Today is a very special day. Sri Aurobindo had come here exactly a hundred years ago. It was at the instance of the Dharma Rakshini Sabha of Uttarpara that he had paid a special visit to this place and delivered a speech on the banks of the calm and wide majestic Ganges flowing in the greatness of its waters. It was not just an inspired and inspiring speech, but was something special, in the sense that he spoke the word that was first spoken to him in the jail. During the one year of his incarceration at Alipore he had extraordinary spiritual experiences, as if he was specially taken there for that purpose. The realization of the dynamic Brahman in its aspect of all-pervasive immanence, the Vasudeva-experience, was this second major spiritual realization. This he had within months of the great realization of the passive Brahman when he was in Baroda after the December 1907 Surat Congress. Two foremost Adwaitic spiritual realizations following each other in such quick succession, realizations which otherwise come after long spiritual practices during several lives,—that is something unparalleled in spiritual history. Therefore when Sri Aurobindo speaks something, the word he was told to give, it acquires a profound significance to us. He spoke of the sanatan or eternal dharma and hence it ought to have a special connotation carrying in it far-reaching consequences. What is the nature of that special word? Let us try to see it.

On 30 May 1909 was the first public appearance of Sri Aurobindo after his acquittal on 6 May 1909 in the Alipore Bomb Case. This function was organized by his revolutionary associate Amarendranath Chatterji under the patronage of the Zamindar of Uttarpara, Raja Peary Mohan. Along with the escort, Sri Aurobindo went from his residence to the Howrah station in a horse-carriage and took a train for Uttarpara, some 15 km north of Kolkata. A huge spontaneous procession brought him to the venue of the speech, the spacious courtyard of Uttarpara Jaikrishna Public Library. There was a gathering of some ten thousand people and they sat there in rapt attention to hear his low and soft-soften words. There were no loud speakers in those days, but then the audience heard what came directly from his mouth, his pure voice. The speech was noted down in shorthand by a correspondent and published on 1 June 1908 in Bengalee. Sri Aurobindo later published it in his own weekly, the Karmayogin; this was in two instalments dated 19 and 26 June 1909.

Sri Aurobindo began his speech by narrating the Vasudeva-experience he had in jail, the experience of God within us all, of the Lord within the nation. He says: “That knowledge He gave to me day after day during my twelve months of imprisonment and it is that which He has commanded me to speak to you now that I have come out.” During the trying times of the imprisonment, his faith had somewhat shaken up but a voice that came from within told him firmly to wait and see. The Gita was put in his hand, and the spirit of Vivekananda visited him in the jail for days and pointed out at the far distant golden star in the sky, the Truth-Light guiding the truth-creation, what he later called the Supermind. He realized what the Hindu religion meant, that it is life itself, is sanatan dharma. It is a religion meant for the salvation of humanity and if India is rising, she is rising to give it to the world. India’s freedom and her role in the comity of nations thus get defined. Sri Aurobindo reiterated essentially the same message in his 15 August 1947 broadcast issued out on the occasion of the country’s independence. He was told in the jail that he was given the work to help to uplift this nation. That was the first task. The second was:

Something has been shown to you in this year of seclusion, something about which you had your doubts and it is the truth of the Hindu religion. It is this religion that I am raising up before the world, it is this that I have perfected and developed through the Rishis, saints and Avatars, and now it is going forth to do my work among the nations. I am raising up this nation to send forth my word. This is the Sanatan Dharma, this is the eternal religion which you did not really know before, but which I have now revealed to you. The agnostic and the sceptic in you have been answered, for I have given you proofs within and without you, physical and subjective, which have satisfied you. When you go forth, speak to your nation always this word, that it is for the Sanatan Dharma that they arise, it is for the world and not for themselves that they arise. I am giving them freedom for the service of the world. When therefore it is said that India shall rise, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall be great. When it is said that India shall expand and extend herself, it is the Sanatan Dharma that shall expand and extend itself over the world. It is for the Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists. To magnify the religion means to magnify the country. I have shown you that I am everywhere and in all men and in all things, that I am in this movement and I am not only working in those who are striving for the country but I am working also in those who oppose them and stand in their path. I am working in everybody and whatever men may think or do, they can do nothing but help in my purpose. They also are doing my work, they are not my enemies but my instruments. In all your actions you are moving forward without knowing which way you move. You mean to do one thing and you do another. You aim at a result and your efforts subserve one that is different or contrary. It is Shakti that has gone forth and entered into the people. Since long ago I have been preparing this uprising and now the time has come and it is I who will lead it to its fulfilment.

