A Vision of Sujata Nahar

                                                          Translated by

                                                       Anurag  Banerjee

[Translator's note: In 1995, Sujata Nahar's younger sisters Sumitra and Suprabha had gone to visit her at her residence in Kotagiri. One day, they requested Sujata to tell them a story. What follows is the translated version of the transcript of the recording of the story she had narrated in Bengali. The italicized words are those which she had spoken originally in English. The vision was of an ancient legend of the Vedic era which she had witnessed. It is rather noteworthy because it provides us with the assurance that if we plunge deep into matter, the 'riddle of death' can be solved and the 'secret of immortality' can be found. The vision echoes Sujata's revealing words: 'The hymns of the Veda are the triumph songs of the soul's battle in Matter, and its victory.']

—Tell us another story.

Sujata Nahar: So you want to listen to another story? Well, I don’t know whether what I’m going to narrate was a story or a real-life incident. As you know, I wake up quite early when the night is still dark. In the clear sky I see many stars, constellations and planets; then I move here and there for my work and I witness how the sky gradually gets illuminated with the sun-rays. It reminds me of a line from Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry—Dawn came and opened the gates of the East—do you remember it? When the cowshed is opened, I see how the glimmer of the light descends, the Sun-God himself comes to cleanse the path of darkness with the poetry of light. Then the cows go out to graze, the birds sing and after awakening from their slumber they talk for a while amongst themselves and then leave in quest for food. At least this is what I behold here. Then comes the Sun-God in his chariot—he changes his outfits daily just like us—sometimes he wears red and sometimes pink. So I witness his change of attire and colours every day.

    One day what happened was: I observed that the darkness was not dispelling at all. Sometimes when the sky is cloudy darkness does exist in the region but this time it appeared to be rather dense, it looked precisely like night. One or two birds called out when they thought that dawn had arrived but they too ceased after a while. “What happened?” I wondered. The clock indicated that it was pretty late. Then what did go wrong? The entire day was spent like that and I must say that I have never seen such a deep night-like darkness because even when the sky is cloudy…

—There remains a little light.

Sujata Nahar: Yes, the difference between day and night can be understood. I was unable to comprehend what could have happened. And I was feeling a bit uneasy as well. It is difficult to grasp that particular feeling. That night also I was quite restless. Then probably I had gone to sleep; the body was on the bed while I had gone somewhere else. This happens quite often, I leave the body for some different adventures.

    I saw a young paragon of beauty sobbing inconsolably. What happened to her? Then I saw people rushing towards her from the four corners. By the time I had gone there many incidents had occurred and those were revealed to me like the flashback of a movie.

   Usha, the Dawn, had gone as usual to open her cowshed when she noticed that the door was already open. She was taken aback a bit. When she went forward and opened the doors wide she saw that the cowshed was empty, not a single cow was there. “Where did my cattle go?” she wondered. Then she thought of calling the Sun, her elder brother, and ask him about the whereabouts of the cattle but when she called him, there was no response. Someone had abducted the Sun as well. Usha’s wail made the other gods and goddesses come rushing to her; they wondered what could have happened to Usha whose face was ever-smiling and heart always full of joy! Saraswati came, Sarama came, Lila came and so did all the goddesses. And from the other side came rushing to her, her brothers Indra, the Aswins, Agni, the Moon and all the other gods who rallied around Usha and understood what exactly had occurred. They realized that the cattle-stealers were none other than the Dasyus [robbers]—I’m unable to recall their names—so now they would have to go to the land of the robbers. “But how to go there?” they wondered because the path to their land was unimaginably perilous. They thought of approaching the Night and to please her. The  Night happens to be Usha’s elder sister (I think I have heard that there is a sutra in the Vedas known as the Ratri-sutra). But who would lead the way because the path is unknown to all? Then arrived Sarama—whom we address as Helen in English mythology—(it’s from Sarama that the word sarameya [meaning dog] has come). So she led the way and was followed by Indra, the King of gods.

—The Chief of Gods.

