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Aju Mukhopadhyay

Most of the time, when a mortal faces death, he is rudely shocked. But a yogi gives up his life voluntarily when its term is fulfilled or when he decides to leave his body for some sublime cause. Sri Aurobindo decided to leave his body on a particular day, for a great cause.

The body was assigned a great place in Sri Aurobindo’s Puma Yoga. According to it, not only the mind and other higher faculties would be enlightened, spiritualised, but the spiritual light and force must be brought down to the lowest level to transform the body, so that it can hold the divine light. His plan was to divinise the whole life, each part of it, so that ultimately it becomes a life divine.

Arogya was one of the aims of his realisation. We get from his yoga records how he cured the ailments of his body by his yogic force. He cured the illness of others also, even when some of them lived far away from him.

At midnight, on 23 November 1938 he slipped over the tiger skin and fell on the floor. The knee bone on his right leg was badly broken. He cured himself mostly with his yogic force. In the middle of 1940, it was noticed that Sri Aurobindo had been suffering from prostatitis, though it was at a preliminary stage. When within a few months he cured himself, there was a sigh of relief among his disciples.

Naturally he differed with the ancient Rishis. He held the view that the worldly life is not an illusion. The body is not to be tortured, shunned or allowed to be atrophied. The aim of his yoga was not individual liberation into the other world or an escape to attain the Nirvana.

He worked towards the realisation of his goal. After a continuous sadhana for more than 40 years he had achieved a great success and for further progress of his sadhana he decided to withdraw as a matter of strategy, giving the work to Mother. Transformation of the body, down to the minutest cells, was his aim, to prepare the temple for the installation of the new species after man, the supramental being.

After ten long years the old disease, prostatitis reappeared with greater amplitude. His disciples did not pay much attention at the beginning as it was presumed that he would cure himself again. Instead of doing that, he became very grave. His usual smiles and light banters with his associates stopped. A gloomy atmosphere ensued. Gathering his courage, one doctor Satyendra once asked him the reason of his being so serious. The reply was that, it was a very critical time.

If we follow the course of events, as related by Nirodbaran, in his ‘Twelve Years with Sri Aurobindo� and by Dr. Prabhat Sanyal in his ‘A Call from Pondicherry� (Mother India, December 1991), it will be evident that he had chosen to sacrifice his body at a particular point of time, asking Mother to continue the yoga of transformation in her own body which was more apt for the work.

‘Savitri�, the spiritual epic poem was one of the great works of Sri Aurobindo. The composition of the poem in some form had begun at Baroda, at the beginning of this century. He was at it from time to time. A revision of it was going on the Chapter called, ‘the Book of Fate�. He used to dictate lines after lines to his chosen scribe. The work was getting delayed for various reasons. As if he was under pressure of time, he once exhorted, ‘Take Savitri, I want to finish it soon�. It was some time in October 1950, the disciple remembered. But it was unusual to hear such a thing from Sri Aurobindo, who seemed always to have the infinity on his side. He felt quite relieved when it ended. He was not interested to revise the last two chapters, ‘The Book of Death� and ‘The Epilogue�.

After ‘Savitri�, the symptoms of the disease were spreading with a fury. The doctors suggested operation, suggested the use of Catheter but Mother did not approve them. Suddenly the urination stopped. A doctor disciple ran for a quick remedy. But the patient had already cured himself, at least temporarily. Ten days passed. Then came the usual Darshan day, on 24 November 1950. This time an unusually large number of aspirants, including the ailing ones, were given permission for a Darshan. Sri Aurobindo and Mother were sitting majestically in their chairs. Thousands of devotees were blessed. The atmosphere was vibrant with love and peace. Silence was impregnable. Sri Aurobindo had no sign of serious illness in his body. He was hungry at the end, at 5 p.m. and ate with appetite.

