environment, his society, to history in the making of which he is a part.

Indeed, all these efforts invariably deal with past achievements. There is no evidence presented by these scholars of a contemporary application of the Knowledge they hold in such high esteem. There is no new model of the universe. It is always a probing into the past, the result of which is a sterility that characterises all such attempts.

In the effort to practice what I preach, I am obliged to provide an example of the application of the ancient formulas, and to avoid falling into the same trap of the sterile academic mind, I must reveal exactly how the application forces a reestablishment. This means that the essential premise is brought from the past into the present; but that the circumscribing conditions and time’s irreversible forward drive force a renewal of the Knowledge, which, however, never denies the initial premise. That is, as I have written earlier, there are laws, eternal truths which are always the foundation of the Dharma. But these must be applied. And in the contemporary context such an application must necessarily imply a reestablishment of those Laws and a renewal.

This exercise in itself reveals that the Vedic Way, unlike all other ancient systems, singularly harmonised the Being and the Becoming; and that there was no conflict between the two. Conflict arose in the Dark Age of the Earth, in India as well as in the occidental world. Consequently, the schools which relegated the Becoming to an inferior status, or else which brought about a definitive split between the two poises, arose in this period of history. It was then that Maya – from the Sanskrit root ma, to measure – became divorced from her sacred context and the Divine Measure was lost. The world became a relative truth, and therefore intrinsically unreal. Or else, in the more practical and less metaphorical schools with their respective realisations, the material universe and birth therein was simply a place to work out samskaras or one’s karma for the purpose of never being born again. No one cared to answer the question why such a passage was necessary at all. What was indeed the purpose of this seemingly meaningless exercise of birth only to attain non-birth and release or liberation?

The Indian spiritual mind did indeed ask these questions up to a certain point. But being so practically oriented, when the Divine Measure was lost there was no means to answer this question in the only manner acceptable to a Vedic-based civilisation: the lived experience. The result was that the theories of illusion and of escape clouded over the ancient truths during the Dark Ages. Indeed the Vedic Cow had been effectively closed within the cave-pen of the Cosmic Ignorance. India’s woes as a civilisation subjected to countless invasions and centuries of uninterrupted foreign rule began with that lost ray.

The myth does not stop there however. Each one, each angle retold again and again in the epics and myths describe the ultimate victory. Just as the original Rigveda eulogises the victory of the Aryan Warrior over those dark forces of the Cosmic Ignorance and the successful release or retrieval of that sacred Ray. There is not one that suggests defeat and the eternal imprisonment of the Light.

Inasmuch as we are participating in the final denouement of the myth, it goes without saying that we must seriously desire to know what this struggle and victory really mean; or in what way as individuals the myth can be seen as the victory of today and history in the making. Considering that survival of this ancient civilisation depends upon this discovery – at least by a small group, ever increasing in number as the light grows stronger – the quest for this knowledge has to be as passionate an undertaking as it was for the Aryan warriors of old. And this understanding can only come about on the basis of the lived experience and not abstract discourse and mental speculation. It must evolve from the lived experience the applied new cosmology facilitates. That is, on the basis of a new seeing. The ancient way is made new simply by the experience of the very act which gave it birth in the remotest age of the Earth: the act of Seeing. And to definitively demonstrate the non-speculative character of that Seeing, it is imperative that I provide examples of the Vision as it has unfolded in this last century of the second millennium.

 

The descent of Heaven on Earth: the prophecy fulfilled

 

Let us begin the analysis with precisely ‘a symbol’. It is universally known and therefore, similar to music, has the capacity to cut across regional and national barriers of race and place and to touch very deep chords in the human psyche by virtue of this subconscious influence. I refer to the zodiacal symbol of Capricorn, .

The student of this new cosmology is aware that considerable attention has been given to this enigmatic hieroglyph throughout my work. There are various reasons for this emphasis. First, as stated, is its universal character. The entire world, both in scientific studies and the more arcane, employs this same symbol to represent the tenth sign of the zodiac. Astronomically it is the period demarcating the solstice points along with Cancer, opposite to Capricorn in the celestial circle divided into twelve segments. Thus, though this sign is especially appreciated in India and considered the nation’s astrological ruler, in both occidental and oriental systems, it is utilised everywhere else and by everyone to represent this sign. Zodiacal symbolism is today as universal a language as mathematics and the number system. Indeed, both, I contend, were given to the world by India.

