Meditations on The Mother, Her Presence, Her aspects & action by T. V. Kapali Sastry - 'To me the Mother is a Flame of White Light.'
While reminiscing occasionally, Sri T. V. Kapali Sastriar used to speak to me of the various lines of Sadhana he had pursued since his childhood. Some of them like the Mantra Upasana, Puja Aradhana, were elaborate, complicated and quite strenuous. He practised them for years and years.
"And what came of them?" I asked once.
With a bound he sat up and said: "Here it is. It has brought me to the Feet of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother," impliedly questioning if there could be anything greater that one would want. The reply made a profound impression on me and it comes to my mind whenever there is a tendency around to take things for granted, to forget the momentous significance of the opportunity offered to us to breathe in the physical atmosphere of the Mother and bask in the sunshine of Her Smile.
He was conscious, every minute, of the rare fortune of living at this moment the like of which comes hardly once in a thousand years in the history of the earth. For he experienced and knew that the Mother is not simply a spiritual personality, a Saint; nor a Yogin who has arrived at the summits of spiritual realisation. She is not even an Avatar of the traditional conception, a Power or Part of the Divine incarnated in human form.
He saw and recognised in Her a conscious embodiment of the whole Divine, a living Murti in whom are present all the Four Personalities of the Adya Sakti spoken of by Sri Aurobindo as presiding over the course of the Earth's Evolution. He invoked in Her Person Maheshvari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasarasvati and got their response in an unmistakable manner. In Her he adored his Ista Devata, Sri Lalita Tripura Sundari, and surrendered his entire Sadhana to Her. Times without number he let me feel and get an inkling into the working of the Mother's Love, Force and Grace in his inner and outer life. Once he confided to me, with deep emotion:
"What has been done in me by the Mother's Force during the last six months would have taken for me at least ten years of exclusive Sadhana to achieve."
They say it is not always wise to say the whole truth, not judicious.
I do not know.
But I do know that there are occasions when it is wrong to resist the inner impulsion to declare a fact of one's own deepest perception and realisation, especially when it is an authentic Truth verified and verifiable in the experience of others who are competent therefore. And it is under such an imperative urge of the soul that I proceed to record the truth of the Manifestation that is the MOTHER.
This, says Sri Aurobindo, is the Hour of God. There have been similar junctures before in the long course of the evolution of the Earth, but with a difference. They too were critical moments when sudden transitions, saltus, were effected from one stage to another by special manifestations of the Divine emanated for the purpose. The present, however, is the most fateful climacteric reached so far. Evolution has arrived at a stage when man - the crown of the aeonic labour of Nature - has either to overpass himself into his Godhead and thus open out a new dimension of progress, or stagnate and perish with all that he represents. All the established forces of Ignorance and Falsehood are against this transition which sounds their deathknell. It is only the most plenary and direct manifestation of the Divine Conscious-Force, on a scale hitherto unknown, that can meet the situation. And this is exactly what the Mother is. She is the response of the Supreme Divine to the call of Earth when faced with her greatest challenge.
She is the most complete embodiment of the Divine
Grace manifested so far in the history of Creation. She has come with all the Higher Power and Knowledge, spiritual and occult, with all the dominating Force and conquering Love that alone could lift up Nature and reclaim Man for God. For decades She has striven to this end in Her frail body with endless patience and meticulous labour:
The world unknowing for the world she stood (Savitri)
And we know She has succeeded in bringing down to the Earth an altogether new Dynamis of the Creative Godhead, the saving Force Supramental, and established this Truth-Power in the Earth-Consciousness, thus creating the possibility of a New Life of divine fulfilment for every man and woman. The transition from the human to the divine status in evolution has been effected.
Her Mission has been gloriously fulfilled. As She declared in Her historic announcement on 24th April 1956:
"The manifestation of the Supramental upon earth is no more a promise but a living fact, a reality.
It is at work here, and one day will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obliged to recognise it."
The more one goes deeper in consciousness the more one realises the stupendous character of Her gift to Man. An Immense Power casting waves of Peace and inexpressible Joy takes you up and carries you onward. The moment you think of the Mother, the moment you repeat Her beloved Name, you open the floodgates. Truly, what an age we live in!
A word about the caption chosen for this brochure containing excerpts from the letters and other writings of Sastriar on the Mother.
