Sri Aurobindo Ashram - Its Role, Responsibility and Future Destiny

Relationships in the Transitional Period

What we have portrayed above is the ultimate goal to realise, a goal sure to be realised one day but - it is realistic to admit - not in the immediate future. In the meantime, what sort of relationships should the Ashramites seek to establish in their collective life? Now, what the sadhaks are expected to avoid and what to cultivate have been made abundantly clear by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo in their various writings. If we become sincere in our effort to put into active practice all that they have prescribed, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram would be much nearer to its true destiny than what it is today. Here are three passages relevant to the topic we have been discussing:

(1)"The ideal of the yoga is that all should be centred in and around the Divine and the life of the sadhaks must be founded on that firm foundation, their personal relations also should have the Divine for their centre. Moreover, all relations should pass from the vital to the spiritual basis with the vital only as a form and instrument of the spiritual - this means that, from whatever relations they have with each other, all jealousy, strife, hatred, aversion, rancour and other evil vital feelings should be abandoned, for they can be no part of the spiritual life. So, also, all egoistic love and attachment will have to disappear - the love that loves only for the ego's sake and, as soon as the ego is hurt and dissatisfied, ceases to love or even cherishes rancour and hate. There must be a real living and lasting unity behind the love. It is understood of course that such things as sexual impurity must disappear also." (Letters On Yoga, p. 804)

(2)"Quarrels, cuttings are not a part of sadhana: the clashes and frictions ... are, just as in the outside world, rubbings of the vital ego. Antagonisms, antipathies,

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dislikes, quarrelings can no more be proclaimed as part of sadhana than sex-impulses or acts can be part of sadhana. Harmony, goodwill, forbearance, equanimity are necessary ideals in the relation of sadhak with sadhak." (Ibid., p. 824) (3) "... a sense of closeness and oneness with others is a part of the divine consciousness into which the sadhak enters by nearness to the Divine and the feeling of oneness with the Divine. ... In this Yoga the feeling of unity with others, love, universal joy and Ananda are an essential part of the liberation and perfection which are the aim of the sadhana." (Ibid., p. 805)

Another important point: in our Ashram life there should be on no one's part the uncharitable tendency to sit in harsh judgement over others, judgement at times quite unnecessary, often without sufficient foundation. It is not that we are asked to develop blindness of vision or deliberately turn our eyes away. We can observe, but in a calm, quiet and unbiased way and without giving rise to any carping criticism. In this matter we should scrupulously follow Sri Aurobindo's advice:

"There is no harm in seeing and observing if it is done with sympathy and impartiality - it is the tendency unnecessarily to criticise, find fault, condemn others (often quite wrongly) which creates a bad atmosphere both for oneself and others. And why this harshness and cocksure condemnation? Has not each man his own faults - why should he be so eager to find fault with others and condemn them? Sometimes one has to judge but it should not be done harshly or in a censorious spirit." (Letters on Yoga, p. 826)

Here becomes entirely relevant Mother's prescription to the inmates of the Ashram:

"A good advice to all the Ashramites in their dealings

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with visitors and foreigners (and even among themselves): "'When you have nothing pleasant to say about something or somebody in the Ashram, keep silent.

"'You must know that this silence is faithfulness to the Divine's work.' " (Words of the Mother, CWM Vol. 13, p. 150)

Finally, for the proper functioning and the progressive evolution of our Ashram life towards its destined goal, all the sadhaks should always try to put into sincere and effective practice what Sri Aurobindo has indicated in the following passage:

"There is one thing everybody should remember that everything should be done from the point of view of Yoga, of Sadhana, of growing into a divine life in the Mother's consciousness. To insist upon one's own mind and its ideas, to allow oneself to be governed by one's own vital feelings and reactions should not be the rule of life here. One has to stand back from these, to be detached, to get in their place the true knowledge from above, the true feelings from the psychic within. This cannot be done if the mind and vital do not surrender, if they do not renounce their attachment to their own ignorance which they call truth, right, justice. All the trouble rises from that; if that were overcome, the true basis of life, of work, of harmony of all in the union with the Divine would more and more replace the trouble and difficulty of the present." (The Mother, p. 239)

And we should not forget even for a moment what our Sweet Mother has told us. She has analysed our problem, offered the true solution and reminded us about what we are expected to do here in the Ashram. Here is what she says:

"In human life the cause of all difficulties, all discords,

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all psychological sufferings, is the presence in everyone of the ego with its desires, its likes and dislikes. ... The ego reacts to everything that displeases it, starts an inner storm that rises to the surface and spoils all the work.

"This work of overcoming the ego is long, slow and difficult: it demands constant alertness and sustained effort. This effort is easier for some and more difficult for others.

"We are here in the Ashram to do this work together with the help of Sri Aurobindo's knowledge and force, in an attempt to realise a community that is more harmonious, more united, and consequently much more effective in life." (On Education, CWM Vol. 12, p. 357)

To free oneself altogether from all insistence of the ego and not to govern one's life and action by the promptings of egoistic ideas, urges and feelings, is not an easy task for everybody, even for many in our Ashram. It may take years to achieve this. Hence it is quite natural that some Ashramites will continue for some time, may be for a long time, to be governed by their unillumined impulses and desires. Their behaviour in the Ashram may not be consistent with the ideal of a spiritual institution. What should the authorities do in such cases? To discipline them with a firm hand? to allow them to indulge in their waywardness? This is a ticklish question and we devote the following Section to the consideration of this issue.