Sri Matriniketan Ashram Sri Aurobindo Centre
How many Ashramites/members? 15.
A seeker of truth is a world Adventurer and Voyager of multiple unknown oceans representing ten subtle bodies or sheaths and a Cosmologist exploring the obscure geography of three firm lands of surface life, mind and body. A Sadhaka must be a Kshatriya Soul force, having the courage ‘to affront the far-off perilous main’ (Savitri-70) and to fight outer and inner endless war and ready to bear inner and outer wounds that are slow to heal till he traces a path to the Supramental world with a new or transformed body and mind. Till this discovery, he carries Divine Mother’s sealed orders and sails ‘on Inconscient’s fathomless sea.’ (Savitri-71)
In Ashram activity, most of the inmates are Shudra Soul force, they give service and hold Ashram living by practice of obedience but they recoil from any great unknown adventure. So the presence of a few more Kshatriya Soul Force is felt and with their help, the adventure of Consciousness can be expedited.
“He is the adventurer and cosmologist
Of a magic earth’s obscure geography.” Savitri-69
“This is the sailor on the flow of Time,
This is World-Matter’s slow discoverer,
Who, launched into this small corporeal birth,
Has learned his craft in tiny bays of self,
But dares at last unplumbed infinitudes,
A voyager upon eternity’s seas.
In his world-adventure’s crude initial start
Behold him ignorant of his godhead’s force,
Timid initiate of its vast design.
An expert captain of a fragile craft,
A trafficker in small impermanent wares,
At first he hugs the shore and shuns the breadths,
Dares not to affront the far-off perilous main.” Savitri-69-70
Activities: The Evolution of The Mother’s International Centre Trust:
1) ‘The Mother’s International Centre Trust’ was registered on the auspicious Darshan Day of 24th November, 1997 and its all-necessary form and manifestation was chosen by THEIR Divine Will. The Trust was formed by the pressure of a Supracosmic vision revealed to its Central representative, S. A. Maa Krishna. At the end of the vision a leaf was handed over to her in which it was written ‘Mother’s International Centre’. Sri K. Anurakta, a profound Yogi of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry gave his consent to form a Trust based on this vision by incorporating a small correction, which reads ‘The Mother’s International Centre Trust’; this vision was followed by successive meetings of Supraterrestrial Gods and Goddesses, who are cosmic personalities of the World-Play, promising to extend their help in this Divine work. This vision was further fragmented into Truth Sight of Illumined Mind of multitudes of subtle physical experiences and Truth Thought of Higher Mind extending its right relation with the outside world. It was also revealed to her that the Spiritual concentration would be accumulated through silence, a mould of Spiritual discipline and initiation of few fit Souls; it would depend more on the triple reversal of Consciousness which is directed to meet the most difficult issue of resolving the problem of falsehood from within and without and creating a field of protection for the individual’s growth of Spirituality. This exercise is less dependent on external machinery and least depends on things and objects that would lead to the subjection of Nature.
2) After the formation of the Trust, the scope of the work and the direction in which the Trust would extend its function was defined by the publication of seven volumes of the ‘Working Manual of The Mother’s International Centre Trust’ of around one thousand pages, identifying the best part of Their Teachings and dividing them into four different areas in which we can long concentrate and become accountable. These are (1) Divine Action which is an outcome of Divine union, (2) Identification of the unfinished work of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo in Consciousness extending over all the manifold planes, worlds and sheaths; The Mother’s physical embodiment was missioned, ‘to bring down something not yet expressed in this material world so as to transform life here’;³⁰ so to carry The Mother’s unfinished work ahead means to enter subtle physical experiences extending its ranges from Bliss Self to Inconscient Self; (3) Knowledge on the subtle physical world and higher worlds as a passage for Spiritual Transformation, (4) Danger of the path and study of the reasons of Their earthly departure and the lessons we have learned. (Most of the soft copy lost due to file corruption and few are retained.) This aspiration paved the passage clear for the descent of greater truth through the revelation of a vision that showed that the south block of Sri Matriniketan Ashram’s main building was joined with the north block of Sri Aurobindo’s room at Pondicherry and a secret door opened to Sri Aurobindo’s room at Pondicherry and a secret door opened to Sri Aurobindo’s room and a free communication to either side was restored. A voice from above informed that now the gulf is bridged and a direct golden link with Sri Aurobindo is established confirming that from here Their purest vibration will radiate towards the world. Another complementary vision was that a piece of land of Sri Matriniketan Ashram has entered towards Sri Aurobindo’s Samadhi at Pondicherry from the north-east side; both the surfaces were shining with white marble and the radiating vibration of both the lands were almost the same.