Regarding the universal number system, it is now generally accepted that the system arose in India and was brought to Europe by travellers and invaders in the first millennium after Christ. In particular, the discovery and formulation of the zero is the most noteworthy feature of this system. But while its importance has been appreciated in scientific quarters, there is little evidence to suggest that its deeper philosophical and spiritual implications have been grasped. And yet it is the discovery of the zero which lays the stamp of supreme originality, uniqueness and practicality on the Indian spiritual conquest.

But there is another more important reason for starting this analysis with an in-depth discussion of the Capricorn hieroglyph. For in so doing we immediately draw into the exercise the question of abstraction (of the symbol) versus its applied potential. Thus when we present the following geographical landmass with the glyph superimposed upon it, that symbol is instantly applied, rendered concrete, materially substantiated and physically pertinent to a point on the Earth’s own landmass. It is not in the heavens any longer, cosmic or even otherworldly. The ‘symbol’ has descended upon Earth.

The pragmatic reader is free to consider this no ‘application’ at all, insofar as the Capricorn hieroglyph, we all know, was born in a remote age of the planet’s history in which the physical landmass of the subcontinent could not possibly have been known. Moreover, scholars place the origin of these symbols in Mesopotamia, somewhere in the first millennium before Christ.

I am aware of these objections, and many more, but I do not agree. Rather, this superimposition obliges us to re-evaluate these theories which, in any case, have not been definitively proven. We are dealing always with speculative theories, and nothing more. Indeed, so obscure is the true origin of the zodiacal symbols and astrological system – though not necessarily the graphic representations they are supposed to indicate such as the Ram, the Bull, and so forth – that it is best to ignore the quest for truth in this matter altogether. The reason being that the hieroglyphs themselves speak of their origin – or rather, of specific points on the globe (and in time) which are sensitive to certain attributes the sign/months are known to embrace.

For example, the Capricorn hieroglyph superimposed on the subcontinental landmass with the remarkable exactitude displayed here, may not necessarily indicate that India was the place of origin of these hieroglyphs, though the prominence given to this particular sign/month even today in the nation does point to a more profound connection with the zodiac than is found anywhere else in the world. It does, nonetheless, reveal that the Golden Age which this sign is known to describe, has some specific connection with this area of the globe by the very fact that from ancient times this superimposition was known and recorded. How this was ‘known’ is again immaterial. For the fact is that the contemporary researcher is unable to relive the original process of discovery because the first ingredient is absent in his endeavour: the capacity to see. But this is not only a limitation of the researcher. It afflicts the modern yogi as well, insofar as the yoga of those remote ages has been lost together with the loss of the divine Maya, – or, precisely, the measure. And indeed, central to this loss in the spiritual domain is the very point in the heavens which indicates the beginning of the sign/month in calendar time, Capricorn.

Interestingly, we are dealing with a physical measurement, far more so than the 12 o’clock demarcation of our clocks. In this cosmic clock, Capricorn is known as the high noon point, precisely the 12 noon demarcation; or the point in the heavens when the Sun is seen at its peak point (indeed, the mountain top) in the sky. It is the apex point of the uttarayana, or the gateway to the northern hemisphere when the zodiac and its terrestrial correlation via the 24-hour position of the Sun and the yearly trajectory combine to wed the zodiac to the planet by means of the day/year measurement. This simple correlation is the Divine Maya of the Veda. And the fundamental 12-point marker pertains to the sign Capricorn, India’s ruler.

The revelation of the Capricorn superimposition on the landmass of India, for the first time in our period of recorded history, thus assumes a deep meaning in our new Age of Aquarius. It is a revelation of our own times. That is, though the symbol is a carry-over from antiquity and of unknown origin, the reality of today is that India is the area on the globe referred to in its design and thereby especially connected to all that the sacred symbol holds in its hidden significance; for, as we shall further discover, the enigmatic hieroglyph contains a limitless source of higher knowledge, the revelation of which is part and parcel of the realignment or rediscovery of the lost divine Measure.

