Study Circle in Detail
“For knowledge comes not to us as a guest
Called into our chamber from the outer world;
A friend and inmate of our secret self,
It hid behind our minds and fell asleep
And slowly wakes beneath the blows of life;”
Savitri-244
"What were earth’s ages if the grey restraint
Were never broken and glories sprang not forth
Bursting their obscure seed, while man’s slow life
Leaped hurried into sudden splendid paths
By divine words and human gods revealed?"
Savitri-652
"... it is not possible for the tongue of human speech to tell all the utter unity and all the eternal variety of the ananda of divine love. Our higher and our lower members are both flooded with it, the mind and life no less than the soul: even the physical body takes its share of the joy, feels the touch, is filled in all its limbs, veins, nerves with the flowing of the wine of the ecstasy, amrita. Love and Ananda are the last word of being, the secret of secrets, the mystery of mysteries."⁶
Sri Aurobindo
"There is also a speech, a supramental word, in which the higher knowledge, vision or thought can clothe itself within us for expression. At first this may come down as a word, a message or an inspiration that descends to us from above or it may even seem a voice of the Self or of the Ishwara, vanı, adesa. Afterwards it loses that separate character and becomes the normal form of the thought when it expresses itself in the form of an inward speech. The thought may express itself without the aid of any suggestive or developing word and only — but still quite completely, explicitly and with its full contents — in a luminous substance of supramental perception. It may aid itself when it is not so explicit by a suggestive inward speech that attends it to bring out its whole significance. Or the thought may come not as silent perception but as speech self-born out of the truth and complete in its own right and carrying in itself its own vision and knowledge. Then it is the word revelatory, inspired or intuitive or of a yet greater kind capable of bearing the infinite intention or suggestion of the higher supermind and spirit. It may frame itself in the language now employed to express the ideas and perceptions and impulses of the intellect and the sense mind, but it uses it in a different way and with an intense bringing out of the intuitive or revelatory significances of which speech is capable. The supramental word manifests inwardly with a light, a power, a rhythm of thought and a rhythm of inner sound that make it the natural and living body of the supramental thought and vision and it pours into the language, even though the same as that of mental speech, another than the limited intellectual, emotional or sensational significance. It is formed and heard in the intuitive mind or supermind and need not at first except in certain highly gifted souls come out easily into speech and writing, but that too can be freely done when the physical consciousness and its organs have been made ready, and this is a part of the needed fullness and power of the integral perfection."⁷
Sri Aurobindo
The Study Circle in Detail
Vedic Arya: “For in the Veda the Aryan peoples are those who had accepted a particular type of self culture, of inward and outward practice, of ideality, of aspiration...All the highest aspirations of the early human race, its noblest religious temper, its most idealistic velleities of thought are summed up in this single vocable.”⁸
Sri Aurobindo
Vedantic Arya: “The Aryan is he who strives and overcomes all outside him and within him that stands opposed to human advance. Self-conquest is the first law of his nature. He overcomes earth and the body and does not consent like ordinary men to their dullness, inertia, dead routine and tamasic limitations. He overcomes life and its energies and refuses to be dominated by their hungers and cravings or enslaved by their rajasic passions. He overcomes mind and its habits, he does not live in a shell of ignorance, inherited prejudices, customary ideas, pleasant opinions, but knows how to seek and choose, to be large and flexible in intelligence even as he is firm and strong in his will. For in everything he seeks truth, in everything right, in everything height and freedom.”⁹
Sri Aurobindo
Integral Arya: “The perfect Arhat is he who is able to live simultaneously in all these three apparent states of existence (a consciousness which is at once transcendental, universal and individual), elevate lower into higher, receive higher into the lower, so that he may represent perfectly in the symbols of the world that with which he is identified in all parts of his being, the triple and triune Brahman.”¹⁰
Sri Aurobindo
Un-Arya: “Everything that departed from this ideal (Truth and wisdom of Brahmana and Heroism and inner adventure Kshatriya), everything that tended towards the ignoble, mean, obscure, rude, cruel or false, was termed un-Aryan.”¹¹
Sri Aurobindo
Dvija: “In the ancient Indian distinction between the once born and the twice born, it is to this material man that the former description can be applied. He does Nature’s inferior works; he assures the basis for her higher activities; but not to him easily are opened the glories of her second birth.” “The ordinary man who wishes to reach God through knowledge, must undergo an elaborate training. He must begin by becoming absolutely pure, he must cleanse thoroughly his body, his heart and his intellect, he must get himself a new heart and be born again; for only the twice born can understand or teach the Vedas. When he has done this he needs yet four things before he can succeed, (1) the Sruti or recorded revelation, (2) the Sacred Teacher, (3) the practice of Yoga and (4) the Grace of God.”¹²
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo confirms in The Synthesis of Yoga that if writing and speech can be Supramentalised through a few rare gifted Souls, then 'this is a part of the needed fullness and power of the integral perfection.'⁷ A twice born Soul can 'understand and teach'¹² the written truth and can conduct a Study Circle. His deliberations can be fixed in Psychic and Spiritual planes of beyond the Gunas and he can utilise this as an opportunity to ascent to still higher Cosmic and Transcendent plane.