Two more days were very important - 1st and 2nd December - the anniversary days of the School. Dr. Prabhat Sanyal, a famous surgeon from Calcutta, received a telegram from Mother on 29 November, ‘Fly-Urgent ­Mother�. On 30 November he found his master on his bed, ‘Seemingly unconcerned, with eyes closed, like a statue of massive peace�.

On 1st December the master was in a jolly mood. He laughed heartily. But when he heard that Sanyal was proposing to thoroughly check up his blood, the yogi said, ‘You doctors can think only in terms of disease and medicines, but always there is much more effectual knowledge beyond and above it. I do not need any thing�.

1st and 2nd December were over, more or less peacefully, except for a brief period of difficult interlude. He seemed to dislike such questions as

‘Why don’t you use your force and cure yourself, Master?�

On 3rd morning he was better but his condition worsened as the day wore on. On the 4th morning he was apparently better. He again occupied his chair. A disciple desperately asked again, whether he was using his force to cure himself. He said No�.

‘Why?� was another question to which his reply was, ‘Can’t explain, you won’t understand�.

Sitting on his chair he asked about the refugee problem of Bengal. From the noon, his condition again became critical. Mother was observing him very keenly with her occult insight. Quite a number of times she repeated that Sri Aurobindo was not interested any more about himself and that, he was withdrawing himself from his body. She also remarked that the master had always been pulling down the supramental light within himself. She did not permit the doctors to take any drastic action. She said that whatever is needed, he would do himself.

At 5 p.m. he was better and came out of his bed and sat on his chair-calm and serene­for some 45 minutes. Then he went to his bed. At one point of time he caressed his dear disciple Champaklal. He kissed and blessed him repeatedly, showing rare emotions, unheard of him throughout his life.
Again the disease tightened its grip. Again he plunged into infinity, beyond the touch of any disease. Mother came to his room at 11 a.m. and helped him drink half cup of tomato juice. She came again at 12 and at 1 a.m. (5th). There was a silent exchange of thoughts between the two, it seemed. At about a quarter past one he asked his disciple Nirodbaran to serve him some fruit juice. After sipping a little he again plunged into his deeper self. But it was not a coma, Dr. Sanyal confirmed. In this connection we refer to a very important observation by him.

‘Though he looked apparently unconscious, whenever He was offered drinks, He would wake up and take a few sips and wipe His mouth Himself with His handkerchief. To all of us it seemed apparent that a consciousness came from outside when He was almost normal, and then withdrew when the body quivered and sank down in distress. He was no longer there!�

He was surrounded by his disciples and doctors. Dr. Sanyal wrote,

‘I perceived a slight quiver in His body, almost imperceptible. He drew up his arms and put them on His chest, one overlapping the other - then all stopped. Death, the cruel death that was waiting so long - we had been keeping vigil for it - had descended on our Lord. I told Nirod to go and fetch the Mother. It was 1-20 a.m.�

At 1-26 a.m. Dr. Sanyal and the French physician of the Pondicherry Hospital Major Barbet declared him dead and signed the death certificate.

No miracle occured this time. The end was announced. A very cold end. Until then the disciples had been vacillating between hope and despair. Someone said, ‘The Master seems cheerful again and taking interest.� Another time a doctor observed signs of distress in the patient’s face. But, ‘there was not a word, not a protest.� Sometimes he got up from his bed, walked to his chair and sat and talked. Sometimes he remained entirely withdrawn and allowed the disease to spread its net. He allowed the body to suffer as a natural consequence of the disease, but he did not suffer.

The body was useful up to the end. Mother knew it. With reference to her work of transformation of the body she later said, ‘Sri Aurobindo did something equivalent, although much more total and complete and absolute, when he left his body - because he had the experience, he had that, he had it, I saw it, I saw him supramental on his bed, seated on his bed.....� (Satprem. Mother or the New Species -2. New York; Institute for Evolutionary Research. p. 161)

Word went round. By the evening of 5th, 60000 people queued past the master’s body. There were laymen, gentlemen, rich and poor men, rickshaw pullers and workmen, all filed past the sage’s body. They were silent but inspired.

