On this day of the Mother's Mahasamadhi

Re: Derrida, Death and Forgiveness by Andrew J. McKenna
by RY Deshpande on Wed 15 Nov 2006 02:50 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

In response to Debashish in this posting let me talk specifically about the Holocaust of Prakriti, the Sacrifice of the Divine Mother. (The query about “portals of the birth that is a death” can be taken up if we are to pursue the discussion, which I am not sure is appropriate under the present blog seized with some other issues. Please decide.)The Mother’s powers and personalities are for a cosmic work. Sri Aurobindo described four of them in his letter to Kapali Shastri which was included afterwards in the book The Mother. These are: Maheshwari (Wisdom), Mahakali (Strength), Mahalakshmi (Harmony), and Mahasaraswati (Perfection). These four powers of the Mother are the fourfold soul-forces and they operate variously in the cosmic scheme of things.

Corresponding to these four aspects of the Mother we have the Vedic fourfold personality of the Cosmic Being, Virata Purusha; four parts of his body are: Head, Arms, Heart, and Feet. The names given to them are: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra, and correspond to the thinker, the warrior, the man of commerce, and man as the doer of works. These are present everywhere, in all the societies and during all the periods of time. Plato and Kant and Einstein were Brahmins, Julius Caesar and Eisenhower and Alexander the Great were Kshatriyas, Henri Ford and DuPont or the present-day Bill Gates make the Vaishyas, the factory worker and the smith and the bank employees and the government servants including the highest secretaries are Shudras.

That is the eternal Chaturvarna. In that sense it is indestructible and cannot be wished away. The Gita proclaims it—I have created this fourfold order— and we have codes based on it. The Synthesis of Yoga explains the spiritual basis of this division. In the Indian social organisation, however, Chaturvarna later became four castes. That is the Great Fall which is unfortunate, speaking of the decadent nature of the society; it is much maligned, and rightly so. It has to be redeemed by breathing the spiritual fire in it. Its justification does not lie in the dead society but in the breathing spirit of the universal being. That should be recovered.

by RY Deshpande on Thu 16 Nov 2006 03:49 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

The Vedic Purusha Sukta thus becomes very meaningful indeed. The appearance of the four aspects is only the beginning in the process of cosmic manifestation. Only when the Four have founded their harmony and freedom can the higher powers of the Mother descend. Sri Aurobindo looks at these powers from the point of view of Vaishnava experience as follows: Mahavira is the Brahmin embodying Knowledge and Light and wide Consciousness; Balarama, Kshatriya quality of Force and Dynamism; Pradyumna, quality of Love and Beauty—the Vaishya; Aniruddha, Shudra quality of competent service, of organisation and execution in details.

Vivekananda brings out the yogic aspect of the Chaturvarna in another beautiful manner. When he speaks of Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Karma Yoga he is also suggesting the methods available for the divine realisation for the corresponding type or quality or cast of the soul present in this manifestation. But finally it is the Divine Mother who does the Yoga of Surrender to the Supreme and in his Will identifies her will. Only the incarnation that took place in the far past times can do it and not other powers and personalities or embodiments of the Divine Mother, the Consciousness-Force of the Divine. That is the surety of success. That is the perfection which she alone can attain and not other powers and personalities or embodiments. That is Savitri who was “sent forth of old beneath the stars” of the dark Night. RY Deshpande

Re: Derrida, Death and Forgiveness by Andrew J. McKenna by Debashish on Thu 16 Nov 2006 09:59 AM PST Profile Permanent Link Thank you for your response. It is a matter of deep contemplation and so appropriate on this day of the Mother's Mahasamadhi.