Claude de Warren
May 2024
Original English text: Ilion, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 2007
Book Five
The Book of Achilles
It is equally ignorant and far removed from my teaching to seek what I teach in your relationships with human beings, or in the nobility of human character, or in the idea that we are here to establish mental, moral and social Truth and justice according to selfish human conceptions. I have never promised anything of the sort. Human nature is made up of imperfections, even its rectitude and virtues are pretensions, imperfections and the bluster of self-satisfied egotism… Our aim is to base life on spiritual truth, the first step of which is self-giving, union with the Divine and overcoming the ego. Until this foundation is laid, the sadhak is merely an ignorant and imperfect human being struggling against the evils of lower nature.
(Text of a letter from Sri Aurobindo, see L’Agenda de Mère, 18 December 1963)[1]
In Book I, The Book of the Herald, Sri Aurobindo sets out the question he proposes to examine in Ilion, namely what can be preserved from the outer forms of the old yogas in the new yoga, which concerns the totality of being, integrating spirit and matter, from the heights of the spirit down to the smallest cells of our body.
In Book 2, The Book of the Statesman, the adventurer is invited to consider the possibility of uniting the forms of the ancient yogas that made possible the grandiose achievements of the past with the new yoga of the depths, subject to a few concessions, the main one being the recognition that the new spiritual path no longer involves a refusal of life and a mastery imposed from the heights of the spirit (Troy must give Helen back). This point of view is supported by the ‘fallen’ statesman Anténor. He represents not only the spiritualised higher mind, but also an achievement in works. For this union to be possible, he asserts that desire and the ego must be totally annihilated in perfect humility and total abandonment to the divine, in the knowledge that this is not a definitive reversal but a realisation that must allow a return to the path of the Spirit.
In Book 3, The Book of the Assembly, the problem of the reorientation of yoga is considered from several other points of view, the two main ones being those of Laocoon and Pâris.
With Laocoon, “Apollo’s seer obscured by fate”, it is the point of view of superior intuition-vision that is evoked, that of the seer-prophet. But the light he offers “both illuminates and blinds”. In this part of his being, the adventurer shows a lack of humility
Pâris is the symbol of the quest for ever greater mastery with a view to equality. But he is also Alexander, “the man who rejects his outer nature or life”, a symbol of renunciation of life. He defends the idea that we must exercise power over both our own nature and the outside world by a will imposed from above. This view encourages the pursuit of ancient yoga without compromise, whatever the end result.
Aeneas, who bears the seeds of humanity’s future evolution towards Love, confirms the continuation of the battle.
In Book 4, The Book of Farewells, the dialogues concern only the most advanced part of the Spirit. Even if there is still a certain ardour in the adventurer to defend the ancient yoga that separates spirit from matter, what dominates is the awareness that his end has come, that all was for the best and that one cannot oppose the forces that direct evolution.
Different aspects of this yoga of ascent, sometimes very different, are expressed.
There is the enlightened higher mind, represented by Anténor, which refuses to become further involved in the inner struggle. However, the part of this higher mind that remains strongly attached to the form of the old yoga, embodied by his son Halamos, and its latest development, the universalized mind, represented by his grandson Euros, want to get fully involved.
Aeneas, the evolution in the path of love, is also of the opposite opinion and separates from Antenor.
Hélène and Pâris, in a final loving dialogue, reassure each other that what was to be was for the best.
With Cassandra, we understand that knowledge of the future can be of no use whatsoever if the adventurer maintains a certain will to power in his being, in other words, if he is aware that he is the author of his actions. Paris therefore misunderstands the meaning of Cassandra’s words, which announce the destruction of Troy and the future of the Achaean victors.
The quest for evolutionary truth, embodied by Hélène, acknowledges that she is the reason for the war and its inevitability. She describes herself as “a monster of fatality and a prodigy of beauty”.
Polyxena, who represents the last “strange” achievements in the ascent, laments that she cannot unite with Achilles. The adventurer realises that the achievements she embodies cannot endure and bear fruit in the new yoga.
After a digression on the best tactics to use in the extreme battles of yoga, attack or defence, the rest of Book 4 concerns Pentheles, the most advanced realisation in the liberation of the mind, which concerns the liberation from suffering and the union in the mind that brings divine ecstasy.
It trains the universalized mind, Euros, to accompany it in the final moments of this terrible inner struggle, and then invites it to share in the wonders of this achievement after victory.
Summary of Volume 5
Achilles’ envoy passes on to him the negative response of the Trojan chiefs to his offer of conciliation. He also passes on Pentheles’ refusal, the symbol of the highest realisation in the yoga of the liberation of the spirit, which is the liberation from suffering and the realisation of ecstasy obtained by merging in the impersonal divine. This realisation even calls for a direct confrontation in consciousness with the yoga of the depths.
The adventurer knows he has a free choice. Although he has reached a state of compassion that is less eager to destroy, he does not hesitate for a moment, choosing to fight. He knows that refusing to fight would deprive him of the possibility of expanding his consciousness. He asks that which is in him a “perfect work of self-mastery” to mobilise all the faculties that are attached to the minute movements of consciousness.
He knows that it is against the force that supports the development towards the establishment of the mind of light, that is, against the perfection of the mind, that he will fight.
He expresses that he does not need the support of the old practices linked to the enlargement of consciousness – not those aiming at the heights of the mind which are associated with the Trojan camp – but that they can contribute to the overthrow if they feel the need. However, he sternly warns them that the spirit and achievements of ancient yoga must be preserved, which does not seem to be a given a priori.
The Book of Achilles. Detailed study
Meanwhile, having passed through the Trojan gates, the grey Talthybios was on his way,
Stimulated by the secret thought that Destinies are neither changeable nor fallible.
As he passed, Simoïs sighed around the wheels of his chariot, and Xanthe, god of Troades,
Roars like an angry, frightened lion; the ocean breezes
came whistling towards him, and Ida looked at him.
Thus, with haste in his wheels, the herald, leading towards the ocean
Through the gold of the morning, beyond the trampled green of the pastures,
Back to the ships, to the roaring sea, and to the year ringed in iron.
He described his wide circle on the left, where Achilles’ tents
Gathered like still, pensive seabirds on the shore. 10
Having passed the outposts, he launched his horses towards the Argian moat.
With a roaring cry, Talthybios entered the camp in his chariot.
Following the causeway that linked the edges of the moat protecting the ships,
Leaving the vast azure-roofed plains and the silence of Nature behind,
For the hubbub of the men, at the very heart of the besieging army.
There he threw his reins to a slave of the Hellenes, and laboriously descended
From the high seat of the chariot designed for strong men.
Initially Agamemnon’s herald, Talthybios spoke in the name of the highest aspiration to perfect the mental man. Here he is no longer Agamemnon’s herald but Achilles’ messenger sent to the Trojans. In consciousness, he makes the link between the will to descend to purify the deep vital and that which aspires to pursue a yoga in the heights of the mind in the spirit/matter separation. Yoga working in the depths of vital consciousness has taken over from the aspiration that seeks an improvement on the old, ever more intelligence and wisdom (Achilles has taken on more importance than Agamemnon, who is united to Clytemnestra “a renowned wisdom”). The old age of the herald Talthybios and his grey complexion show us that the conviction of the yogas, who have been trying for a very long time to improve the mental man and to convince the other parts of consciousness of this possibility, is an illusion and a failure.
If this aspiration to perfect the mental man no longer has much strength to express itself, the fire that animates it is still powerful. In Book 1, verse 219, it is said that “His body was weak, but the fire that burned within him still gave him a fierce look“. In this passage, he has a quavering voice and has difficulty getting out of his chariot.
This messenger was convinced from the outset of the outcome of his mission, namely the Trojans’ refusal of Achilles’ offer, because the gods had decided from the start that Troy would be lost. (Stimulated by the secret thought that the Fates are neither changeable nor fallible). What is fixed by destiny will be carried out infallibly and cannot be altered in any way.
When he has reached the evolutionary level represented by the Trojan War, the adventurer of consciousness can experience the knowledge of events and trends in the three times – past, present and future – a power obtained through the yoga of knowledge called “trikaladrishti”. Since the unfolding of time is different in the different planes of perception, the seeker cannot know how long it will take for what has been perceived to be fulfilled in earthly time. In Mother’s Diary, entry for 18 April 1961, we read: “For example, if I were asked how long it takes for something decided there to be done here, I would reply that it is absolutely indeterminate. My experience is like this (I always give this example because it was so clear): I saw that India was free thirty-five years before it became free (it was done, it was already done). And I sometimes saw things that, for us, are almost instantaneous: something is decided there, and it’s done almost instantaneously here. And between these two extremes, there are all kinds of possibilities”. And also, mentioning Sri Aurobindo: “There is a certain state of consciousness (I can’t remember what he calls it, I think it’s in the ‘Yoga of Self-Perfection’) where you are perfectly identified with the Supreme (not in its static state but in its dynamic state, i.e. in becoming), and in this state, everything is already there from all eternity. And yet, here, it feels like becoming – but it is there. And Sri Aurobindo says that if we are able to maintain this state, we know everything: everything that was, everything that is, everything that will besimultaneously, absolutely simultaneously. (…)
But then, in that case, the whole impression of uncertainty disappears completely (he explains this well too, by the way).
Don’t we think it’s BECAUSE we do this thing that that other thing happens (and how many times is that!)? We write it all the time, we say it all the time: do this and it will happen), but the fact that one speaks and the other does is also absolutely decreed.
It is likely that if we were to understand this, the head would go out of joint. It could change absolutely nothing about what is. I had this very clear experience: the absoluteness of everything that is materially; and whatever we think we’re doing or plan to do or want to do changes absolutely nothing. But then I was very hard pressed to understand what the difference could be between the true state and the false state BECAUSE, MATERIALLY, EVERYTHING IS EXACTLY AS IT SHOULD BE (we believe that things are like this and like that because of certain reactions, but our very reactions are as absolute, as decreed as the thing itself).”
At this stage of the inner conflict, the seeker notes the perception he or she has of the two currents of consciousness-energy that support the progression to the heights of Spirit. Remember that the “yellow, golden” Xanthus, the current of consciousness leading to complete detachment and dissolution in Spirit, brings with it the will to break down limits and accelerate evolution. Sensing that evolution towards the heights would have to pause, Xanthe, the god of Troad, roars like an irritated and frightened lion. As for the Simoïs, who represents the other tendency, that of Nature taking its time so that nothing is left behind, we can understand that the direction of events suits him (As he passed, the Simoïs sighed around the wheels of his chariot).
In the adventurer, even if evolution promised difficulties, the aspiration for union with the Divine in Spirit, in the non-existent, remained immobile within him (the ocean breezes came whistling to meet him, and Ida looked at him).
That which makes the link between the highest of the spirit and the evolutionary will of purification/liberation in the depths of the vital, is in a hurry for the change that the evolutionary process and the New can bring about, (Thus, the hurry in its wheels, the herald, leading towards the ocean through the gold of the morning).
The idea that evolution could happen quietly is abandoned, which is illustrated by the trampled pastures (beyond the trampled greenery of the pastures).
The end of the following line “and the iron-hooped leaguer” has been mistranslated. The original English ‘the iron-hooped leaguer‘ refers, in the context of a military siege, to ‘an entrenched camp encircled with iron’, i.e. ‘a fortified camp’. The Achaean camp was in fact equipped with several lines of defence consisting at least of a ditch lined with stakes and a protective wall.
This suggests that, although the defences had been breached by the Trojans some time earlier, before Achilles and his Myrmidons returned to battle, they have since been restored. Each of the two camps – of the two possibilities of evolution perceived by consciousness – is therefore well entrenched behind its convictions.
Set against the sea, the fortifications of the Achaean camp form a wide circle that protects the various contingents positioned near their ships. Ulysses is in the middle of the line, with the Atreides Agamemnon and Menelaus close behind him. At either end are the best contingents protecting the army, Achilles on the left when you come from Troy, and Ajax on the right. (He described his wide circle on the left, where Achilles’ tents gathered like motionless seabirds pensive on the shore).
To reach the attackers’ camp, the herald took a causeway overlooking the protective moat. (Having passed the outposts, he launched his horses towards the Argian moat. With a roaring cry, Talthybios rode his chariot into the camp along the causeway linking the edges of the moat protecting the ships)
Sri Aurobindo uses the term Argiens here, which means “white, brilliant, luminous” and/or “rapid”, thus indicating seekers who work for purification and/or who advance rapidly on the path, i.e. without stopping longer than necessary at each stage according to the inner orders received.
We find this word in the very title of Jason’s quest ‘Argonautiques’, which indicates the first spiritual process of purification, which in ancient Greek times was described as a sea voyage, because it was essentially a work on the vital.
Three other names are used by Homer to describe the attackers: “Achaeans” to designate concentration and/or work to suppress the ego; “Daneans” to designate evolution towards union through self-giving; “Hellenes” to describe all those who work to liberate the mind and the vital.
