Originally published in Dutch, an English version of Beyond Man was brought out by HarperCollins in 1997. The present edition is an exact (and perhaps photographic) reprint. Some spelling mistakes have been set right. Ten years ago it was very refreshing to read Van Vrekhem’s child-like approach to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. The same holds true today as we turn the pages steadily to learn about these two brilliances who brought back the Vedic spirit of exploration to our days with the promise that life on Earth can definitely be transformed into the life divine. ...

As an Aurobindonian poet wrote at that time: “A light is lit in everyone, and those/ emblazon the Living Flame.” The Aurobindonian yoga being a collective yoga, this conclusion is inevitable. Having listed the questions, Beyond Man signs off with the seal of faith: “The Great Change in evolution is happening around us and within us, whether we want it or not.” For a world caught in despair and defeatism, this is nectarean hope.   more »

SHE WAS born Mirra Alfassa in France in an affluent family, was drawn to Eastern religions, came to Pondicherry in 1914, met Sri Aurobindo and collaborated with him in the yoga of transformation. When Sri Aurobindo experienced a spiritual descent he withdrew into seclusion in 1926. From then onwards he concentrated on his yoga and writing of the epic, Savitri. Mirra Alfassa took over the day-to-day running of the Ashram and became the spiritual guide of the sadhaks who converged upon Pondicherry in search of illumination. Henceforth she came to be known as the Mother. When Sri Aurobindo entered mahasamadhi in 1950, she continued to inspire his disciples who were now spread all over the world. ...   more »

PUDUCHERRY: Thousands of people from across the country are expected to visit the Aurobindo ashram here on Wednesday on the 129th birth anniversary of its co-founder late Mirra Alfassa, better known as the ‘Mother’. - All necessary arrangements were being made for the convenience of the devotees who would throng the premises, ashram sources said here on Tuesday.

When Sri Aurobindo founded the ashram in November 1926, he entrusted its full material and spiritual charge to the Paris-born Alfassa. She became the leader of the community after Aurobindo’s death in 1950 and passed away in 1973. ...   more »

The following is from a talk by the Mother, dated 22 June 1955. Here she makes some very interesting comments regarding the appearance of the chakras in meditation and so on. This is also related to the concept of the "mental fortress", the idea that we create a subjective mental image of Reality, which we mistake for Reality itself.

If one knows it beforehand, one makes a mental construction and risks greatly living in his mental construction, which is an illusion; because when the mind builds certain conditions and then they are realised, there are many chances of there being mostly pure mental construction which is not the experience itself but its image. So for all these truly spiritual experiences I think it is wiser to have them before knowing them. If one knows them, one imitates them, one doesn't have them, one imagines oneself having them; whereas if one knows nothing - how things are and how they ought to happen, what should happen and how it will come about - if one knows nothing about all this, then by keeping very still and making a kind of inner sorting out within one's being, one can suddenly have the experience, and then later knows what one has had. ...   more »

How might one know if one has contacted the Supramentalised Consciousness? What marks would this leave on the individual, in their own consciousness, in their relation to others, in their teachings? This is explained in this very important talk by the Mother in 1961:

I can tell you right away that there are two signs - two certain, infallible signs. I know them through personal experience, for they are two things that can ONLY come with the supramental consciousness; without it, one cannot possess them - no yogic effort, no discipline, no tapasya can give them to you, while they come almost automatically with the supramental consciousness. ...   more »

A twenty-five centuries old paradigm has passed its expiry date. It is no longer appropriate to ask: what are the ultimate building blocks and how do they interact and combine? The right questions proceed from the assumption that what ultimately exists is a single, intrinsically ineffable Being. How does this manifest itself? How does it come to constitute an apparent multitude of objects? After treating you to the answers from contemporary physics, I turn to the deeper answers from Indian philosophy in general and Sri Aurobindo in particular. That intrinsically ineffable Being relates to its manifestation in a threefold manner: it is the substance that constitutes, the consciousness that contains, and an infinite Quality-Delight that expresses and experiences itself. By a multiple exclusive concentration it assumes, first, the aspect of a multitude of separate selves and, last, the aspect of a multitude of formless particles — the latter in order to set the stage for the Adventure of Evolution. I conclude by explaining why the laws of physics are essentially tautological: if you want to set the stage for evolution via a process that results in a multitude of formless particles, then these laws must have exactly the form that they do. ...

Mohrhoff, U. (2007). The Physics of Sachchidananda. PHILICA.COM Article number 73.   more »

Thanks to RY Deshpande for this wonderful link!

Audio recordings of The Mother reading Savitri, compiled by Narad.

Cavaet: Listening to these recordings could change your life ...   more »

There are many myths in the Veda which describe the Beginning of Creation from different angles or stages. Some of them start with the description of the Supreme Person, Atman, Self (4), others - of the Impersonal Spirit, Brahman (5), some start from Nothingness or Darkness (6), which they call “night”, ratri-, or apas, apraketam salilam (7), “dark waters”, or sometimes as mrityu (8), “death”, etc., etc. They all refer to different stages of Creation, where Darkness or Nothingness was depicted as our beginning, but not as our Origin. We can easily reconcile these myths, knowing that Darkness was the result of the Fall of the Supreme Light, (Involution): ...   more »

RY Deshpande asked me to post this article for him:

Purusha Sukta in the Rig Veda (X: 90) celebrates famously the Sacrifice of the Purusha performed by the Gods, the Rishis and the Sadhyas, the accomplished celestial beings. All is established in the Sacrifice and therefore Sacrifice is the best means of achieving whatever has to be achieved, asserts a scriptural text. What did these sacrificers intend to achieve by performing the difficult sacrifice? the cosmic order, the possibility for growth, conquest, expansion, winning new grounds, making the law of the higher truth-existence operational in the universal functioning, instituting the dharma? Indeed, it was for that, and only by it could they themselves ascend to greater realms of immortality. It is in the Sacrifice of the Purusha, the Holocaust of the primal Being, Yajna of the Great Person that the incomparable deed was carried out. In an enterprising act, by making an offering of this Purusha himself, the Male who is the begetter of things in all the worlds was this Yajna completed. Its jubilation in the Rig Veda is a forceful triumph-song of the Creator poised for Cosmic Action,—“a profound composition,” as Sri Aurobindo says about it. ...   more »

The vital is the fountain-head of life, the energy without which nothing can be accomplished. It is also the source of all our emotions, feelings, desires and impulses. Purified, it can become the perfect instrument for all we have to realise in the world. The Mother said that the training of the vital was the most important, the most indispensable of all forms of education. But she added, "it is seldom taken up in a comprehensive and methodical way." "There are several reasons for this," she said: First, human thinking is in a great confusion over what concerns this particular subject; secondly, the enterprise is very difficult and to be successful in it one must have endurance, endless persistence and an inflexible will." The sooner the importance of the vital is recognised, the better it is for the child. The education of the vital should proceed along three main lines: first, the training of the senses, then the development of the artistic faculties, and last and most important, the enlightenment of all the inner movements. This last step is certainly the most arduous one but it is indispensable if one wants to master one's own nature. To be sure the vital consciousness can be changed, and this change is at the heart of the inner adventure to which the Mother beckons us.   more »