Introduction
According to scientific estimates, there are at least 100billion galaxies in the visible universe and each galaxy has an estimated at least 100 to 200 billion stars. Thus the total number of the stars in the visible universe is at least 10^22 i.e. a figure of 1 followed by twenty two zeros. To put this figure into perspective, there are more stars in the visible universe then there are sand grains on all the beaches and all the deserts of the world combined (according to scientists at least 10 times more). And many of these stars will have planets. A recent scientific study concluded that, “stars are orbited by planets as a rule, rather than the exception” (Nature 481 (7380)) and the scientists are discovering many new exoplanets now. Even if we conservatively estimate average of one planet orbiting per star, the number of planets would run into many billions and billions. Out of all these billions and billions of planets, what is so special about this third rock from the sun (tittle of a popular English comedy TV serial) called earth or as Satyavan says in Savitri, ‘little hillock called green earth’*? Does the earth have any special significance, a special importance or is it just one amongst the billions of planets in the universe, totally insignificant amongst the vast number of other planets, just one speck of dust, a grain of sand lost in the vast multitude of the universe? Is there any spiritual or occult significance to the earth, other than there being life on it, or is it just one of the planets without any special significance? Is there any truth behind the ancient lore of the gods and titans needing to take birth here on earth to evolve or is it just human vanity glorifying the earth?
The Scientific View
From the point of view of the astronomers, the earth is an insignificant speck of dust in the overwhelming vastness of the universe. One small planet, circling one star, in a far corner of the universe, in which there are innumerable and uncountable number of stars. As well known astronomer, Carl Sagan said “who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy, tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which, there are far more galaxies than people.” (Cosmos (1985) 160). Similar view is echoed by astrophysicist Eric Chaisson, “At every level in our inventory, nothing seems special about our Earth, our Sun, our Galaxy, our Local Group. Evidently, mediocrity reigns throughout. Such is our niche in the universe.” (Epic of Evolution: seven ages of the Cosmos.) And Stephen Hawkins, the celebrated scientist has said, “The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies.” (Interview on the 1995 show Realty on the Rocks: Beyond our Ken). The significance, if any, of the earth, according to science, is due to the presence of life on it. The earth is teeming with life in all shapes and all forms. In the harshest environment, from the depth of oceans where sunlight can hardly penetrate, to the coldest places on the poles, to the hottest sulphur springs, life is present almost everywhere on earth. The tenacity of life on earth makes it all the more likely that life exists on other planets, outside our solar system, what are called the exoplanets. With more and more exoplanets being discovered, some with charteristics like the earth, it may not be long before life is discovered on other planets.
*“Lay all on her; she is the cause of all.
With her enchantments she has twined me round.
Behold, at noon leaving this house of clay
I wandered in far-off eternities,
Yet still, a captive in her golden hands,
I tread your little hillock called green earth
And in the moments of your transient sun
Live glad among the busy works of men.”(savitri pg 723)
The Spiritual View
From the Spiritual and Occult viewpoint, the earth is of supreme importance, for it is symbolic concentration of the universe. It is the place where all the worlds meet, where all the planes of consciousness intermix, with the result that all worlds act upon the earth. At the same time the earthly actions have repercussions on all the other worlds. It is for concentrating the work of transformation, so that it can be done more rapidly, that the earth has been formed. Any progress made on the earth is automatically radiated to the other occult worlds. In a talk on 23.09.1953, the Mother says:
And from the occult standpoint, earth (which is nothing from the astronomical standpoint; in the immensity of the astronomical skies, earth is a thing absolutely without interest and without importance), but from the occult and spiritual point of view, earth is the concentrated symbol of the universe. For it is much more easy to work on one point than in a diluted vastness. All those who do the work know this. Well, for the convenience and necessity of work, the whole universe has been concentrated and condensed symbolically in a grain of sand which is called Earth. And therefore it is the symbol of everything; all that is to be changed, all that is to be transformed, all that is to be converted is there. This means that if one concentrates on this work and does it there, all the rest will follow automatically, otherwise there will be no end—and no hope. (CWM vol 5 pg 274-275)
The special significance of the earth is due to the direct descent of the supreme consciousness in the most obscure matter. It is this Divine Presence, which is present in all things and beings upon earth, which gives the earth its significance, its special status. It is due to this presence that the earth is the symbolic representation of the universe and thus the work done on the earth is automatically radiated to all the other worlds. On 18.5.1955 while talking about the gods and goddess, the Mother said:
……And from there (overmind) they presided over the creation of the material universe and the earth. And one of the proceedings was the formation of the earth as a symbolic creation representative of the whole universe, in order to condense and concentrate the problem so that it might be solved more easily. And this earth, though it may be from the astronomical point of view something infinitesimal and as unimportant as can be, from the occult point of view of the universal creation it is a symbol which represents the universe so perfectly that by transforming the earth one can through contagion or analogy transform the universe, because the earth is the symbol of the universe. (CWM vol 7 pg 157-158)
And similarly on 25.1.1956, the Mother said the following:
……Our earth which from the astronomical point of view seems to be only a small insignificant planet in the midst of all the stars and all the worlds, our earth has been formed to become the symbol of the universe and the point of concentration for the work of transformation, of divine transmutation.
