Theos-Talk Archives (December 2000 Message tt00066)

I was able to secure a copy of Diwakar's "Yogi Aurobindo" as 
quoted by Daniel Cantwell...who apparently quoted it from 
another source. It is clear from Diwakar's source that the time of 
this episode with Master K.H. occurred sometime between 1908 
and 1910 in Calcutta. The actual source is apparently 
Kavibhusan B.G. Khaparde who wrote his book in Marathi. Since 
we do not have access to Khaparde's text we do not know the 
context of the remarks. Here is the quotation:


"Mahayogi Sri Aurobindo, Life, Discipline and Teachings of Sri 
Aurobindo."

by Ranganath Ramchandra Diwakar 

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Chowpatty, Bombay
1967

p. 248

7. Kavibhusan B.G. Khaparde mentions ("Yogi Aurobindo and 
occult or esoteric knowledge"-in Marathi, published in 1956) that 
one day Sri Aurobindo while in Calcutta (during 1908-1910) told 
him, `once when I was practicing Yoga, He whom the 
Theosophists call Master K.H. (Kuthumi) came and stood before 
me and watched my Yoga. I requested him to accept to accept 
me as his disciple; but he said `Your Master is different.'

But what is the context for the above quotation? On page 247, 
Diwakar explains:

"There have been speculations and statements by biographers 
and writers about Sri Aurobindo's Guru. He himself has 
however made things perfectly clear in this regard by dropping 
hints and suggestions once and again. 

"That his was mostly a `guided' life is evident and his references 
to this phenomenon are more than clear. It is equally clear that 
sometimes Aurobindo has referred to a voice or voices. He has 
referred to Shakti which can and does mean the personification 
of the Supreme Power, transcendent yet immanent.

"Other references may be mentioned as follows : 

1. He learnt his first lessons in Pranayam from an engineer...

2. Yogi Vishnu Bhaskar Lele was helpful to him...

3. Sometimes Sri Aurobindo used the planchette but that was 
not for any guidance in his Spiritual Sadhana..

4. While in Alipore Jail, Sri Aurobindo heard Vivekananda's voice 
for a few days but that was for explaining some problems 
regarding higher stages towards life divine ...

5. When questioned directly about his Uttarpara speech 
regarding his experiences in Alipore Jail, Sri Aurobindo is 
reported to have replied... It is true, Sri krishna used to come to 
me , and I have passed many nights in his arms. ...

6. Sri Aurobindo has made no secret of the very great and 
substantial contribution made by Mother to his progress... but 
this does not shed any light on the question of Sri Aurobindo's 
Guru.

7. (The quotation above regarding Master K.H. quoted above) 
and 

Diwaker continues on page 249: "It is obvious that neither 
Master Kuthumi nor his associate, Master M. who presides 
(according to Theosophy) over human evolution was Sri 
Aurobindo's guru."

Diwakar concludes: "From all the foregoing ...it clearly emerges 
that Sri Aurobindo had no human person as a Guru,that he had 
help and guidance from different people and forces at different 
times in connection with different spiritual problems and 
Sadhana, that some Voice guided him at crucial times and 
though it might have been identified by him, he did not choose to 
name it, and that it was Supreme Shakti enthroned in his own 
heart, who was in complete charge of his Sadhana and Siddhi."

What are we to make of all this?

If Sri Aurobindo had a meeting with the Master K.H. in 
1908-1910, it is apparent that he later appears to downplay it's 
significance in the 1938 interview quoted earlier.

Sri Aurobindo is also reported hearing the voice of Swami 
Vivekananda. It is also reported he consulted the planchette, and 
according to Diwakar, Sri Aurobindo dictated a whole book from 
sessions with the planchette called "Uttar Yogi"! Sri Aurobindo 
himself stopped the republication of "Uttar Yogi" as he "was not 
its author" per Diwakar. 

I wanted to thank Daniel for bringing the Diwakar material to my 
attention as in my readings of Aurobindo i hadn't heard of this 
before. 

Is the above evidence that Sri Aurobindo met the Master K.H.? 