3) The new land of Sri Matriniketan Ashram was registered initially on the Darshan day, 21st February 2000, around eleven kilometres away from Brahmapur, at village Ramachadrapur. The place has been chosen to pursue sadhana in double seclusion²¹ as hinted in Savitri, that of outcaste from the outer light of the world and to renounce five galloping hooves of sense enjoyment through sound, touch, sight, taste and smell. These two solitudes also symbolize integral Jnana Yoga and integral Bhakti Yoga whose highest perfection is realised by becoming an integral Karma Yogi. This transient and momentary Divine manifestation in a fugitive existence and passing world is offered to hold the vast Truth and direct its working in the Subconscient and Inconscient Sheaths. The main Ashram building along with meditation hall, class rooms, guest room and medical unit are accommodated in its campus. Sri Matriniketan Ashram (which is a Sanskrit translation of its earlier English name The Mother’s Foundation) is aware of its special mission through the psycho-spiritual link in which The Mother and Sri Aurobindo appear in a most concrete overhead vision, command and wisdom confirming that They are constantly present here in carrying Their Work in Their own way and in Their own Time. Their each appearance is directed to overcome the transition in sadhana, indicating our limitations of Nature, the capacity of surrender to which we have to elevate, the scope of physical transformation and reminding of Their yet unfinished and unfulfilled limitless impossible task and vision.
4) A concentrated writing can be truly offered near the Divine if it remains free absolutely from all motives. It should be written for the sole satisfaction of the Divine, for the sole reception of the transcendent wisdom, for the sole opening towards the Word that can incarnate the highest Truth and a concentration on central thought and central Truth that can become Omnipotent. It can be made fit for the Divine offering if the writing is made perfect even in its smallest external detail as well as the highest Spirit and Soul quality from which it has descended…
In October 2000, a quarterly magazine, ‘The Descent’ was launched. So the first objective of THE DESCENT (link: https://www.srimatriniketanashram.com/journal/the-descent) is to restate the Spiritual experience and bridge the gulf between Sri Aurobindo’s early sadhana at Pondicherry and The Mother’s last cellular transformation experience which is a preliminary effort to accumulate Their vast Spiritual wealth and the utter need to live in the atmosphere of Their Supreme Presence; its second objective is to constantly revise and heighten the already restated statements through fresh instreaming of overhead Spiritual experiences and Wisdom which is extended to overcome the human limitation of fragmentary knowledge in Ignorance, leading towards an integration of Knowledge; its third objective is to identify The Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s established and the most concentrated Spiritual experiences and find the possible means of purification to repeat those experiences which results in a revolution of our internal being and, through the internal movement of Consciousness our external life is perfected; its fourth objective is to establish a strong Spiritual foundation which will serve as a platform for the development and consummation of Their highest hinted Spiritual experiences and utilise that base as lever action to escape into still unknown heights of Consciousness and call down the corresponding divine Light to penetrate into the untouched nether domain of dark Subconscient Inconscient plane.
To hold together the boundless Mother and limitless Sri Aurobindo in the heart and all other planes of Consciousness are identified as the highest perfection of this endeavour. THEY have chosen and owned Sri Matriniketan Ashram as a field of THEIR direct special Divine transformation work, on whom we can depend totally for our life, action, existence and Ananda.
OM TAT SAT
Whatsapp Number: 9437166688
Ashram is an ancient Indian terminology used for collective Divine living and if one individual at its centre is having direct contact with the Divine, then this collective living around this Soul Centre is identified as the Divine Centre.
Sri Aurobindo pointed out (CWSA-22/The Life Divine-1096) that Divine Centres through religious movements in the past did not succeed due to the want of complete Spiritual experience and evolved collectivity. This gives birth to a vision 'Beyond the Divine Centre' where the change will be neither dependent on the man of Spiritual attainment nor on the truthfulness, honesty and integrity of collectivity but on the direct pressure of the Time Spirit (Savitri-509-510) that is active now on earth's atmosphere and its crushing circumstances.(The Mother's Agenda-5/46) We will be in direct contact with the sole triple identity of the Divine (Time-Spirit) revealed to us through the concentration, contemplation and meditation of the strong subtle-physical Presence of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, who reside very close to earth's atmosphere and are the symbol of the comprehensive movement of Divine Consciousness.
