Moments Eternal

Vande Mataram

On every Darshan, after all the groups had reached their assigned spots during the evening March Past in the Playground, Pranab would shake heaven and earth with his resounding voice: Victoire à la Douce Mère (Victory to the Mother) followed by Vande Mataram (I adore the Mother)! It was on a 21st February Darshan, after the March Past honouring the Mother’s auspicious birthday, that Pranab’s voice very sponta-neously gave out the cry of Vande Mataram. At that divine moment a profound mystery was unveiled in our life and in that of the world-citizens: for we, the children of the Mother, had uttered Her mantra in front of Mother Aditi Herself with all that joyous enthusiasm and every atom of the body had burst forth in happy singing of Vande Mataram! Quite indescribable, really, the wonder and rapture of that moment! In the presence of the Mother, we young boys and girls, why, even the elderly, cried out in a unanimous roar Vande Mataram! Like a war cry, as it were. Vande Mataram! We clearly felt at that moment that the day of victory was indeed near. The Mother was bringing down the light of the Supramental into the sunlit heart of the earth. It was to announce and usher in Her victorious advent that the Mother’s children had cried out their hundred-throated mantra in one mighty voice Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram! Standing in the middle of the Playground, upright and dignified, the Mother accepted our salute. I just cannot describe how She looked then! This moment of history was indelibly engraved on the earth.

Vande Mataram in Sanskrit means ‘I adore the Mother’. As a mantra, these two words have an extraordinary, a divine power and their mere utterance enables man to offer his life in total fearlessness and joy.

Those who create mantras are called rishis. And it is because they are divinely inspired that they can visualise these extraordinarily potent mantras. This is why the rishi is also called mantra-drashta or seer of mantras.

Rishi Bankim Chandra was the mantra-drashta of Vande Mataram. The mantra incarnated itself in his meditation and was born out of his living experience.

Sri Aurobindo writes:

the… supreme service of Bankim to his nation was that he gave us the vision of our Mother… It is not till the Motherland reveals herself to the eye of the mind as something more than a stretch of earth or a mass of individuals, it is not till she takes shape as a great Divine and Maternal Power in a form of beauty that can dominate the mind and seize the heart that these petty fears and hopes vanish in the all-absorbing passion for the Mother and her service, and the patriotism that works miracles and saves a doomed nation is born.

From what divine experience did Bankim receive the inspiration and élan to write this great song?

It happened on the night of saptami, the seventh day of Durga-puja. Bankim bent down to bow to the idol. And then all of a sudden he found himself face to face with the beautiful, golden figure of Mother Durga herself. An indelible, unforgettable divine moment! And it was from this rare instant that he got the inspiration to compose this song. And the great hymn took on words.

How did this great hymn get published for the first time in the Bangadarshan?

One day in the year 1875, Bankim was sitting in the Bangadarshan office. He was at that time the editor. Evening had almost fallen. The magazine had gone to press. Just then a worker came out from the printing-room and informed Bankim Chandra:

“Sir, we require some more matter.”

Bankim Chandra did not know what to do as he had nothing more in hand worth publishing. He started rummaging through the drawer of unfinished, incomplete manuscripts. All of a sudden his hand fell on a piece of paper. He pulled it out and looked at it. It was a song he had written. A mantra-japa that had come to him in a flash while in a state of meditation. It was a song watered with tears, coloured with the heart’s blood-red passion, a song to sway the entire being from within. Bankim read through the song again. There was a moment of hesitation: no, this cannot be published. For this was his heart’s secret innermost mantra of adoration. Would it be right to drag it into the ken of the common reader?

The press-worker stood there waiting. He absolutely needed something to fill the empty space in the magazine.

Then, very reluctantly Bankim took this piece of paper and handed it to him. The worker went back to the printing-room with that white sheet of paper containing a maha-mantra, the fire of Brahma.

And so in this way through an apparently insignificant event the seed of this maha-mantra was sown in the life of the Indian people. After the composition and publication of Vande Mataram in 1875, this mantra became known in learned circles. However, the soul of the Indian people was not yet awakened. Even after the publication of Anandamath in 1882, it did not inspire much enthusiasm. In the 1886 session of the Congress held in Calcutta Vande Mataram was sung for the first time.

Two years after Bankimchandra’s passing in 1894, when the Congress session was held once again in Calcutta, Rabindranath himself sang Vande Mataram. But even then the country was not galvanised by the living mantric power of this song. (Amalesh Bhattacharya)

Balendranath Thakur wrote in 1887 in Bharati and Balaka: On the power of Vande Mataram’s lyrics, the power of its

heart and its dharma, this song of a Bengali set to music

by a Bengali, will be sung by the whole of India as a triumphant Victory call.

