The unity of matter and spirit

By Kiara Windrider

Near the beginning of the 20th century the great Indian freedom fighter and yogi-sage, Sri Aurobindo, began to express a truth which had not been expressed before. In his high states of divine union he saw that the time had come for a new stage in the evolution of mankind. He saw that the divine was to manifest right here on earth and that the time for this divine emergence into earth life was now. He spoke of heaven descending to earth, even as earth experienced a breakdown due to the intrinsic resistance held within her material body towards this "descent". Sri Aurobindo was joined in Pondicherry, India, by a French mystic, Mirra Alfassa, who later became known as the Mother.

Together they embarked on a journey of intensive cellular and collective transformation that is very relevant to the colossal uncertainties we face today.. Sri Aurobindo saw that the divine force permeates all matter, and that all matter therefore has a force of consciousness. The process of the divine spirit descending down into matter is called involution. The process by which the divine ascends back upwards out of matter is called evolution. According to Sri Aurobindo, humanity has reached a stage where these two events are occuring simultaneously, and in his inner visions, he foresaw that we would soon be experiencing a descent of what he called "supramental consciousness" that would entirely change everything on Earth.

When does all this happen? Sri Aurobindo and the Mother believed that the world stage was set for this quantum descent, and that it was quite imminent now. The Mother said in 1968 that the supramental transformation was a certainty now, and that it would come about with a minimum of destruction, "although this minimum is still considerable". She said that there would be a turning point around the year 2000.

Sri Aurobindo, before his death in 1950, gave five indications that would precede the dawning of the New Era. To summarize them briefly, knowledge of the physical world would increase exponentially, people would start becoming more psychic, there would be a concerted effort from the dark forces to maintain control, the world would move towards increasing unification through technology, and finally, many would rise up such as Hitler with the power to influence large numbers of people.

When I confront the ecological and political realities of our modern world, I realize that our 3rd dimensional problems cannot be solved through 3rd dimensional means. I find myself greatly comforted by spiritual researchers like Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, whose visions and understandings derived from a direct experience of a more expanded cosmic paradigm. Global Oneness