It would seem that the next two lines indicate a descent in consciousness, from the vast spaces of the mind to planes closer to our present humanity (Leaving the vast plains with their azure roofs, and the silence of Nature, for the hubbub of men, in the very heart of the besieging army).
If Sri Aurobindo then mentions a slave of the Hellenes, it is probably not to indicate that the Greeks practised slavery but rather to show that certain parts of the mental and vital consciousness are still not free.
The last two lines of this passage do not reflect the reality of the chariots described in the Iliad, which were low chariots from which the warrior, standing upright, dismounted to fight (There he threw his reins to a slave of the Hellenes, and laboriously dismounted from the high seat of the chariot designed for strong men). If the chariot represents the means of progression used by a particular yoga, this confirms that the link (Talthybios) between the will to perfect the mind (Agamemnon) and the other parts of consciousness has lost its power.
Between endless tent gates, through strings of canvas streets,
The old man with the passionate heart then walked slowly , and ahead of him,
Strolling out of his tent, from which he had emerged at the sound of the incoming chariot. 20
Then came the valiant Automedon, Achilles’ chariot driver.
” Old Talthybios, where are you from? Ancient Troy?
Did your chariot come from a distant tent, and did you come from King Agamemnon
What do the kings of the Argians propose in their armoured assembly?”
“It is not from the army, Automedon, but from Troy, that I arrive with news,
And I didn’t mix with the Greeks lined up in cohorts by the Ocean,
Nor held under the tents of the kings of Achaia, who held the sceptre,
But, sent by Achilles, I take the message back to Achilles.
After a consideration of the multitude of elements involved in this inner struggle, the movement of consciousness that makes the link advances calmly. (Between endless tent doors, through a string of canvas streets, the old man with the passionate heart walked slowly…)
The horses in a war chariot symbolise, according to their name, the type of energy that supports and drives the particular yoga represented by the hero riding the chariot.
Achilles’ horses are named Xanthos (Ξανθός) “golden blond”) and Balios (Βαλιός). The former bears the same name as the river of Troades, the Scamander, which the gods call Xanthe, “golden yellow”, that energy that drives, breaks the limits of time and space. The name Balios probably comes from βάλλω, “to throw far, to dart”.
The driver of Achilles’ chariot is Automedon “he who is master of himself” , a symbol of mastery over external nature . Automedon is qualified by the adjective strong “strong, powerful” in the original version, mistranslated here as “valiant”. It therefore refers to a powerful mastery (…and in front of him, wandering out of his tent, from which he had emerged at the sound of the chariot coming, came the (preux) strong Automedon, Achilles’ chariot driver).
Apparently, there is no obvious flow of information between the different parts of consciousness, because the powerful mastery that directs yoga towards the depths of the vital (Automedon, the driver of Achilles’ chariot) cannot discern where the one known as Agamemnon’s herald comes from, that is to say, as the expression of the greatest mental aspiration directed towards the other parts of the being.
This capacity for mastery also wants to know the origin of this communication: either it comes from the most advanced achievement in the liberation of the spirit (ancient Troy), or from that which aspires to the perfection of mental man, represented by the leaders of the Achaean coalition gathered around Agamemnon in the middle of the camp, i.e. quite far from Achilles’ encampment. (“Old Talthybios, where do you come from? From ancient Troy? Did your chariot come from a distant tent, and do you come on behalf of King Agamemnon? What do the kings of the Argives propose in their assembly in armour?”)
The messenger’s response must be clear, without any mixture of influences. The message he is charged with transmitting is the inner response given by that which leads the yoga of the liberation of the spirit to that which leads yoga into the depths of the vital, which proposed to conserve certain ancient practices that had proved their worth, but under certain conditions. (“It is not from the army, Automedon, but from Troy, that I come with news, and I have neither mingled with the Greeks arrayed in cohorts on the shores of the Ocean, nor stood under the tents of the kings of Achaia who hold the sceptre, but, sent by Achilles, I bring in reply the message to Achilles”).
So, tell me, what is the Peleid doing? Is he resting his strength?
To the sound of the soothing lyre, or to the song of the exploits of the Great Ones, 30
Or to skirt, as he likes to do, the shore of waters that echo far away?”
And to the grizzled Argian herald, Automedon replied:
“He rests after his meal, and Biseis plays the lyre for him
Singing one of the Iliac songs of old in the language of the Trojans”.
‘So it is early, Automedon, that he has restored himself and is resting?’
“Early the meat was put on the spits, Talthybios, early the meat was put on the spits, Talthybios, early the meat was put on the spits
We ate and rested far away on the sands, or under the tents.
Achilles is the son of Thetis, daughter of the “old man of the sea”, and Peleus, which is why he is called a Peleid. We explained the symbolism of this couple mainly in Volume 1 of this study, summarising the work of purification/liberation in the depths of vitality.
What transmits the message in consciousness is not intimately connected to what gave rise to it, so Talthybios ignores the state Achilles is in, probably wondering whether the message can be properly received.
At this stage of progress in yoga, it is very difficult to perceive exactly how consciousness functions in the vital layers closest to the body. All the more so because the process of objectifying the phenomena that occur in these deeper layers has been transferred from the realm of the highest mental aspiration (Agamemnon) to perception by the subtle senses. Observation and its translation into everyday language have become very difficult.
The person passing on the information wonders whether the person who is directing the yoga in this deep vitality is at rest, in a state of peace and harmony, recalling significant stages of this yoga, or even wandering in an area where snatches of very deep vital consciousness are manifesting themselves (“So, tell me, what is the Peleid doing? Is he resting his strength to the sound of the soothing lyre, or to the song of the exploits of the Great Ones, or skirting, as he likes to do, the shore of the waters that echo far away? “).
Briseis was taken captive by the Achaeans during the sack of Lyrnessos, a city on the Troad, and given to Achilles as a prize. Agamemnon then took her back. In Canto II of the Iliad, we read: “For the divine, swift-footed Achilles lay in his ships, angry at the memory of the beautiful-haired virgin Breiseis, whom he had taken from Lyrnessos after taking that city and overthrowing the walls of Thebes with great toil”.
Before proceeding to reverse the direction of yoga defended by the Trojans, it is first necessary to attack what constitutes its outermost protections. These are represented by the various cities razed to the ground by the Achaeans before they reached Troy.
The city of Lyrnessos could be understood as the basis of a vital and mental state of harmony (Lyrnessos: λύρα, lyre + ΣΣ). The lyre is in fact the instrument of the god Apollo, the force that watches over the establishment of the “mind of light”, which is a fully harmonised mind. In Canto XIX of the Iliad, Briséis is said to be “like golden Aphrodite“
Thebes represents the structure or organisation that enables the purification process in the yoga of the liberation of the spirit.
The adventurer must therefore renounce being a sage and a saint in order to take the shadow upon himself and offer it to the Divine in order to transmute it and go further in yoga.
From this point of view, if the old yoga structures that led to this wisdom and holiness are to be destroyed, the goal must be preserved: Briseis, which represents a goal of harmony and love, naturally becomes the goal of Achilles, but on a different basis.
Briseis knows the Iliac songs in the language of the Trojans, which was Ionian. There were in fact many dialects in ancient Greece, the main ones being Ionian, Aeolian and Dorian (“He rests after his meal, and Biseis plays the lyre for him, singing one of the Iliac songs of old in the language of the Trojans”). The name Ionia evokes the evolution of higher consciousness, the Aeolian, liberation, and the Dorian, gifts received.
The last three lines of this passage, in which the expression “early” is repeated three times, could indicate that the yoga of the depths is ready to take over at any moment. (“So it is early, Automedon, that he has eaten and is resting?” “Early the meat was threaded on the spits, Talthybios, early…”
Of the fiery red hunt, not one knows the hour, nor on what prey he will pounce:
They are all like dogs on a leash, because Achilles does not communicate his plans.
But on the ships and in the tents, words flow like the Peneos ; 40
Some hope to be unleashed on Troy, and on the battle-hardened wolves that are Priam’s progeny,
The others joined forces with Argos to finish off the Spartans,
Drowning their brightness in blood, or revelling in the sands of the shore
Playing bowls with the heads of the Cretans and the cunning Ulysses.
Either, or both, would be very welcome: that’s how we’ll evolve in the dances of Ares,
Activating our hearts that rest has slowed, and our limbs that it has numbed.
We want war, and no longer to sit at the edge of the monotonous murmur of the waters”.
We are now in the final moments of the last day of the ten years of the war. Mother has often explained that in Yoga, reversals always happen at the last moment, when they are no longer expected or even hoped for. But the nature of the reversal and the new evolutionary direction is most often ignored by surface consciousness until the last moment, although it expects terrible destruction, a bloody struggle. (Of the fiery red hunt, not one knows the hour, nor on what prey he will pounce: all are like dogs tugging at their leashes, for Achilles does not communicate his designs).
The various components of the yoga of the depths are the subject of much speculation. The Peneos is a river of Thessaly whose descent is confused and we do not know what symbolism Sri Aurobindo attributes to it. Thessaly is the province of the beginnings of the quest up to the first great experience. (But on the ships and in the tents, the word flows like the Peneos)
The first tendency is to hope for a confrontation with yoga in the heights of the mind that separates spirit from matter (some hope to be unleashed on Troy, and on the battle-hardened wolves that are Priam’s spawn).
The second is to attack the other branches of yoga which, for the moment, together with yoga in the depths of the vital, form the coalition that internally opposes yoga in the heights of the spirit.
In this second option, there are two alternatives. Either by uniting with the yoga of observation and vigilance (uniting squarely with Argos), put an end to the promising new directions that are emerging in the quest for greater freedom, Helen being Queen of Sparta (putting an end to the Spartans, drowning their brilliance in blood). Or, which would be easier and more entertaining, attack the elementary foundations of yoga (Crete) and, on the other hand, that which aims to allow energy to flow freely between the unconscious and the conscious (or to amuse oneself on the sands of the shore playing bowls with the heads of the Cretans and that of the cunning Ulysses).
The force that is the tool of overthrow becomes urgent, and the adventurer of consciousness is ready to accept any outcome, any struggle in yoga, as long as it puts an end to this interminable and monotonous uncertainty that brings numbness (Either or both would be welcome: so we will move in the dances of Ares, activating our hearts that rest has slowed, and our limbs that it has numbed).
As they talked, they saw Achilles’ tent in the distance,
As splendid and spacious as the home of a haughty clan chief should be,
Imposing in height, and attached to the Phrygian meadow by around a hundred stakes. 50
Bronze souvenirs and trophy armour hung from its sides,
Swords, spears, helmets and breastplates of fallen heroes
Slaughtered by the hand of the mighty Achilles when he was fighting against Troy.
Its canvas rooms were overflowing with riches looted from the Troads,
Finely carved wood and painted ivory,
Bronze work, gold work, the artist’s dreams.
In these sumptuous tents, captive under the redoubtable guard of the Hellenes,
Noble sons and daughters of high-born Phrygians,
Brought from the sad ruins that were now the sites of their childhood,
Served the will of the Phthian Achilles in the land of their forefathers. 60
Sri Aurobindo is here describing what houses the directing element of the yoga of the depths, what constitutes its basis, which has nothing to envy to those of the other yogas represented by the chiefs of the clans enumerated in the second song of the Iliad in The Catalogue of Vessels. The adjective Phrygian refers to the inner fire or what feeds it. (As they talked in this way, they saw Achilles’ tent in the distance, as splendid and spacious as the home of a haughty clan chief should be, imposingly high and fixed by a hundred stakes to the Phrygian meadow).
This base incorporated yoga techniques of both protection and resolution from the yoga of the liberation of the spirit (trophy armour, swords, spears, helmets, breastplates of fallen heroes slaughtered by the hand of the mighty Achilles when he waged war against Troy). She has also integrated valuable capacities in the field of the Yoga of works (Her canvas rooms overflowed with riches plundered in Troy, works of craftsmen, finely carved wood, painted ivory, bronze work, gold work, the artist’s worked dreams).
Finally, controlled by the planes of the vital and the individualised mind, it incorporated the most developed practices, achievements and new orientations of the ancient yoga (In those sumptuous tents, captive under the fearsome guard of the Hellenes, noble boys and girls of high-born Phrygians). All this was separated from that which had contributed to their development and was now subject only to the yoga of the depths (Brought from the sad ruins that were now the sites of their childhood, they served in the land of their forefathers the will of the Phthian Achilles).
There, half stretched out on his bed, with his powerful and radiant beauty,
Loved by the Fates and condemned by them, spearheading their will against Troy,
Of Peleus the heroic son by the foam-white daughter of the waters
Resting dreamily, letting his death-giving hand dangle from the bed.
Next to him was black-eyed Briseis, the fatal and splendid captive,
Sang to the Greek conqueror songs from the land of his ancestors,
The song celebrating Ilos, the story of the glories of Troy.