What begins to emerge in this analysis is that in some inexplicable manner the sage who first saw this symbol along with the other eleven of the wheel, was indeed a visionary of a unique order, a seer able to peer thousands of years into the future while delving deeply into hidden dimensions of his or her own present. It was, as I have often sustained about certain very high degrees of prophecy, a vision which contained in itself not only the power of its own unfolding, but also the indications of the time of its unveiling far into the future. That is, this superimposition, while perhaps remaining an unknown element of the Seer’s vision, nonetheless depended on that original act for its ‘discovery’ thousands of years into the future. Therefore, when in May of 1974 the veils were removed and the superimposition was seen, it was an act directly related to and dependent upon that original yogic act of the earlier Vedic Seer.

The zodiac marks the flow of the astrological/cosmological Ages. Therefore, the hieroglyphs have a close correlation with the passage of Time and the measurement of 12 which the zodiac delineates. We understand thereby that it is Time which holds the key to what these symbols mean. Indeed, as the Vedic Seers proclaimed ‘…Certain worlds are these which are opened to you by the months and the years…’. In this brief analysis the profound significance of the Seer’s words are easily appreciated. They are no longer abstract, open to various speculative interpretations. His words are precise and measurable, his vision practical and applicable. The application depends, in fact, on the unveiling of the Capricorn hieroglyph superimposed on the landmass of India. Coupled with this is the precise knowledge of the date of the beginning of the astrological age wherein this unveiling must take place. The two go hand in hand.

With this accomplished the Vision attains a certain solidity or concreteness. Time itself undergoes a distinct alteration because its elusiveness is reduced if not entirely eliminated when we can measure one segment of its cosmic clock on the planet’s own surface; or else, when we can effectively link the greater Clock of the heavens to the calendar by means of the accurate knowledge of the beginning of the Age. What then emerges is that the revelations regarding the Golden Age and the ‘descent of heaven on Earth’ of sages in antiquity, or else of our times by Sri Aurobindo and his compelling descriptions of the method of establishing a life divine as a part of the earthly evolutionary process, do indeed refer to our physical abode in this cosmic Body. For we know that Capricorn is specifically representative of this ‘descent’; and we also know that Capricorn marks the segment of the zodiac corresponding to Swar or ‘heaven’ of the Rigvedic terminology. Thus by the superimposition, we are told that when this momentous unveiling occurs, that very ‘heaven’ is drawn upon a specific segment of the planet, a particular location on Earth which is thus marked by destiny to play a central role in the divine manifestation of this Descent. And indeed, it was in India itself that the revelation of the superimposition occurred in 1974.

But that was merely the beginning. Or rather, that was one link in a long chain of events in time which have been interconnected elements in the succession providing for this Supramental Descent. At the same time, an important aspect of the ancient teachings emerges in this discovery. The original premise is never denied. Measures may be lost but never is the original Seeing denied by these lapses and losses. Contrarily, when the time comes in the cosmic flow of the zodiacal ages for a realignment to come about, it invariably transpires that it is that original premise or seed-seeing which is more solidly reestablished. And further that the loss itself is a means to PROVE the essential validity and truth-foundation of the ancient Dharma. That is, the unfolding drama of the loss itself, or the decline, is contained in the original Seed as much as the reestablishment. For they both, positive and negative, serve the purposes of the One.

To further prove the point, the revelation of the Capricorn superimposition indicates not only the sanctity of the landmass it delineates but the relevance in its destiny of this particular segment of time, the accuracy of which in the yearly calendar is essential to preserve. Indeed, there is perhaps no other nation on Earth today as obsessed with the question of accuracy of measurement of the 365-day year and its connection to the greater cosmic Year than India. These attempts at accuracy are flawed, as we have discussed in VISHAAL from time to time; but the original obsession remains unperturbed. It is now just a question of focussing the lens of our measuring instruments, be they yogic or scientific. To the yogi, aids are given which are unmistakable and easily recognisable. These as well are part and parcel of the original Vision. Namely, the Avataric Line of Vedic tradition, insofar as these periodic manifestations are irrefutably connected to that very zodiac and hence their appearances are readily ‘measured’ in the passage of the astrological Ages. Periodically, under the exacting formulas of the Time-Spirit, they take birth precisely to help in the consolidation of what the Capricorn hieroglyph specifies for India, and through India for the whole Earth, once the ‘centre’ is firmly in place.