It was as if the inner soul of India was giving out its divine prophecy through Balendranath Thakur’s utterance.

It was as though Indians were through this song, for the first time, awakening a living India with their heart’s fervour, devotion and adoration. The motherless country had after such a long wait found at last a mother. As if a child had called out ‘Ma’ for the first time.

And so the destined year 1905 arrived and transformed the life of India.

The Divine Mother had been waiting just for this moment.

It was known that even after the composition of Vande Mataram in 1875 and its subsequent publication, the song had still not awakened the Indian people in any considerable way. The littérateur Nabin Sen is said to have told Bankim Chandra:

Look, how a good thing written unfortunately half in Sanskrit, half in Bengali, has been reduced to a pot-pourri and has come to naught. Like those songs of Gobindo Adhikari and his travelling theatre troupe. That is why people haven’t responded to it.

This great mantra of Vande Mataram was waiting like a sleeping fire for the right ‘Mahendra’ to ignite it.

In those days Bengal, or more rightly the Presidency of Bengal, was a huge state. Bihar, Orissa and Bengal were together called Bengal. It was not easy to administer such a large province. That’s why in 1903 the British administration thought of a plan to divide the province of Bengal into two: Bihar, Orissa and the western half of Bengal on one side and the eastern part of Bengal and Assam on the other. The Bengalis were indignant. The real intention of dividing the Province of Bengal was to break the backbone of Bengali strength and will. In a flash, the whole of Bengal rose as one in rage. Curzon’s plan for the partitioning of Bengal was opposed with vehemence and demonstrations broke out against it all over Bengal. In the towns and villages of Bengal, cries of Vande Mataram rent the air and shook heaven and earth. The moment of awakening had arrived in the life of the people.

Sri Aurobindo wrote:

It was thirty-two years ago that Bankim wrote his great song and few listened; but in a sudden moment of awakening from long delusions the people of Bengal looked round for the truth and in a fated moment somebody sang Bande Mataram. The mantra had been given and in a single day a whole people had been converted to the religion of patriotism. The Mother had revealed herself.

Simply astounding! Even from his deathbed, Bankim had told his daughter, “You will see, one day, twenty-thirty years from today, this very Vande Mataram will ignite the blood of the people of this whole country.”

With what firm, steady conviction had he breathed his last breath! And truly, in a flash, the people of Bengal as a whole were awakened by this great mantra Vande Mataram. This awakening was as unexpected as it was inevitable and happened in 1905.

A defiant united Bengal rose up as one. They refused to accept Lord Curzon’s partitioning of Bengal. No kitchen-fire was lit in any home. In an instant, every man was transfigured. As if a huge cyclone was passing over the entire country. Quite an unimaginable event it was.

Nolini-da writes:

Almost overnight again, how very different we became from what we had been as individuals! We used to be just humdrum creatures, most ignorant and inert; now we became conscious and alert; our lives acquired a meaning, an aim, a purpose. We used to move in the traditional ruts, dull and desperate. Instead of that our lives now got a cohesion, an orientation.

Bengal was up in flames. In parks everywhere there were posters spouting ire against the British. Every speech sought their expulsion. The cry for freedom rose: India must be rid of the British.

Rabindranath played an important role in this first agitation in 1905 against the partition of Bengal. He was a great proponent of the festival of Rakhi-bandhan (a festival of bonding between brothers and sisters). On Rakhi-bandhan day, on Rabindranath’s inspiration, everyone decided to celebrate this festival with much enthusiasm. Rabindranath set out from his house. Abanindranath and other members of the Tagore household followed him. A sea of people joined in. They were all heading for the bank of the Ganges. After bathing in the river they all began tying a rakhi to one another. The public roared in unison Vande Mataram! Along the entire stretch of the Ganges there resounded the cry of Vande Mataram. Rabindranath headed now for the mosque. There too he began tying rakhis to everyone. Nobody was left out. That day Rakhi-bandhan and fasting were both celebrated in the whole of Bengal with the utterance of the Mother’s mantra Vande Mataram. The people had at last woken up. Kumbhakarna’s long sleep was broken with the quickening cry of Vande Mataram. The people of Bengal rose as one in their opposition to Lord Curzon’s proposal of partitioning Bengal. There were protests everywhere. The cries of Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram reverberated in the land and in the skies of Bengal.