Sitting next to the singer, the boys and the Trojan virgins listened to
With a delighted heart, albeit with a few tears; for Fate makes you bend
The hearts of mortals, and we are not long in coming to terms with our fate. 70
In the mortal world of mythology, it makes sense for a son to be more powerful than his father, because descent can mean an increase in power. On the other hand, in the world of the gods, a son more powerful than his father indicates a profound reversal in evolution. This was the case first with Cronos, who mutilated his father Ouranos, and then with Zeus, who dethroned Cronos, and each time the order of the world was turned upside down: the evolutionary foundations changed.
In Homer’s time, the initiates knew that the time had not yet come for a new reversal, the passage from mental consciousness to the supramental, but that an intermediate stage between present-day man and supramentalised man had to be prepared. Indeed, the forces that govern the subconscious and supraconscious were already interested in the transformation of the deep layers of vitality: Zeus and Poseidon were courting Thetis, daughter of Nereus ‘the old man of the sea’, who embodies the purity of the depths of vitality (of Peleus the heroic son by the foam-white daughter of the waters). But Themis foretold them that the son to be born would be greater and stronger than his father: Now, in their midst, the wise Themis said that, according to fate, the goddess of the waves (Thetis) would give birth to a king more fearsome than his father, a king whose hand would hurl darts more terrible than lightning and the invincible trident, if she were united with Zeus or one of his brothers. “Do not suffer this. Let Thetis enter the bed of a mortal, and see her son perish in war, a rival of Ares by his arm. My opinion is that this divine alliance should honour Peleus, son of Aeacus, the most pious mortal that the soil of Iolcos is said to nurture”. (Pindar 8th Isthmic)
To avoid being dethroned, the gods decided to marry Thetis to the mortal Peleus, so that their child would be superior to his father but inferior to the immortals.
It was then necessary to provide a new impetus for humanity. But the one that occurs here is the result of a union that the gods usually condemn, since it involves the impregnation of a high-ranking goddess by a mortal, even one who is the most ‘consecrated’ to the gods (Peleus is the most pious of mortals). This is the first time that the spiritual force that reigns over the archaic layers of vitality and a seeker who has reached this level of equality and self-sacrifice have been able to work together. This was the role assigned to Peleus and Thetis.
Informed by his mother Thetis, Achilles knew that he would have a glorious but short life if he set out for Troy. “My mother, the silver-footed goddess Thetis, told me that there were two different fates open to me in my death. If I stay and fight around the city of the Trojans, I will never return to my homes, but my glory will be immortal. If I return to my home, to the beloved land of my homeland, I will lose all glory, but I will live to be very old, and death will not seize me until many, many years later. (Homer, Iliad IX, 413)
Achilles is therefore loved by the Fates because he represents what it is in the adventurer that must make the switch to the yoga of the depths in the body (the spearhead of their will against Troy). But it will have a short life because, after the reversal, the descent into the vital to illuminate it with the supramental light will prove to be a fairly brief passage (loved by the Fates and condemned by them). For, as in the case of the mind, the vital can only achieve supramental perfection when the work has been done in the body. Mother refers to this point in Agenda Volume 2, 7 November 1961, when she explains the process followed with Sri Aurobindo: “When I came back from Japan and we started working, he had brought the supramental light into the mental world and he was in the process of wanting to transform the mind. He said to me: “It’s strange, it’s a never-ending work! You get the impression that nothing is done – everything is done, and everything is always being redone.” So I gave him my impression, coming from the old days, I said: “It’ll be like that until we get to the bottom. So, instead of continuing to work in the Mind, the two of us (that is to say, I was the one who was experiencing… what can you call it?…), we worked together, practically, objectively. practically, objectively; he had the experience in consciousness only, but the body did not participate, whereas my body always participated), we both descended almost immediately (in one or two days it was done) from the Mind (leaving the Mind in the state it was in, i.e. in full light but not permanently transformed) into the Vital, and so on quite rapidly. “A rather curious thing happened: when we were in the Vital, all of a sudden my body became as young as I’d been when I was eighteen! (…) It didn’t last very long, just a few months. (…) Then we descended into the Physics – then all the difficulty began. But we didn’t stay in the Physical: descended into the Subconscious, and from the Subconscious into the Unconscious. And we worked like that. And it was only when I descended into the Unconscious that I found the divine Presence, there, in the centre of the Obscurity.”
Achilles, who represents the inescapable truth of evolution (with his powerful, radiant beauty), put an end to many practices and certainties concerning yoga and evolution, being in this respect the rival of Ares according to Pindar, and in this poem “letting his death-giving hand hang from the bed”.
We have seen above the symbolism of Briseis. This part of the seeker thus becomes aware of or relates to the achievements of the liberation of the spirit, of the conquest of the ego and of desire (Near him, black-eyed Briséis, the fatal and splendid captive, sang to the Greek conqueror songs from the land of her ancestors, the song celebrating Ilos, the story of the glories of Troy).
The other goals and practices of yoga for the liberation of the spirit that had just been developed were assimilated with some nostalgia but without too much difficulty to the new direction of yoga. Sri Aurobindo then drew a parallel with ordinary humanity, which struggles to remain faithful to a goal it has set for itself. He does not specify the reasons, but we can guess that it is because of a lack of willpower, courage, dedication and endurance. (Sitting next to the singer, the boys and Trojan virgins listened with delighted hearts, albeit with a few tears; for Fate bends mortal hearts without difficulty, and we are not long in consenting to our fate
But now Automedon stood in the doorway with the dark Argian;
At this ominous arrival, the singer’s voice faltered
And he fell silent, as a melodious thought ends in heaven.
The Peleid, leaping from his bed, called out to the herald:
“Envoy, you lingered long in Ilion, mute in the golden halls
Of old Priam, while around you, swaying with blind impetuosity,
The judgement of minds rebellious to constraint was clouded
And of natures at war with the gods and their own fate. It would have been my pleasure to fathom
The thoughts of Deiphobos, locked in this natural bronze,
Now he faces his destiny in the city of his fathers. 80
You don’t seem to have peace in you. Are you then the sower of a seed of ruin
Launched by the unyielding heart and hesitant tongue of Aeneas,
Or, with a burst of radiant laughter, by the indomitable and illustrious Alexander?
In the adventurer of consciousness, a kind of balance is struck, introduced by a powerful mastery (Automedon), between the “endurance sustained by the inner fire” (Talthybios, the herald) that has been in contact with the highest levels of realisation in the liberation of the spirit and that which wants to purify and illuminate the deep vital (Achilles). (But now Automedon stood in the doorway, with the dark Argien;) This brought to an end what had been celebrating a state of harmony won in the ancient yogas (At this ominous arrival, the singer’s voice altered and fell silent, as in heaven a melodious thought comes to an end).
The will to purify is astonished that the link in consciousness has taken so long to establish itself (the Peleid, leaping from his bed, calls out to the herald: “Envoy, you have lingered long in Ilion, mute in the gilded halls of old Priam…). She knows that the more time passes, the more lucid and combative the mental forces that oppose the changeover become. These forces, which support the liberation of the spirit and aim for extinction in the paradises of the mind, are naturally rebellious to a transformation of external nature and a complete liberation of the vital (... while around you, swaying with blind impetuosity, the judgement of spirits rebellious to constraint was obscured…).
This will to purify perceives that this attitude opposes the designs of the forces of the surmental within him – although certain gods still support the Trojan camp – and constitutes a refusal to accept the movement of Becoming (And of natures at war with the gods and their own fate).
There is something of a regret in the researcher that he was unable to confront ‘that which has conquered fear’ from the heights of the mind in a completely locked context, a yoga made up of absolute rules (Deiphobos), with that which has to finish conquering it in the depths of the vital, which requires great adaptation and flexibility (Achilles) (I would have been pleased to fathom the thoughts of Deiphobos, locked in this natural iron). Remember that since the death of Hector, Deiphobos has been considered the leader of the Trojans and that Homer in the Odyssey (IV, 265) describes him as “like the gods”. He is therefore the most influential movement in the heights of the spirit in the structures of ancient yoga (now that he is facing his destiny in the city of his fathers)
Those who animate the yoga of the depths already perceive that the attempt at conciliation with the ancient yogas has been rejected by the latter, in particular by two movements:
-
- First of all, by that which must continue the yoga towards Love in the distant future, represented by Aeneas, son of Aphrodite, who with his father will be the only or one of the only men to survive the destruction of Troy. According to Sri Aurobindo, this yoga aimed at the realisation of Love can only continue after the incarnation of Truth in humanity. We understand that Aeneas represents an aspect of the enlightened mind that is inflexible in its essence but hesitant in its expression (To see you, Peace does not inhabit you. Are you then the sower of a seed of ruin sown by the inflexible heart and hesitant tongue of Aeneas,…)
- Then by yoga, which, confident and relaxed because nothing can change its position, is convinced that the separation of Spirit and Matter, in other words the rejection of incarnation, is the only way to evolve towards the Divine, and does not want to change its mind at any cost (Or, in a burst of radiant laughter, by the indomitable and illustrious Alexander?)
The grey Talthybios replied: “Without a doubt, their own loss has embraced them,
Covering their ears and eyes with her hair, lest they see her and escape,
Kissing their tongues with her fatal lips and dictating the answers.
Evil is the hope of their leaders, and fierce the will of their assembly of the people:
Son of the Aeacids, your offer is rejected with contempt; the pride of your challenge
We prefer him; he’s more like Dardanos, King of the Hellenes.
Hélène will not be dragged captive at her husband’s feet, 90
Nor, going down the paths of peace, will she see again the Eurotas of her fathers.
Death and fire can get the better of us, but we will never give in,
Lowering the peaks of Priam and tarnishing the splendours of Ilion.
We were not born of forefathers who capitulated, but of kings and gods.
Larissian, Troy does not buy its safety with its gold, but with the tip of its javelin.
Stand with your oath in the front line, Achilles, call on your seconds
So that they may descend armed to your aid from the calm Olympian peaks
And put up a barrier between your fame and defeat; for we all long to meet you in battle,
Being of strength to destroy you at last, or subdue you, by the waves of the Xanthe.”
Such is their reply; they are loyal to their death, and constant in seeking their ruin. 100
The inner messenger answers that it is doom, in other words unstoppable forces that act without the seeker’s knowledge in certain parts of his consciousness that flee incarnation or do not concern themselves with it so that the seeker can merge into Non-Being. These forces act by blinding and deafening these parts of consciousness, i.e. by depriving the seeker of the capacities for vision and inspiration – capacities for seeing and hearing the truth established only in the intuitive mind. For, if they were conscious, these parts would probably find a way to escape the destruction of all they have built. (Their own doom has embraced them, covering their ears and eyes with its locks, lest they see it and escape it, kissing their tongues with its fatal lips and dictating the answers).
The hope of this part of the consciousness is harmful to it, all the more so because it is supported by a very powerful personal will, the one that has enabled it to reach this high Trojan achievement (harmful is the hope of their leaders, and fierce the will of their assembly of the people).
Achilles was later called ‘Son of the Aeacids’. Aeacus is in fact Achilles’ grandfather and the symbol of a yoga that has begun to focus on the most minute manifestations or reactions of the deepest vitality and the body, symbolised by the Myrmidons, the “ants”, those minute movements of yogic consciousness that purify right down to the bone, to the deepest part of the body.
The seeker becomes aware through what directs the yoga of the depths that he will not obtain the support of that which in him obtained the magnificent ancient realisations through fixed rules of behaviour and practices from which one must not deviate (Son of the Aeacids, your offer is rejected with contempt).
This ancient spirituality, which envisages no other path to the divine, prefers to confront this yoga of the depths by demonstrating its vanity in trying to transform what Nature has built up over millions of years of evolution (the pride of your challenge is our preference…).
The progression towards the liberation of the Spirit and the ascent to the enlightened mind embodied by Dardanos, the founder of the Trojan lineage (see Plate 16V2), was also a hard struggle to suppress ego and desire. So this ancient spirituality prefers things to be clear-cut rather than accept uncertain compromises (it is more like Dardanos, O King of the Hellenes).
Achilles is here named King of the Hellenes in the sense that he represents the yoga that will achieve the dual liberation of mind – the liberation of the spirit – and life (ΛΛ+Ν).
This old spirituality does not accept that the right evolutionary direction towards greater freedom should return to the starting point, towards a consideration of the totality of being, as if the quest for Spirit and Love had been a mistake (Helen will not be dragged away as a captive at the feet of her husband).