Regarding history in the making, there is a specific example of just one such aid. I refer to Ayodhya and the appearance of the Ram Lalla idol in the erstwhile Babri mosque significantly on the night of the 1949 solstice – 22/23 December, the gateway to Capricorn. As I had pointed out in VISHAAL (see TVN, Special Issue, December 1991), that ‘surreptitious’ appearance, whether occultly or humanly provoked (the distinction is immaterial in this sort of analysis) had for its purpose this essential act of reestablishment. Or, as it should be described, retrieval of the Lost Measure, the divine Maya in which the sign/month/age Capricorn is central and the accurate demarcation in calendar/cosmic time is particularly essential.

If this had not been so – that is, if there had not been some very profound action connected to this surreptitious appearance, how else to explain the events which have taken place around this idol after that original defiance? More importantly, there was a lull of over 30 years following the discovery of Ram Lalla ensconced in his place in 1949. But in the 1980s the spotlight turned to him again and the movement for his ‘liberation’ began in earnest.

As I have pointed out in this study, each happening connected with that movement of liberation fit into the specific pattern we are dissecting here. For it was in 1983 that a YOGIC breakthrough occurred which specifically released the power which would allow the idol to play its pivotal role on the national scene. Indeed, responding to this yogic impulse, certain instruments then came to the fore who took up the cause, and the Ayodhya movement of liberation can be said to have begun from that time though apparently not at all connected to the yogic breakthrough I refer to. Its momentum has not ceased or decreased since then. Rather it attained an incredible acceleration from 1989 onward. This point in time too is of intrinsic value in our cosmological formula, insofar as 1989 marked the beginning of an important culminating cycle: the last ennead of the first 72 years of the Aquarian Age, measured from its inception in 1926; that is, covering one degree of celestial longitude of the sign. And this final ennead happens to coincide with the turn of the millennium.

There are few who are aware of the deeper meaning of the Ram Lalla appearance, in particular its connection to the retrieval of the lost ray or the divine Maya. Nor are they aware of the appearance’s precise connection to the Avataric Line of Ten in anything other than its devotional aspect and the place Sri Ram has occupied in the hearts and souls of the Indian people throughout the millennia. Few realise that it is the power of the One in very measurable terms which is operating in and through the Ayodhya movement of liberation. But again, to render this analysis non-speculative, I am obliged to discuss the way in which this Power is seen to be acting in the movement, especially as of 1983. For indeed the yogic realisation which occurred then was very precisely the release of the power of the One – or Agni of Vedic tradition, Kartikeya of Puranic tradition, and Kalki of the Hindu Line of Ten Avatars. Though ostensibly different Godheads, these are all manifestations of the 1, or 10, or 19 – all of which are numerically reducible to the power of One. In the terminology of the new cosmology, central to which is the synthesis of the above various expressions of the One, Vedic to Puranic to Epic, the yogic achievement of that year, 1983 (and extending into 1984), was the forging of a centre and the new alignment demanded for that singular Point to come into being. When that was achieved the centre was ‘born’ – i.e., its POWER was released, affecting many levels of consciousness, individual and collective. Thereafter the mass movement could not fail to begin in a controlled process. But not by any human agency, it must be clarified; rather, by the control inherent in Time and the mechanism of the Avataric Line which is itself an instrument of that invincible Mahakala, or the Great Time. The act of centering had rendered Time an ally, a creator and not simply a destroyer. For the process of integrating the three gunas, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, as contained in the Capricorn hieroglyph, attained a certain fulfilment by that yogic act.

 

Myth in the making

 

In these days we have witnessed this Power operating in unexpected ways, causing great consternation, despair, panic and even hysteria in the intelligentsia which is not equipped to contend with this sort of unfolding. Yet this hysteria is entirely unnecessary if the REAL action is appreciated and the REAL power is perceived as the Doer and of whom all human agencies are but the faithful instruments. For if there is a discussion in progress of the true character of Hinduism (and I am not referring to its ‘tolerance’ which is not relevant in the present circumstances), it cannot be overlooked that one of its major contributions to the evolution of human consciousness and its philosophical perspective is the view that all are simply instruments of the Divine Consciousness. And that it is the power of the Divine Mother which operates through each of us to carry out her divine Plan. All of Indian mythology confirms this truth. As well we have seen it confirmed on the national scene in these very times.