The Study Circle for us is Prakriti Yajna. If it is done rightly, then there will be a large descent of Divine Will, Divine Wisdom and Divine Love. It is a means of collective Divine Union. The Earlier trend of using this as a platform of giving upadesha (advice) and lokasamgraham (gathering together of devotees) has renewed its significance before the new movement of Consciousness through Prakriti Yajna or Vedic sacrifice. In Study Circle, our firm motive is to “Ask for nothing but the divine, spiritual and supramental Truth, its realisation on earth and in you and in all who are called and chosen and the conditions needed for its creation and its victory over all opposing forces…Where there is affinity to the rhythms of the secret world-bliss and response to the call of the All-Beautiful and concord and unity and the glad flow of many lives turned towards the Divine, in that atmosphere she (Mahalakshmi) consents to abide.”¹³
This Study Circle is offered at the Lotus Feet of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo for the activation of ceaseless consecration, ceaseless askesis, ceaseless remembering of the Divine, ceaseless descent of Divine Shakti and for the generalisation and intensification of Moderate Spirituality² in humanity through the extension of Their Karma Yoga.
The Gita insists that writing or oration or guidance or action of a Spiritual man should not generate offence, udbega,¹⁶ anxiety, chinta,¹⁴ and controversy or division of understanding, buddhi veda¹⁵, among ordinary earth-bound man and sets himself as an example before them by doing all work with knowledge and Divine union. It further insists that his writings/oration should be truthful, satya,¹⁶ pleasant, priya, and beneficial, hita, ‘and a careful avoidance of words that may cause fear, sorrow and trouble’¹⁷ to the collective mass. The Mother insisted⁴ that if a writing related with Spiritual truth has to inspire a wider dimension for a long period, it must descend from a very high impersonal and universal plane and must be received by the intellect without the least distortion.
The Gita issues an injunction to the man of Knowledge to utilise Karma Yoga as a means of gathering together the devotees (lokasamgraham) and not to disturb their thought basis, life basis, and work basis, which are guided by the divisible consciousness of the three gunas. The normal life basis and thought basis of men are limited within the boundary of (1) money earning, (2) procreation of a family and (3) its maintenance. They should not be persuaded to become a liberated Divine worker or live a life of higher Consciousness through rigorous self-control; ‘for impelled by his example but unable to comprehend the principle of his action, they would lose their own system of values without arriving at a higher foundation.’¹⁸ He should not create a division of their understanding on attachment to action and he should encourage them to do all action, doing them himself with knowledge, detachment and Yoga. Their minds are restless, uncontrollable and wander away from Yoga. The Gita has identified them as child Souls, bala, and further segregated them as women, striyah, those who have not renounced sense enjoyments, Shudra, those who subjected their life to lower nature, Vaisya, those who have subjected their life to wealth attachment. There are still other inferior Souls identified as men of evil conduct, duracharo, out-castes, vyapasritya, born from the womb of sin, papajonayah, and deluded souls, vimudha. The Gita proposes rigorous self-control, ugra tapah of Jnana Yoga for a few prepared twice-born Souls, dvija, and consecrated action and devotion⁵ for once-born Souls without disturbing their normal life, in order to generalise Spirituality in humanity. The Gita’s support to generalise Spirituality in humanity is:
1: “Others, those who are unfit to pursue Karma, Jnana, Sankhya and Dhyana Yoga, may hear the Truth from realised Souls and mould the mind and heart into the sense of That to which they listen with faith and concentration and these devotees also go beyond death to immortality.” The Gita-13-26,
2: “If thou art unable even to seek by practice of Karma Yoga, then be it thy supreme aim to do My work; doing all separative actions for My sake, thou shalt attain perfection.” The Gita-12.10, “Work without sacrifice leads this world of men to bondage; for sacrifice practise works, O son of Kunti, becoming free from all attachments.” The Gita-3.9
