Preparing for the Miraculous

248 eleven talksThe Eternal suffers in a human form ...The Creator bears the law of pain and death ... 353. Sri Aurobindo: AvatarThe avatarhood of Sri Aurobindo has been put in doubton several occasions. There seem to be two reasons for this,the first being that the claim to avatarhood by pseudo-spiritualpersons has indeed become very cheap. As the discernmentbetween spirituality, guruship and occult powers isgenerally vague among those who search for solace or spiritualtheatrics, the word “avatar” has, and justly so, becomesuspect among the sceptically-minded. The second reason,especially among Westerners, is that the word “Avatar” isput on a par with the word “God”, and that this “God” isstill commonly seen as the bearded autocrat in nightdressabove the clouds or seated on a throne in heaven.Did Sri Aurobindo never say himself that he was anAvatar? An outright affirmation would, in the first place,have been contradictory with his delicate, tactful character.In the second place, Avatars in general do not seem to proclaimtheir avatarhood. “Why should the Avatar proclaimhimself except on rare occasions to an Arjuna or to a fewbhaktas or disciples? It is for others to find out what he is;though he does not deny when others speak of him as That,he is not always saying and perhaps never may say or onlyin moments like that of the Gita, ‘I am He’.” 36 Besides, thepersons who have any specific idea about the mission of theAvatar and the world-crisis in which he incarnates, are rareexceptions. This may be is the reason why Sri Aurobindowrote that the Avatars were generally recognized as suchonly by a few, while to the others they were quite human,even though perhaps extraordinary, persons.35 Sri Aurobindo: Savitri, pp. 7 and 445, passim.36 Sri Aurobindo: Letters on Yoga, p. 418.