Mother's Chronicles - Book Five

18

The Invasion of the Infinite

It was here in Srinagar that Sri Aurobindo had an experience about which he spoke often. It was the experience of the Infinite. Atop the nearly 300-metre high Shankaracharya Hill — also called by Muslims Takht-i-Suleiman, meaning the seat of Solomon —there is a temple. The temple can be seen from any part of Srinagar. And from the temple one gets a scenic view of the valley: the Dal Lake to the north-west and the Jhelum on the other side, both dotted with shikaras or house-boats. The serpentine roads and the dense clusters of houses interspersed with patches of green are a feast for the eyes.

The temple stands at the very top of the hill. Made entirely of stone, it is said to have been built some twelve hundred years ago by Adi Shankaracharya. Steps cut in the rocky slope lead up to the temple. They end at a small landing, from which another flight of stairs ascends steeply to the shrine, in front of which is a big bell. Five more steps and you are at the door of the sanctuary, a small, hexagonal room about three metres wide. The large Shivalingam in the centre, made of a greenish stone, is almost two metres high and one and a half

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The temple atop Shankaracharya Hill

metres in diametre. Behind it stands a South Indian bronze: a statue of Nataraja —Shiva in the dancing pose. He is shown four-armed. The upper hands hold the drum and the fire; and the upraised palm of a third hand gives blessing and reassurance, while the fourth hand points to his raised foot.

This holy place has an atmosphere. But the whole of Kashmir is supposed to be holy. According to legend the land of Kashmir was originally a lake called Satisaras, the lake of Sati, consort of Shiva. Later a demon made the lake his residence and killed Nagas (serpents) and men living around it. King Nila of the Nagas invoked Vishnu, who counselled him to drain the water from the lake. To Ananta Naga was assigned the task of piercing the hills round about. When the water of Satisaras flowed away and the lake became dry, the demon was exposed and finally killed. Sati flew out as the main body of water: our Jhelum river —Vitasta of the Vedas. The legend goes on to say that it was here in Kashmir that Vishnu assumed the form of the Fish, his first Avatar. The boat — nau — in which the creatures were saved from the deluge, was the Goddess herself. To the west of Banihal Pass is the highest peak of the Pir Panjal range or mountains. Oddly enough, this snowclad peak is called Nau Bandhan Tirtha, meaning, the holy-place-where-the-boat-was-tied.

Let us now get back to Sri Aurobindo. He was explaining about the 'atmosphere of a place.' After alluding to the experience of "a vastness and a tremendous calm coming over me," as soon as he set his foot on Apollo Bunder, he said, "That is the atmosphere of the place. Another instance is the sense of

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the Infinite I had at the Shankaracharya Hill at Kashmir and at Parvati Hill near Poona, and the reality of the image in a temple at Karnali near Chandod." In his visit to the Parvati Hill in 1908 he was accompanied by Lele.

Sri Aurobindo, in a letter to Dilip, gave a comprehensive account of his pre-yogic spiritual experiences. Recalling the effect on him of Max Müller's books during his college days, Sri Aurobindo put forth how "all can be turned into a first means towards the realisation of the Divine. A philosophic statement about the Atman is a mental formula, not knowledge, not experience; yet sometimes the Divine takes it as a channel of touch; strangely, a barrier in the mind breaks down, something is seen, a profound change operated in some inner part, there enters into the ground of the nature something calm, equal, ineffable. One stands upon a mountain ridge and glimpses or mentally feels a wideness, a pervasiveness, a nameless Vast in Nature; then suddenly there comes the touch, a revelation, a flooding, the mental loses itself in the spiritual, one bears the first invasion of the Infinite. Or you stand before a temple of Kali beside a sacred river and see what? —a sculpture, a gracious piece of architecture, but in a moment mysteriously, unexpectedly there is instead a Presence, a Power, a Face that looks into yours, an inner sight in you has regarded the World-Mother."

The 'sacred river' is the Narmada. It is one of the biggest rivers of India. Starting from the Amarkantak hills and after a long westward flow, it meets the Bay of Cambay. The Narmada is said to have issued from the body of Rudra. She is specially

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View from Parvati Hill near Poona at the beginning of the century

invoked for the cure of snake bites.

In 1939 Sri Aurobindo described these three experiences in sonnets: Adwaita, The Hill-Top Temple of the Parvati Hill — his two experiences of contact with the Infinite; and The Stone Goddess on the northern bank of the Narmada at Karnali, where he regarded the World-Mother.

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Among the many temples at Karnali, 'The Stone Goddess' is housed in a little shrine known as the Mahakali Mandir of Karnali. The beautiful statue of Mahakali, facing west, is about three feet high. Her mount is a tiger.

It was Deshpande —he had joined the Baroda State Service in 1898 —who had taken Sri Aurobindo there from Chandod during one of their visits there, as the temple town was not so very far from Swami Brahmananda's place. Both

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Chandod and Karnali are places of pilgrimage. "Once," Sri Aurobindo said describing one of his pre-yogic experiences, "I visited Ganganath after Brahmananda's death, when Keshava-nanda was there." Ganganath, on the banks of the Narmada, is about two kilometres from Chandod. It was Swami Brahmananda's Ashram; upon his passing away Keshav ananda had become its head. "With my Europeanised mind," said Sri Aurobindo, "I had no faith in image worship and I hardly believed in the presence of God. I went to Karnali where there are several temples. There is one of Kali. And when I looked at the image I saw the Living Presence there. For the first time I believed in the presence of God."

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