Nor does it accept, even if it were to submit to the new orientation, that the right evolutionary direction (Helene) will allow a new expansion of consciousness (the Eurotas). The river Eurotas is in fact a stream of consciousness-energy whose name means “a vast enlargement of the spirit”. It rises in Arcadia, flowing over the plain of Laconia and the city of Sparta, “that which is begotten”, the kingdom of Menelaus, Agamemnon’s brother and Helen’s husband. (Nor, going down the paths of peace, will she see again the Eurotas of her fathers
This ancient yoga accepts its disappearance, both in its practices and in its structure and rules, but it is adamantly opposed to any reorientation that would bring high achievements into contact with the trivialities of life and render dull the illuminations and glories of the spirit. (Death and flame may get the better of us, but our wills will never yield, lowering the summits of Priam and tarnishing the splendours of Ilion).
These verses remind us once again that, as Satprem says, “the best of the old is always the greatest obstacle to the New”. Mother also often repeated that she had come to abolish the old rules and that the illuminations of the past seemed to her, from the point of view of the new yoga, like child’s play.
This part of the consciousness which supports the ancient yoga sees itself as the heir to the yogas which enabled the high achievements of the past. To achieve this, it has had to develop endurance and tenacity in the past, never giving up, and it has been supported by the forces of the supermind. (We are not born of forefathers who capitulate, but of kings and gods).
Its permanence is not the result of acquired powers but of hard combat (Larissien, Troy buys its security not with its gold, but with the tip of its javelin).
Achilles is here called Larissian, the town of Larissa in Central Thessaly being reputed to be his birthplace rather late in life. Larissa is situated on the banks of the River Penea, the source of the lineage of Lapithes, symbols of sincerity and the will to transform rather than impose one’s mind on the forces of life.
Sincerity is therefore the foundation on which the yoga represented by Achilles will be built. Mother gives many indications about sincerity, especially in the Talks. We will mention just one passage here.
“To begin with, it must be said that sincerity is a progressive thing, and as a being progresses and develops, as the universe unfolds in becoming, sincerity must go on constantly improving. Any halt in this development necessarily changes yesterday’s sincerity into tomorrow’s insincerity.
“To be perfectly sincere, it is essential to have no preference, no desire, no attraction, no disgust, no sympathy or antipathy, no attachment, no repulsion. One must have a total, integral vision of things, where everything is in its place and where one has a similar attitude towards all things: the attitude of true vision.” Mother, Interviews, 19 December 1956
But Achilles is best known as King of Phthia in Southern Thessaly. He therefore marks the culmination of the yoga begun with Jason’s quest, the moment when the adventurer achieves mental and vital liberation, the moment when peace and perfect equality are realised in the deepest vital.
Map of Thessaly, cropped from old public domain map of Greece, from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/greece_ancient_n_ref_1926.jpg north
The parts of consciousness which support the old yoga desire with all their might the ultimate inner confrontation so that this period of uncertainty may cease. They even defy the forces of the supermind which support reversal of yoga towards the depths of vitality so that they may protect the fame of the achievements of this new yoga from bitter disillusionment. (Stand with your oath in the front line, Achilles, call upon your seconds to descend armed to your rescue from the calm Olympian peaks and erect a barrier between your fame and defeat…)
They all want to get involved in this ultimate battle, convinced of their victory, whether this yoga towards the depths is abandoned or even just put at the service of the old yoga. (…because we all want to meet you in combat,
Being forced to destroy you at last, or subdue you, on the banks of the Xanthe).
The link between the different parts of consciousness, for its part, has no uncertainty about the outcome of the conflict (Such is their reply; they are loyal to their death, and constant in seeking their ruin).
Expect not, O hero, Pentheles’ humbler answer;
Insolent, belligerent, royal and lively, just like her message.
“Ocean of renown and warrior valor that fills the world with your rumour,
The embodiment of swiftness in battle, the human replica of Ares!
Wild terror and delight, like a lion being chased or being chased!
The terror of the world and my target, glorious light-footed hero!
Thus, son of Peleus, my reverie has imagined you, in lands too far away
So that you know about it, and about the mountains that have never heard your battle cry.
Oh, I’ve longed for you, warrior! And that’s why, to your message today,
I was filled with such joy that my heart ached with delight, 110
Because I know that today I’ll see with my own eyes what I could only imagine
In the mental air, or meet on the paths of my daydream.
First I praised you with my words; now I’d like to answer you with my javelin.
Yet because of your haughty disdain, you who, looking at me as you would a Hellenic woman
Or one of those weak women from the plains who are just good for the distaff,
Promise me capture in battle and fame as your slave in the Phthiotides, – A promise which I have no doubt will be matched by your death this day, –
I’m going to answer you now and warn you before we clash.
Remember that Penthelesia represents the highest achievement of the ancient yogas, the liberation from suffering that consecrates the end of desire and the ego, to the maximum of the inner fire. This has been achieved through perfect detachment resulting from renunciation of life and mastery of the lower nature.
This realisation, the crowning achievement of the ancient yogas which aimed at dissolution in the bliss of non-being, is all the less ready to sacrifice itself for a reversal of yoga with unpredictable results. It is also a response of willingness to confront that is given, from the height of this magnificent achievement which knows itself to have reached the heights of yogic accomplishment, that is to say, the heights of personal realisation. (Do not expect, O hero, a more humble response from Pentheles; insolent, bellicose, royal and lively like herself is her message
This realisation of the heights of the mind admits that the yoga of the depths is beginning to have great importance, both in the rapidity of the succession of experiences and in the destruction of the old practices and rules which are proving to be an obstacle to its development. These destructions are similar to those carried out by the god Ares to help the movement of evolution. (Ocean of renown and warrior valor that fills the world with your rumour, incarnation of readiness to fight, human replica of Ares!)
Confronting this yoga of the depths can bring both enjoyment and terror, depending on the position from which you intervene, “like a lion being chased or being chased”. This yoga can be terrifying because of the changes it brings about, but for the highest realisation in the spirit, it is only a target to be reached, a direction of yoga to be destroyed with pleasure (The dread of the world and my target…). This high realisation can also see how quickly this yoga of the depths progresses (…glorious light-footed hero!).
Until this precise moment in the seeker’s progress, there was no possible contact between the two yogas, the one of ascent to the heights, which refused to get involved in life, and the one aspiring to greater purification and liberation in the mental and vital realms. This rapprochement could only be in the realm of supposition. (This is how, son of Peleus, my reverie imagined you, in lands too far away for you to know…). Nor had the yoga of purification/liberation yet ventured to question the structures, rules and practices of ancient yoga (…and of the mountains that never resounded with your battle cry).
Note that at this stage we are not yet talking about Liberation from Nature, i.e. liberation from the laws of nature that have governed the body since time immemorial.
The highest realisation in the ecstasy of union with the Divine has, however, longed for a confrontation which now comes to fruition, bringing a certain enjoyment in the spirit. (Oh, I have longed for you, warrior! And that’s why, at your message today, I was seized with such joy that my heart ached in its rapture).
Now the confrontation between the two directions of yoga will no longer be merely a guess of the mind or an effect of the imagination. (For I know that today I shall see with my eyes what I could only imagine in the mental air, or meet on the paths of my musings).
When it was still only the first results of the yoga of the depths, the yoga of the heights could tolerate it and even accord it a certain value. But this is no longer possible because the former has taken too great a place in consciousness (Thus I first praised you with my words; I would like to answer you with my javelin).
As soon as he reaches a certain stage of descent into the depths of the vital, then the subconscious, yoga becomes so difficult and the path so unknown that the adventurer tends to consider the achievements of the yoga of the heights, with its illuminations and ecstasies, as child’s play. (Cf. Mother’s Diary). Efforts to achieve mental and vital individuation (the Hellenes), or even efforts preliminary to the quest to develop the virtues and qualities preliminary to the quest, efforts of those who do not yet aspire to rise to the heights of the spiritual quest, are seen from a very great distance. This attitude can be seen as haughty and even disdainful both by those who have achieved the liberation of the spirit and those who are still struggling to free themselves from fear, desires and the ego. (And yet, because of your haughty disdain, you who, looking at me as you would at a Hellene or one of those weak women who are just good enough for the distaff…)
The part of consciousness that supports the yoga of the depths promises to subjugate to it the realisations of the spirit. But the highest realisation in the spirit is certain that it can put an end to this vain hope of transforming matter.
(…promise me capture in battle and fame as your slave in the Phthiotide, – a promise which I have no doubt will be fulfilled by your death this day -,…)
It will begin, however, by ‘informing’ yoga of the depths of its achievements and its power, so that the seeker is fully aware of the difficulties he or she will face in this ultimate inner struggle, in which the future of the individual spiritual quest and that of humanity will take shape. ( I’m going to answer you now, to warn you before we confront each other
Know me as the queen of a race that has never been defeated in battle,
And armed with a javelin that never missed its target in battle! 120
Where the wheels of my chariot run, the farmer then reaps a good harvest.
You know this. Ajax, your friend, told you by his death.
Has the spirit of Merion not come to warn you in your dreams?
Before I went into battle, did you not once count the Argians?
Count them now, and gauge the warrior Penthesileus.
Such am I, whom your dreams have seen with my forehead submissive to Larissa,
And in the battle, following me, thunder the Aeotian heroes,
Simple soldiers whose weakest can measure up to the vaunted chiefs of the Argians.
Never before have they run away from the shock; if they get away from their opponent,
It’s always coming back, like death whose circle closes in on humans. 130
This achievement is the result of a yoga that has never yielded in the face of obstacles and that has always succeeded in overcoming the rather distant ones on which it has concentrated; a yoga through which, thanks to , the adventurer has conquered courage, perseverance, endurance and many other qualities needed to fight fear, doubt and discouragement, and to free himself from desires and the ego (Know me the queen of a race that has never been defeated in battle and armed with a javelin that has never missed its target in battle!).
The new paths he opened up were then expanded and developed with precise structures to allow easier access to the corresponding realisations, either for the renewal of experiences or for the spiritual seekers who came after. (Where the wheels of my chariot run, the farmer then reaps a good harvest
Consciousness that looks to the depths cannot ignore all this.
Ajax, known as “the great” Ajax to distinguish him from the little Ajax, a friend of Achilles. The oldest tradition, dating back to Phecydes in the fifth century BC, says that he is the son of Actaios, “a great openness of conscience”, and Glauce, “brilliant”. He therefore represents a great expansion of consciousness, more in breadth than in height, undoubtedly a universalisation of the mind.
He came from Salamis with twelve ships to fight in Troy. Salamis is a small island off the coast of Piraeus, the port of Athens, whose name could evoke “a consciousness receptive to liberation”. Being so close to Athens, we understand that Ajax represents a consciousness that functions under the direction of the inner master.
Tradition, as far back as The Little Iliad and Pindar, has it that he committed suicide after Achilles’ weapons were attributed to Ulysses rather than to him; in other words, the adventurer realises that it is not this still essentially mental consciousness, however vast it may be, that can direct yoga into the depths of the vital. Ajax, however, is considered the greatest in strength and courage after Achilles, meaning that this expanded consciousness is second only to the yoga of the depths as a power of realisation. (You know this; Ajax, your friend, told you by his death).
Merion was an archer who came to Troy from Knossos, Crete, accompanying his uncle Idomeneus, grandson of Minos. He is the symbol of a tension geared towards discernment. He is said to be one of the most valiant fighters in the Achaean camp, the part of the consciousness that best discerns the right evolutionary direction. Homer calls him “a peer of the murderer Ares”: this discerning part is in fact best able to eliminate what is no longer good for evolution.
Merion came from Lyktos, a town on Crete built with the word Lykos meaning “the light that precedes dawn” and an inserted Tau, the symbol of a well-balanced light emerging in the spirit.
He was a son of Molus, “the warrior, the combatant” (Iliad XIII, 231), himself the illegitimate son of Deucalion, “the one who calls for union”, the latter being the son of Minos, “the evolution of discerning intelligence” (Plate 23). Molus was therefore a half-brother of Idomeneus. His death could indicate that mental discernment alone is insufficient to thwart experiments in the heights of the mind that wish to perpetuate themselves. (Has the spirit of Merion not come to warn you in your dreams?)
The highest achievement in the spirit boasts of having eliminated from the inner battle not only the universalisation of the mind and mental discernment, but also a host of other qualities, practices and advances in the field of purification. This should alert the adventurer of the depths to the magnitude of the obstacle to be overcome beforehand (Before I entered battle, did you not once count the Argians? Count them now, and gauge the warrior Penthesileus. Such am I, whom your dreams have seen with my forehead subdued by Larissa)
This realisation of the heights is said to be supported by new yogas. The Eoens refer to the goddess of the dawn, Eos, the force that brings forth the New, the force that precedes the sun, the symbol of supramental light. The most insignificant of these new practices produce at least as many results as the well-established practices of purification (And in battle, following me, thunder the heroes éoens , simple soldiers whose weakest can measure up with the vaunted chiefs of the Argians). These new practices never give up, and if they take a step back, it’s only to win afterwards. (They have never yet fled in shock; if they distance themselves from their adversary, it is always to return, like death whose circle closes in on humans).