To illustrate, the Power of the One was again manifesting in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992, and directly connected to the Avataric Line of Ten via the agency of gnostic time as measured in the new cosmology. We note then that the breakthrough on the world scene of this One, or Ten, or Nineteen, occurred on 26 November, and in a year of 1 number-power. This date, 26 November, is the exact midway point between the passings of the divine Mother and Sri Aurobindo – 17 November to 5 December. Between these two dates we have exactly 18 days, – a figure of importance in Indian lore, both epic and mythic. The event in Ayodhya on 6 December would thus be the 19th day (=1) after 17 November; or the 10th day (=1) after 16 November; or 1 day after 5 December. Through the formulas of the new cosmology it is easily understood that the 6th December happening was impregnated, saturated, I might add, with the Power of the One by all accounts; and that it was intrinsically connected to the Avataric Line of Ten in its present phase of 9th Manifestation unfolding through the Supramental Descent.

Interestingly, the happening in Ayodhya on that day set the nation in turmoil, with incessant cries heard of a ‘breakdown of the Constitution’. Indeed, some went to the extreme of declaring it dead and buried! But in this regard, it is well to note that this very Constitution, which appeared to have been mortally wounded, itself fits neatly into this pattern. It was ratified on that very same sacred date, 26 November, and in that special year of the ‘surreptitious’ appearance of the Child, 1949, which was itself an exact 26 days after the ratification of 26 November.

The purpose of this exercise is not to exonerate anyone from responsibility in the happening at Ayodhya on 6 December, but simply to lay the blame where it really belongs: the Power of the One, or the Avataric Line of which Sri Ram was the 7th incarnation, in another superb act of ‘the symbol as the thing symbolised’. For, standing in the centre of it all, amidst the crumbling ruins, as it were, is the Child, the One, – born of that perfect Centre which is Agni. This is the real content of Hinduism, of Vedism. All else are extrapolations of lesser seeings, lesser mortals, lesser minds. And obviously if this content is not appreciated, accepted, honoured with the respect it merits, then we cannot expect the  secular establishment to understand the true nature and underpinning impulse of what is presently transpiring in the national consciousness. Of course this argument could be misused. One could describe all mass movements of any hue and responding to all sorts of impulses, beneficent or otherwise, as divinely inspired. But that is why a civilisation must have faith in the discriminatory vision of its seers. No nation in the world has a more transparent destiny than India; and, more significantly, is as easily identifiable as instrumental in the revelation and manifestation of gnostic Time. One has to be blind not to see.

The national hero is, as ever, the Avatar, or the true father of the civilisation. He stands amidst tumbling ruins, victorious though a mere child. But this conquering image of the Child has also been faithfully captured in Vedic lore, and precisely in connection with the Power of the One, in this instance as Kartikeya, Shiva’s mighty and invincible Son. Let me then quote from The Hidden Manna, written and published in 1976 – just after ‘discovery of the Child’ – where I discuss the glorious exploits of this adorable Son of Shiva, when he vanquished the mighty asura, Taraka, at the 10th stage  of his appearance, as recounted in the 12 Chapters known as the Kumara Khanda of the Shiva Purana. At the same time, the verses leading up to that momentous happening will surely remind observers of the recent happenings in Ayodhya and its fall-out on the national scene, when the Gods are berated by the Titan for their ignominy, their perversity, their immorality, and the like. The ‘virtuousness’ of Taraka is especially pertinent:

 

Since the figure of Taraka is a principal component in the prophecy of the Shiva Purana, it is helpful to analyse his nature more deeply. The Purana in fact gives a brilliant portrayal of the dark forces during this 9th Manifestation of Shiva. If we compare Taraka of the Shiva Purana with the ‘beast’ of the Revelation (of St. John), the results are both rewarding and perplexing. The Indian tradition has revealed the inner key to his incarnated appearance, which is only hinted at in the Revelation. In the Purana, Taraka is a demon of great accomplishment in the realm of spiritual discipline, to such an extent that he is able to humiliate the entire gamut of the heavenly powers incarnate upon Earth. He is most holy, most wise, most virtuous; and he does not hesitate in the least to ‘unmask’ the gods, or the children of the Light. In a magnificent passage recorded in the Kumara Khanda of the Shiva Purana, the sage relates the episode wherein Taraka, the ‘haughty demon’, as he is called, begins his defamation of the Gods. In Chapter 9…when Skanda (Kartikeya) finally decides to enter the battle in order to finish off the Asura and release the heavenly beings from this shameful bondage, Taraka exclaims to the Gods: ‘how is it that you all kept Kumar (Kartikeya) face to face with me? You gods are shameless, especially Indra and Vishnu. Formerly both of them had acted in violation of the Vedic path. Listen, I shall describe the same.’

