Preparing for the Miraculous

what arjuna saw: the dark side of the force 85the depths of the subconscient had its repercussions in herphysical body, while she had to perform what she calledla besogne obscure, the obscure chore, and to confront toutesles horreurs de la création, all the horrors of creation. NowSri Aurobindo and the Mother are accepted and adored asGods by many; few realize that they were also the GreatWarriors – Kalki with the sword, Kali doing battle – whohad, unknown, to fight the crusade for the future of humanity.The reality of their Work, even of the little we know ofit, is much more epochal than any of the religious myths.“Krishna calls upon Arjuna to carry on war of the mostterrible kind and by his example encourage men to do everykind of human work, sarvakármani. Do you contend thatKrishna was an unspiritual man and that his advice to Arjunawas mistaken or wrong in principle?” asked Sri Aurobindoin a letter to a disciple. Each spiritual effort attracts automaticallythe adverse forces, who do not want that changeand progress should occur in their dominion on Earth. Itwas so at the time of the Vedic Rishis; it was so at the time ofthe Mahabharata; it is so today in the experience of anybodywho sincerely steps upon the path of yoga. “This yoga is aspiritual battle,” wrote Sri Aurobindo to a disciple, “its veryattempt raises all sorts of adverse forces.” 22Fighting, war, courage and heroism are not among thefavourite social occurences and virtues of the civilized mindat present, and, as mentioned above, the practice of “yoga”is usually associated with the search for tranquillity, peaceand feeling well. Such, however, is not the path of the IntegralYoga, although some of its professed practitioners seekto level the path in imitation of more familiar traditionalways. Referring to the quotations from Sri Aurobindo, suchan attitude cannot agree with the Integral Yoga because SriAurobindo’s and the Mother’s Yoga is about changing the22 Sri Aurobindo: Letters on Yoga, p. 1639.