“The descent of Krishna would mean the descent of the Overmind Godhead preparing, though not itself actually bringing, the descent of Supermind and Ananda.”

November 24 is a very significant day, especially for the devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, as it marks the anniversary of the Siddhi Day – 'The Day of Victory' – the descent of the Sri Krishna Consciousness or the Overmental Consciousness into the physical, which took place in the year 1926.

Disciple: “Why are we observing the 24th as a special day?

Sri Aurobindo: It was the descent of Krishna into the physical.”

Sri Aurobindo: “What was said was that the Divine (Krishna or the Divine Presence or whatever you like) had come down into the material. It was also proclaimed that I was retiring — obviously to work things out.”

Disciple: “Some say November 24th is a day of victory. By that some mean that the Supermind (supramental consciousness) descended into the physical consciousness of Sri Aurobindo. Others say it was the coming down of Krishna into the physical consciousness. If it was the descent of Krishna, does that mean the descent of the supramental light?

Sri Aurobindo: is not the supramental light. The descent of Krishna would mean the descent of the Overmind Godhead preparing, though not itself actually bringing, the descent of Supermind and Ananda. Krishna is the Anandamaya, he supports the evolution through the Overmind leading it towards his Ananda.”[1]

“When the Ananda comes into you, it is the Divine who comes into you; just as when the Peace flows into you, it is the Divine who is invading you, or when you are flooded with Light, it is the flood of the Divine Himself that is around you. Of course, the Divine is something much more; many other things besides and in them all a Presence, a Being, a Divine Person; for the Divine is Krishna, is Shiva, is the Supreme Mother. But through the Ananda you can perceive the Anandamaya Krishna; for the Ananda is the subtle body and being of Krishna; through the Peace you can perceive the Shantimaya Shiva; in the Light, in the delivering Knowledge, the Love, the fulfilling and uplifting Power you can meet the presence of the Divine Mother.”[2]

[1] Letters on Himself and the Ashram, p.272
[2] Letters on Yoga – II, p.14

The Guru of the world who is within us then gave me complete directions for my path - its complete theory, the ten limbs of the body of this Yoga. These past ten years He has been making me develop it in experience, and this is not yet finished.

If we cannot rise above, to the supramental level, that is, it is hardly possible to know the world's final secret and the problem it raises remains unsolved. There, the ignorance which creates a duality of opposition between the Spirit and Matter, between truth of spirit and truth of life, disappears. There one need no longer call the world Maya. The world is the eternal Play of God, the eternal manifestation of the Self. Then it becomes possible to fully know and fully realize God - to do what is said in the Gita, "To know Me integrally." The physical body, the life, the mind and understanding, the supermind and the Ananda - these are the spirit's five levels. The higher man rises on this ascent the nearer he comes to the state of that highest perfection open to his spiritual evolution. Rising to the Supermind, it becomes easy to rise to the Ananda. One attains a firm foundation in the condition of the indivisible and infinite Ananda, not only in the timeless Parabrahman [Absolute] but in the body, in life, in the world. The integral being, the integral consciousness, the integral Ananda blossoms out and takes form in life. This is the central clue of my yoga, its fundamental principle.

This is no easy change to make. After these fifteen years I am only now rising into the lowest of the three levels of the Supermind and trying to draw up into it all the lower activities. But when this siddhi will be complete, then I am absolutely certain that through me God will give to others the siddhi of the Supermind with less effort.

Mother: “I remember the days when Sri Aurobindo was here and I used to go downstairs to give meditations to the people assembled in the hall. There’s a ledge above the pillars there, where all the gods used to sit – Shiva, Krishna, Lakshmi, the Trimurti, all of them – the little ones, the big ones, they all used to come regularly, every day, to attend these meditations. It was a lovely sight. But they didn’t have this kind of adoration for the Supreme. They had no use for that concept – each one, in his own mode of being, was fully aware of his own eternal divinity; and each one knew as well that he could represent all the others (such was the basis of popular worship, and they knew it). They felt they were a kind of community, but they had none of those qualities that the psychic life gives: no deep love, no deep sympathy, no sense of union. They had only the sense of their OWN divinity. They had certain very particular movements, but not this adoration for the Supreme nor the feeling of being instruments: they felt they were representing the Supreme, and so each one was perfectly satisfied with his particular representation.