And because of that, in this Matter which was perhaps the most obscure and most inconscient of all the Matter of the universes, there plunged and incarnated directly the Divine Consciousness, from the supreme Origin right into the obscurest Matter, without going through any intermediate stages, directly. Consequently, the two extremes touch, the Supreme and the most inconscient, and the universal circle closes. And so earthly life is the easiest means, one might say, or the most rapid, of becoming conscious of the Divine.
And it is so true that even the great cosmic Individualities, when they want to be converted or to unite with the Origin, take a physical body for that, because it is more convenient for them, for it can be done faster and better than if they had to progress through all the states of being, from any one of the states of being in the universe to the supreme Origin.
It is easier to come down into a human body and find the divine Presence there, it is quicker. Imagine the serpent biting its tail, it makes a circle, doesn’t it? So, if something wants to be united with the Divine, it is easier to enter the tail than to go the whole round of the body! As the head bites the tail, well, if you enter the tail you are immediately in contact with the head, otherwise you have to go all the way round to reach the head.(CWM vol 8, pg 35-36)
In a very simple and concrete manner the Mother explains the meaning and purpose of the gods and titans taking birth on the earth, how through this means they can reach the Supreme , come into contact with Him, become conscious of the Divine, more rapidly and more easily.
And on 23.10.1957 speaking of the importance of earth according to old traditions, the Mother said:
In fact, according to very old traditions, the Earth, from the deeper spiritual point of view, has been created as a symbolic concentration of universal life so that the work of transformation may be done more easily, in a limited, concentrated “space”—so to say—where all the elements of the problem are gathered together so that, in the concentration, the action may be more total and effective. So here he speaks only of terrestrial existence, but we can understand that it is a symbolic existence, that is, that it represents a universal action. It is a symbolic, concentrated representation. And he says that “the central motive”, that is, the purpose of terrestrial existence is to awaken, to develop and finally to reveal in a total manifestation the Spirit which is hidden at the centre of Matter and impels this Matter from within outwards towards a progressive development which will liberate the Spirit working from within.(CWM vol 9, pg 210)
Here the Mother gives the hidden secret, the central motive behind the creation of the earth, which according to Sri Aurobindo is to reveal in matter the hidden Spirit, that which is hidden at the centre of Matter and pushes it from within to manifest it, more and more, in progressive stages, till the whole of Matter is manifestation of the Spirit. As Sri Aurobindo says in Savitri “ And Matter shall reveal the Spirit’s face.” (CWSA vol 33-34, pg 709).
And the Mother has said the same thing while talking about the secret of nature and the purpose for which the universe has been created and the purpose for which the earth has been created, in a talk dated 7.5.1958 :
The universe is an objectivisation of the Supreme, as if He had objectivised himself outside of himself in order to see himself, to live himself, to know himself, and so that there might be an existence and a consciousness capable of recognising him as their origin and uniting consciously with him to manifest him in the becoming. There is no other reason for the universe. The earth is a kind of symbolic crystallisation of universal life, a reduction, a concentration, so that the work of evolution may be easier to do and follow. And if we see the history of the earth, we can understand why the universe has been created. It is the Supreme growing aware of himself in an eternal Becoming; and the goal is the union of the created with the Creator, a union that is conscious, willing and free, in the Manifestation.