Nolini-da was then a second-year student of the Presidency

College. Listen to Nolini-da recount it:

Loud protests had arisen on account of the Bengal Partition and there was going to be observed a Day of Fasting or Rakhi-day or something like that. In what manner did I register my protest? I went to college dressed as if there had been a death in my family, that is to say, without shoes or shirt and with only a chuddar on. As I entered the class, everybody seemed a little stunned. The professor cast an occasional furtive glance at me but said not a word. My action must have appeared as rather unconventional, perhaps even incorrect to many, but I felt at the same time there were quite a few who gave me an admiring look.

The Presidency College was then an institution for the children of the rich. The winds of swadeshi had not touched many here. Nolini-da, along with a few, was one among those who had been touched. The matri-mantra Vande Mataram moved Ullaskar, that same Ullaskar who by his own efforts and intelligence had managed to make bombs without taking anybody’s help. That same Ullaskar who came to college one day with a slipper wrapped in a newspaper and made good use of it on Professor Russell as soon as he got a chance. Why? Because the professor had one day said something derogatory about the Bengalis, and this was Ullaskar’s revenge. Nolini-da writes:

One of our classes had just been over, and we were going to the next class along the corridor, when all on a sudden there rang out all over the place from a hundred lusty throats shouts of Vande Mataram that tore the air with its mighty cry.

Professor Russell’s spite for the Bengalis had been avenged. The band of fearless students went back to their classes, very quiet and still as if nothing had happened.

In those days when the Indian skies were turning red and the air was becoming hot, Sri Aurobindo lived in Baroda. He wrote a letter to his younger brother Barin from distant Baroda directing him not to lose this golden opportunity. The youth became disciplined and little groups began to be formed. No town was left out. The boys started preparing themselves silently. Many of them took a vow at the altar of Ma Kali with blood drawn from their chest: they would surely liberate their Motherland from the chains of bondage. Nolini-da was one of them.

Nolini-da recounts:

I had already taken a vow about a year ago, in front of a picture of Kali at a secret ceremony at dead of night, a vow written out in blood drawn from the chest, that I should dedicate my life to the whole-hearted service of the Motherland.

And so in this way, one after another, the boys began to gather at Muraripukur Gardens. Barin Ghosh, on Sri Aurobindo’s instructions, started their training. And the matri-mantra Vande Mataram was on all their lips.

Then Sri Aurobindo quit Baroda for good. Now the boys of Muraripukur followed his instructions with newfound enthusiasm and became absorbed in work for their country. As if the whole country had been waiting for him. Ceaselessly Vande Mataram rang out everywhere now.

This is how Amalesh recounts:

The country seemed to have been waiting for the appropriate priest for this mahamantra, someone whose inspiring touch could infuse this mantra with conscious Power. And thus arrived into the life of the race Sri Aurobindo, this great sterling Voice of the soul of the country. He came and announced:

‘Vande Mataram is not just a song, it is the mantra of awakening created with the life-breath of the race. This mantra belongs not just to Bengal, not just to India but it is the inspiring mantra of the liberation of the whole of Asia, the chorus of Asiatic liberty… the religion of Patriotism.’

Sri Aurobindo called Vande Mataram “the gospel of fearless strength and force”.

The Muraripukur band of boys had arrived and India began to grow conscious. Like the sannyasi-children of Anandamath, these fearless boys went up on the gallows smiling, with Vande Mataram on their lips, and sacrificed their lives for the liberation of their Motherland from the chains of servitude:

Who, on the gallows, sang life’s victory-song.

Naturally in this context, Khudiram, the fire-child, comes to mind. The British ruler had tied the hangman’s noose around his neck. On this tender young boy’s lips that day had echoed his favourite song:

Come, ye who would be lulled by Death, O come.

This youthful boy went laughing to his death, a living embodiment of the determination contained in the matri-mantra Vande Mataram. The cry of Vande Mataram was on his lips.

The Mother told Mona many things about the revolutionaries of Muraripukur. She held them in very high esteem. Mona showed the Mother every Muraripukur boy’s photo and she looked at them with great interest. About Khudiram, the Mother remarked:

Look at his eyes intently—they tell you everything. He looks so innocent and at the same time very happy to sacrifice his life for the country. The fire of patriotism burns in his eyes. After Khudiram was hanged, Kanailal Dutt and Satyendranath Bose also sacrificed their lives on the gallows. They too went out with the matri-mantra Vande Mataram on their lips. On seeing Kanailal Dutt’s photograph, the Mother asked Mona: “Was he with Sri Aurobindo?”