Except for Krishna.... In 1926, I had begun a sort of overmental creation, that is, I had brought the Overmind down into matter, here on earth (miracles and all kinds of things were beginning to happen). I asked all these gods to incarnate, to identify themselves with a body (some of them absolutely refused). Well, with my very own eyes I saw Krishna, who had always been in rapport with Sri Aurobindo, consent to come down into his body. It was on November 24th, and it was the beginning of ‘Mother’.

Satprem: Yes, in fact I wanted to ask you what this realization of 1926 was.

Mother: It was this: Krishna consented to descend into Sri Aurobindo’s body – to be FIXED there; there is a great difference, you understand, between incarnating, being fixed in a body, and simply acting as an influence that comes and goes and moves about. The gods are always moving about, and it’s plain that we ourselves, in our inner beings, come and go and act in a hundred or a thousand places at once. There is a difference between just coming occasionally and accepting to be permanently tied to a body – between a permanent influence and a permanent presence.

These things have to be experienced.

Satprem: But in what sense did this realization mark a turning point in Sri Aurobindo’s sadhana?

No, the phenomenon was important FOR THE CREATION; he himself was rather indifferent to it. But I did tell him about it.”[6]

Mother: “It was only ... (how can I put it?) a participation from Krishna. It made no difference for Sri Aurobindo personally: it was a formation from the past that accepted to participate in the present creation, nothing more. It was a descent of the Supreme, from ... some time back, now consenting to participate in the new manifestation.”[7]

Mother: “I had begun a sort of ‘overmental creation’, to make each god descend into a being – there was an extraordinary upward curve! Well, I was in contact with these beings and I told Krishna (because I was always seeing him around Sri Aurobindo), ‘This is all very fine, but what I want now is a creation on earth – you must incarnate.’ He said ‘Yes.’ Then I saw him – I saw him with my own eyes (inner eyes, of course), join himself to Sri Aurobindo.

Then I went into Sri Aurobindo’s room and told him, ‘Here’s what I have seen.’ ‘Yes, I know!’ he replied (Mother laughs) ‘That’s fine; I have decided to retire to my room, and you will take charge of the people. You take charge.’”[8]

[6] Mother's Agenda, 1961 - 2 August 1961
[7] ibid
[8] ibid

Nirodbaran to students, 1970: “From the trend of the talks around that time, months previous to that day, Purani notes: “It was becoming clear that something was going to happen and some of the sadhaks were feeling actually that some big thing was imminent.”

As I say in my colloquial vulgar tongue – some big fish was going to be caught (Laughter) or some big deal was going to be made; a great descent was near at hand.

The atmosphere was surcharged with something. There was intensity in concentration, in meditation. Sri Aurobindo was coming later and later to his evening sittings. The scheduled time was 4:30 p.m. and all those inmates, a few in number, used to sit there and wait for Sri Aurobindo's coming; but both his time for sittings and lunch, began to be pushed, pushed, pushed further and further. Nolini-da records that his lunchtime was pushed from four o'clock to twelve midnight! And naturally the sittings even further! So, Purani says:

“Instead of coming to the evening sittings at half-past four, the usual time, Sri Aurobindo came at six or seven, or eight o'clock. One day the record was two o'clock in the morning! It was evident that all his great energies were entirely taken up by the mighty task of bringing about the descent of the Higher Consciousness.”

And mind you, all of them waited, no one went away, they had an evening walk and came back. They waited till two o'clock for the Lord. So, he was so wholly occupied, entirely occupied with that work that he forgot everything. I remember, later on, during the period of my correspondence days, he used to be very, very brief and short – laconic as we see – one or two words in answer. I raised many questions, trying to drag him out as much as I could – illé! [no] (Laughter) I failed! He just put in something, two words, as if in a hurry, and not to disappoint me completely, no elaboration: “Yes,” “no,” “that could be done...”

His answers were very, very short, very dry. I was wondering: “What is the matter? Have I done something wrong?” Then, I dared to ask him: What is the matter with you, Sir? (Laughter) Why don't you give me long answers?