There are people who read this message with suspicion; there are also people who tend to make a creed of what has been declared as the religion of the country, that sanatan dharma is nationalism. And then there are those who view the whole thing as a clever ploy, a political device in the name of religion, that the speech was loaded with fundamentalist arguments. There is thus a tendency to appropriate the message for sectarian purposes. If the speech can thus lend itself to diverse interpretations then it should only mean that we have not really entered into its spirit, that a certain maturity of thinking and understanding and perception are needed to recognise and absorb its implications.

In this context I’ll make here just a few brief observations. The subject is pretty deep and perhaps we will need another occasion to see the connotations of the message, foundational as it is for the organization of the society. When it is coming from the Teacher of the Gita himself, it means it is stating the working of a fundamental Law of Truth in the World Order. The Author speaks of he himself being the creator of this fourfold division of society, cāturvrņyam mayā sŗştam, based on each quality or swabhāva of the individual. The four powers of the soul that stand out prominently in this vast cosmic activity constitute the four casts, the four moulds, the characteristics or varņas of the collective organization. There is the power of learning and wisdom and knowledge, there is the power of fearlessness and valour and strength, the power of mutuality and harmony and relationship, and the power of skill and perfection in work. Indeed, where is it and when was it that these do not or did not exist? They have been present in all the societies and in all the epochs of time. The command given to Sri Aurobindo was to breathe the life of the spirit in them and perfect the system that it becomes a foundation for the next higher stage of cosmic operation.

Later Sri Aurobindo formulated the fourfold system in terms of the working of the universal Force, the divine Shakti operating in the cosmos. There is first the original transcendent Shakti, the supramental Mahashakti with the Power of Omniscience and the Power of Omnipotence, of Knowledge and Will. In the intermediate planes she is the Mahashakti of the Triple World of Ignorance. This Mahashakti’s four aspects are: Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati, Wisdom, Force and Strength, Harmony, Perfection.

Maheshwari the Power of Wisdom is tranquil, wonderful, calm; Mahakali is the Warrior of the Worlds and she shatters all limits and obstacles and gives might; Charm, Beauty, Sweetness, Love are the attributes of Mahalakshmi and she lavishes joy and benediction on the soul of man, gives riches and plenty; Perfection and Order are the qualities of Mahasaraswati, even as she is careful and efficient and smiling and tireless in her work, one who is easily approachable. For the proper functioning of the society or any collective organization or institution these four powers must operate together in their full dynamism. Only afterwards can higher powers enter into cosmic play.

These four powers present corresponding yogas of divine realization and action, for their entry into the cosmic scheme of things. Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati in their yogic poises offer the aspiring soul of man the yogic means for attainment and realization; these are Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga, the Yogas of Knowledge, Strength, Devotion and Work.

Sanatan Dharma is constituted of these elements. It is that that has been propounded again in the Uttarpara Speech Sri Aurobindo gave on 30 May 1909. it is on this Dharma his future work will be founded. When will the four powers operate in their full potency, when the four Yogas have been established in their full efficacy, can then begin the work of the future, the missioned task of Sri Aurobindo. Then shall the Purna Yoga, the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo begin. This is the purport of the Sanatan Dharma expounded at Uttarpara. The implication is that it shall usher in the Satya Dharma of the Isha Upanishad. That seems to be the true significance of the Uttarpara Speech. Let us take it as a mantra and live in it and grow, progress in it.

RY Deshpande

30 May 2009