The New Way

The New Way 1

Barindranath Chaki

11th August 2007

A question has arisen whether the Way shown to us by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother is the New Way or an old one. 

Indeed, all members of the human species belong to the old world, even the devotees and the followers of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Simply by reading some of the books written by Them or about Them, or even by writing some books about Them, one does not come over to the New World. Similarly, under the same circumstances, The Mother’s Way does not become an old Way to anyone, unless he or she is a part of the New World. It is a misnomer to say that the Way becomes old for those, who know The Mother and Sri Aurobindo or have read from or about Them or even have written about Them. We have a long Way to go, from the state of the human species to the New Species, there has to be the habitation of the New Species on earth.

The Mother has spoken of the New Light, the New World. On 23rd September 1914, She has written in Prayers and Meditation :

The Lord hast willed, and Thou dost execute;
A new Light shall break upon the earth.
A new world shall be born.
And the things that were promised shall be fulfilled.

The Mother has rewritten the same as follows in 1956, after a lapse of 42 years:

29th February — 29th March
Lord, Thou hast willed, and I execute:
A new light breaks upon the earth,
A new world is born.
The things that were promised are fulfilled.

The Mother has spoken of the New World, the New Light, obviously with reference to the Supramental World that began its manifestation through the Supramental Descent on 29-02-1956.

Again in 1962, after a lapse of six years, The Mother says:

May the New Light illumine your thoughts and your lives, govern your hearts and guide your action.
Blessings.

Again, after 7 years, in 1969, The Mother says:

Hail the new light.
That it may grow in all hearts.
Blessings.

Thus, it may be seen that even after a period of fifty-five years, The Mother referred to the New Light as the New Light, and it did not become old to Her!!!

In an article on the Mother published in BookRags.com, we find reference to the words ‘the new race’ and ‘the new species’:

“From 1960 till her passing in 1973 the Mother had a number of near weekly meetings with one of her closest disciples, Satprem. There she discussed her progress in her physical transformation, world events and her effect on world events, the new workings of the supramental consciousness in the world, her earlier life's experiences including her spiritual experiences, the changes and spiritualisation in the functioning of her physical body, her visions of the new race, and many other topics. These conversations were kept and were published in French and English in the 13-volume set known as The Agenda.”

♣♣♣

“She professed that one of the keys to physical transformation was overcoming the effect of the "physical mind" and the subconscious (subconscient). She said that this part of the nature is defeatist, grumbling, filled with inertia, where illness gets reinforced, and perhaps the great physical barrier to the physical transformation. Claiming that this was one of the great impediments to the emergence of the new species, she tried to bring in the higher consciousness into this part of her being.”

OOOO

What happened on earth on 29th February 1956 is an event of the greatest importance for the earth. The Mother describes it as follows:

FIRST SUPRAMENTAL MANIFESTATION

(During the common meditation on Wednesday

The 29th February 1956)

This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was there present amongst you. I had the form of a living gold, bigger than the universe, and I was facing a huge and massive golden door, which separated the world from the Divine.As I looked at the door, I knew and willed, in a single movement of consciousness, that ‘the time has come', and lifting with both hands a mighty golden hammer I struck one blow on the door and the door was shattered to pieces.Then the supramental Light and Force and Consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow.

The Mother has further said in this regard:

“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.”

Let us see the following messages from The Mother, issued thereafter :

To all those who aspire
Open yourself to the New Force. Let it do in you its work of Transformation.
April 1956
♣
Open yourself to the New Light that has dawned upon earth and a luminous path will spread in front of you.
28 May 1956
♣
Let the New Light be spread upon earth and spread the conditions of human life.
6 January 1957
♣
A new world is born — all those who want to have a place in it must sincerely prepare themselves for it.
15 August 1957
♣
Heralding the birth of a new world, we invite all those who want to have a place in it to prepare themselves sincerely for it.
15 August 1957
♣
To celebrate the birth of a transitory body can satisfy some faithful feelings.
To celebrate the manifestation of the eternal Consciousness can be done at every moment of the universal history.
But to celebrate the birth of a new world, the supramental world, is a marvelous and exceptional privilege.

OOOO

The Mother was asked a question on 29 November 1969:

In 1919 Sri Aurobindo wrote that the chaos and the calamities were perhaps the pangs of the birth of a new creation. How long is this going to continue? In the Ashram, in India and eventually in the world?

The Mother answered:

It will continue until the world is ready and willing to receive the new creation; the consciousness if the new creation is already at work upon earth since the beginning of this year. If instead of resisting, people were collaborating, it would be quicker.
But stupidity and ignorance are very obstinate.

Another question The Mother was asked in 1970:

Mother, “The world is preparing for a bid change, will you help?” what is the great change of which you speak? And how are we to be of help to it?