At this point, mighty and virtuous Taraka begins his long and detailed accusation against the powers of the Light.

Vishnu he calls straightaway, ‘deceptive, defective and indiscreet’. Bali (a powerful Asura) was bound by him on the basis of Vishnu’s deceitful ways. The Asuras Madhu and Kaitabha were beheaded, he says, ‘by his roguishness. He forsook the Vedic path’. Taraka then condemns Vishnu for his cheating ways at the time of the churning of the Ocean. The Asuras had done all the work and then this vile deceptor took the form of the enchantress and robbed them of the nectar after they, the Asuras, had done most of the hard labour.

Taraka then begins enumerating all the incarnations of Vishnu in the form of the avatars, and he points out every unlawful, sinful, unyogic and unvirtuous act he performed during these appearances: as the Sixth he cut off the head of his own mother, insulted his own preceptor’s son. As Ram he brought about Bali’s death by a vile trick, killed a brahmin, and forsook his innocent wife. As Krishna he ‘defiled the wives of others and forced them to violate the traditional virtues of the family. He contracted his marriages without any reference to the Vedic path’. The Asura exclaims: ‘How can he be considered an excellent, virtuous man, how can he be victorious in battle who has committed sin without caring for Vedic cult?’

Then he passes on to Indra, Vishnu’s elder brother, the very chief of the gods, and he begins enumerating his many sins too: he is selfish, above all else, he does everything for self-interest; he destroyed Diti’s foetus, outraged Gautama’s wife (not the Buddha), killed a brahmin’s son; he beheaded the brahmin nephew of Brihaspati…

Taraka tells the divine hosts: ‘You will never gain victory in the battle by relying on them. Why then do you foolishly come here to lose your lives? These two, always seeking selfish ends, do not know what virtue is… These two impudent fellows are presumptuous enough to place a child in front of me. Why? I will kill the child too.’  (The Hidden Manna, Aeon Books, 1976, pages 353-355.)

 

This is myth, or prophetic history via the perceptive insights of the workings of the Time-Spirit through the avataric line. Let us continue to the moment of the great battle,

 

Finally, when the Gods place Kumara, a mere youth, before him in the battlefield, he has even more reason to ridicule and unmask them. How dare they presume that he will be slain by a child?

But the Child is Shiva himself. This, the Asura cannot see, because he sees only his own grandeur. And this arrogance is the cause of his downfall, for it leaves him vulnerable in a part of himself. Kumara takes his spear, forged of the stuff of the Sun, the invincible essence of truth-consciousness, and in the presence of all – ‘including the mountains who had come down to witness the Battle’ – he slays the warrior Taraka: ‘even as all were looking on, he passed away.’ (Ibid, page 357)

 

In this chapter of The Hidden Manna I have dealt with the zodiacal essence of the Kumara Khanda of the Shiva Purana by revealing that each of its twelve chapters corresponds to the sequence of the 12 zodiacal signs, in perfect order and significance. In addition, I have dealt with the prophetic character of the Purana, that it is indeed the prophecy of history, and that it is in our very times that this prophecy has become history in the making. Thus it is precisely in the 10th Chapter, equivalent to the 10th sign Capricorn, the focus of our discussion on Ayodhya and matters relating to the defiance of ‘the Child’, impish and surreptitious, that the Asura is vanquished:

 

Finally…Kumara enters the battle field amidst jubilant cries of victory. The ensuing terrific fight between him and the king of the Asuras is related, until ultimately Skanda, with the marvellous spear given to him by Agni, forged from the stuff of the Sun by the Architect of the Gods, slays the holy, the wise, the virtuous and the powerful Taraka, This is the victory in the tenth sign of victory, the sign of the Goat: Capricorn – the exaltation of Mars, the sign of India whose national bird is the Peacock, symbolising victory, the bird that is the carrier of Kartikeya… (Ibid, pages 359-360.)