The Mother
The Mother is at once the Supreme Mother, the Chit Shakti, the Creatrix Mother of the universe, not doing any Sadhana; as the Mediatrix Spiritual Mother, She stands in between Sri Aurobindo's sadhana and the World, and the Sadhaka of integral Yoga pursuing Her universalised Sadhana in the body; as the Executrix Psychic Mother, She draws heaven seeking and world shunning liberated Souls earthward to reconcile Self and Nature, fills in them the equal Divine Presence and builds in the abysm of Hell a road to Heaven and as the Ambassadress Mother She calls down ceaselessly Timeless Eternity and Spaceless Infinity to transform the human Nature.
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo is at once the Supreme Purusha, the Purushottama, carrying within Him the immutable, the unmanifest Divine, the Akshara Purusha and the mutable, the manifest Divine, the Kshara Purusha; as an Intermediary, the Guru, He links the disciples with the three Purushas and He fuses Himself with the Supreme Prakriti, The Mother, for the highest action and delight of the Divine Lila. The Mother is the living representative of Consciousness, Chit Shakti, by whose movement one will arrive at Sri Aurobindo, the living representative of the Being, Supreme Self, Sat Purusha. Their relationship is the union between Sat and Chit leading the creation to Ananda. Supramental Consciousness, Vijnana, is the fourth name of the Divine activated through the multiplication of Their Soul Force and this supreme relation links the Sachchidananda Consciousness to the lower triple creation of the mind, life and body; if dynamised sufficiently then the lower creation retains the lost Divinity and the Life Divine becomes practicable.
The task before integral Education is to explore the multiple planes of consciousness and call down their influence on the objective surface world. Integral Education is the utilitarian aspect of Integral Yoga, whose doctrine can be constantly relived, renewed and reshaped in the inner life of developing humanity. A Sadhak of integral Yoga is primarily a student of integral Education and secondarily a teacher. His appetite to learn is such that he must learn everything anew ceaselessly and must be ready to change himself completely. As a Teacher, he is primarily a Spiritual Influence which is a concentration of Silence, Equality, Impersonality and Peace and secondarily an exemplar and instructor. He is accountable for his persuasion of learning to himself and the world through accumulating the power of seven-fold concentration to arrive initially at individual perfection and finally contribute to the world's perfection. This process of learning is identified as an adventure into the unknown multiple planes of consciousness which will continue through successive births known as all life and he will not be satisfied till all the lines of subjective and objective perfections are gathered together to experience endless growth, the endless unfolding of Truth and endless total fulfillment.
"To understand the true reason why you are here, you must remember that we want to become instruments that are as perfect as possible, instruments that express the divine will in the world. And if the instruments are to be perfect, they must be cultivated, educated, trained. They must not be left like fallow land or a formless piece of stone. A diamond reveals all its beauty only when it is artistically cut. It is the same for you. If you want your physical being to be a perfect instrument for the manifestation of the supramental consciousness, you must cultivate it, sharpen it, refine it, give it what it lacks, perfect what it already possesses. That is why you go to school, my children, whether you are big or small, for one can learn at any age — and so you must go to your classes."
The Mother
TMCW-12/On Education/p-73
This website partly fulfills the instruction issued in Sri Aurobindo's principal Teachings, The Synthesis of Yoga that a Sadhaka of integral Yoga must be accountable for his Sadhana to the Self, World and Divine or there must be a constant new outpouring of Divine Will, Wisdom and Love. He must have a full account of the evolution of Earth's Spiritual history, its rise and fall of Consciousness and the 'limited revelations of modern knowledge and seeking.' The quality of an individual and an institution is measured by the degree of Truth, Purity and Knowledge they have worked out from a Transcendent Source. An individual (or an institution) is weighed by the accumulation of the quantum of overhead Divine Will, Divine Wisdom and Divine Love, that has descended to his purified vessel and that he will carry as accumulated Soul Force in successive births. The most conscious individual prepares himself to become a channel through which an incalculable amount of Divine Force, Love, Delight, Wisdom and Beauty rushes into the earth's atmosphere. Thus, his Divine action is related with the enrichment of the present earth's existence, sarvabhuta hiteratah, harmonisation of world problems and upliftment the earth's obscure Fate. His Divine Wisdom is 'A lightning from the heights that think and plan,' 'Saw the unseen and thought the unthinkable, Opened the enormous doors of the unknown,' 'The Eternal's truth shall mould his thoughts and acts, The Eternal's truth shall be his light and guide.' His all-embracing, intimate universal Divine Love 'comes sea-like down to fill the image of our transience,' 'stilled all weeping with its hand of joy,' 'led things evil towards their secret good,' 'turned racked falsehood into happy truth,' and 'A constant touch of sweetness linked all hearts.' His transcendent Divine Love is a stranger to all human relations and this Divine Love labours in the depths of dark Inconscient and exults on the heights of Sachchidananda plane and shall remake and rebuild this naked hardest material world. (Refer: CWSA-24/The Synthesis of Yoga-631, CWSA-19/Essays on the Gita/p-10, Savitri-336, 359, 707, 171, 291, 476, 592)
"Who can understand Sri Aurobindo? He is as vast as the universe and his teaching is infinite...The only way to come a little close to him is to love him sincerely and give oneself unreservedly to his work. Thus, each one does his best and contributes as much as he can to that transformation of the world which Sri Aurobindo has predicted."