An old and dear student of his once confessed to him that while he had devotion for the Mother he could not go further in accepting Her divinity. Sastriar told him: "You will realise one day. To me She is a Flame of White Light." Years after-wards, this person paid a visit to Padivedu, a Ksetra, holy place, in the mountains of South India revered as the centre of Manifestation of Devi Renuka, in search of peace. As he entered the valley he casually looked up, and what did he see? Astride over two steep hills there stood in Her glory the towering Figure of the Mother clad in Her characteristic attire! He was overcome. There was a descent of deep Peace. Winging from Beyond reverberated in his ears the words: "TO ME SHE IS A FLAME OF WHITE LIGHT."
I remember the days when the Mother was coming to the terrace of the Ashram buildings in the evenings for a light walk— Sastriar used to wait on the roof of his house to watch this 'Moving Column of White Light' which always recalled to him the Skambha hymned by the ancient Rishis of the Veda, the Cosmic Pillar, the Spinal Column of the Universe, - the Skambha in which All is rooted, skambhe sarvam pratisthitam, the Skambha that upholds, dadhara, that enters into and possesses all this Universe, idam visuam bhu-vanam ariesa (Atharva Veda X 7).
18.10.1959 M.P Pandit.
We bow in adoration to Her whose seat and symbol is the White Lotus, shveta-padmasana, to Her whose splendour is robed in the White Light that has the semblance of autumn's moon, ghananto-vilasat-shitamshu-tulyaprabha, to Her whose infinite patience with us and persistent endeavour vouchsafe to us the vision of the coming Dawn and Horizons of Hope.
The Mother is ensouled Grace of the Divine.
The Mother is Wonder Herself! Once you are open to Her, She puts a good deal into you. What a marvel! What an extraordinary age we live in! The Mother! O, She is more than a Miracle! The Divine Conscious Force has chosen a human body and Personality! One need not know or even accept the human form of the Mother; still if one is deeply and sincerely pining for the Divine Mother, he is sure to get the response; and this response is easier to get today on Earth than ever before. One’s devotion and faith increases in depth and sincerity by a mere repetition of the Name.
The Mother is the living symbol of the Supreme Shakti.
Under suitable conditions even the physical eye can see the column of light above Her, overhead; and this is different from the aura, snow-white in colour, which emanates from Her person.
Believe me that my faith and devotion are not ideal and complete. Still the very Name MOTHER has done me a lot which it would be impossible for many births to achieve. Every week is opening fresh vistas. I have known of no Yoga which lifts in a trice the human creature from the mire to the higher altitudes of the Divine Mother…
The Mother's Presence is constant, though one may not be constantly aware of it.
Certainly, the thought of the Mother's Presence is a great strength; or it may be that Her Presence makes itself felt in the mind as thought, and as a vivid sense and feeling and force in the other parts of the being.
The 'source of strength' in me is a Presence, quite distinct from the outer personality and that is the Mother who in Her individual being and in the very physical body harbours the Divine souls and cosmic Godheads, incorporates the Cosmic consciousness, carries with Her the Supreme Eternal Divine, and allows to flow from Her the Peace that passeth all understanding, the Power that builds the Cosmos, the Light that is the source of all knowledge and the soul of all things, and the Ananda that is the rasa, the very essence of all existence.
The whole body must be made up of the 'heart' and become the heart itself, then alone She can fill the body with Her Presence constantly; every atom, every cell of the body is intended to become Her Abode.
With Her Divine solicitude which acts best when the being surrenders, with Her blessings for the transformation which becomes easy when one offers his prana, his vital part at the altar of the Mother... the human creature in me feels constantly, and frequently is aware of Her grip, of Her conscious guidance, of Her transmuting Love in silence.
Confidence (in the Mother's protection) itself is an expression of the deep-rooted faith in action; and protection is always possible because of the ever-watchful Presence. The realisation of Her protection in a special sense lies in the measure of our success in learning to feel Her Presence. The remembrance of the promise of Her Presence goes to give this feeling which is enough, as the Mother would say, though the protecting Hand can help and do its work without our feeling it or having any knowledge of it.
But feeling is necessary, as it paves the way for a clear perception, or develops into the consciousness of the active Presence of the Mother. As for ' confidence to become permanent ' — it is intended and bound to grow to be part of the active personality, to be the fulcrum or motor power of all activity in life. For it is the manifest quality, a power in itself, of the awakened soul from which Faith is inseparable.