As I am, so are my armies; yet this I promise you:
I am fighting on the left flank of the Trojans with my troop of glittering weapons;
You, Achilles, on the right flank of the Argians, advance to meet me!
If you can keep us routed in Troy, I’ll swear you in for my master,
I will do all your will and make you more glorious than the gods,
Serving yourself in your Phthiotid bed, and drawing water from your rivers with the jar.
If you have the strength, then chase me, hunter, and take me,
If you really hope that the sun can turn away from the East :
But if you can’t, you’ll capture my death or your own.”
For the confrontation to take place, a meeting point on the battlefield must be decided. The indications given by Sri Aurobindo perhaps express, with the left and the right, that the highest realisation in the spirit will maintain itself in a receptive attitude (I, I war on the left flank of the Trojans) while that which leads the yoga of the depths will position itself in activity (You, Achilles, on the right flank of the Argians, advance to meet me!). What’s more, the location chosen, neither on one side nor the other, encourages a certain neutrality with regard to other considerations.
The highest realisation in the heights promises that all the qualities and practices that it governs will submit to the yoga of the depths and even help the latter to rise above the surmental, provided that it can demonstrate its great superiority (If you can drive us back in rout in Troy, I will avow you for my master, do all your will and make you more glorious than the gods). Then it is no longer the totality of the practices and achievements of the two opposing parties in consciousness that are considered, but what is most advanced in each of them, i.e. the direct confrontation of Achilles and Pentheles (What am I saying! If you have the strength, then hunt me down, O hunter, and take me).
This high realisation of the spirit is convinced that the light or supramental consciousness cannot stop illuminating the domains of consciousness where the New has been manifesting since the dawn of time (If you really hope that the sun can turn away from the East).
But if what leads to the double liberation of mind and life cannot subjugate the highest realisation of the yoga of the spirit in divine intoxication, then one of the two will have to disappear from evolution (But if you are unable to do so, you will capture my death or yours). From this point of view, the adventurer considers the two movements absolutely irreconcilable.
Achilles listened thoughtfully, and for a moment silenced his courage, 140
Meditating on Destiny, the will of man and the plan of Heaven,
Then he tore himself away from his thoughts, and in his soul turned to the battle.
“I knew what reply I would get from the princes of Troy.
The hearts of heroes are subject to wrath, and to a blindness sent by God
When they are deprived of what they want and harassed by Fate and disaster :
Valour then armours itself vehemently against grief and its abandonment.
In this way, the gods skilfully shaped man to suit their purposes.
Before admitting to himself that the yoga of the heights, including its highest achievements, is ready neither to compromise nor to give up its domination, the adventurer, inclined to turn towards the depths, pauses inwardly. He considers human evolution and sees how the will of men, even for the most apparently just and noble reasons, can be opposed to divine goals (Achilles listened pensively, and for a moment silenced his valour, meditating on Destiny, the wills of men and the plan of Heaven). We can draw a parallel here with Arjuna’s hesitation to fight his own family (Then he tore himself away from his thoughts, and in his soul turned towards battle).
What in the consciousness points towards the yoga of the depths seems to be what is least subject to deformation by the ego, or at least what remains of it, for, as Sri Aurobindo says, there is always a remnant of ego in the wise and the holy. This part is not surprised by the refusal of the old yoga to evolve (I knew well what retort would come to me as the princes of Troy drew near) because the best of the old is always the greatest obstacle to the New. This best rebels and loses its discernment under the effect of forces sent by the divine when it is shaken in its achievements, its hopes, its structures and even its existence (The hearts of heroes are subject to wrath, and to a blindness sent by God when they are deprived of what they want and harassed by Fate and disaster). He then shelters his strength behind a shell of violence to counteract his pain and what he has to give up. (Valour is then armoured with vehemence against grief and its abandonments
This is how the spiritual forces of the supermind in charge of forms skilfully constructed the human psyche to suit their purposes. For the forces of the supermind have the sole purpose of carrying out the specific task for which they were created (Thus the gods, skilfully shaping man, adapted him to their ends).
The challenge once aroused in my depths an impetuous Fury
Who burned for justice and vengeance, and satisfied, knew no rest
And did not return to his lair until the insulter had died, torn to pieces, or begged forgiveness on his knees. 150
When I was young, my heart was ferocious and exulted in triumph and slaughter.
Now, as my spirit assimilates me to the immortals, my race,
I find more joy in saving and cherishing than in carnage.
To my mind, it seems greater to be the ruler of men than their executioner,
More noble to build and govern than to destroy in the heat of the moment
What the ages, manifesting their divinity, have taken pains to create
Or shaped by eminent gods. As I mature, my heart opens wider
To the value of men and the beauty of women,
To the labours of the world and its delights; the wine of my victory is not sweetened
Not the joy of hatred, but the human pride of triumph. 160
We have already spoken of the Furies or Erinyes on several occasions. They are vengeful spirits who intervene to punish perjury and family crimes, or forces that put man back on the right path of evolution when he strays from it.
When the yoga of the depths emerges as a necessity to put the seeker back on the right evolutionary path (When I was young, my heart was fierce and exulted in triumph and slaughter), he has to fight furiously against the established things and cannot be satisfied until the opposing forces are annihilated or subdued, and the corresponding forms destroyed. He believes that the New can only appear after the old has been wiped out, that the old forms must be destroyed so that new ones can be fashioned. (Defiance used to awaken in my depths an impetuous Fury, who would set herself ablaze for justice and vengeance and, satisfied, would not rest or return to her lair until the insulter had died torn to pieces or begged forgiveness on his knees
But when the seeker has brought the psychic into the foreground and begun to develop the surmental within him (Now, as I assimilate myself through my mind to the immortals, my race), he perceives more the possibility of transformation rather than destruction. This transformation makes it possible to adapt at every moment to the movement of Becoming and avoids the feelings of loss and pain resulting from destruction. (Now, as my spirit assimilates me to the immortals, my race, I experience more joy in saving and cherishing than in carnage).
This passage is illustrated by the battle of the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux against the Apharetids Idas and Lynceus, which took place just before the great overthrow of the Trojan War and in which the only survivor was Pollux, “the very great sweetness”.
In the Catalogue of Women attributed to Hesiod, it is also said that “Leto, irritated with the children of Hera, the beautiful one with the beautiful braids, predicted to her own children
that they would surpass in honours those of Hera…”. Apollo, the god of the mind of light, would thus surpass Ares, the god of the destruction of forms.
This desire to transform rather than destroy was the reason why, before taking the city, Achilles forbade the Achaean leaders to destroy it once it had been conquered. According to the Odyssey, he was not listened to.
The adventurer feels more joy in preserving the forms and practices that can be preserved and even in giving them a certain value, more greatness in putting them in their rightful place than in suppressing them (I feel more joy in saving and cherishing than in carnage. To my mind it seems greater to be the ruler of men than their executioner).
Destruction, whether external or internal, is most often the result of a short-lived explosion of energy. But it takes a very long time and a great deal of work for the divine essence of humanity, or what the forces of the supermind brought to the surface, to be expressed once again in forms. (It is nobler to build and govern than to destroy in the anger of a moment what the ages, manifesting their divinity, have taken pains to create or what the eminent gods have fashioned).
The adventurer has acquired great compassion in the course of his progress. He recognises more fully the courage of those who practise yoga through humble daily work, the great truth of the goals of yoga, whatever they may be, and the joy of creation (Matured, my heart opens wider to the value of man and the beauty of woman, to the labours of the world and its delight).
What he now seeks is beyond duality and exclusion, a new evolutionary stage that includes everything, spirit and matter, and to which all parts of the being contribute freely with a view to the final supramental realisation (the wine of my victory is not sweetened by the joys of hatred, but by the human pride of triumph).
But combat was decreed to be the supreme recourse for mortals
Placed in a world where everything from earthworms to Titans is in conflict.
So I’m going to take by storm what peace would deny my soul access to,
And I will woo with the sword and with love those who delight my enemy,
Troy and Polyxene, the beauty of Paris and the glory of Priam.
Such was the ancient struggle, such was the spirit of warfare
Worthy of the demigods. Soon, in the city of gold and marble,
Where Ilos and Trôs sat, where Laomédon triumphed,
The house of Peleus will reign; the Hellenes will hold sittings where the Trojan
He thought he was immortal.
The adventurer, however, as Arjuna did, must recognise that struggle has been established as a supreme law of human evolution subject to duality and death, that is, as long as humanity is not supramentalised. This law concerns all kingdoms, from the most minute forms of life to the greatest spiritual powers. (But combat was decreed to be the supreme recourse of mortals placed in a world where everything, from the earthworm to the Titan, is in conflict).
What the spiritual seeker cannot acquire by compromise, which maintains an apparent peace but deprives his soul of an essential element for total progress, he must seize by struggle (So I will take by storm that to which peace would deny my soul access…).
It is a struggle that resembles a love conquest, which must destroy what stands in the way of the new but preserve the foundations or the spirit of the yoga of the liberation of the spirit (Troy), the most astonishing achievements (Polyxene), the truth of equality acquired through detachment (Paris) and that which refused to separate spirit from matter (Podares who became Priam “the redeemed”) (And I will woo with sword and love that which gives joy to my enemy, Troy and Polyxene, the beauty of Paris and the glory of Priam.)
Destroying the forms (practices) that stand in the way of evolution, but preserving the spirit and its finest achievements: these were the foundations of spiritual warriors in ancient times, adventurers who had achieved the liberation of the spirit (Such was the ancient struggle, such was the spirit of war worthy of the demigods).
At this point in his progress, the adventurer still believes it is possible that this will be the case again, from both an individual and a terrestrial point of view. Achilles cannot imagine Troy in flames and Polyxena dead.
On the resplendent and true basis of the yoga that led to the liberation of the spirit (Ilos), to right development on the level of the spirit (Tros) and perfect mastery of the outer being (Laomedon), the seeker believes that the new yoga of the depths, which aims for greater liberation, will be able to subdue the forms and practices that part of him thought indispensable to spiritual evolution. (Soon, in the city of gold and marble, where Ilos and Trôs sat and Laomedon triumphed, the house of Peleus will reign; the Hellenes will hold sittings where the Trojan thought himself immortal).
Get up, Automédon! On the road to the people! 170
Send the proclamation across the naves and tents of the Myrmidon nation.
May there not be a single straggler when the wheels of my chariot
With great noise they will cross the carriageway, and that not a man, if he wants me to wish him well,
Do not turn your back during the fight, until, masters of the doors of the opponent,
Our assault drives the herd of their survivors inside, and we enter Troy on their heels
When evening comes and Helios hastily sinks into the sea. As for you, Briseis,
Set aside your lyre, O maiden; it will gladden and charm my heart
To hear your song in my triumph, when I return victorious from Troy,
Bringing Pentheles, captive, bound to the wheels of my chariot,
And bringing the reward of my valour, Polyxena, daughter of Priam, 180
Conquered in spite of her city, her brothers and the spears of her people.
So it is better to seize by force what you desire, and be powerful.”
The adventurer accepts that the outcome will be an internal struggle at the end of which one of the parties will be defeated. He asks what in him is a “perfect work of self-mastery” to mobilise all the capacities for attention to the slightest movements of vital and bodily consciousness (Get up, Automédon! On your way to the people! Launch the proclamation across the naves and tents of the myrmidon nation).
Concentration must be total, without any distractions, when this phase of inner conflict really begins, when the yoga of the depths attacks the old yoga (May there not be a single straggler when the wheels of my chariot clatter across the pavement…). All the practices which support this yoga must be turned towards this single aim: to make oneself master of all access to the spirit of the old yoga, that is to say to demonstrate that the new yoga takes over the spirit of the old yoga (…and that not one man, if he wishes me to wish him well, turn his back during the combat, until, masters of the doors of the adversary…). The practices of the old yoga that survive this onslaught will then be preserved insofar as they are linked to this spirit, but used only under the direction and for the purposes of the new yoga (…our onslaught pushes the herd of their survivors inside, and we enter Troy on their heels…).
This will happen at the moment when the supramental light descends deeply into the vital (When evening comes, when Helios sinks hastily into the sea). Indeed, the principle explained by Mother and Sri Aurobindo is that once united with the supramental light or consciousness, the adventurer must descend the planes and irradiate the mind and then the vital with this light so that it can finally infuse the subconscious and the bodily unconscious.
Pending the overthrow, that which in the adventurer celebrates harmony and love – Briseis, “like Aphrodite of gold” – must be temporarily set aside until the new yoga is established and the highest realisation of the old yogas is subjected to the new … (As for you, Briseis, set aside your lyre, O maiden; it will delight me and charm my heart to hear your song at the time of my triumph, when I return victorious from Troy, bringing Penthesilea, captive, bound to the wheels of my chariot …).