That is the secret of Nature. Nature is the executive Force, it is she who does the work. (CWM vol 9 pg 321)
Thus from the above, we see the special status of the earth, the special purpose of its creation, the special formation that it is. It is the spiritual and the occult eye which sees the supreme importance and purpose, the symbolic concentration of the universe, which the earth represents, while to the outer eye, the earth is only an insignificant speck of dust.
The Divine Presence
What is it really that makes the earth so special? Even if we accept that the earth is symbolic concentration of the universe, to expedite the work, how is the work carried out? What is the great secret of the earth?
The earth is an evolutionary world while all other worlds are typal. Here on earth the Divine presence is there even in the most inconscient matter. There is direct intervention, without any intermediary, of the Supreme Consciousness in the most inconscient matter. This Divine presence is in all beings and things on earth and it is this Divine presence, this divine consciousness hidden in all things, which in its unfolding, impels the matter to a gradual and progressive development which we call evolution and makes the earth an evolutionary world. It is due to this divine presence, that the earth is a symbolic representation of the universe and so also, that the effort of transformation can be concentrated at one point and thus accomplished more quickly and rapidly. In a talk on 24.3.1957, the Mother explains it as below:
The formation of the earth as we know it, this infinitesimal point in the immense universe, was made precisely in order to concentrate the effort of transformation upon one point; it is like a symbolic point created in the universe to make it possible, while working directly upon one point, to radiate it over the entire universe.
If we want to make the problem a little more comprehensible, it is enough to limit ourselves to the creation and the history of the earth, for it is a good symbol of universal history.
From the astronomical point of view the earth is nothing, it is a very small accident. From the spiritual point of view, it is a symbolic willed formation. And as I have already said, it is only upon earth that this Presence is found, this direct contact with the supreme Origin, this presence of the divine Consciousness hidden in all things.
The other worlds have been organised more or less hierarchically, if one may say so, but the earth has a special formation due to the direct intervention, without any intermediary, of the supreme Consciousness in the Inconscient.(CWM vol 4, pg 242)
It is this Divine Presence which gives meaning to rebirth and around which the psychic personality develops and grows into individualised psychic beings in humans. This divine presence directly in matter is the Special Grace given to the earth. And it is this psychic being which grows and evolves from life to life, awakening matter out of its inertia, on its path back to the Divine. This psychic being is present only on the earth and in none of the other worlds. Even the cosmic beings, what we call the gods and the titans, lack the psychic and need to take birth upon the earth to experience it.
The Mother said on 10.6.1953,
In a human being, there is the divine Presence and the psychic being—at the beginning embryonic, but in the end a being wholly formed, conscious, independent, individualised. That does not exist in the vital world. It is a special grace given to human beings dwelling in matter and upon earth.(CWM vol 5 pg 98)
And on 30.3.1955, the Mother in a talk, said:
The psychic being is a terrestrial formation. It is human beings who have a psychic being which has been developed upon earth and by earthly life and which is a projection of the divine Consciousness into Matter to awaken Matter out of its inertia so that it takes the path back to the Divine.(CWM vol 7, pg 104)
And on 1.2.1967, the Mother in a talk gives a more detailed explanation of the soul and the psychic being,
The soul is the eternal essence at the centre of the psychic being. The soul is in fact like a divine spark which puts on many states of being of increasing density, down to the most material; it is inside the body, within the solar plexus, so to say. These states of being take form and develop, progress, become individualised and perfected in the course of many earthly lives and form the psychic being. When the psychic being is fully formed, it is aware of the consciousness of the soul and manifests it perfectly.(CWM vol 16, pg 358)
In a talk of 1.3.1951, the Mother talking about the psychic being, states that the psychic belongs only to the earth and the beings of other worlds or planes of consciousness, even the cosmic beings of the overmind, what we call the gods, lack the psychic. She says:
The psychic is the being organised by the divine Presence and it belongs to the earth—I am not speaking of the universe, only of the earth; it is only upon earth that you will find the psychic being. The rest of the universe is formed in quite a different way.
