Two minds were of Sri Aurobindo and of Sri Ma (The Mother, Mirra Alfa- ssa) of Puducherry. Sri Aurobindo was Indias great rev- olutionary, poet, thinker and yogi of the 20th century. The Mother, Mirra Alfassa was his spiritual collaborator. But then, why did the conflu- ence of these two souls happen in India? Because, as Sri Ma said, Even though the Soul may be one everywhere, it is so in a spe- cial way in India which has a high spiritual mission on Earth. The effect of such a conflu- ence was that they together undertook a formidable evolu- tionary experiment aiming at a most explicit One-ness, which exists not by suppressing variety but, instead, an infinitely wide and comprehensive conscious- ness takes up in itself, assimi- lates and furthers all manifesta- tions of multiplicity without los- ing itself in the process. Sri Ma (Mother) took charge of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, which was established with the main purpose of instituting the spirit of spiritualism in the minds of people, for improving their level of consciousness for a real and meaningful growth. She initiated the disciples into the new consciousness which Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. Both Sri Ma and Sri Auro- bindo gave more stress and fo- cus on consciousness and na- ture of earth through the path of spiritual life. Sri Aurobindo said, Any one who wants the spiritual life, should need to know that there is a soul within and above there is Grace (From Nirodbarans Correspondence with Sri Auro- bindo, 21.1.1936). Sri Aurobindo further said, It is a spiritual principle not to take away any faith or support of faith unless the persons who have it are able to replace it by something larger and more complete (CWSA 29: 365). Being spiritual means being conscious. A person with a high level of consciousness can con- trol and by continuing the mas- tery, one changes ones charac- ter, which is essential for inner transformation and improving the psychic being and psycho- logical health. In order to attain true con- sciousness, one has to go deeper within and bring out the full force of the psychic into the physical. It can be done by work, by dedication, by doing the work for the Divine only without thought of self. (Letters on Yoga, Vol. 23, pp. 738-39). Thread- bare analysis of the views and thou- ghts of Sri Ma and Sri Aurobindo wo- uld lay bare their main objectives for emphasizing on improvement of conscious- ness of the individual and then gradual transformation of the people in a society as a whole. The mission was for con- current spiritual and economic development of India. How deep their aspiration to this effect was would be clear from the follow- ing two statements: In the next great stage of human progress, it is not a material but a spiritual, moral and psychical advance that has to be made and for this a free Asia and in Asia a free India must take the lead (Sri Auro- bindo, CWSA 6 : 572) and India is the country where the psychic law can and must rule and the time has come for that here. Besides, it is the only possi- ble salvation for this country whose consciousness has unfor- tunately been distorted by the influence and domination of a foreign nation, but which, in spite of everything, possesses unique spiritual heritage (Sri Ma, CWM 13 : 370). The two minds could assess that the materialism of modern times had turned the people from the spiritual life to the world of materialistic tendency and this had cau- sed humanity to be far from having progressed. In the Second World War, Sri Au- robindo put all his force behind the Allies and not be- hind Hitler. For the victory of Hit- ler would mean a powerful setback in evolution and entail the subjec- tion not only of all Europe, but ulti- mately of Asia itself, whilst a vic- tory of the Allies would keep all possibilities open for further evolution. Sri Aurobindo wrote in a letter: Even if I knew that the Allies would misuse their victory or bungle the peace I would still put my force behind them. At any rate things could not be one-hundredth part as bad as they would be under Hitler. The ways of the Lord would still be open ~ to keep them open is what matters. The partition of India and the creation of Pakistan was, in Aurobindos vision a grave human error and not divinely intended. In the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the true India would have included Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and even Burma. Sri Aurobindo is probably the only spiritual philosopher who believed that mankind had a terrestrial future ~ a life of ful- filment here on earth. Out of the three narrative poems he wrote, namely, Urva- sie; Love and Death and Savitri, Savitri had a special fascination for Sri Aurobindo. In the first two stories, love triumphs over death but the price paid is life on earth. In Sav- itri, however, Savitris love tri- umphs. She comes back to earth to live her life with Satyaban. She does not sacrifice life on earth. Such was the love for earth and India displayed by Sri Ma and Sri Aurobindo. In his message written on 15 August 1947, Sri Aurobindo said, among other things, India would now play a greater role in the progress of human civilisa- tion; the rise of a new, a greater, brighter and nobler life for mankind which for its entire realisation would rest outwardly on an international unification of the separate existence of the people, preserving and securing their national life but drawing them together into an overrid- ing and consummating one- ness In conclusion, it can be said without ambiguity that the meeting of the two minds has evolved the means of transform- ing society by means of propa- gating the concept of spirituality as a means of improving ones level of consciousness at a micro level and then expanding it at a macro level so much so that an individuals growth becomes concomitant to the growth of the society. It is now up to us and the government to adopt those views of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo to find a new India which will lead the world.

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Meeting of Minds - The Statesman