Hardly had Mona said ‘yes’ that the Mother added:

It is clearly written on his face that he was with Sri Aurobindo — it is like an aura. His psychic being is burning intensely; it is quite an individualised psychic being.

It is said that after Kanailal had been sentenced to death, he started putting on weight. And when the sentries came to fetch him on the last day they found him sound asleep. They had to wake him up. And smiling he went to the gallows. He had overcome the fear of death. Vande Mataram!

Satyendranath Bose’s face too lit up with a smile as he went to the gallows. So many of them sacrificed their lives in order to break the chains of servitude of their Motherland! And Vande Mataram was on each one’s lips.

The Mother said:

The aura of Sri Aurobindo is around them all, it is very clear, and their psychic being expresses it… See this one. Oh, his psychic is very much to the front. He surely belonged to Sri Aurobindo’s group… It is not sacrifice which is written on their face, it is joyful offering to the Motherland—to Mother India. And they have proved something, they have proved that adoration of the Motherland is dearer than life itself. They faced all dangers and fought bravely, whatever the cost. Their psychic beings are all individualised. It is an extraordinary group. All these photos I have seen just now have the markings of a hero. Tejen’s father (Jatindranath Mukherjee) has the markings, and others too. Some of them are endowed with almost divine qualities, rarely to be found among men.

Let me tell you now about how two young boys heroically bore the torture inflicted on them by the police. They went on repeating Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram, Vande Mataram.

Our Biren Sen (in the Ashram) like Sudhir-da was also sent to the Andamans and mercilessly tortured. His brother, Sushil Sen, joined the Swadeshi group as a young boy. Once, an English police officer banned a meeting which a popular Swadeshi leader was to address. So Sushil just walked up to this officer and hit him hard on the head with a stick. The poor boy was immediately caught and ordered to be given a punishment of fifteen lashes. A policeman who wielded a heavy whip started lashing the boy, but he refused to be cowed down. With each whiplash he cried out loud Vande Mataram and the whole crowd joined in with him (the slogan had been banned then).

Such is the power of the matri-mantra.

Now let me tell you about Chittaranjan, the son of

Monoranjan Guhothakurta.

Sri Aurobindo, Bipin Pal, along with several other regional leaders turned up in Barisal for a meeting of a regional conference of Bengal. The gathering kept shouting Vande Mataram as they waited for the visiting leaders. When the leaders arrived, the Police made a lathi-charge. However, the young boy, Chittaranjan, continued shouting Vande Mataram. The police pounced on him, beating him ruthlessly as he slumped to the ground, bleeding. But he did not cease even once his cry of Vande Mataram. After he had recovered, Chittaranjan proudly told his father: “I cried out Vande Mataram as many times as the police hit me with their sticks. They could not silence me.”

Just imagine how powerful this matri-mantra is!

This cry of Vande Mataram bound all hearts together, from Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra and from every province of India. Vande Mataram became a cry of bonding, of mutual love, goodwill and greeting. The educated classes of Punjab greeted one another with the cry of Vande Mataram.

Vande Mataram is indeed a tremendously victorious and powerful mantra of awakening.

I am naturally reminded here of Bagha Jatin and his heroism. In the battle for independence Jatindranath Mukhopadhyaya was the hero of heroes. A follower of Sri Aurobindo, Bagha Jatin showed such prowess in battle against the British on the banks of Budibalam in Baleshwar that even some British officers could not but praise him.

The deputy inspector of police, General Riland, once asked

Upendranath Ghosh, the lawyer of this revolutionary group: “Have you read the three articles in this envelope? What an

extraordinary man, this Jatin Mukherji! What a mastermind! Had he been alive today the whole world would have looked upon him as a leader.”

There were three English articles in the envelope. Justice McPherson remarked about the article titled “The Children of Mother India—The Voice of a Devotee”:

“This political article is ablaze with fire!”

When a wounded Bagha Jatin was being taken to hospital he told magistrate Kilby:

“These boys with me are innocent. I am solely responsible for everything that has happened. Please see that injustice is not done to them.”

Even while breathing his last he made the same appeal to

Kilby again.

On 10th September 1915, Charles Tegart came to see Jatindranath. He was accompanied by some highly placed British officers. Jatindranath reiterated his appeal to Charles Tegart.