3: “If a man of very evil conduct turns to Me with a sole and entire love (bhakti), then swiftly he becomes a Soul of righteousness and obtains eternal peace. This is My word of promise, O Arjuna, that he who loves me shall not perish.” The Gita-9.30/9.31,
4: “Those who take refuge in Me, O Partha, be they out-castes, born from the womb of sin, women, Vaisysas, even Shudras, they also attain to the highest Goal through single-minded Bhakti.” The Gita-9.32,
5: “To those devotees who worship Me making Me alone the whole object of their thought (either through Japa or through repetition of Mantra), to those constantly in Yoga with Me, I spontaneously bring every good and all their inner and outer opulence.” The Gita-9.22,
The Gita considers that the devotees who have failed to succeed in Yoga in the past births, yogabhrasta, are born again in the house of pure, glorious and in the family of wise Yogin with memory and accumulation of past Spiritual energy. In this birth, they show interest in the written truth, Shastra, from the early part of their formative life and they again endeavour assiduously in order to succeed in Yoga or, after many births of truth seeking, a jijnasu becomes a Yogi.
What are the Divine action and its coexistence of Divine silence and passivity that a Divine Worker must know and through this knowledge-based action he can be released from all error, defects and ills. One has to understand the Divine action initiated from higher planes of Consciousness, undivine action initiated from rajasic desire will and inertia of inaction initiated from tamasic indolence. He who, in Divine activity, can see the Divine passivity and this subjective action of Divine descent continues after the objective action ceases, he is a true Karma Yogi. So, he is in Yoga and a many-sided universal Divine worker involved in doing well of all creature. The inception and continuation of Divine action is free from the will of desire and all the defects of work are burned up by the fire of self-knowledge. He has abandoned all attachment to the fruits of work; ever satisfied without any kind of dependence, he does nothing but a Divine Will does action through him. He has no personal hope, personal possession; his heart, sense, mind and intellect are under perfect self-control, performs action by the movement of the body alone; he does not commit any sin. The liberated Divine Worker is satisfied with whatever comes to him, lives beyond any duality, is jealous of none, and is equal in failure and success. He is free from attachment; mind, sense and heart are firmly founded in self-knowledge and the defect of all his work is dissolved.¹⁹ The Lord projected this Karma Yoga superior²⁰ to Jnana Yoga and Dhyana Yoga as one does not have to reject life and action in order to attain the Divine. Karma Yoga reconciles surface life with inner life and further gives the message of transformation of the lower Nature of the three gunas by the pressure of higher dynamic Divine Nature, because through this transformation alone ‘a perfected Yogi lives and acts always in the Divine.’²¹
The Gita²³ confirms that those who will do Divine work must understand three things. They are (1) right action, karma, (2) wrong action, bikarma, and (3) inaction, akarma.
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Right action: If one will do all action with Soul united with static Divine then that is identified as Divine action.
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Wrong action: If action is done out of personal will, attachment, desire and motive to get result, then that work is identified as undivine action. It can be corrected by not initiating any work, sarbarambha parityagi, and by consecrating the ordinary action.
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Inaction: If one experiences Divine descent of Shakti, when objective work is withdrawn, then that is identified as the period of subjective Divine action or inaction. One who realises inaction or passive Divine during action and subjective action or active Divine union during inaction, he is a true Yogi and universal Divine worker.
In integral Yoga, the Divine action hinted in the Gita is further developed into four gradations.
