24th November 1926 is known as the Siddhi Day or the day on which Krishna descended into the physical. Sri Aurobindo says “Krishna is the Anandamaya; he supports the evolution through the Overmind leading it towards the Ananda.”

On the occasion of the November Darshan we bring you the account of an experience of Sahana Devi which throws light on the role played by Krishna in the life and sadhana of Sri Aurobindo.

Sahana Devi was among the earliest members of the Ashram. She came in 1928 and lived here until she passed away in 1990. She was the niece of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das and it was in his house that, in her girlhood, she had seen Sri Aurobindo for the very first time, after the Alipore Bomb Case trial was over and he had been released. Before coming to the Ashram, Sahana Devi not only knew Rabindranath Tagore very well but was an authority on Rabindra Sangeet. In fact, she was such a renowned singer that many called her “the Nightingale of Bengal”. It was her friendship with Dilip Kumar Roy which brought her to the Ashram. Her inner call for a life of sadhana was so strong that she gave up an established career and fame to follow this path.


The Mother with Sahana Devi

 

A few months after I had arrived here, I started feeling a sort of uneasiness because I found that I could no more be moved or touched so much by the name of Krishna nor could I sing the songs about him as I used to do. Love, devotion, tears in the eyes, exhilarating states of the heart and mind were diminishing slowly and in their place emotions were crystallising from the very depths around the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. While singing about them I felt as if all the inner doors had been flung open. The entire inner being came out with an intense feeling which is beyond description. The feeling I used to have while singing Bhajans and Padavali Kirtans on Krishna were now very much less intense, as if practically absent, and the change brought about an inner conflict for some time. I thought: “They are all divine, only different in form and name and aspect. Why then regarding one I should have so much feeling and none regarding the other? Why should it diminish?” This tormented me for quite a long time. Then I had a splendid experience beyond my expectation while meditating, which removed all my doubts and resolved all my problems. I need not explain the experience, I need only mention that the experience was wonderful, ineffable! - I had a vision of Sri Krishna. There appeared before me a Radiant Image agleam with blue light! At once my whole being fell prostrate at his feet with tears flowing and I went on repeating with both my folded hands outstretched - “Oh my Lord! My Beloved God!” In that utterance I felt such an unknown exquisitely sweet feeling of ‘oneness’ with him that I plunged into a sea of marvellous delight which took the form of this exclamation, “Oh, how intimate, how intimate! So intimate that in the whole world there can be none so much my own!” Nothing more can be spoken about that feeling of “oneness” and “ownness.” That feeling of “ownness” is composed of elements other than those that give us the feeling of any earthly “ownness.” These elements have no existence here, only the Divine Himself comes so close that it is He who brings this feeling along with Him and infuses it in us. They are altogether of a different order, of a different world - filled with the supernal touch of some rare mood of Heaven! Overwhelming me with this inexpressible feeling he vanished conferring these benedictions - as if a standing Call for the awakening of a new consciousness to the coming Dawn of Sri Aurobindo’s future Supramental manifestation:- “Why this lassitude? I am united with Sri Aurobindo.” I wrote everything to Sri Aurobindo and asked him, “How shall I, so unfit a person, so poor a sadhika, take this experience? Have I understood it rightly?” He answered: “Who else can unite with me except Krishna?”

— Sahana Devi


You can view the Darshan message card on the Sri Aurobindo Ashram website by clicking here. Once there you may also download the message card in a print-friendly PDF format.



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Sri Aurobindo wrote extensively on political, social and cultural theory. His contributions to these fields are not always given the attention they deserve by contemporary thinkers. There are two main reasons for this. First, his political, social and cultural writings are scattered through six or seven volumes of his complete works. Secondly, the political and cultural worlds have changed greatly since he wrote. The editor of this anthology overcomes the first problem by selecting representative passages from the entire body of Sri Aurobindo's works. He deals with the second by providing historical background, and by relating Sri Aurobindo's ideas to those of modern thinkers.

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— Sri Aurobindo
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— Compiled from the Works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother
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