Sujata Nahar: Yes, the chief. First went Indra, the Chieftain of the gods, followed by Agni who was like a priest—like what we call Purodha. But despite this arrangement, they felt that the presence of humans was required. The chiefs of the humans were the Angirasa Rishis; some say there are nine of them some say seven; they are called Angirasa because they took birth from fire just like us. The Nahars were born from the Fire. So they moved through that path of darkness. Sometimes they had to travel through several kingdoms from where at times someone came to offer some help and appeared as foes. By crossing several hurdles they continued to advance slowly. Then the Night too left the gods in the middle of the way for she was apprehensive that Sarama would supersede her. Hence she moved away and Sarama led the gods. At times the road was so narrow and steep that if one missed a step he would be gone for ever. But the Moon was with them, he made the gods drink soma-rasa because no food was available in those places and despite the fact that the gods were gods, they too felt tired like us. Therefore something was required to boost them up—it’s symbolic. They moved on and on when suddenly Sarama heard the lowing of the cattle. From a valley amid steep mountains came that sound. But who would descend in it? However Sarama guided the gods to that place; then she searched the region and informed the gods that the cattle were there. Thus ended her work which was to show the way. The task of rescuing the cattle belonged to others. She, in Sri Aurobindo’s terminology, is the Intuition. 

    The robbers were hiding in what we call an impregnable fortress, there was no gap or hole in it so how would the gods enter? The robbers—the Panis—had Vallar as their chief. He sent his men when he heard the commotion to inquire what the matter was. The Panis spied from a distance and reported to their chief accordingly. He instructed his men to shut all the gates so that no gods could enter. But the gods had Vrihaspati—the chief of the Angirasas on their sides—the power of his chanting of the hymns threw open the gates. Then all the creatures of darkness came out in groups and what to say about the fierce battle that ensued! It was a terrible war! Innumerable Panis were killed. The gods fought quite brilliantly. Indra was…

—Equal to a hundred.

Sujata Nahar: He was equal to a thousand. With his thousand eyes and vajra [his weapon] he fought fiercely and the Aswins too were present to help him. Those who got wounded were healed by the Aswins. And then there were Indra’s forty-nine brothers who also helped. All came to help and each killed as many as possible. At last the Panis were defeated, Vallar too was vanquished. After defeating the Panis, the gods entered the cave and found that the cattle were indeed there. Then Usha, with the help of the Aswins, brought her cattle out and took them to her own kingdom—to the land where the cows of the Sun graze. That is the field of Truth. And what sort of Truth? You must have noticed that when you dip a stick in water, it appears as if the stick is bent but in that land it does not happen thus. Straight stick remains straight. That’s why it is called ritam. Anyway, the gods went back but the sages went further inside the cave. Then they arrived at a pit which we call as gumpha.

—Cave.

Sujata Nahar: I think the monasteries of the Buddhists are called gumphas. And this was a cave. The sages entered more and more in it and they saw someone sitting in heart of the cave: someone immense and alone to quote Sri Aurobindo. And who was he? He was the eighth son of Aditi whom she had left behind. He was lost in darkness. He was Martanda, he is the eighth Sun. And he was hidden in the darkness of the cave by the robbers. But with his own luminous light he had illuminated everything in that dark cave. Then Martanda came out to the world.

    Our Fathers the Angirasa Rishis pursued further to the end. They came to the darkest cave yet—I’m speaking in my own words. The darkness repelled—this is from Sri Aurobindo’s poetry. They entered the caves on their hands and knees…they crawled on their hands and knees—because they were unable to enter on their feet as the cave had a very small opening. And in the heart of darkness they discovered Martanda who had been concealed there by the Titans. Martanda, the eighth son of Aditi. Who is Aditi? The All-creating Infinite Mother. Then the eighth son of Aditi was seated there, immense and alone. He is the black or dark, the lost, the hidden sun, the son whom he met.

    I don’t recall the reason. I remember the story Mother had recounted. She had seen that in the matter, in the deep matter, there is the Divine. Mother had seen it when she had gone to the Subconscient and she saw that the Being opened his eyes—the Divine in Matter in the Subconscient. If you follow Mother’s visions, you will find a lot of things…She had seen it in 1907-1908 or may be even before that period. She didn’t have the experiences of Savitri then. Mother’s experiences were noted down by Sri Aurobindo much later. I don’t recall well but Mother read Savitri much later.