The universe contains all the domains higher than the physical: there is a global physical comprising the mental, the vital, etc., and all the domains above the mental are domains of a spiritual order, domains which are, for us, domains of the spirit, and it is this “spirit” which little by little, progressively, materialises itself to arrive at Matter as we conceive it. The beings of the Overmind, for instance, and all the beings of the higher regions have no psychic being—the “angels” have no psychic being. It is only upon earth that the psychic life begins, and it is just the process by which the Divine has awakened material life to the necessity of rejoining its divine origin. Without the psychic, Matter would never have awakened from its inconscience, it would never have aspired for the life of its origin, the spiritual life. Therefore, the psychic being in the human being is the manifestation of spiritual aspiration; but there is a spiritual life independent of the psychic. (CWM vol 4 pg 164-165)
And when the disciple asked whether there was correspondence between the psychic world and the earth, the Mother answered:
But I have already told you that it is only upon earth that the psychic being gets its experiences to individualise itself. Hence there is an almost absolute interdependence between the psychic world and the earth.(CWM vol 4 pg 165)
On 24.3.1951, the Mother was specifically asked if the being of other worlds and planets had a psychic being? The Mother once again affirmed the presence of the psychic only on the earth and stated:
No, it is a purely terrestrial phenomenon. Only, there is nothing against the idea that psychic beings may go to the other worlds if it so pleases them. There is no reason to think that one cannot, if one went to another planet, meet psychic beings; it is not impossible; but these would be psychic beings formed upon earth who have become free in their movement, going here and there at will for some reason or other. All knowledge in all traditions, from every part of the earth, says that the psychic formation is a terrestrial formation and that the growth of the psychic being is something that takes place upon earth. But once they are formed and free in their movement, they can go anywhere in the universe, they are not limited in their movement; but their formation and growth belong to the terrestrial life, for reasons of concentration.(CWM vol 4, pg 243)
And finally in a talk of 9.5.1954, the Mother talking at length about the psychic being and its redeeming and special qualities, states:
This means that if there were no psychic in Matter, it would not be able to have any direct contact with the Divine. And it is happily due to this psychic presence in Matter that the contact between Matter and the Divine can be direct and all human beings can be told, “You carry the Divine within you, and you have only to enter within yourself and you will find Him.” It is something very particular to the human being or rather to the inhabitants of the earth. In the human being the psychic becomes more conscious, more formed, more conscious and more independent also. It is individualised in human beings. But it is a speciality of the earth. It is a direct infusion, special and redeeming, in the most inconscient and obscure Matter, so that it might once again awake through stages to the divine Consciousness, the divine Presence and finally to the Divine Himself. It is the presence of the psychic which makes man an exceptional being—I don’t like to tell him this very much, because already he thinks too much of himself; he has such a high opinion of himself that it is not necessary to encourage him! But still, this is a fact—so much so that there are beings of other domains of the universe, those called by some people demigods and even gods, beings, for instance, of what Sri Aurobindo calls the Overmind, who are very eager to take a physical body on earth to have the experience of the psychic, for they don’t have it. These beings
certainly have many qualities that men don’t, but they lack this divine presence which is altogether exceptional and exists only on the earth and nowhere else. All these inhabitants of the higher worlds, the Higher Mind, Overmind and other regions have no psychic being. Of course, the beings of the vital worlds don’t have it either. But these latter don’t regret it, they don’t want it. There are only those very rare ones, quite exceptional, who want to be converted, and for this they act without delay, they immediately take a physical body. The others don’t want it; it is something which binds them and constrains them to a rule they do not want.
But it is a fact, so I am obliged to state that this is how it is, that it is an exceptional quality of the human being to carry within himself the psychic and, truly speaking, he does not take full advantage from it. He does not seem to consider this quality as something very, very desirable, from the way he treats this presence—exactly that! He prefers to it the ideas of his mind, prefers the desires of his vital being and the habits of his physical.
I don’t know how many of you have read the Bible; it is not very entertaining to read it, and besides, it is very long, but still, in the Bible there is a story I have always liked very much. There were two brothers, if I am not mistaken, Esau and Jacob. Well, Esau was very hungry, that’s the story, isn’t it? I believe he was a hunter or something; anyway, the story goes like this. He came back home very hungry, and told Jacob he was very hungry, and he was so hungry that he said to him, “Listen, if you give me your mess of pottage” (Jacob had prepared some stew), “if you give me your mess of pottage I will give you my birthright.” You know, one can understand the story quite superficially, but it has a very profound meaning: the birthright is the right of being the son of God. And so he was quite ready to give up his divine right because he was hungry, for a concrete, material thing, for food.