“I am glad to have met you. It is time for me to leave but those who remain are innocent. It was at my urging that they chose this path. Kindly see that they are not unjustly persecuted.”

What a vast, generous nature! Even in the final moments of his life he was concerned about Niren, Monoranjan, Jyotish and the others.

Then a paroxysm of coughing shook Bagha Jatin and he threw up blood once more. His humour did not leave him: “Amazing that this body should still contain so much

blood! What reassures me is that I could offer it at the altar of the Mother. This blood shall never go waste.”

And with these words this hero of heroes was no more. After Jatindranath’s passing, Charles Tegart told Barrister J. N. Roy:

“You know, Mr. Roy, we had to do our duty, but our admiration and respect for Jatindranath is immense. He was truly an invaluable son of India.”

Our Prithwin (Bagha Jatin’s grandson) has written a book on his grandfather. Here are some incidents I have picked out from it to give you a feel of this great personality.

Now this is what Sri Aurobindo has said about his beloved disciple:

He was one of my trusted lieutenants, a wonderful man who could belong to the front rank of humanity, such beauty and strength combined in one I have not seen. His stature was like that of a warrior.

The ideal that Bagha Jatin established by offering his blood at the altar of the Mother is what he left behind to his comrades and associates.

Twenty-second November 1915. It was the day Niren and Monoranjan were to be hanged. Both of them went laughing to the gallows, they felt such joy on that day! Who would reach the noose first: this was the competition between them! Repeating the cry of Vande Mataram they had conquered the fear of death. And as they were being hanged, hundreds of prisoners’ voices rang out with the same cry: Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram!

Another group of young boys appears before my eyes and I remember their fearless faces and feats of bravery. They were born much after the Muraripukur boys. But these boys too were fired by that intrepid self-confidence that was lit by the matri-mantra Vande Mataram and they had set out to liberate their Motherland from the chains of slavery.

We are all familiar with the courage and heroism of boys like Benoy, Badal and Dinesh. One day at noon in front of the

‘Writers Building’ a group of these revolutionary soldiers got off their vehicle. They went up to the first floor, determination writ large on their faces. Three pistols were aimed at Colonel Simpson and shots rang out. The ‘Writers Building’ was in tumult. People started running helter-skelter, terrified.

In Lalbazar, Charles Tegart heard a voice crying out carried by the wind, ‘Help! Help!’ He rushed out to try and finish off Benoy, Badal and Dinesh in a man-to-man combat. But he had to concede defeat. Despite so many soldiers around he could not handle three young Bengalis. The famous Gurkha regiment was called to confront this fearless trio. Where on earth did these three boys get such tremendous force to take on the formidable British Army and inflict a shattering defeat on them in battle prowess? The smoke of exploding bullets and the smell of gunpowder! A black darkness descended and through it Benoy, Badal and Dinesh would be heard roaring from time to time Vande Mataram! When their guns had run out of ammunition one after another they rushed into a room. They were now face to face with death. Benoy gave the order, cry out Vande Mataram one last time before dying. The three of them roared as one, Vande Mataram! Look at the sheer power of this maha-mantra!

Dinesh was hanged on 7th July 1931. With firm, quiet steps he climbed up on the gallows and said simply: “I am ready”, and then like a clap of thunder, he cried out Vande Mataram! And within seconds hundreds of prisoners from the entire jail echoed Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram!

Let me now tell you something about the young Pradyut Bhattacharya.

This happened on 11th January in 1933. Nobody had slept that night at the political prisoners’ jail. They were all thinking about Pradyut. Suddenly Pradyut’s voice wafted in with the breeze. He was sweetly singing:

O Death! Thou art dear to me as Shyam.

Unimaginable that such a young boy should sing this before dying!

Khudiram too had burst into song before being hanged:

Come, ye who would be lulled by Death, O come.

Where did they find this power of self-sacrifice? Its source was the maha-mantra Vande Mataram. Every revolutionary embraced Death with a laugh with Vande Mataram on his lips!

And so on the morning of 11th January 1933, Pradyut got ready. He washed himself, finished his puja and waited. The sentries were amazed. Then he climbed up the steps on to the gallows all by himself. A large smile lit up his face. Like Kanailal, he too had put on weight.

“Are you ready, Pradyut?” questioned the Jail Superintendent, Mr. Burge.

“Absolutely!” he replied with a laugh. “I am ready. Now do what you have to do.”

His being cried out Vande Mataram one final time. Within a flash hundreds of political prisoners roared Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram! shaking heaven and earth.