                                                                       *

Report My Signal- Blog: Bravery of Indian Defence Personnel
By SIGNAL

Ms Shyam Kumari was born in Muzaffarnagar U.P. in 1934. There she studied in the Vedic Putri Pathshala and S. D. Degree College up to her B.A. In 1965 she passed her M.A. from Lucknow University. She has read widely in Hindi and English literature, as well as religious and spiritual books.

Since her childhood she had a yearning to find God. In 1969 the Divine Mother accepted her in Sri Aurobindo Ashram and appointed her a teacher in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education.

Hundreds of her poems, lyrics, stories, plays, literary and social essays, both in English and Hindi, have appeared in national and international journals. She has also written and published more than 30 books, some running into several reprints. Many of her books have been translated into Hindi, Oriya, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati. She has written path-breaking rhymes and story books for children. In 1998 she launched a Hindi quarterly magazine, Swarna Hansa which she, single-handedly, writes, edits and publishes.

In 1998, she established Vraja Trust, a public charitable trust, and is at present its managing trustee. In 2001 started Sri Aravinda Sanskrit Vidyalaya, in Pondicherry, India, to impart free Sanskrit education to children and adults alike and she is its Chairperson. In 2005 she launched the, “Let Each School Adopt a Hero” scheme.

Books By Ms Shyam Kumari
Our Heroes: Param Vir Chakra Recipients Series
1: Major Somnath Sharma
2: Naik Jadunath Singh
3: Company Havildar Major Piru Singh
4: Lance Naik Karam Singh
5: Second Lieutenant Rama Raghoba Rane
6: Captain Gurbachan Singh Salaria
7: Subedar Joginder Singh
8: Major Shaitan Singh
9: Major Dhan Singh Thapa
10: Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hamid
11: Lieutenant Colonel A.B. Tarapore
12: Lance Naik Albert Ekka
13: Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal
14: Major Hoshiar Singh
15: Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon
16: Naik Subedar Bana Singh
17: Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran
18: Captain Vikram Batra
19: Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey
20: Grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav
21: Rifleman Sanjay Kumar

PREDECESSORS Our predecessors are stalwart-scholars and yogis who had the vision and foresight of acknowledging the inherent psychological insights in Sri Aurobindo’s thought. This illustrious list begins with the late Prof. Indra Sen, who published as early as 1944 an article entitled “A psychological Appreciation of Sri Aurobindo’s System of Integral Yoga” and culminates in Dr. A. S. Dalal’s landmark publication of “A Greater Psychology” in 2001. Dr. Indra Sen used the term “Integral Psychology” in 1960 to denote Sri Aurobindo’s Psychological system but as Robert Gerard (in 1982) and Ken Wilber (in 2000) have been using the term for other things, the nomenclature “Integral Yoga Psychology” has evolved. Other predecessors include the late Kishore Gandhi who had been using class notes on this theme since 1966 at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the late Madhusudan Reddy whose book on Integral Yoga Psychology was published in 1988,Jobst Muhling who differentiated conventional Western Psychology from Sri Aurobindo’s psychology in 1960, the late Haridas Chowdhury who with F. Spiegelberg in 1960 published a Commemorative Symposium proceedings where the term “Integral Psychology” was first used, C. R. Goswami who used this term in 1989 and Lloyd Fellows who established an Institute for Integral Psychology in USA during 1970s under the inspiration of Late M. P. Pandit.

Bonne Fête Kailas!

Kailas Jhaveri worked at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York in the department of Information from 1954-1956. She was a dreamer and believed that the aim of the United Nations is to work for human unity, to help nations be free of colonial rule and to become self-governing. Its objective, she also believed, is to help developing countries through their many international specialized agencies such as UNESCO, FAO, UNICEF, etc. Charmed by meeting people of different nationalities, she changed her course of study from psychology – she already had a degree in philosophy – to international organisation. In one of these classes Kailas met Dr. Adiseshiah, who had been invited to give a talk on UNESCO and international organisation. This marked the beginning of a life-long friendship. In 1964 she left New York, where she lived and worked for over ten years, to become an ashramite, while playing a pivotal role in expounding the ideal of Auroville to UNESCO, with the Mother’s blessings.