Then he confessed:

“I'm busy trying to get down something. Now that I have got an opportunity, I am at it.” ”[3]

[3] Talks by Nirodbaran at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, December 1969 – July 1970, p.67

From the beginning of November the pressure of the Higher Power began to be unbearable. The day for which the Mother had been waiting for so many long years came on the 24th November. The sun had almost set, and everyone was occupied with his own activity – some had gone out to the seaside for a walk – when the Mother sent round word to all the disciples to assemble as soon as possible in the verandah where the usual meditation was held. It did not take long for the message to go round to all. By six o’clock most of the disciples had gathered. It was becoming dark. In the verandah, on the wall near Sri Aurobindo’s door, just behind his chair, a black silk curtain with gold lace work representing three Chinese dragons was hung. The three dragons were so represented that the tail of one reached up to the mouth of the other and the three of them covered the curtain from end to end. We came to know afterwards that there is a prophecy in China that the Truth will manifest itself on earth when the three dragons (the dragons of the earth) of the mind region and of the sky) meet. Today on the 24th of November the Truth was descending and the hanging of the curtain was significant.

There was a deep silence in the atmosphere after the disciples had gathered there. Many saw an oceanic flood or Light rushing down from above. Everyone present felt a kind of pressure above his head. The whole atmosphere was surcharged with some electrical energy. In that silence, in that atmosphere full of concentrated expectation and aspiration, in the electrically charged atmosphere, the usual, yet on this day quite unusual, sound was heard behind the door of the entrance. Expectation rose in a flood. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother could be seen through the half-opened door. The Mother with a gesture of her eyes requested Sri Aurobindo to step out first. Sri Aurobindo with a similar gesture suggested to her to do the same. With a slow dignified step the Mother came out first, followed by Sri Aurobindo with his majestic gait. The small table that used to be in front of Sri Aurobindo’s chair was removed this day. The Mother sat on a small stool to his right.

Silence absolute, living silence – not merely living but overflowing with divinity. The meditation lasted about forty five minutes. After that, one by one the disciples bowed to the Mother. She and Sri Aurobindo gave blessings to them. Whenever any disciple bowed to the Mother Sri Aurobindo’s right hand came forward behind the Mother’s as if blessing him through the Mother. After the blessings, in the same silence there was a short meditation.

In the interval of the silent meditation and blessings many had distinct experiences. When all was over they felt as if they had awakened from a divine dream. Then they felt the grandeur, the poetry and the absolute beauty of the occasion. It was not as if a handful of disciples were receiving blessings from their supreme Master and Mother in one little corner of the earth. The significance of the occasion was far greater than that. It was certain that higher Consciousness had descended on earth. In that deep silence had burgeoned forth, like the sprout of a Banyan tree, the beginning of a mighty spiritual work. This momentous occasion carried its significance to all in the divine dynamism of the silence, in its unearthly dignity and grandeur and in the utter beauty of its every little act. The deep impress of divinity which everyone got was for him a priceless treasure.

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother went inside.

That the 24th November should be given an importance equal to that of the birthdays of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is quite proper because on that day the descent of the Higher Power symbolic of the victory of their mission took place. The Delight consciousness in the Overmind which Sri Krishna incarnated – as Avatar – descended on this day into the physical, rendering possible the descent of the Supermind into Matter.

Amal Kiran: “The Victory Day of 24 November 1926 brought the Overmind Gods into direct alliance with our Gurus' purpose of earth-transformation and rendered more effective their fight with the occult Evil that acts upon earth from its headquarters on the vital plane either directly or through human beings open to it.”[4]

“What exactly is the significance of the 24th November? Overmental, supramental realisation or what? You say it was something like the descent of Krishna in the material. Some say the descent was in you but you are not matter, are you? Not very clear.

Sri Aurobindo: Why not? Why can’t I be matter? or represent it at least? At least you will admit that I have got some matter in me and you will hardly deny that the matter in me is connected or even continuous (in spite of the quantum theory) with matter in general? Well, if Krishna or the Overmind or something equivalent descended into my matter with an inevitable extension into connected general Matter, what is the lack of clarity in the statement of a descent into the material?”[5]

[4] Amal Kiran, Our Light and Delight: Recollections of Life with the Mother, p.167
[5] Ibid., p.272