This new yoga, sure of its worth, believes it can integrate the many astonishing achievements in identification with the divine in spirit (Poly+Ξ+Ν), and this despite the adventurer’s conviction that only the structure and practices of the old yoga are capable of acquiring them (…and bringing the reward of my worth, Polyxena, daughter of Priam, conquered in spite of her city, her brothers and the spears of her people).
The last line of this passage indicates that the seeker accepts to use his strength to impose his will on the other parts of his consciousness that appear to oppose the right evolutionary movement (Thus it is better to seize by force what one wants (desires), and to be powerful).
Full of joy, Automedon dashed through the sleepy Hellenic camp,
And his race changed the murmur of the tents into the clamour of battle ;
For in the giant tumult of a triumphant nation rising up,
Hellade leapt from its dull idleness and mounted its war chariot;
Dressed in her shining armour, she was looking forward to hearing the trumpets of battle.
The driver of Achilles’ chariot, Automedon, “he who is master of himself”, is the symbol of mastery over external nature and therefore the expression of a powerful will and equality in Sri Aurobindo’s sense. It is responsible for mobilising all the resources that deal with yoga in the depths of the vital and body, everything that deals with minute movements and requires highly concentrated and acute attention.
It is a joyful mobilisation of everything in the adventurer that had been put on hold concerning the process of universalising the mind and the vital, in order to devote himself to the problem of evolutionary direction. (Full of joy, Automedon dashed through the sleepy camp of the Hellenes, and his race changed the murmur of the tents into the clamour of battle).
Sri Aurobindo discusses here some of the criteria for evaluating progress that he indicates in The Synthesis of the Yogas, Part IV, Chapter 13, The Action of Equality. He begins by reminding us what he means by equality: “Equality is not simply immobility or indifference, not a withdrawal from experience but a superior position in relation to the current reactions of mind and life. It is a spiritual way of responding to life, or rather of embracing it and forcing it to become a form of perfect action of the self, of the spirit. This is the first secret of the mastery that the soul must have over life”. Then he lists four criteria: “The first task of the sâdhak (spiritual seeker or aspirant) is to make sure that he possesses perfect equality and to what extent; if not, he must find the flaw and relentlessly exert his will on his nature or appeal to the will of the Purusha to get rid of the flaw and its causes. He must possess four qualities: first, equality in the most practical and concrete sense of the term, samatâ, being free from all mental, vital and physical preferences, accepting equally all the works of God in and around him; second, solid peace and absence of all disturbance and disorder, shânti; third, pure inner happiness, invariable spiritual well-being in his natural being, sukham; finally, clear joy and the laughter of the soul that embraces life and existence as a whole. To be equal is to be infinite and universal; not to limit oneself, not to bind oneself to this or that form of mind and life or to their partial preferences and desires.“
The last line of the previous paragraph refers to the mobilisation of the will that is needed to achieve equality.
Achilles’ strike and subsequent acceptance of the Achaean camp’s decision shows that the adventurer has acquired a certain “equality in the most practical and concrete sense of the term, that he is free of all mental and vital preferences”.
The joy of Automédon evokes a progression in the last criterion, “a clear joy and the laughter of the soul that embraces life and existence as a whole”.
But “invariable spiritual well-being in one’s natural being” is not yet achieved, because it is an “irksome ease”, an “unpleasant well-being”, caused by the inner conflict. The sudden remobilisation of forces turned towards the yoga of the depths brings back spiritual well-being. (For in the giant tumult of a triumphant rising nation, Helladia leapt from unpleasant ease (dull idleness) and mounted her war chariot).
Everything that is mobilised to achieve mental and vital liberation is then clothed in excellent protection for the inner battle to come (Putting on her shining armour, she rejoiced to hear the trumpets of battle).
Now the Peleid turned to the herald laden with years, and the old man
She shivered under his gaze, and recoiled at the hero’s voice:
“You, to the tents of your Kings, Talthybios, herald of Argos! 190
Stand in the Argian assembly as the voice of Achilles’ strength.
Don’t worry about the anger that your message may provoke in the biggest and most violent people.
Don’t think of yourself, old man, as a body, as mortal flesh,
But as the embodiment of the word coming from the brazen heart of Hellene.
You shall address the defeated chiefs who have fled before a woman as follows
And make my will known to the fragile and fleeting legions:
The old age and grey complexion of the herald Talthybios, first herald of Agamemnon, show us that the conviction that the yogas who have been trying for a very long time to improve the mental man and to convince the other parts of consciousness of this possibility, is an illusion and a failure, despite the fire that still animates him.
This conviction therefore feels a retreat in the face of a yoga that takes a completely different direction, no longer perfecting the mind but towards the depths of the vital (Now the Peleid turned towards the herald laden with years, and the old man shivered under his gaze, as if recoiling from the hero’s voice).
Now, in the final battle to come against the yoga that separates spirit from matter, it is a question of asserting the primacy of the yoga of the depths over that of vigilance and the perfecting of the mind represented by the heroes of Argolid, not that the latter should be abandoned but only placed in second place. (“You, to the tents of your Kings, Talthybios, herald of Argos! Stand in the Argian assembly as the voice of Achilles’ strength”).
This vigilance and this will to perfect the luminous mind are insufficient to measure up to the highest ecstatic realisations conquered by the fire of union in the heights of the spirit.
The unification of this part of consciousness may encounter certain difficulties on the part of yoga, which is convinced that it is a question of improving the mental man (Don’t worry about the anger that your message may provoke in the biggest and most violent people).
Those who have long carried the message of this improvement must change their inner stance: no longer consider their impending end but their role as the bearer of the most essential and uncompromising expression of yoga in search of greater freedom (Do not consider yourself, old man, as a body, a mortal flesh, but as the embodiment of the word that came from the brazen heart of Hellene).
Those parts of the consciousness that have yielded to the highest realisation of the spirit – the intoxication of union with the impersonal Divine – will have to submit to that which directs the yoga of the depths (In these words you will call out to the defeated leaders who have fled before a woman and make my will known to the fragile and fugitive legions).
Now Achilles turns his attention to Troy and the fast-flowing Xanthe,
Now he’s pouncing on the resistance zone, on the impregnable city.
Two were the Forms of the Gods that towered above the Peleid’s sails
When, having an ambiguous word in his soul, driven by the wind he came from Hellad, 200
Splitting the Aegean abyss towards Ida, a vision crowned with pine trees.
Two are the Fates, who follow the hero’s swift march and count his exploits.
The fearless soul is master of all earthly things:
Death alone she cannot be sure of, whether it comes at midnight or not,
Trampling on the bed of Kings in their pomp, or charging forward with the javelin’s staff.
Here it is: I’m going to tip this double scourge of the Olympian scales
Claiming one of the equal destinies that await the fighter,
Because I’m off for my last, relentless battle against the Sky Archer,
And before the morning light has awoken the eagles on Ida,
Troy will lie face down on the ground, or the earth will be empty of the Phthian Achilles. 210
What drives yoga from the depths turns towards ancient yoga and the stream of consciousness-energy that drives evolution and breaks down limits. And it is Troy, the symbol of the foundations and practices of ancient yoga, which is the limit of evolution, a resistance as solid as iron (iron zone), an indestructible structure. (Now Achilles turns towards Troy and the fast-flowing Xanthe, now he pounces on the zone of resistance, on the impregnable city).
The adventurer has had an inner revelation of the forces that govern the profound vitality of the choice before him, but he doesn’t seem to have an exact understanding of it. Twice, Thetis, Achilles’ mother, has revealed a probable destiny to him.
Firstly, by pointing out two possible fates: “My mother, the silver-footed goddess Thetis, told me that a twofold destiny would lead me to my death: if I remain here fighting around the city of Troy, it is certain that I will never return home, but my glory will be imperishable; if, on the other hand, I return home, leaving the land of Troy, the sublime glory will not be mine, but I will live long, and the fate of death will not strike me quickly“. (Iliad, Canto IX, verses 410-416).
A second time after the death of Patroclus, a symbol of the ancient achievements of mental observation of the minute movements of consciousness, because Patroclus is a descendant of Myrmidon. She then specifies the moment of the second possibility: “You are therefore condemned to a quick death, my child, if you speak like this, for your own death is at hand, immediately after Hector.” (Iliad, Canto XVIII, verses 94-99).
Sri Aurobindo evokes this uncertainty about the evolution of the spiritual quest, an evolution that depends on the forces of the supermind, but places it before the inner conflict really begins (before the beginning of the battles) (Two were the Forms of the Gods that overhung the sails of the Peleid when, with an ambiguous word in his soul, driven by the wind he came from Hellad…). This happens before the part of the consciousness that turns to the yoga of the depths becomes fully aware of the past realisation, the union in the heights of the spirit (Splitting the Aegean abyss towards Ida, vision crowned with pine trees).
Two evolutionary possibilities therefore accompany an adventurer who advances in yoga very rapidly, without ever stopping at any experience or achievement (Two are the Fates which follow the hero’s rapid march and count his exploits). In the diary, Mother often mentioned the fact that she is moving extremely quickly, compared to the rest of humanity and even to the most advanced disciples.
The soul or psychic being of the fearless one can become the master of his nature in all its aspects, but it cannot decide when an evolutionary movement will end, whether this end occurs in total unconsciousness, trampling on power in its pride, or whether it results from instantaneous destruction. (The fearless soul is master of all earthly things: over death alone it cannot be sure, whether it comes at midnight, trampling on the bed of Kings in their pride (rather than pomp), or whether it swoops down with the javelin’s staff).
The part of the consciousness turned towards the yoga of the depths is determined to put an end to the inner conflict, whatever the outcome. It considers that both possibilities are equal, which shows that it has acquired perfect equality, without even a preference. (Behold: I am going to tip this double scourge of the Olympian scales by claiming one of the equal Fates which, coated, await the fighter
This final battle is presented as a struggle between a part of human consciousness that knows it must descend into the deep vital and the force of the highest supermental that sustains the yogas in the heights of the spirit. It is always a question of what seems to be a law of evolution, namely that a movement cannot cease until it has reached the term assigned to it by divine clocks. It is only when man thinks that all is lost that a new light appears. It is to this moment that the adventurer approaches, a moment that will see either the end of his yearning for change, or a destruction of the forms of the old (For I leave for my last relentless struggle against the Archer of heaven, and before the morning light has awakened the eagles on Ida, Troy will lie face down on the ground, or the earth will be empty of the Phthian Achilles
Apollo is called the Archer of heaven – heaven in the sense of the highest planes of the spirit (heaven) – because he is a power of the supermental that aims at distant goals of evolution, the establishment of the Mind of Light. The eagles on the Ida (ΙΔ) symbolise the highest mental conceptions that refer to union with the Divine in the Spirit (ΙΔ). The name of Achilles’ province, Phthisia (ΦΘ), can be understood as “a (new) Consciousness penetrating the inner being”.
But whatever Destiny I accept from the ever-young Immortals,
Whether I am awaited by cold, dark Hades, or by the vast Indus
Spilling into the sea amid the roar of its countless waters,
I’m good enough with Zeus. I don’t want your human help,
And towards Troy I soar like Zeus’ eagle flying towards the thunderbolts, –
Winged with power, a bird of space, floating its feathers.
My ardour will not turn to look at the onslaught of your Danaan fighters.
Or the heavy march of the Argian multitudes coming to the aid of my solitary courage,
Nor to hear the Achaean clamour behind me swell and die,
Or the winged voice of the Atrid guiding his legions. 220
He does not need a leader who is the soul of his own action.
Zeus, his Fate and his spear are enough for the Phthian Achilles.
Whatever the outcome of this inner battle decided by the forces of the supermental, which are continually adapting to the movement of becoming, it is totally accepted by the seeker. (But whatever Destiny I accept from the ever-young Immortals…)
The yoga of purification from the depths that wants to emerge can bury itself in the unconscious if the time has not yet come (May I be awaited by cold, dark Hades…). It can also be drawn towards humanity’s future by the innumerable currents of consciousness/energy that aim for greater union with the Divine (ΙΝΔΥΣ) (…or by the vast Indus that empties into the sea amid the crash of its countless waters…). The Indus lies far to the east of Greece, like a promise of future times on the side of the rising sun, of the supramental.
But in both cases, this part of consciousness knows that all the other yogas in the field of purification/liberation and expansion of consciousness will be of no help to it in this ultimate battle (I’m enough, with Zeus. I don’t want your human help…).
Against the old forms, the yoga of the purification of the subconscious rises, in the image of the highest thought of the supermental which rises for a lightning action, with the power, the universalisation and the instantaneousness of an action of this plane. And towards Troy I soar like the eagle of Zeus that flies towards the thunderbolts, – winged with power, bird of space, letting its remiges float.
Sri Aurobindo then evokes the three great categories of yoga that have confronted unsuccessfully the yoga of the heights that separates spirit from matter, represented by the Danaans, the Argians and the Achaeans.