The Mother
TMCW-12/On Education/p-397, 2 December 1964
Sri Aurobindo identified that His Integral Yoga is neither a popular religion (CWSA-24/The Synthesis of Yoga/p-555) nor a popular Yoga (CWSA-29/Letters on Yoga-II/p-197). The gathering of devotees, or lokasangraha, in Integral Yoga is distinct from traditional Yoga and Religion.
The Gita defines a Karma Yogi as one who "acts for the lokasangraha, impersonally, for the keeping and leading of the peoples on the path to the divine goal." Such a person "should set them to all actions, doing them himself with knowledge and in Yoga... for the maintenance of their growth in all its stages and in all its paths towards the Divine." (CWSA-19/Essays on the Gita/p-210, 136, 174).
In Integral Yoga, this lokasangraha extends to the whole of humanity. The gathering of the human race for the ascent of their soul and their welfare is accomplished primarily through the inner movement of Cosmic Consciousness, with external machinery playing a secondary role.
Sri Aurobindo wrote, "It is not intended to supramentalise humanity at large, but to establish the principle of the supramental consciousness in the earth-evolution. If that is done, all that is needed will be evolved by the supramental Power itself. It is not therefore important that the mission should be widespread. What is important is that the thing should be done at all in however small a number; that is the only difficulty... It would therefore be a waste of time and energy which should be devoted to the preliminary work — psychicisation and spiritualisation of the being and nature without which no supramentalisation is possible" (CWSA-28/Letters on Yoga-I/p-288-290).
"To concentrate most on one's own spiritual growth and experience is the first necessity of the sadhak — to be too eager to help others draws away from the inner work. There is also likely to be an overzeal and haste which clouds the discrimination and makes what help is given less effective than it should be. To grow in the spirit is the greatest help one can give to others, for then something flows out naturally to those around that helps them" (CWSA-31/Letters on Yoga-IV-317).
"The idea of helping others is a subtle form of the ego. It is only the Divine Force that can help. One can be its instrument, but you should first learn to be a fit and egoless instrument" (CWSA-31/Letters on Yoga-IV/p-318).
"The best way to help the world is to transform oneself by an integral and intensive yoga" (The Mother/TMCW-14/Words of The Mother-II/p-277)
Sri Aurobindo's vision reveals that humanity is bound by the slavery of lower Nature and the limitations of ordinary action. Therefore, a few exceptional instruments of humanity must first transcend these two slaveries by elevating their consciousness to the Psychic, Spiritual, and Universal planes. Their Spiritual Influence can then spread beyond the individual Soul Centre. In the long term, this evolutionary journey will liberate humanity and divinize life itself.
Sri Aurobindo's writings suggest that those whose intellect is Spiritualized, or who have practiced the Buddhi Yoga of the Gita, can directly benefit from the Supramental energy now active in the earth's atmosphere:
"All that [ideas such as "everything will soon be spiritualised"] is absurd. The descent of the supramental means only that the Power will be there in the earth consciousness as a living force just as the thinking mental and the higher mental are already there. But an animal cannot take advantage of the presence of the thinking mental Power or an undeveloped man of the presence of the higher mental Power — so too everybody will not be able to take advantage of the presence of the supramental Power. I have also often enough said that it will be at first for the few, not for the whole earth, — only there will be a growing influence of it on the earth life." CWSA-28/Letters on Yoga/p-290,
Furthermore, The Mother has emphasized:
"A new consciousness is at work upon earth to prepare the coming of the superhuman being... Open yourselves to this consciousness if you aspire to serve the Divine Work...To come into contact with this new consciousness, the essential condition is no longer to have any desires and to be wholly sincere." The Mother's Agenda-9th April 1969