Grace from Her flows like Light from the Sun. Why should I not ask Her and tell Her what I want?
.. When I can pray to God for the removal of moral imperfections, why should I not pray for the removal of certain troubles etc.? Of course, I must take whatever answer comes, the very spirit of prayer or surrender is "Thy Will be done”. But I am not here praying to an Impersonal Divine who is everywhere impartially supporting all and sundry, good and evil. Nor am I praying to the Personal Divine who is the God of Justice. I appeal to One to whose influence I am open (through Faith) and who embodies Love and Grace and therefore response generally comes.
The way is long and tedious; but since one does not walk alone in this Yoga, since one learns, in his own time, to feel the Presence, the accompanying light of the Mother's Grace on the path, no anxiety or fear of failure is possible. What is wanted is strength. She alone can give it, and that She certainly does, as we grow, or She Herself hastens up our growth.
The Mother's Grace, you say, is 'wondrous'. This is perfectly true. The Rig Veda supports you in calling the Godhead adbhuta, wondrous. The Upanishads state that the Brahman is ascaryam.
But thanks to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, the potent touch of their Grace, the influence of their Blessings, always brings with it something essentially of themselves which it is hard for the dullest amongst us to resist or to make futile.
I shall hold my tongue in trembling reverence before my Supreme Mother and try to see the work of Her Supreme Grace in Silence.
The Mother is merciful, always gracious. Adequate thanksgiving is possible when one grows into Her vaster existence and larger life, and allows himself to be worked upon by Her Will or aspires to be taken up and fashioned by the touch of Her Love; and surely Love is the one Name that nearly expresses the essential truth of Her managing force and protecting power. Her choice is a free choice, Her Will is the only Free-Will.
She chooses, accepts or rejects, not for any human reason but for Her own reason. And that Reason is Her own Will, free and far above all our human considerations of worthiness or unworthiness.
This is the sense of sarva-tantra-svatantra.
This may seem arbitrary at first sight. Yet, this is the practical truth of the way of Her dealings with us.
She has an impersonal existence in the background; but She is a Person and personal in Her works, in Her relations with us, in the exercise of Her Love for linking us with Her in order that we may manifest in. Life and thought something of that Love and that Light of Her Grace, of Herself in us, of Herself in others and in the world, of Herself above us and above or beyond the world of Her creation.
To me this life is not new; but the new line is thoroughly new. I was proceeding along the path of knowledge; but here I find it is a feeble light of a still higher and all-encompassing way of the Mother. Of course it is the path of LOVE. But it is not of the traditional kind. It is quite the reverse of the traditional conception of Bhakti Marga.
Formerly the element of devotion was there in my sadhana. But the LOVE I speak of is different…. It will be right to say that this Love is not even human emotion that strains and stretches towards the Divine. It is an independent universal power of the Divine Mother which seeks and seeks for embodiment on Earth.
This period has been marked by prayers filling the system. One such prayer has been moving me for some time past. I did not intend it as prayer at all. In mediation, certain sounds packed with ideas, above the thinking mind, arranged themselves...
MOTHER, DIVINE MOTHER!
May we be awakened to Thy all-encompassing Love,
The Love that enlightens our knowings,
The Love that vivifies our livings to possess and be possessed by the glorious riches of Thy boundless energy cast in the cosmic mould of Mind and Life and Matter,
The Love that concretises in our fragile frames of feeling, thinking and living matter the pure, perfect and subtle strength and substance of Thy ineffable Presence,
The Love that founds in us the intense raptures of the Delight of existence, measured in Thy measureless extension, marked in Thy eternal duration, and consummated as a point in the long line of Thy Truth and a perfected portion of Thyself.
My heart is made the temple for the Mother of the Universe.
To me the Mother is a Flame of White Light.
भजनपद्यम्
मिरा मिराम्बिकेति वाक् सुधायते हृदन्तरे । शिरस्तु पादपीठिकां बिभर्तु सन्ततं परे ।। शरीरतो गिरा हृदा नतोऽहमम्बिकां मुदा । भजेतरां परात्परां त्रिलोकमातरं मिराम् ।।
Sweet in the heart streams the Speech Mira, Mother Mira! Ever may the crown carry Her footstool on High! In joy have I bowed to the Mother with body, word and heart, I adore and adore Mira, the Mother of three worlds, transcendent Supreme.
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