 

A mere child. Indeed, Ram Lalla, that very idol itself – or the power contained in it and working through it – is the focal point of the heroic energies of our times: the One, or the 10th, or the 19th. In the momentous act of December, 1992, all three number-powers were operating and were victorious. But this is not a victory over any ‘community’, any ‘religion’, any ‘ideology’, or any ‘political strategy’, and the like, no matter what its hue and leaning. This is not a communal aberration, a fanatical frenzy, a fantastic calculation or miscalculation. It is simply the Power of the One, drawing out from the profundities of that original Seed the destiny of this blessed Bharat Mata.

 

The Avatar as ‘child’

 

The unveiling of this One as the War God, son of Shiva, first occurred in 1976. That is, barely two years after the Capricorn hieroglyph was seen. It was an act of release that occurred on that day in May of 1974, and indeed centred on the Capricorn symbol. Thus the tenth sign of the zodiac, India’s own ruler, is the key to her destiny as manifested through the Line of the Ten Evolutionary Avatars. This is amply confirmed again by the fact that after the events of December, 1992, when darshan of the Child Ram was once more withheld from the public, pressure mounted to oblige the authorities to allow darshan again. And this did indeed come to pass in the height of Capricorn, on 1st January 1993, or the 9th/10th day after his original ‘appearance’ in 1949.

The Kumar Khanda of the Shiva Purana provides us with a remarkable description of the birth, attributes, exploits of the avatar as child; and of the accuracy of the zodiacal prophecy when its 12 chapters are known to correspond to the 12 signs of the zodiac, and the tenth or Capricorn being the stage when the Asura is conquered by ‘a mere child’. What this and other similar prophetic Scriptures reveal is that in this Manifestation, the avataric power in some essential way involves a child, – not least of which is caused by our Manifestation being the 9th, as if it were the final ‘month’ of a long gestation and the moment of birth overtakes us. Indeed, Ram ‘chose’ to appear in this very form and at the traditional place of his own birth. This is not a meaningless occurrence. It is intrinsic to the purpose of the evolutionary avataric mission in this Age. Furthermore, though expressing itself through the figure of the epic hero Ram, by virtue of the child factor we realise that the appearance is drawing the nation into the womb of the new dispensation in the figure of Shiva’s Son, the ‘child’ conqueror. Indeed, Ram Lalla stands in the midst of those ruins as the invincible One.

Another aspect of the Kumara Khanda, as mentioned earlier, is the immaculate prophetic vision of the sage who first recorded the seeing. For he was able to project his vision into the far future and describe the heavens just as they would appear at the time on Earth of the momentous birth of this Child. He describes where the Sun would be, in which sign, in which astrological house, which ascending sign and the constellation of stars that would be found rising at the time. For him, similar to the first seeing of the Capricorn hieroglyph by the unknown Seer of old, time barriers ceased to exist. The sage looked into that specific zero moment of Time and thereby the period of its unveiling was also seen as it would appear to the viewer in that present of the future, or the time of Kartikeya’s birth. There is no civilisation in the Earth’s long history which can equal Vedic India’s astounding and consistent prophetic capacity. For it is the consistency of the Knowledge which inspires awe. To prove the point, we shall carry this discussion over to analysis of the Hindu Temple, in greater depth than we have done until now in this study. And we shall see that it is this very same Knowledge which the Seers of old so admirably captured in the architectural form, measurements, and equations of the Hindu Temple – again, unmistakably centred on the sign Capricorn. This will perhaps explain why, in an enigmatic message from Sri Ramakrishna which Sri Aurobindo received psychically in the very early stages of his Yoga, he was told to, nay commanded, it would appear: ‘Build the temple’. (‘Mandir karo.’)

It becomes evident if we peruse the anecdotal passages from Sri Aurobindo’s works, and especially his newly published Record of Yoga, that he never forgot this message and had taken it quite seriously, though never was its full significance revealed to him. Indeed, how could it have been? The central role of the Temple would only arise AFTER his passing in 1950 and his return in 1963, as events in Ayodhya and Auroville have amply revealed. Central to both of which is ‘a temple’.

Nonetheless, though Sri Aurobindo was not to be present in the form of the 9th Avatar at the time when the Temple would indeed have to be built, as Sri Ramakrishna commanded, he did record in his epic poem, Savitri (VI, 2), the role of the 10th, the War God, in the unfolding of India’s destiny, the One whom he called the World Redeemer:

 

      One yet may come armoured, invincible;
      His will immobile meets the mobile hour;

The world’s blows cannot bend that victor head;

Calm and sure are his steps in the growing Night;

The goal recedes, he hurries not his pace,

He turns not to high voices in the Night;

He asks no aid from the inferior gods;

His eyes are fixed on the immutable aim.