The Danaans, whose name is derived from Danaos (Δ+Ν) represent a yoga that evolves in spirit/matter unity. He is a son of Belos “liberation in incarnation”, founder of the lineage of purification/liberation, ancestor of Heracles. It is his daughter Hypermnestra (built with υπερ+ μνηστηρ), “who desires that which is beyond” who, united with Lynceus “the piercing sight or discernment”, will continue the lineage. (My ardour will not turn to seek with its gaze the surge of your Danaan fighters…
The Argians (a name derived from Argos) symbolise a yoga of vigilance, rapidity of progress and purification. With the structuring letters (ΡΓ), this means an impulse towards the right movement. In this verse, their tramping (tramp) could indicate a yoga that moves forward painfully despite the many, many practices. (Or the heavy march of the Argian multitudes coming to the aid of my solitary courage…
The Achaeans represent practices of concentration which, like a fleeting swell, cannot last, or perhaps also fleeting attempts to suppress the ego (Neither to hear the Achaean clamour behind me swell and die…).
Finally, this yoga of the depths says that it has no need either of the yoga that works to improve the mental man represented by Agamemnon, son of Atreus (or the winged voice of the Atrid guiding his legions).
When the psychic being has come to the fore and outer nature is entirely submissive to it, the seeker no longer needs any particular form of yoga (he has no need of a leader who is the soul of his own action).
Divine help, the task at hand, determination and courage are all he needs (Zeus, his Fate and his spear are enough for the Phthian Achilles).
On this point, and when it came to doing the yoga of the cells, however, Mother discovered that practising the mantra proved to be an invaluable aid.
Rest, tired armies; for you my arm will conquer Troy,
Tamed as soon as the dark Aeotians let go and Penthelesia
Lying at my feet like a flower in the dust. Yet if Ares requires you,
So come and meet him once again, amidst the booing and the heavy trampling!
Around accustomed leaders, old victorious fighters,
Gather up the weary forces left behind by Deiphobos or Aeneas the Intractable.
The part of consciousness linked to the yoga of purification of the depths persuades the practices that seek to improve the mental man – the camp of the Achaeans – that it does not need them to carry out the reversal.
Sri Aurobindo refers to the Trojans here as ‘Eoens’, a name formed from that of the dawn goddess Eos, to indicate that they are the most advanced forms of the yoga of liberation of the mind (the adjective used to describe them is ‘stern’, which we translate as ‘inescapable’ rather than ‘dark’). When these forms and highest and most beautiful achievement of this yoga of the heights – the ecstasy of union with the Divine in the mind – have yielded to the pressure of the yoga of the depths, then the old structures can be destroyed. (Rest, O tired armies; for you my arm will conquer Troy, tamed as soon as the (dark) inescapable Eoans give up and Pentheles lies at my feet like a flower in the dust).
However, even if it considers itself sufficient to bring about the reversal, this yoga turned towards the depths does not reject the help of ancient practices, in particular those that have made it possible to cancel out fear or that have contributed to the evolution of love in an inescapable way. (And yet, if Ares asks for you, come and meet him once again amidst the booing and heavy trampling! Gather around the accustomed leaders, the old victorious wrestlers, the weary forces left behind by Deiphobos or Aeneas the Intractable
But when my arm and my Destiny have vanquished their gods and defeated Apollo,
When we stand, gleaming with blood, amidst the marble splendours of Ilion, 230
Let no one place the dull flame on the magnificence of the Phrygian marbles
Or by his barbaric rapine shatter the rooms of gentleness,
Throwing away the work of the gods and the beauty for which the ages have lived.
For then he will groan in the night, far from the earth and its green,
Spurred like a steed towards the finish, by my spear plunged deep into his chest
It will soon pass into the land of plaintive waters and joyless meadows.
Don’t touch the city built by Apollo, where Poseidon toiled.
Taken, deprived of its rudder and stripped of its belt of Apollonian ramparts,
Empty of tanks rolling on all sides and the trampling of a turbulent people,
Troy, with its marble buildings, will remain for our living nations in its beauty, 240
Silent amidst trees, wheat fields and palaces decorated with paintings by the ancients,
Watching his dreams reflected in the waves of the Scamander,
Sacred and immobile, a city of remembrance spared by the Greeks.
While Achilles’ ‘arm’ essentially represents the strength of the yoga of the deep, it probably also embodies many other qualities associated with this yoga: courage, perseverance, endurance and so on.
Its “destiny” is the “task” that the seeker, in this specific part of his consciousness, must fulfil in this incarnation. Indeed, at this stage, the essence of this task has been revealed to him, even if the way in which it is to be carried out and its unfolding in time are still partly hidden from him. It is this ignorance that is the cause of the long symbolic duration of the Trojan War.
This part of the consciousness linked to the yoga of the depths projects itself into the near future, when it will have overcome the forces of the supermental that support the old yoga, which, beyond the liberation of the spirit, aims for even greater conquests and, more particularly, the establishment of the ‘mind of light’, symbolised by Apollo. (But when my arm and my Destiny have overcome their gods and defeated Apollo)
It does, however, issue a solemn warning to the other parts of consciousness, warning them that when they have completed the destruction of the forms of the old yoga, they must not destroy, through a will to purify that is not sufficiently receptive to the divine inner orders, the magnificent foundations of the ancient spirituality (its spirit) (let no one install the dull flame on the magnificence of the marbles of Phrygia), nor must they, under the influence of a capturing vital ego, destroy the harmony achieved in certain parts of the being (or go by his barbaric rapine to shatter the chambers of sweetness).
For these foundations and this harmony are the work of the forces of the supermind, and express the truth for which humanity has toiled for millennia (Throwing away the work of the gods and the beauty for which the ages have lived).
Here we return to Sri Aurobindo’s aphorism at the beginning of Volume 1: “Break the moulds of the past, but keep your achievements and your spirit intact, otherwise you will have no future”.
If any part of the mental consciousness attacks the foundations and achievements of the ancient spiritualities, the yoga of the depths promises it a swift and painful end, this part then being plunged into the depths of the unconscious (For then it will groan in the night, away from the earth and its verdancy, spurred on like a steed towards the finish line, by my spear plunged deep into its chest).
Sri Aurobindo then mentions certain parts of the subterranean worlds of mythology, the realm of Hades, god of the unconscious. The e Cocyte (κωκυτός) is described there as the river of “lamentations”. It can be understood as a stream of consciousness that embodies in the seeker regret, the events of his life that he cannot forgive himself and that descend into the unconscious until this is resolved, in this life or in another (He will soon pass into the land of plaintive waters…
In the Asphodel field, the souls of the dead who do not deserve the rewards of the abode of the blessed – the Elysian Fields – wander. It is the image of a place of transition where a practice has been totally disconnected from its original purpose, and can therefore bring no satisfaction, no real joy (…and joyless meadows)
This part of the consciousness linked to the yoga of the depths orders those who work to perfect the mind not to touch the structures established for the liberation of the Spirit, elaborated by the highest of the supermind, the Mind of Light, and for which the subconscious has worked so hard (Do not touch the city built by Apollo, where Poseidon toiled).
When the reversal of yoga is effected towards the depths, this ancient yoga which worked towards the heights of the spirit will no longer receive any guidance to direct itself and will be deprived of the protection given by its luminous intuitions, by the Mind of Light (Caught, deprived of a rudder and stripped of its belt of Apollonian ramparts…). He will no longer have the support of many practices (Empty of chariots rolling on all sides and the trampling of a tumultuous people). Perhaps Sri Aurobindo is referring in this verse to the multitude of spiritual, philosophical and religious schools, each advocating a different path to awakening and liberating the spirit.
The foundations and structures of this ancient spirituality will then bear witness to its Truth in human evolution (Troy with its marble buildings will remain for our living nations in its beauty).
Although it cannot offer an answer to the new evolutionary directions, it will bear witness to past achievements in the midst of the new yogas of self-improvement, through the memory of its magnificent organisations (Mute in the midst of trees, corn, palaces decorated with paintings by the ancients).
The adventurer, in the sacred and now frozen forms of this ancient yoga, will be able to continue to observe the past dreams of an impatient aspiration towards the Divine in the Spirit that animated this yoga. And on this memory, which has not been erased by the mental ego, he will be able to build the future (Observing the reflection of his dreams in the gliding waves of Scamander, sacred and immobile, a city of remembrance spared by the Greeks).
You will warn the arrogant hearts of the chieftains of Achaia in these words
To prevent misfortune from befalling Greece and its princes from perishing.
Herald, take care not to soften my words for the ears of your compatriots,
Thus sparing their pride and their hearts, but condemning their lives to a mortal blow.
Even your snows touched by time will not protect your days from the edge of my sword.”
The old man’s heart churned, but he feared Achilles and, slowly,
Following the grey shoreline on the edge of the resounding ocean, 250
He made his way in silence towards the Greek tents and the Argian assembly.
There, on the sands, while the whistle of the tide pulls on the pebbles
Struggling in vain against the rumours of armies, waiting for their leaders,
Each of them in the midst of his tribe and his people, far along the Aegean shore,
The sons of Argolid, the Epirotic lancers, the people of the islands and those from the south,
The Locrian swarms, the Messene pikemen and the Theban forces,
Multitudes with weapons, eyes and fair hair, broken by time in Ares,
Stretching out in gaudy, dazzling lines, in a sparkle of javelin points,
As far as the eye could see. All of Europe, helmeted and in armour
Swarming along the coasts of Asia, hundreds of men disgorged from their ships. 260
The leader of the yoga of the depths invites those who make the link with the various yogas concerned with the enlargement of consciousness not to distort the message he is sending, namely that the spirit and the achievements of the ancient yoga must be preserved from all destruction, otherwise there will be an interruption in spiritual evolution. (In these words, you will warn the arrogant hearts of the clan chiefs of Achaia to prevent misfortune from befalling Greece and its princes from perishing
In fact, Talthybios is Agamemnon’s herald and not Achilles’, which may mean that the inner message between the different parts of consciousness has been distorted in favour of improving the mind. Everything that has come together symbolically around Agamemnon is in fact aimed at broadening and improving the mind, rather than plunging into the subconscious and unconscious with a view to radical transformation. The adventurer must convince himself that there is no longer any time to dither about past goals, no matter how important their achievements and how attached he may be to them, otherwise everything will disappear. (Herald, take care not to soften my words for the ears of your compatriots, thus sparing their pride and their hearts, but condemning their lives to the mortal blow
Even spaces of inner communication that have been totally purified of all mixture and ignorance cannot prevent the destruction of this tool of communication. (Even your snows touched by time will not protect your days against the edge of my sword
The seeker then feels inwardly a certain uneasiness, bordering on irritation, at having to transmit to all the parts of consciousness concerned with enlargement, the imperative to follow the tilting movement and what it demands. (The old man’s heart chafed, but he feared Achilles and, slowly, following the grey shore along the edge of the resounding ocean, he made his way in silence towards the tents of the Greeks and the Argian assembly).
The sound of life is drowned out by the impatient sound of change (There on the sands, while the sound of the tide tugging at the pebbles struggled in vain against the rumbling of armies awaiting their leaders).
Sri Aurobindo mentions the innumerable practices and/or qualities represented by the Achaean coalition, each belonging to a particular larger yoga, and details some of them (Each of them in the midst of his tribe and his people, far along the Aegean shore).
First of all, what concerns vigilance, speed of progress and purification/liberation (Les fils de l’Argolide).
Sri Aurobindo then mentions the contingents from the South and the Islands, including Crete, Rhodes, Evia, Salamis and the Sporades. The significance of these provinces is detailed in the chapter on the Trojan War on the website.
Epirus is a region in north-western Greece where the oldest Panhellenic sanctuary in ancient Greece was located at Dodona, a symbol of the ability to align, when all the planes of being are working in the same direction. The Iliad (II, 750) mentions a contingent from this city on the banks of the river Titares (the Epirotic lancers…).
Locrida is a province to the north of Boeotia, opposite “Holy Evia”. The Iliad (II, 527-535) mentions the Locrians commanded by Ajax son of Oileus during the Trojan War. He is the ‘little’ Ajax, the symbol of yoga directed by the personal will. He is called “Ajax the swift”, because of his rapid progress in yoga (The swarms of Locrians,…).
Messinia is a province in the south of the Peloponnese, the birthplace of Nestor, the symbol of the evolution of aspiration and rectitude (the Messene pikemen).
The strength of the warriors of Thebes refers to the power of the process of purifying the centres of consciousness/energy or chakras (and the Theban forces).
These very many warriors of the Achaean coalition represent qualities and practices that are luminous and therefore true: right practices, right discernment, right intuition, which have been perfected over time for yoga battles, especially those that break limits. (Multitudes with weapons, luminous [light] eyes and hair, broken by time in Ares).
It was all very well organised and true, with a great deal of correct practice (...stretching out in rigorous, luminous lines (gaudy, dazzling), in a sparkle of javelin points, as far as the eye could reach).
