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by V. Murugesu

If one looks at the dictionary for the meaning of "occult" it tells us that it pertains to, or designates those mystic arts involving magic, divination, astrology, alchemy or the like. Something that is not divulged, secret, beyond human understanding, mysterious. So for what is being revealed in this article this definition is inadequate.

Sri Aurobindo, about whom this article is projected to commemorate his 129th birth Anniversary, has explained occultism to mean the knowledge and right use of the hidden forces of Nature. He says: "True occultism means a search into supraphysical realities and an unveiling of the hidden laws of being and Nature, of all that is not obvious on the surface.

An integral knowledge demands an explanation, an unveiling of all the possible domains of consciousness and experience. For these are subjective domains of our being which lie behind the obvious surface; these have to be fathomed and whatever is ascertained must be admitted to the scope of the total reality. An inner range of spiritual experience is one very great domain of human consciousness; it has to be entered into up to its deepest depths and its vastest reaches.

The supraphysical is as real as the physical; to know it is part of a complete knowledge. The knowledge of the supraphysical has been associated with mysticism and occultism, and occultism has been banned as a superstition and fantastic error. But the occult is part of existence;......"

Most of us know the work of Sri Aurobindo which he carried on the material plane, particularly his involvement in the political field and his contribution to the Freedom Movement of India in the early part of the twentieth century and the foundations he laid for its realisation years later resulting even in India gaining its independence on his birthday, a fact of great significance.

There was also his vast contribution to world literature, his poetic genius reflected in his poems, the resuscitation of Indian Culture, his views on education and above all the spiritual elevation of man by his writings on Yoga that reflected and blazed the Soul Quest of man. But little is known of what he did in the occult plane both for the preservation and protection of India and the World. That is the work that is to be revealed in this article.

Sri Aurobindo, when he came to Pondicherry, then a French Colony, to delve deeper into the realms of the Spirit did not confine his work to the material plane but extended it also to the supraphysical regions from where he obtained results to help work on the terrestrial field of action. One of these was his intervention in the Second World War (1939 to 1945). He realised the significance of that War and what its victory meant for human civilization. He wrote : "We feel that not only is this a battle waged in just self-defence and in defence of the nations threatened with world-domination of Germany and the Nazi system of life, but that it is a defence of civilization and its highest attained social, cultural and spiritual values and of the whole future of humanity.

To this cause our support and sympathy will be unswearing whatever may happen; we look forward to the victory of Britain and as the eventual result, an era of peace and union among the nations for a better and more secure World Order". (On Himself SABCL. Vol.26, P.393).

This was a statement he made towards the beginning of the War, on 19th September 1940 at the time of the collapse of France and the threatened collapse of Britain. He saw from his inner vision and occult powers what Hitler was aiming to do and that if he succeeded the world would be engulfed and deluged by hostile forces seeking their sway over the World. Sri Aurobindo said: "One can say that Hitler is not a devil but is possessed by one". He also called him "an infrarational mystic". Sri Aurobindo and the Mother knew perfectly well by which power Hitler was possessed.

Mother has written that Hitler was possessed by a being, an Asuric force. It was the Lord of the Nations. According to her it was a being that appeared to him in a silver armour, with a silver helmet and a golden helmet with a tuft of feathers on top (aigrette). It was magnificent. It appeared in a light so dazzling that the eyes could hardly see and bear that blaze.

When he wanted to know something from this Power, he went and retired in his castle built on a mountain top, and there, in "meditation", he truly invoked very intensely what he called his "God". The utterances of Hitler were unbelievable. His words reflected a shadow of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's vision of the divinisation of the world which is to result in a divine superman.

As early as the beginning of February 1939 Sri Aurobindo and the Mother stated the problem of what faced our globe very clearly. Sri Aurobindo in his conversation with Nirodbaran, a close disciple, said: "The problem is to save the world from domination by Asuric (Demonic) Forces. It would be awful to be ruled by the Nazis and Fascists. Their domination will let loose on mankind what are called the Four Powers of Hell - obscurantism, falsehood, suffering and death. Suffering and death mean the horrors of war".

Sri Aurobindo threw his Force on the side of the Allies and guided their leaders, particularly Winston Churchill. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother declared openly that Winston Churchill and General de Gaulle were very open to their force. Though Sri Aurobindo himself never spoke of it, the Mother had mentioned it of how Sri Aurobindo used to tell her of the words that he would put into the mouth of Churchill before the famous broadcasts, and certain passages were spoken by Churchill word to word. Senior sadhaks of the Ashram had confirmed that certain passages in Churchill's speeches were often repetitions of words already spoken or written by Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry. Churchill publicly declared in a statement to the House of Commons on 13th October 1942," ........

I sometimes have the feeling, in fact I have it very strongly, a feeling of interference. I want to stress that I have a feeling sometimes that some guiding hand has interfered. I have the feeling that we have a guardian because we serve a great cause, and that we shall have that guardian so long as we serve that cause faithfully. And what a cause it is! (Churchill's War Speeches 1939-1945 compiled by Charles Eade).

The battle between the Asuric forces and the Divine forces was symbolised by the war. The Chief Protagonist in this contest on the side of the Divine forces was Sri Aurobindo. He was therefore, the target of the Asuras. During the night before the Darshan of the 24th November 1938, the Asuras struck, and that night on the way to the bathroom Sri Aurobindo has stumbled over a tiger skin and had struck the tiger skull with his right knee that resulted in the fracture of the thighbone. Sri Aurobindo in a talk with his disciples said: The hostile forces have tried many times to prevent things like the Darshan, but I have succeeded in warding off all their attacks. At the time the accident to my leg happened, I was more occupied with guarding the Mother and I forgot about myself. I didn't think the hostiles would attack me. That was my mistake".

When somebody asked him: "But how could the accident happen?" he answered: "It was because I was unguarded and something forced its way into the subconsicent. There is stage in yogic advance when the least negligence will not do".

Sri Aurobindo recorded elsewhere in the third person writing about himself: "In his retirement (from politics) Sri Aurobindo kept a close watch on all that was happening in the world and in India and actively intervened, when necessary, but solely with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action". This is the confirmation of his work in the occult.

Coming to India's independence being fixed on the midnight of 15th August 1947, in the book Freedom at Midnight is narrated how Lord Mountbatten chose the date on the spur of the moment during a press conference.

It is stated that this date was linked in his memory to the most triumphant hours of his own existence, the day on which his long crusade through the jungles of Burma had ended with the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Emperor. "His voice constricted with sudden emotion, the victor of the jungles of Burma about to become the liberator of India announced: 'The final transfer of power to indian hands will take place on 15th August 1947.' In the broadcast of Sri Aurobindo's message over the Trichinopoly Station of All India Radio he said: "August 15th is my own birthday and it is naturally gratifying to me that it should have assumed this vast significance.

I take this coincidence not as a fortuitous accident but the sanction and seal of the Divine Force that guides my steps on the work with which I began my life, the beginning of its full fruition".

Subsequent events have proved the truth of his Independence Day Message and the future too will reveal the further fulfilment of his vision.

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