Man turns aside or chooses easier paths;

He keeps to the high one and difficult road

That sole can climb to the Eternal’s peaks;

The ineffable planes already have felt his tread;

He has made heaven and earth his instruments,

But the limits fall from him of earth and heaven;

Their law he transcends but uses as his means.

He has seized life’s hands, he has mastered his own heart.

The feints of Nature mislead not his sight,

Inflexible he looks towards Truth’s far end;

Fate’s deaf resistance cannot break his will.

In the dreadful passages, the fatal paths,

Invulnerable his soul, his heart unslain,

He lives through the opposition of earth’s Powers

And Nature’s ambushes and the world’s attacks.

His spirit stature transcending pain and bliss

He fronts evil and good with calm and equal eyes.

He too must grapple with the riddling Sphinx

And plunge into her long obscurity.

He has broken into the Inconscient’s depths

That veil themselves even from their own regard:

He has seen God’s slumber shape these magic worlds.

He has watched the dumb God fashioning Matter’s frame,

Dreaming the dreams of its unknowing sleep,

And watched the unconscious Force that built the stars.

He has learned the Inconscient’s workings and its laws,

Its incoherent thoughts and rigid acts,

Its hazard wastes of impulse and idea,

The chaos of its mechanic frequencies,

Its random calls, its whispers falsely true,

Misleaders of the hooded listening soul.

All things come to its ears but nothing abides;

All rose from the silence, all goes back to its hush.

Its somnolence founded the universe,

Its obscure waking makes the world seem vain.

Arisen from Nothingness and towards Nothingness turned

Its dark and potent nescience was earth’s start;

It is the waste stuff from which all was made;

Into its deeps creation can collapse.

Its opposition clogs the march of the soul,

It is the mother of our ignorance.

He must call light into its dark abysms,

Else never can Truth conquer Matter’s sleep

And all earth look into the eyes of God.

All things obscure his knowledge must relume,

All things perverse his power must unknot:

He must enter the world’s dark to bring there light.

The heart of evil must be bared to his eyes,

He must learn its cosmic dark Necessity,

Its rights and its dire roots in Nature’s soil.

He must know the thought that moves the demon act

And justifies the Titan’s erring pride

And the falsehood lurking in the earth’s crooked dreams:

He must enter the eternity of Night

And know God’s darkness as he knows his Sun.

For this he must go down into the pit,

For this he must invade the dolorous Vasts.

Imperishable and wise and infinite,

He still must travel Hell the world to save.

Into the eternal Light he shall emerge

On the borders of the meetings of all worlds;

There on the verge of Nature’s summit steps

The secret Law of each thing is fulfilled,

All contraries heal their long dissidence.

There meet and clasp the eternal opposites,

There pain becomes a violent fiery joy;

Evil turns back to its original good,

And sorrow lies upon the breasts of Bliss;

She has learnt to weep glad tears of happiness;

Her gaze is charged with a wistful ecstasy.

Then shall be ended here the Law of Pain.

Earth shall be made a home of Heaven’s light,

A seer heaven-born shall lodge in human breasts;

The superconscient beam shall touch men’s eyes

And the truth-conscious world come down to earth

Invading Matter with the Spirit’s ray,

Awakening its silence to immortal thoughts,

Awaking the dumb heart to the living Word.

This mortal life shall house Eternity’s bliss,

The body’s self taste immortality.

Then shall the world-redeemer’s task be done.

 

Thus has Sri Aurobindo, in his own contemporary prophetic exercise, described the work which would have to be accomplished by the ‘world-redeemer’, or the ‘armoured, invincible One’, in our very age. This is the precise revelation of the work attributable to Capricorn in the zodiacal saga of the aeons, when that ‘heaven’ or ‘truth-conscious world’ comes ‘down to earth’. In the language of the ancient Seers, when Swar shall descend and the Immortal shall reign. It is a hard task, an evolutionary disassembling and reassembling, a new alignment on the basis of a true centre and the unifying and integrating Power of the One.

 

 

Aeon Centre of Cosmology

at Skambha

15 January 1993

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