This is a very old story, but it is eternally true.
(CWM vol 6 pg 160-162)
Thus we have seen above, that time and again, the Mother has confirmed that the psychic belongs only to the earth and it grows and evolves only on the earth. It is on earth for reasons of concentration, so that the work could be concentrated on one point and thus done more rapidly. The work being to raise the densest matter to the divine consciousness, to manifest the divine here on the earth in the most inconscient matter.
Progress only on earth
Thus we have seen that it is the Divine Presence directly in most inconscient matter, without any intermediatary, that gives special importance to the earth. Around this Divine Presence, the psychic being grows and evolves, manifesting the Divinity more and more, till the whole universe will be the manifestation of the Divine. And as earth is the chosen place, the symbolic concentration of the universe, it is only on earth that progress can be made. It is only on earth that one evolves, as all other worlds are typal worlds, and this is the meaning of the old traditions, when they speak of the unique importance of human birth on earth and of even the gods and titans aspiring to take birth on earth. It is only in human birth that one can consciously collaborate with nature and accelerate the evolutionary movement by the process of yoga, while in the case of all other beings on earth, it is nature which is doing yoga and carrying forward the evolution. The human being by doing yoga and making concentrated effort can achieve in a short time what it would take nature ages and ages to achieve. Thus the human birth on earth is doubly blessed, firstly due to the special position of the earth and secondly due to the conscious collaboration one can make with nature and accelerate the process of evolution, condensing it to one lifetime or a few lifetimes. And this progress is possible on earth only, when one is present in a physical body. As the Mother said on 27.12.1957,
It is in life that you must transform yourself. It is upon earth that you progress and it is upon earth that you realise. It is in the body that you win the Victory.(CWM vol 3 pg 198)
And in the course of another talk, She says:
Here I must tell you a very important thing: the psychic being can progress and form itself only in the physical life and upon earth. As soon as it leaves a body, it enters into a rest which lasts for a more or less long time according to its own choice and its degree of development—a rest for assimilation, for a passive progress so to say, a rest for passive growth which will allow this same psychic being to pass on to new experiences and make a more active progress.(CWM vol 4 pg 144)
And on 1.7.1935, the Mother said:
It is during one’s physical life on earth that one has the opportunity to purify oneself, to make spiritual progress.(CWM vol 17 pg 108)
And on 13.5.1953, giving the reason behind boredom, the Mother says:
When one does not progress, one gets bored—old and young, everybody—because we are here upon earth to progress.(CWM vol 5 pg 48)
And continuing , during the same talk, She gives the clue to that state which we all crave for—happiness:
…….because life upon earth is made to be a field for progress and if we progress to the maximum we draw the maximum benefit from our life upon earth. And then one feels happy. When one does the best one can, one is happy.(CWM vol 5 pg 49-50)
Again on 2.2.1955, during a talk, the Mother univocally says that progress is made only in a body on earth and exhorts us all to make the maximum use of the human life:
We are upon earth; the period one passes on earth is that in which one can make progress. One does not progress outside terrestrial life. The earthly, material life is essentially the life of progress, it is here that one makes progress. Outside the earthly life one takes rest or is unconscious or one may have periods of assimilation, periods of rest, periods of unconsciousness. But as for the periods of progress, they are on the earth and in the body. So, when you take a body it is to make progress, and when you leave it the period of progress is over.
And true progress is sadhana; that is, it is the most conscious and swiftest progress. Otherwise one makes progress with the rhythm of Nature, which means that it can take centuries and centuries and centuries and millenniums to make the slightest bit of progress. But true progress is that made by sadhana. In yoga one can do in a very short time what takes otherwise an interminable time. But it is always in the body and always upon earth that it is done, not elsewhere. That is why when one is in a body one must take advantage of it and not waste one’s time, not say, “A little later, a little later.” It is much better to do it immediately. All the years you pass without making any progress are wasted years which you are sure to regret afterwards.(CWM vol 7 pg 33)
And once again, on 12.2.1958, She says:
Earthly life is the place for progress. It is here, on earth, that progress is possible, during the period of earthly existence. And it is the psychic which carries the progress over from one life to another, by organising its own evolution and development itself.(CWM vol 9 pg 270)
And this is what She says, about the aim of life, in a talk on 5.11.1968:
To grow in consciousness is the very aim of life on earth. It is through the experience of successive lives that the range of the subconscient is gradually reduced.