1: Divine action by Soul’s union with the static Divine:
“This bright perfection of her inner state
Poured overflowing into her outward scene,
Made beautiful dull common natural things
And action wonderful and time divine.
Even the smallest meanest work became
A sweet or glad and glorious sacrament,
An offering to the self of the great world
Or a service to the One in each and all.” Savitri-532, (Psychic action)
“The Immobile stands behind each daily act, (Spiritual action)
A background of the movement and the scene,
Upholding creation on its might and calm
And change on the Immutable’s deathless poise.” Savitri-662,
“A work is done in the deep silences;” Savitri-170 (Spiritual action)
2: Universal Divine action by Soul’s union with dynamic Divine Shakti:
“Yes, my (Savitri’s) humanity is a mask of God:
He dwells in me, the mover of my acts,
Turning the great wheel of his cosmic work.
I am the living body of his light,
I am the thinking instrument of his power,
I incarnate Wisdom in an earthly breast,
I am his conquering and unslayable will.” Savitri-634,
3: Supramental Divine action by Static Divine’s union with dynamic Divine Shakti in the heart centre:
“The incarnate dual Power shall open God’s door,
Eternal Supermind touch earthly Time.” Savitri-705
4: Cellular transformation action by large-scale invasion of dynamic Divine Shakti to static Matter:
“A fiery stillness wakes the slumbering cells,
A passion of the flesh becoming spirit,
And marvellously is fulfilled at last
The miracle for which our life was made.” Savitri-278,
“The grand Illuminate seized her gleaming limbs
And filled them with the passion of his ray
Till all her body was its transparent house
And all her soul a counterpart of his soul.” Savitri-125
This study circle promises three limited actions to transform the tamasic and rajasic mind to a sattwic mind, and the unaryan Shudra and Vaisya way of life to Aryan Kshatriya (symbol of courage and new adventure) and Brahmin (symbol of Truth and Wisdom) way of life and to transform narrow carping, jealousy and intolerance into wide faith and compassion. These are identified as preliminary sattwic steps to transform undivine life to Divine Life.
“For knowledge comes not to us as a guest
Called into our chamber from the outer world;
A friend and inmate of our secret self,
It hid behind our minds and fell asleep
And slowly wakes beneath the blows of life;” Savitri-244
Self-discipline by Psycho-physical³ means or external aid is dispensable in integral Yoga. Knowledge does not always visit us by any outer means like a Study Circle. Overhead Knowledge visits us positively through Divine union and embrace from above and negatively through blows, shocks and adversities of life from below.
The greatest utility of the Study Circle is not to limit it to Teachings alone but to utilise it as means of movement of ascent of the Soul to travel ‘beyond the world’²² and descent of Divine Shakti to ‘save the world.’²²
As Divine workers, we must always remember three things.¹
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Whatever manifesting work done through us, small or big, either through activation of three Gunas or through Divine union, are like an infinitesimal grain of dust before the Eternal existence and not our ego but the Divine Mother is the doer of all action. If a very big work is executed through us without consecration and the Divine’s Presence, then that work is of no Spiritual value. If a very small work is done by us with full of Divine’s Presence, then that work is of great Spiritual value.
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We are given a task through Divine Call, so whatever truth, love, beauty, and delight manifest through us or whatever we create are not our own but a descent from some Transcendent Source. Similarly, all our surface emotions and surface thoughts are source from the inconscient and subconscient or from the universal forces and that we are just a puppet moved by these forces and we must remember that none of them are our own.
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The Powers that act through our instrumental vessel, dark or bright, are not our own. Based on our consciousness from tamasic to Spiritual plane, the invisible forces of either kind enter our system and do their destructive or creative action. When we are under the influence of three Gunas, then the asuric forces capture the human vessel to hinder our sadhana and when we are under Psychic and Spiritual influence, the invisible Beings of these higher planes assist our sadhana. We must remain aware of them and strive to tune ourselves with the highest instrumental action through Savitri’s declaration:
“He dwells in me, the mover of my acts,
Turning the great wheel of his cosmic work.
I am the living body of his light,
I am the thinking instrument of his power,
I incarnate Wisdom in an earthly breast,
I am his conquering and unslayable will.
