Sri Aurobindo or The Adventure of Consciousness (book)

Sri Aurobindo
or The Adventure of Consciousness
by Satprem

PDF (311 pages)

“... But isn't this second book, on Sri Aurobindo, something imposed by circumstances? Is it really something that must be done, that already exists and has been decreed?

Personally, I do see one. I see a Sri Aurobindo....

(silence)

Almost no philosophy, nothing intellectual – almost a story. His work presented in an entirely practical and matter-of-fact way, like the talks I used to give to the children here. When I said to the children, “This, you know, is why you are here,” I told them in a way they could understand, didn't I? Well the book should be like that. If I were to write (I will never write a book on Sri Aurobindo! Never, never, never – I know it), but were I ever to write a book on Sri Aurobindo, that's the book I would write, something like a fairy tale.... “Just imagine.... You see life, you see how it is, you are used to this sort of existence; and it's dreary and it's sad (some people find it entertaining – because it doesn't take much to entertain them!).... Well, behind it all there is a fairy tale. Something in the making, something that's going to be beautiful, beautiful, inexpressibly beautiful. And we shall take part in it.... You have no idea, you think you will forget everything when you die, leave it all behind you – but it's not true! And all who feel the call to a beautiful, luminous, joyous, progressive life, well ... they will all take part in it, in one way or another. You don't know now, but you will after a while.... There you are.”
         A fairy tale.
         But do you feel inclined to tell a fairy tale?...”

“Oh, for a long time after you left the other day, for more than an hour, I kept on telling that story. I saw myself standing in the midst of a big crowd of children. Something was coming down to me (not that I was pulling at it or thinking about it – I wasn't thinking about it at all); I was just standing there telling the story, talking on and on and on, and it kept on coming – it was delightful!
         I passed it on to you but (laughing) I am not sure you received it. Something done with a very light touch, with no importance attached to it, but coming from a new world – oh, nowadays I constantly make a distinction between (what shall I say?) ... the straight-line, right-angle life and the undulating life. One life I might describe like this (Mother makes chopping gestures, showing crisscrossing lines): everything is sharp-edged, hard, angular, and you're constantly bumping into things; and then there's an undulating life, very sweet, with a great charm – VERY charming – but not ... not too stable. Strange, it's a completely different kind of life. Well, my story belonged to that world.... There was nothing here (Mother touches her forehead), and not even anything here (above the head); it was something like ... like waves. And it was very joyous, very joyous and carefree.”

---

See also

• Mother's Agenda
• Books by disciples
• Bhagwandas – found it in a Paris bookshop, 1966
• André Hababou – found it in a Marseille bookshop, 1967