By yoga and the effort to find the Divine in oneself and in life, one hastens the work considerably and it can be done in a few years.(CWM vol 16 pg 386)
And again talking about the goal of life, the Mother says:
Total union and the perfect manifestation of the Divine are the sole means of putting an end to the suffering and misery of the physical world which are the cause of subconscient pessimism. It is only in perfect union with the Divine that the consciousness can emerge into the eternal delight. And this conscious union is the true goal of earthly existence.(CWM vol 16 pg 427)
And talking about the justification for the earthly life, The Mother says:
Yes, the justification of earthly existence is that one is on earth to realise the Divine.
Without this reason earthly life would be a monstrosity.
(Silence)
If there were not this supreme reason, of rediscovering the Divine and becoming Him, manifesting Him, realising Him externally, earthly life as it is would be something monstrous.(CWM vol 8 pg 119)
And finally, on life being a field for progress, She says:
Life on earth is essentially a field for progress. But how brief life is for all the progress that has to be made!
To waste one’s time seeking the satisfaction of one’s petty desires is sheer folly. True happiness is possible only when one has found the Divine.(CWM vol 16 pg 436)
Their Presence and help
The beings, the consciousness, we know as Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, one consciousness, in two bodies, as the Mother says, have been active in the earth atmosphere, since the earth’s formation. They have presided over all the great changes on the earth always striving to bring, to establish, the Divine reign, the rule of light over darkness, of truth over falsehood, of consciousness over inconscient. They have never left the earth and under one name or another, in one form or other, have tirelessly strived to bring and establish light here.
The Mother during the course of a talk, on 12.10.1955, said:
I am considering how from the beginning of the earth’s history (we shall not go farther back to the antecedents, you know, for we have already enough to do with the earth), from the beginning of the earth’s history, in one form or another, under one name or another, Sri Aurobindo has always presided over the great terrestrial transformations; and so when he tells you, “Well, this is the right time”, perhaps he knows. That’s all that I can say.(CWM vol 7 pg 323)
And when She was asked if it was true that Sri Aurobindo, in past life, took active part in French Revolution, the Mother answered:
You can say that all through history Sri Aurobindo played an active part. Especially in the most important movements of history he was there—and playing the most important, the leading part. But he was not always visible.(CWM vol 13 pt 10)
And speaking about herself, She said:
Since the beginning of the earth, wherever and whenever there was the possibility of manifesting a ray of the Consciousness, I was there. (CWM vol 13 pg 37)
And when a child asked her
May I know, Mother, how many centuries ago you descended upon earth?
She replied”
I have never left the earth since it was formed. (CWM vol 17 pg 75)
And on 3.7.1912, the Mother said:
That which is speaking to you now, is a faithful servant of the Divine. From all time, since the beginning of the earth, as a faithful servant of the Divine, it has spoken in the name of its Master. And as long as earth and men exist, it will be there in a body to preach the divine word.
So, wherever I am asked to speak, I do my best, as a servant of the Divine.
But to speak in the name of a particular doctrine or of a man, however great he may be, that I cannot do!
The Eternal Transcendent forbids me. (CWM vol 13 pg 37)
Each one endeavouring to do yoga is helped to the utmost as the Mother stated on 2.2.66:
By the very fact that you are living on earth, you are doing a yoga, even if you do not know it; and by the very fact that you are living here, you are helped in your yoga to the utmost of your possibilities. The only thing you lack is being conscious.(CWM vol 16 pg 332)
And when a disciple, referring to the Mother’s message,”The World is preparing for a big change. Will you help?”, asked what is the great change referred to, the Mother replied:
This great change is the appearance on earth of a new race that will be to man what man is to the animal. The consciousness of this new race is already at work on earth to give light to all who are capable of receiving it and heeding it. (CWM vol 16 pg 417)
And then of course there is the great promise that the Mother received on 7.10.150, just two days after Sri Aurobinodo left his body:
Lord, this morning Thou hast given me the assurance that Thou wouldst stay with us until Thy work is achieved, not only as a consciousness which guides and illumines but also as a dynamic Presence in action. In unmistakable terms Thou hast promised that all of Thyself would remain here and not leave the earth atmosphere until earth is transformed. Grant that we may be worthy of this marvellous Presence and that henceforth everything in us be concentrated on the one will to be more and more perfectly consecrated to the fulfilment of Thy sublime Work. (CWM vol 13 pg 6)
In no uncertain terms Sri Aurobindo has promised that he would remain in the earth atmosphere not only as a consciousness but all of himself, as a living and dynamic Presence, helping, guiding, illuming all till the earth is transformed and like the Mother says let us be worthy of this Presence. And no doubt the same is true of the Mother also.