Another thing to be noted here is that Sri Aurobindo did not allow his photograph to be taken by anybody for more than 25 years, after the twenties of the present century. A French photographer, Henri Cartier Bresson was permitted to take their photos after such a long period, in April 1950. After his demise, Mother permitted the Ashram photographers to take his photos.

The tremendous supramental light and force that Sri Aurobindo had accumulated in his body, was there after his leaving the body; a golden-blue light cascading from above, flooded his body. This was witnessed not only by Mother but by a few disciples. This force entered into Mother’s body with a friction. ‘I felt the rubbing of the passages�, she later said.

The body remained intact, radiant up to 9th of December when Mother permitted its interment. The French doctor permitted the body to remain for public view, as a special case.

On the 9th December 1950, at 5 p.m. the body was placed in a rosewood box with all solemnity. The box was lined with silver and satin. It was then placed in a vault under the big copper-pod tree, which is known as Sri Aurobindo’s Samadhi. The whole ceremony was performed under Mother’s supervision, under the golden setting sun.

In spite of everything, all her knowledge, Mother became very sad, felt lonely. She had been unhappy earlier also when she had to leave to Pondicherry after about a year’s stay with Sri Aurobindo, in February 1922. But this time it became very fatal. She said, ‘You just cannot imagine - you cannot imagine what a grace it is to have someone you can totally rely on, to let yourself be led with no need to look for anything. I had that, I was very conscious of that as long as Sri Aurobindo was here, and when he left his body, it was a terrible collapse.....You cannot imagine. Someone you can turn to with the certainty that what he says will be the truth.� (ibid. p.152)

We know that Mother had been working for transformation of her body with the supramental consciousness, till the last day of her life in 1973. But Sri Aurobindo had conceived the idea that death is not a must, that one may live in a gnostic body perpetually. But such a body is not the present one. For that he had ventured to transform the body. He had been helping the Mother in her work of transformation, even after leaving the body, from the subtle physical world. Mother said,

‘This was the work Sri Aurobindo had given me. Now I understand, And I see, I see now his departure and his work - so immense, you know, and constant, in that subtle physical - how much that has helped. How he helped prepare things, change the structure of the physical.� (Satprem. Mother or The Mutation of Death - New York Institute for Evolutionary Research. p.44)

Another thing comes to our mind when we discuss about Sri Aurobindo’s passing away from earth. Though both of them were born on Thursday and the difference between the dates, months and years of their birth was six, it does not hold good with regard to the time of their birth. Mirra was born at 10-15 a.m. as per his birth certificate (Sujata Nahar Mother’s Chronicle, part-I, Mirra New York; Institute for Evolutionary Research). But Sri Aurobindo’s exact time of birth was not recorded. As per verbal information gathered, it was around 5 a.m. in the morning (4-52 IST or 5-16 a.m. local time)

There was no much difference of six between the dates, months and years of their departure. Though Mother passed away at 7.25 a.m. as per official announcement, one Patrizia confirmed by a letter to the Editor of Mother India (Mother India, Pondichery, November, 1977 issue) that it was at 7.26 p.m. that Mother had passed away, when a clock at the Ashram’s school stopped. With that piece of information he wanted to confirm that there was a difference of six between their time of departure, as the official time of Sri Aurobindo’s departure was at 1-26 a.m.

But with reference to Dr. Prabhat Sanyal’s (leader of the team of doctors present during Sri Aurobindo’s passing) observation, as quoted earlier, the exact time was 1-20 a.m. when a clock stopped moving.

Sri Aurobindo told Mother that he had purposely left his body and that he would not take it , and that he would come in a supramental body, built in a supramental way.

Both Sri Aurobindo and Mother are still working to achieve their goal in the subtle world. Birth of a new species is in the womb of the future. After its advent, it may be expected that the body will not be treated as a worn out garment, to be thrown away after its use.