The Mother answered:

This great change is the appearance upon earth of a new race which will be for man what man is for the animal. The consciousness of this new race is already at work upon earth to enlighten all who are able to receive it and heed it.

The Mother was asked another question:

You have asked us to help you. How can I help you? What am I to do?

The Mother replied:

To concentrate and open to receive the progressive new consciousness, to receive the new things which are coming down.
3 March 1970

The Mother has said —

The new world: the result of transformation.

Let us find what the Mother has said about the New Creation:

Realisation of the new creation: it is for this that we must prepare ourselves.
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Matter prepares itself to receive the supramental: matter tries to liberate itself from old habits to prepare for the new creation.
♣
Ideal of the new creation: the ideal must be progressive in order to realize itself in the future.
♣
Usefulness of the new creation: a creation which aims at teaching men to surpass themselves.
♣
Charm of the new creation: the new creation is attractive for all those who want to progress.
♣
Beauty of the new creation: the new creation better to manifest the Divine.
♣

The new way is the path that leads us to the new creation. Have we all, or some of us, already reached the New Creation, of which The Mother has spoken? Are we already in the Future, in The New World of which The Mother has spoken? Have we all, who have read or written some books by or about Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, have already made the required progress and surpassed ourselves? Have we manifested the Divine in our lives and in the world?  To claim that The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and Their Way have become old for us will really be an error. The Way will remain ever new for the imperfect humans. Only those who surpass manhood can claim the Way to be old.

The answer can only be, emphatically: no.

And therefore, we can never say or claim that the new way has become old for us. To claim so would mean that we have not understood the true meaning and the purport of the words ‘the new way’ and that we are yet to understand The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

OOOO

Sri Aurobindo’s Teaching leads us to the Event of the 5th December 1950. And what happened on the 29th February 1956 is the consequence thereof, caused by the Tapasya of The Mother. And then was the New Way gradually opened by The Mother. They do already form a linked whole. They are already one whole : there was no suggestion by me that The Agenda will be separately treated, apart from the Works of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

OOOO

Let me quote from the Agenda Her words on the 18th September 1971:

The body feels it no longer belongs to the old way of being, but it knows that it isn’t in the new way yet; it is still.... It is no longer mortal and not yet immortal. It's quite strange. Quite strange. And sometimes you go from the most dreadful discomfort to ... the marvel — it's strange. An inexpressible bliss. Things are no longer what they were, and they aren’t what they are supposed to be. There it is. Strange.

Further, The Mother has expressed the words even earlier in 1963 [9th January 1963]:

But it's very difficult for the body to change, because it lives only out of its habit. So every time something of the new way of living slips in, free of thought, free of reasoning, free of anything resembling an idea, almost free of sensation — almost automatically —the newness of it throws the cells into a panic. So, everything has to be changed, you see. It's no longer that the heart must pump the blood or receive the Force; it’s no longer the stomach that must digest the food, no longer all that — it must function in another way. The base of it all must be changed, the functioning completely modified — while every single one of all these cells tries to make sure that everything should work as usual!
Terrible. A strange difficulty.

We can also find that The Mother has expressed Herself through these words as early in 1962 [13th February 1962]:

Take the change of the functioning of the organs, for example. What is the procedure? And both ways are already starting to exist side by side.... What is required for one to disappear and the other to stay all by itself, changed? Changed, because as it is now, it wouldn't be sufficient to make the body function; there are all those functions the body must still perform which it couldn’t perform. It would stay in a blissful state, would enjoy its condition, but not for long – for all its needs would still be there! That's the difficulty. Those who come later, in a hundred years, two hundred years; won’t have these difficulties. They will just have to choose: no longer to belong to the old system, or to belong to the new. But at present.... A stomach must digest, you see! There has to be a new way of adapting to the forces of Nature, a new functioning.

We may also note what the Mother stated on 4th April 1970:

When the new way comes in pure, unmixed, the body, the consciousness of the body, still has that reaction of ... (Mother makes a movement of surprise) wonder at something that still seems impossible.

Thus, we find that the phrase the new way has been used to express what is stated by The Mother. Satprem and his translators, while rendering into English what The Mother stated, have used the words. I have not been influenced by any other writer in this regard.

Zaadster Lori has referred to Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet and her book “The New Way: A Study in the Rise and Establishment of a Gnostic Society” and her blog 'The New Way - The Vision and Application of the Supramental Truth-Consciousness.' I have known Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet from the pages of Mother India, edited by K D Sethna, since 1970’s, for her fascinating and interesting writings on spirituality and vedic astrology.

[Continued]

Barindranath Chaki

11-08-2007

Posted on 11-08-2007. Posted simultaneously in The New Vision , Zaadz and Sulekha