This is the introduction, noted down from Kailas’s words, to one of the papers that I wrote to introduce, in Auroville, Kailas’ work for the Mother. The speech she delivered in March stirred something very deep. The Mother was there. The extract below, from Kailas’ autobiography, is one among countless examples of her incredible dedication, faith, surrender to the Mother:

“I was put in charge of the UNESCO Section of Sri Aurobindo Society, but practically, I had no office, no table, no chair, no almirah, no typewriter, no secretary and no money. I learned to use any means available. For instance,  I carried out my correspondence, using the Society’s typewriter after the office hours, sometimes working till after midnight and filing my papers at home in my Ashram almirahs. Sometimes, I gave my papers for typing to Doreen, Navajata’s excellent secretary. She was faultless and superb in her execution” wrote Kailas. “It seemed that I was given responsibilities, but sometimes I had to find my own means to carry them out.  Even to go to Bombay, Madras, Delhi, or to Paris for the UNESCO conference, I had to find the finances or the transport needed.  And the Divine provided me with whatever was needed from unexpected sources.” 

Bonne Fete Kailas! The spirit of the early sadhaks is still alive!

Paulette

____

Kailas Jhaveri by Anurag Banerjee

2 Responses to “Margaret Woodrow Wilson was given the name of Nishtha by Sri Aurobindo”

1 | Mary Achor
June 3, 2009 at 3:38 am

I am one of the authors of “All the Presidents’ Children,” by Doug Wead.

When I started researching Margaret, all I could find was that she was “squirrely” and had gone to a guru named “Sri Abobimbo.” Fortunately, I have enough spiritual training to know who was in Pondicherry! The research on her was absolutely fascinating, and she remains my favorite presidential child. She was a woman far, far ahead of her time. (I think we are the first history book to actually give Margaret her due.)

Reply

2 | Mary Achor
June 3, 2009 at 3:40 am

I forgot to let you know that more information about Margaret Woodrow Wilson and other presidential children is available at http://upstairsatthewhitehouse.com/.

Reply

		Re: The Lives of Sri Aurobindo Lisaji said Dec 31, 2008, 5:13 AM:
	Hi Daniel,Thanks for posting those criticising reviews! It’s got me more interested. You will not be disappointed with the Life Divine. That book shop in the Ashram is rocking. A loosely related topic. Here is a beautiful picture of the inner chamber of the Matrimandir, (Check them all out here, unreal architecture). which is at the heart of Auroville. Its one of the most beautiful meditation spaces I have ever sat in. Lisa

10:49 AM 

Lisaji said Dec 13, 2008, 3:12 AM:
	Thank you for posting that David. I may even treat myself to a subscription. Here’s where our good buddy rests. It’s a lovely Ashram, and it was a nice place to sit for a while ~ Lisa

And the symbol which always accompanies the tracing is, of course, The Matrimandir, a huge golden ball. And I’d really like to know if the Aurovillians would be honest enough to themselves to make a real logotype and the company style when the Matrimandir is completed. They already have a slogan: а city with a soul. And there are plentiful designers and artists in the team, as this can be seen from well-done leaflets and posters.

So, Auroville. The geographical center of the city is Banyan tree, the only tree which was there when future Aurovillians had got this land. Matrimandir, city’s soul is located a bit aside it. Gardens, artists’ studios’, sports ground, pavillions of different cultures, cafes and restaurants are all around. Altogether it must resemble a galaxy. lucid skies (lucid_skies) wrote,@ 2009-04-22 18:06:00 Entry tags: india, photos
Auroville. The first citadel of New Age.

Mirror of Tomorrow :: Prof Nadkarni, we do hear you—by Amartya …

Dr Mangesh V Nadkarni

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