The Promise
All the ancient traditions refer to the Golden Age, the Ram rajya, which will be established on the earth, when the rule of the divine will be evidently manifest and not hidden behind ignorance, when there will be progress from light to light and not from darkness to light, when the rule of truth will prevail – satymev jayate—and not the rule of falsehood. It was for this Divine Life that the earth was made and in the course of its evolution it is inevitable that this Divine Life will be established on earth.
The Mother in the course of answering a disciple stated:
Ours is the most material world, but it is not necessarily “low down”, at least, not for that reason; if it is low down, it is because it is obscure and ignorant, not because it is material. It is a mistake to make “matter” a synonym for obscurity and ignorance. And the material world too is not the only world in which we live: it is rather one of many in which we exist simultaneously, and in one way the most important of them all. For this world of matter is the point of concentration of all the worlds; it is the field of concretisation of all the worlds; it is the place where all the worlds will have to manifest. At present it is disharmonious and obscure; but that is only an accident, a false start. One day it will become beautiful, rhythmic, full of light; for that is the consummation for which it was made.(CWM vol 3 pg 102-103)
The consummation for which the earth is made is the perfect union with the Divine. This is the promise which the Mother holds for us and this is the promise which Sri Aurobindo gives us in Savitri:
A divine force shall flow through tissue and cell
And take the charge of breath and speech and act
And all the thoughts shall be a glow of suns
And every feeling a celestial thrill.
Often a lustrous inner dawn shall come
Lighting the chambers of the slumbering mind;
A sudden bliss shall run through every limb
And Nature with a mightier Presence fill.
Thus shall the earth open to divinity
And common natures feel the wide uplift,
Illumine common acts with the Spirit’s ray
And meet the deity in common things.
Nature shall live to manifest secret God,
The Spirit shall take up the human play,
This earthly life become the life divine.”
(CWSA vol33-34 pg 710)
One day this earthly life will become the life divine. This is the prophecy and this is the promise.
References:
- Collected Works of the Mother(CWM), vol 5, Questions and Answers 1953
- Collected Works of the Mother(CWM), vol 7, Questions and Answers 1955
- Collected Works of the Mother(CWM), vol 8, Questions and Answers 1956
- Collected Works of the Mother(CWM), vol 4, Questions and Answers 1950-51
- Collected Works of the Mother(CWM), vol 9, Questions and Answers 1957-58
- Collected Works of The Mother(CWM), vol 16, Some Answers from The Mother
- Collected Works of the Mother (CWM),vol 6, Questions and Answers 1954
- Collected Works of the Mother (CWM),vol 3, Questions and Answers 1929-31
- Collected Works of the Mother(CWM), vol 17, More Answers from the Mother
- Collected Works of the Mother (CWM),vol 13, Words of the Mother-I
- Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo(CWSA), vol 33-34, Savitri
- Carl Sagan, Cosmos (1985)
- Eric Chaisson, Epic of evolution: seven ages of the cosmos
Additional notes
And the physical world is made to express Beauty; if it became harmonious instead of being the ignoble thing it is, if it became harmonious, it would have an exceptional vibratory quality!… It’s rather curious: the vital world is magnificent, the mental world has its splendors, the overmental world with all its gods (who are existing beings, I know them well) is truly very beautiful; but I tell you, since I had that Contact, I have found all that hollow – hollow and … lacking the essential. And that essential thing, in its principle, is here, on earth.
Mother’s Agenda v5 p123