The significance of 24th April Darshan Day (TE 130)

A talk by Alok Pandey on the significance of 24th April, celebrated in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram as Darshan Day. Recorded in Pondicherry in 2017.

The 24th of April occupies a special place in the Ashram History. It was the day when the Mother returned back to Pondicherry for good; the day of Her final arrival which marked a new phase of Her Work with Sri Aurobindo for Earth and man. Historically also the 24th April is the day when queen Hatshepsut (a previous incarnation of the Mother) had assumed powers in Egypt leading to revolutionary changes. It is also the day when the Greeks enter Troy leading to its downfall. Whether the Mother’s final coming is connected in any way with these events or not but it marked a definitive change in the rhythm and scope of the Ashram life. The Mother has noted that it ‘…was the tangible sign of the sure Victory over the adverse forces.’

This day is also one of the four Darshan days at the Ashram. Today we share some thoughts on some aspects of the Darshan day with the background of the Mother’s final arrival to Pondicherry.

WORDS OF THE MOTHER

… suddenly everything in me became still; the whole external being was completely immobilized and I had a vision of the Supreme … more beautiful than that of the Gita. A vision of the Supreme. And this vision literally gathered me into its arms; it turned towards the West, towards India, and offered me – and there at the other end I saw Sri Aurobindo. It was … I felt it physically. I saw, saw – my eyes were closed but I saw (twice I have had this vision of the Supreme – once here, much later – but this was the first time) … ineffable. It was as if this Immensity had reduced itself to a rather gigantic Being who lifted me up like a wisp of straw and offered me. Not a word, nothing else, only that.

Then everything vanished.

The next day we began preparing to return to India.

It was after this vision, when I returned from Japan, that this meeting with Sri Aurobindo took place, along with the certainty that the Mission would be accomplished.”

But to have this precise perception… Listen, as I had when I came from Japan: I was on the boat, at sea, not expecting anything (I was of course busy with the inner life, but I was living physically on the boat), when all of a sudden, abruptly, about two nautical miles from Pondicherry, the quality, I may even say the physical quality of the atmosphere, of the air, changed so much that I knew we were entering the aura of Sri Aurobindo. It was a physical experience and I guarantee that whoever has a sufficiently awakened consciousness can feel the same thing.”