If we take the material at face value and accept it as genuine, 
then we must also accept as genuine that Sri Aurobindo met the 
Lord Sri Krishna and actually heard the voice of Swami 
Vivekananda while in the Alipore jail! What we are most likely 
dealing with here in my view are the visions of a Saint... rather 
than bona fide physical realities, but that doesn't necessarily 
detract from Aurobindo's genius and character. 

- Arthur Gregory






--- In theos-talk@egroups.com, arthra999@y... wrote:
> According to sources available on-line Aurobindo began his 
> Yoga sadhana in 1904 ...this was followed by four years of 
> silence and finally in 1914 he beagn writing about Yoga:
> 
> 
> During all his stay at Pondicherry from 1910 onward he 
> remained more and more exclusively devoted to his spiritual 
> work and his sadhana. 
> 
> In 1914 after four years of silent Yoga he began the publication 
of 
> a philosophical monthly, the Arya. Most of his more important 
> works, The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the 
> Gita, The Isha Upanishad, appeared serially in the Arya. These 
> works embodied much of the inner knowledge that had come 
to 
> him in his practice of Yoga. Others were concerned with the 
spirit 
> and significance of Indian civilisation and culture (The 
> Foundations of Indian Culture), the true meaning of the Vedas 
> (The Secret of the Veda), the progress of human society (The 
> Human Cycle), the nature and evolution of poetry (The Future 
> Poetry), the possibility of the unification of the human race (The 
> Ideal of Human Unity). At this time also he began to publish his 
> poems, both those written in England and at Baroda and 
those, 
> fewer in number, added during his period of political activity 
and 
> in the first years of his residence at Pondicherry. The Arya 
> ceased publication in 1921 after six years and a half of 
> uninterrupted appearance. Sri Aurobindo lived at first in 
> retirement at Pondicherry with four or five disciples. Afterwards 
> more and yet more began to come to him to follow his spiritual 
> path and the number became so large that a community of 
> sadhaks had to be formed for the maintenance and collective 
> guidance of those who had left everything behind for the sake 
of 
> a higher life. This was the foundation of the Sri Aurobindo 
> Ashram which has less been created than grown around him 
as 
> its centre. 
> 
> Sri Aurobindo began his practice of Yoga in 1904. At first 
> gathering into it the essential elements of spiritual experience 
> that are gained by the paths of divine communion and spiritual 
> realisation followed till now in India, he passed on in search of 
a 
> more complete experience uniting and harmonising the two 
> ends of existence, Spirit and Matter. Most ways of Yoga are 
paths 
> to the Beyond leading to the Spirit and, in the end, away from 
life; 
> Sri Aurobindo's rises to the Spirit to redescend with its gains 
> bringing the light and power and bliss of the Spirit into life to 
> transform it. Man's present existence in the material world is in 
> this view or vision of things a life in the Ignorance with the 
> Inconscient at its base, but even in its darkness and nescience 
> there are involved the presence and possibilities of the Divine. 
> The created world is not a mistake or a vanity and illusion to be 
> cast aside by the soul returning to heaven or Nirvana, but the 
> scene of a spiritual evolution by which out of this material 
> inconscience is to be manifested progressively the Divine 
> Consciousness in things. Mind is the highest term yet reached 
> in the evolution, but it is not the highest of which it is capable. 
> There is above it a Supermind or eternal Truth-Consciousness 
> which is in its nature the self-aware and self-determining light 
> and power of a Divine Knowledge. Mind is an ignorance 
seeking 
> after Truth, but this is a self-existent Knowledge harmoniously 
> manifesting the play of its forms and forces. It is only by the 
> descent of this supermind that the perfection dreamed of by all 
> that is highest in humanity can come. It is possible by opening 
to 
> a greater divine consciousness to rise to this power of light 
and 
> bliss, discover one's true self, remain in constant union with 
the 
> Divine and bring down the supramental Force for the 
> transformation of mind and life and body. To realise 
> thispossibility has been the dynamic aim of Sri Aurobindo's 
> Yoga. 
> 
> excerpted from his biography found at 
> http://www.miraura.org/bio/sketch-a.html
> 
> 
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