The formless Spirit drew in me its shape;
In me are the Nameless and the secret Name.”
Savitri-634
The Divine dwells in Savitri who is at once nameless, impersonal Spiritual being and Personal Psychic Being. Finally, for conducting Study Circle, we can depend on the following message of Sri Aurobindo: "As for helping [others], you can only be sure of that if you yourself have an assured basis, with the psychic being always prominent, full of faith and joy and strength, — then others can gather strength and faith and joy from such a one by speech or contact. But to arrive at that you must, as I have been telling you, open yourself to the Light and Force that come from myself and the Mother and to no other influence."²⁴
OM TAT SAT
References
1: “The Blessed Lord said, O Arjuna, I support this entire universe and all its Divine manifestations through great Vibhutis, Emanations, with an infinitesimal portion of My-self.” The Gita-10.42, “Let us understand that however great may have been our efforts, our struggles, even our victories, compared with the distance yet to be travelled, the one we have already covered is nothing; and that all are equal—infinitesimal grains of dust or identical stars—before Eternity.” The Mother/Prayers and Meditations-January-8/1914, “Earthly realisations easily take on a great importance in our eyes, for they are proportionate to our external being with this limited form which makes us men. But what is an earthly realisation beside Thee, before Thee? However perfect, complete, divine it may be, it is nothing but an indiscernible moment in Thy eternity; and the results obtained by it, however powerful and marvellous they may be, are nothing but an imperceptible atom in the infinite march to Thee. This is what Thy workers must never forget, otherwise they will become unfit to serve Thee.” The Mother/Prayers and Meditations-July-17/1914,
“Its absence left the greatest actions dull,
Its presence made the smallest seem divine.” Savitri-305
“Our tasks are given, we are but instruments;
Nothing is all our own that we create:
The Power that acts in us is not our force.” Savitri-542
“A greater Personality sometimes
Possesses us which yet we know is ours:” Savitri-47
2: “It is possible to give the material man and his life a moderate spirituality by accustoming him to regard in a religious spirit all the institutions of life and its customary activities.” CWSA-23/The Synthesis of Yoga/p-23-24,
3: “On the whole, for an integral Yoga the special methods of Rajayoga and Hathayoga may be useful at times in certain stages of the progress, but are not indispensable. It is true that their principal aims must be included in the integrality of the Yoga; but they can be brought about by other means. For the methods of the integral Yoga must be mainly spiritual, and dependence on physical methods or fixed psychic or psycho-physical processes on a large scale would be the substitution of a lower for a higher action.” CWSA/23/The Synthesis of Yoga-542,
4: “Personally, of all those I have read, it’s (The Synthesis of Yoga) the book that has helped me the most. It comes from a very high and very universal inspiration, in the sense that it will remain new for a long time to come.” The Mother’s Agenda-February 16,
5: “Brahmacharya (celibacy) is not binding in bhaktimarga or karmayoga, but it is necessary for ascetic jnanayoga as well as for Raja and Hatha yogas. It is also not demanded from Grihastha yogis. In this (integral) Yoga the position is that one must overcome sex, otherwise there can be no transformation of the lower vital and physical nature; all physical sexual connection should cease, otherwise one exposes oneself to serious dangers. The sex-push must also be overcome but it is not a fact that there can be no sadhana or no experience before it is entirely overcome, only without that conquest one cannot go to the end and it must be clearly recognised as one of the more serious obstacles and indulgence of it as a cause of considerable disturbance.” CWSA-31/Letters on Yoga-IV/p-542, “(Question) Am I fit for Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga? Will he take me up? (Answer by Sri Aurobindo) If by my Yoga you mean the integral Yoga leading towards the supramental realisation, you have not at present the capacity for it. All you can do at present is some preparation for it by Bhakti and self-dedication through Karma; if into this preparation you put a strong sincerity and a settled psychic aspiration, then one day you will be ready for more.” 23 February 1931/CWSA-35/Letters on Himself and the Ashram/p-544-545,
6: CWSA-24/The Synthesis of Yoga/p-605,