Pradyut was just 17 and on the power of the maha-mantra Vande Mataram he had laid his life at the feet of the Motherland in order to liberate her from servitude. Just two words: Vande Mataram — but the power within them is incalculable. And the life and character of every revolutionary merely exemplifies this. The revolutionaries were able to bear all that pain, persecution and torture because they kept repeating the maha-mantra Vande Mataram.

Now let me return to the Playground where we heard for the first time the cry of Vande Mataram. As soon as Pranab had uttered Vande Mataram we too, unknowingly carried by the tremendous force of that maha-mantra, echoed it again and again, Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram!

Four heroic sons of the past were present in our midst in the Adult-Group. I turned to look at them. Nolini Kanta Gupta, Sudhir Sarkar, Nolini Sarkar, Narendranath Dasgupta stood quietly on their spots as if absorbed in meditation. Had the repetition of this mantra stirred something in them? After all, this bija-mantra had been their constant companion.

I was myself transported to the distant past by the story of their lives.

Nolini-da (Nolini Kanta Gupta) had taken his vow in a secret ceremony at the altar of Kali at midnight with blood drawn from his own chest: “I shall one-pointedly serve my Motherland with body and soul.” That same Nolini Kanta Gupta is standing now so quiet and poised, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s beloved child.

Sudhir-da, who had to undergo terrible suffering and torture for a long time in the Andamans, was there too, his eyes aglow with light. Whenever I met him he would tell me: “You know Priti, mati is actually Ma-ti.” (The land is the Mother.) The way he uttered Ma-ti opened the gates of such tremendous love and respect for the Motherland! He told Mona one day: “We did not completely accept Sri Aurobindo’s Mother India as a living Entity, a living God, so in order to establish the truth, He has brought down now the living Mother, the Divine Mother.”

When Mona recounted this to the Mother, She just laughed.

Sri Aurobindo had remarked about Mona’s father: “That fearless Sudhir.”

The Mother told Mona:

Your father is among the ‘gifted’ ones who have an individualised psychic being.

Mona took his father to the Mother on his eightieth birthday. After seeing Sudhir, the Mother told Mona:

Tell him to remain quiet. Explain to him lovingly that the

Mother has taken charge of India. I know how difficult it is for him, but let him not worry.

Nolini-da (Nolini Sarkar) was not associated with the Muraripukur boys but he never hesitated in giving his total help and support to the revolutionaries in silence from behind. He had the deepest reverence and love for Sri Aurobindo.

After these people, there were many more heroic sons who dedicated their lives one-pointedly in the service of the Motherland under the direct guidance of Bagha Jatin. Narendra Dasgupta or our Naren-da was one of them. Narendra Dasgupta stands out among the youthful revolutionaries who on Bagha Jatin’s instructions had committed a successful robbery. This money was brought in bags and was to be used for the work of the Motherland. He hid the money under his mattress and quietly slipped into the adjoining room. The police entered this room and searched everywhere in vain and finally left. It was in the course of a conversation that Sri Aurobindo had made that famous remark: “Oh! that Naren!”

After Naren Dasgupta passed away the Mother observed:

…a man who lived his whole life with the idea of serving Sri Aurobindo, he died clasping my photo to his breast. This was a consecrated man, very conscious, with an unfailing dedication, and all the parts of his being well organised around the psychic.

They are indeed worthy of our reverence. Blessed are they! Among the worthy sons of Sri Aurobindo they had the privilege and honour of hailing Vande Mataram in front of the Mother. Earlier they had vowed to work for the liberation of their Motherland from her chains, and now as they uttered Vande Mataram they were bound by oath to advance on the path of Integral Yoga.

“ ‘Jeevananda, come at once, the one who reaches the summit first will win. Say Vande Mataram!’

The Vaishnava army cried out loud: Thou art wisdom, thou art law,

Thou our heart, our soul, our breath, Thou the love divine, the awe

In our hearts that conquers death.”

Here, the summit we must climb is that of ‘Truth’ and so for us it is an ‘Ascent to the Truth’.

Like the children of Anandamath we are the children of the Mother and on the strength of the mantra Vande Mataram, we are committed to scaling the summit of truth. And so with the cry of Vande Mataram, a wave of fire swept over the whole Playground and a new life began. An immense change overtook the life in the Ashram. In 1905 the cry of Vande Mataram had released a tremendous force that awakened the Indian people and now that same maha-mantra, Vande Mataram, was awakening the whole world. A time shall come when every human being on the earth will cry out Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram! Vande Mataram!