7: CWSA-24/The Synthesis of Yoga/p-836-837,
8: CWSA/13/Essays in Philosophy and Yoga/p-441,
9: CWSA/13/Essays in Philosophy and Yoga/p-443,
10: CWSA/13/Essays in Philosophy and Yoga/p-444,
11: CWSA/13/Essays in Philosophy and Yoga/p-441,
12: CWSA-23/The Synthesis of Yoga-23, CWSA-18/Kena and other Upanishads/p-169,
13: Sri Aurobindo/CWSA-32/The Mother and Letters on the Mother/p-8, 21,
14: The Gita-16.11,
15: “He should not create a division of their understanding in the ignorant who are attached to their works; he should set them to all actions, doing them himself with knowledge and who are attached to their works; he should set them to all actions, doing them himself with knowledge and Yoga.” The Gita-3.26,
16: The Gita-17.15,
17: CWSA/19/Essays on the Gita-489,
18: “This, no doubt, is the root of the injunction imposed in the Gita (The Gita-3.29) on the man who has the knowledge not to disturb the life basis and thought basis of the ignorant; for impelled by his example but unable to comprehend the principle of his action, they would lose their own system of values without arriving at a higher foundation.” Sri Aurobindo/CWSA-21/The Life Divine/p-58
19: The Gita-4.16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,
20: “The sacrifice of knowledge, O Parantapa, is greater than any material sacrifice. Knowledge is that in which all actions culminate (not any lower knowledge, but the highest self-knowledge and God-knowledge), O Partha!” The Gita-4.33, “Works are far inferior to Yoga of the intelligence, O Dhananjaya; desire rather refuge in the intelligence...” The Gita-2.49, “The Blessed Lord said: Yoga of Knowledge and Yoga of Works both bring about the Soul’s salvation, but of the two Yoga of Works is distinguished above Yoga of Knowledge.” The Gita-5.2,
21: The Gita-6.31,
22: “He (King Aswapati) stood fulfilled on the world’s highest line
Awaiting the ascent beyond the world,
Awaiting the descent the world to save.” (Vedantic sacrifice of the King.) Savitri-319,
23: “One has to understand about right action, karma, as well as to understand about wrong action, bikarma, and about inaction, akarma, one has to understand; thick and tangled is the way of works. He who in action can see inaction and can see action still continuing in cessation from works, is the man of true reason and discernment among men; he is in Yoga and many-sided universal worker.” The Gita-4.17-18,
24: CWSA-31/Letters on Yoga-IV/p-318,
Sri Matriniketan Ashram Sri Aurobindo Centre,
Managed by The Mother’s International Centre Trust,
Regd.No-146/24.11.97. Vill: Ramachandrapur, PO: Kukudakhandi-761100,
Via: Brahmapur, Dist: Ganjam, State: Odisha, India
"The first thing the physical consciousness must realize is that all the difficulties we encounter in life arise from the fact that we do not rely exclusively on the Divine to find the help we need.
The Divine alone can liberate us from the mechanism of universal Nature. And this liberation is indispensable for the birth and development of the new race.
Only if we give ourselves entirely to the Divine with total trust and gratitude will the difficulties be surmounted."
The Mother
The Mother's Agenda/February 1, 1972
“If you say to the Divine with conviction, “I want only You”, the Divine will arrange all the circumstances in such a way as to compel you to be sincere. Something in the being... “I want only You.”... the aspiration...and then one wants a hundred odd things all the time, isn’t that so? At times something comes, just... usually to disturb everything—it stands in the way and prevents you from realizing your aspiration. Well, the Divine will come without showing Himself, without your seeing Him, without your having any inkling of it, and He will arrange all the circumstances in such a way that everything that prevents you from belonging solely to the Divine will be removed from your path, inevitably. Then when all is removed, you begin to howl and complain; but later, if you are sincere and look at yourself straight in the eye... you have said to the Lord, you have said, “I want only You.” He will remain close to you, all the rest will go away. This is indeed a higher Grace. Only, you must say this with conviction. I don’t even mean that you must say it integrally, because if one says it integrally, the work is done. What is necessary is that one part of the being, indeed the central will, says it with conviction: “I want only You.” Even once, and it suffices: all that takes more or less long, sometimes it stretches over years, but one reaches the goal.”
The Mother
The Mother’s Centenary Works/Vol-6/176-177