In the last two lines of this passage, Sri Aurobindo sums up the Trojan War as a conflict between Europe and Asia, i.e. between the process of enlarging and universalising vision, i.e. understanding, and the impatient process of soaring ever higher towards the heights of the Spirit (All Europe, helmeted and in armour, swarmed on the coasts of Asia, hundreds of men disgorged from their ships).
There, in the Council’s wide-winged tent, which pointed inland towards the shore,
At the edge of the flowering grass, on the sand-cracked edge of the grassy meadow,
Letting his Argentinian voice flow, Epéos, quick to fight and to speak,
Talking to princes: like a boy in a courtyard,
Throws the ball in the air and changes hands to catch it,
So, enchanted by his agility, he played with his opinion and his thoughts.
But suddenly he felt a Fatality approaching, and his momentum was silenced.
Her thoughts were immobilised by the message that runs between our minds through their shadows,
Mute, unthought of, informal, obscure to us, but whose caverns of Nature
Hear the cry when the moment of God, changing our destiny, enters 270
Masked by a visor and silent in our lives: and the spirit is also aware of this, because it keeps watch.
Epéos stood his ground, and all the men turned to face the herald.
Epéos is already mentioned in Ilion in Book 4, when Aeneas tells the young Eurus: “you will fight Epéos and kill him”. In Book 7, we understand that he is one of the leaders of the Achaean coalition . We cannot say with certainty whether this Epeos is the same as Epeios, son of Panopaeus, himself the son of Phocos and Asterodeia as mentioned in the Iliad, but it is most likely. (See Genealogical Chart 25V2) In fact, Panopaeus “he who has the vision of the whole” is a grandson of Aeacus and Psamathea. His father Phocos was therefore a half-brother of Peleus, father of Achilles. The name Phocos, ‘the seal’, indicates a transition between air and water, between the mental and the vital
The two heroes Achilles and Epéos would therefore belong to the same family of Myrmidons, both being the offspring of a Nereid, i.e. a daughter of the ‘old man of the sea’, Nereus. Nereus symbolises the emergence of life from matter, with all the powers of Life intact.
However, these two heroes do not represent exactly the same yoga, even though they both work in the depths of vitality on the slightest movements of consciousness. Achilles, son of Thetis (Θ+Τ), represents the achievement of vital liberation through concentration on particular movements. Panopaeus “the vision of the whole” represents a yoga that concerns the whole, like the innumerable grains of sand represented by Psamathaeus (ψαμαθος) whose name means “sand of the seashore”. Epéios could mean with the letters Π+Ι “that which bridges” in consciousness.
These elements explain why Epéos is in the tent of the Council (he is one of the leaders of the Achaean coalition), in a light structure that shelters the work of enlarging or universalising the mind, on the border between the vital plant consciousness and the body (There, in the wide-winged tent of the Council, which pointed inland from the shore, at the edge of the flowering grass, on the sandy rim of the grassy meadow). Sri Aurobindo mentions sand here in order to emphasise that Epeos does indeed belong to the descendants of Aeacus and Psamathaea.
Epéos speaks to the princes, but Sri Aurobindo doesn’t tell us what it’s about, probably because at this level, language is no longer suitable for expressing experiences. It is therefore a silent communication in consciousness.
The yoga it represents is light and harmonious, very quick both in resolving difficulties and in raising awareness (Letting his Argentinian voice flow, Epéos , quick in battle and in speech, spoke to princes…).
This yoga is like a game of mental awareness played with carefree skill in which thought and its conclusions are quickly expressed. (Like a boy who, in the courtyard of a house, throws his ball in the air and changes hands to catch it; thus, enchanted by his agility, he played with his opinion and his thought).
This consciousness is essentially of an intuitive nature and a fine perception of vibrations through the senses. It is therefore instantly informed by premonition of any change in the surrounding vibrations and goes into a state of rest, in silent expectation . (But suddenly it sensed a Fatality approaching, and its impulse was silenced
These new vibrations find their way through the different mental layers that are obscured by ignorance and evolutionary memories. By penetrating the thinking mind, they put an end to thoughts. (Immobilised were his thoughts by the message that runs between our minds through their shadows).
The meaning of these vibrations cannot be conveyed in words. It cannot be thought or formulated by the intellect. It is incomprehensible to the intelligence, but perceived all the same both by the deepest layers of our vital and bodily nature and by the awakened spirit of the seeker. It is a premonition of a radical change to come in our evolution, a change willed by the Divine but the timing of which was difficult to foresee because we cannot detect the signs in our lives. (Mute, unthought of, informal, obscure to us, but whose cry the caverns of Nature hear when the moment of God, changing our destiny, enters masked by a visor and silent in our lives: and the spirit too is aware of it, for it watches). These last lines bring to mind Sri Aurobindo’s poem “The Hour of God“, from which we extract the following passage: “Unfortunate are the man or nation who find themselves asleep when the divine moment arrives, or who are not ready to seize it because the lamp has not been tended to welcome it, because their ears have remained deaf to the call.“
All consciousness then turns towards the information that comes from the yoga of the depths (Epéos stood silent, and all the men turned towards the face of the herald).
Without a word, the solitary old Talthybios strode through the ranks of the princes.
He sat in silence, and only stopped in the middle of the assembly,
Opposite the famous Council of Kings, close to the Locrian Ajax,
Where Sthénélos and the great Diomedes sat,
Chiefs of the South, but who had little love for the Kings of the Spartans.
From there, like one who has a refuge nearby, he raised his accents to a high pitch.
His voice is as sharp as the wind when it whistles bitterly over a forest,
Only audible at night, as the kite is resting and the tiger 280
Asleep when you return from hunting in the thick of the silent jungle.
The message of the yoga of the depths is transmitted directly to the elements that direct the evolutionary movement towards perfecting the mental man: the mental consciousness or lower consciousness (the Locrian Ajax), that which works to establish a powerful luminous individuality (Sthenelos, King of Argos) and that which thinks of the Divine or intends to be divine (Diomedes). (Without a word, the solitary old Talthybios strode through the ranks of the princes seated in silence, stopping only in the middle of the assembly, opposite the famous Council of Kings, close to the Locrian Ajax, where Sthenelos sat and the great Diomedes sat…)
Sthenelos and Diomedes come from Argolida, a province symbolising purification. But the corresponding yoga is always wary of innovations symbolically coming from the neighbouring province of Laconia, where Spartes is located, “that which arises”, and therefore “the new”, the new directions and practices of yoga (Chiefs from the South, but who had a mediocre love for the Kings of the Spartans).
In the four verses that follow, Sri Aurobindo emphatically describes the voice of the messenger, high-pitched, strident and alone to be heard in the surrounding silence.
This high-pitched voice would seem to indicate a reluctance and even a fear of informing the other parts of consciousness that are under the influence of the mind (Agamemnon). It would like to withdraw immediately from the conflict if necessary. (Hence, like one who has a refuge nearby, he raised his accents to a high pitch ). This indicates an intrusion of the emotional vital that overwhelms this part of the consciousness, the part that makes the link, all the more so because thought is silent and the lower vital asleep. (His voice is high-pitched like the wind when it whistles [bitterly] over a forest, the only one audible in the night, for the kite is at rest and the tiger sleeps on his return from the hunt in the thickest part of the jungle that is silent).
“Listen, O Kings of the world, to the lonely will of the Phthian!
Unique is the lion’s roar heard by thousands of beings in the jungle,
Only the voice of greatness, and the multitude will have to hear it by bowing down.
Now he has shaken his mane before the final great leap to Troy,
And when the eagle at dawn glistens over Ida,
Troy will have fallen, or the earth will be empty of the Phthian Achilles.
But whatever Destiny, reserved for mortals, who will claim it?
Or that the fists clenched above our heads have saved for tomorrow
The icy coolness of joyless shadows, or that the earth in search of the sun’s favours 290
Must still hold back his days for the dubious reward of our virtues,
He and Zeus, not mortals, will see to it. The armies of men are but chaff
Beaten by the scourges of Fate, it is the hero’s soul that conquers.
Taking the image of what is reputed to be the most powerful animal in the jungle, a message of what directs the yoga of the depths is conveyed to those parts of consciousness that pursue the goal of improving the mental man. It is the image of a very great force and a powerful will to which everything submits (Listen, O Kings of the world, to the solitary will of the Phthian! Unique is the roar of the lion heard by the thousands of beings of the jungle, unique the voice of greatness, and the multitude will have to hear it by bowing down).
The moment has come to emerge from this night of indecision: either the adventurer succeeds in destroying in a very short time the practices and above all the rules and obligations of the ancient yoga, or the hope of a yoga – and therefore of human evolution – that would reunite spirit and matter will be postponed until later. (Behold, he has shaken his mane before the final great leap over Troy, and when the eagle at dawn gloats over Ida, Troy will have fallen, or the earth will be empty of the Phthian Achilles).
The adventurer, despite the signals sent by the powers that govern the vital deep, is uncertain about the future. He does not know whether the overthrow of yoga will take place or whether it will be postponed.
Whatever the outcome of this inner conflict, it is solely personal destiny, i.e. the goal that the soul has set for itself in this incarnation, and the power from the highest supermind that presides over evolution, that will decide the outcome, and not any acquired powers or various past practices or achievements. (But whatever Destiny, reserved for mortals, may claim, (…) it and Zeus, and not mortals, will provide. The armies of men are but chaff beaten by the scourges of Fate
It’s the will, courage, determination, endurance and inner fire that conquers (it’s the hero’s soul that conquers ).
The valiant one does not base his prowess on the heavy march of the multitudes
Nor on the clamour of the legions, but on the god he carries within him.
Zeus, his Fate and his spear are enough for the Phthian Achilles.
The prudence of men will no longer put a brake on the impetus that comes from the gods.
He has no need, O Atrid, of your voice guiding the legions,
He is the leader, his soul the embodiment of the magnificent feat of arms.
Rest easy, O sons of the Greeks, the Phthians will win for Hellade! 300
Rest! Don’t expose your heart to Pentheles’ battle cry.
And yet, if the force within you thirsts for the clash of war, and Ares is hungry for it,
Meet him out in the open, rushing the steeds of Deiphobos
And lead the javelin of Aeneas; rediscover the soul of your fathers.
Bronze must be the heart of anyone who looks into the eyes of the implacable god of war!
The adventurer of consciousness does not base his strength on the innumerable practices that yield very few results in relation to the effort expended, nor on the yogas that loudly claim to resolve obstacles or protect, but on the god within. (The strong do not base their strength on the trampling of the multitudes [The valiant do not base their prowess on the heavy march of the multitudes] nor on the clamour of the legions, but on the god within them).
The power of the supermental, his own task and his will to conquer are enough for him who has set himself the goal of carrying out yoga in the vital subconscious (Zeus, his Destiny and his spear are enough for the Phthian Achilles).
The following line “The prudence of men will no longer put a brake on the impetus that comes from the gods” brings to mind Sri Aurobindo’s poem The Hour of God, the end of which we reproduce here:
“But if you are pure, reject all fear.
The hour is often terrible, like a fire, a whirlwind, a storm, like the grape harvest crushed under the wrath of God. But he who can stand in that hour, sustained by the truth of his purpose, he will endure; even if he falls, he will rise again; even if he seems to pass on the wings of the wind, he will return.
And don’t let the caution of the world whisper too closely in your ears, for this is the hour of the unexpected, the incalculable, the immeasurable.
Don’t judge the power of the Breath by the size of your tiny instruments, but have confidence and move forward.
But keep your soul as clear as you can from the vociferations of the ego, even if only for a moment. Then a pillar of fire will march before you in the night and the storm will be your helper and your banner will fly on the highest peaks of the greatness that was to be conquered.”
In these great moments of inner change, illustrated here by the last day of the Trojan War, it is necessary to abandon all attachments to the past in order to launch out into the unknown of God.
Even the practices that have led to an increase in discernment and mental and vital clarity are not necessary to bring about the changeover (There is no need, O Atrid, for your voice guiding the legions). The essence of this yoga of the depths governs this magnificent undertaking of descent into the depths. (He is the leader, his soul embodies [the magnificent feat of arms] the magnificent undertaking). The other practices must remain as quiet as possible (Rest, O sons of the Greeks, the Phthian will conquer for Hellade! Rest! do not expose your heart to Pentheles’ battle cry).
However, these forms and practices of yoga can help in the reversal if the seeker feels the need to involve them. Then they will have to face up to their destiny, which may also be to disappear when they come face to face with the power that destroys everything that is no longer good for evolution. This power of the supermental still animates those parts of consciousness that want nothing to change their goal of annihilation in the impersonal divine, that are fearless and that work for the evolution of love. (Yet if the force within you thirsts for the clash of war, and Ares is hungry for it, meet him in the open in the melee, urging on the steeds of Deiphobos and directing the javelin of Aeneas).
To achieve this, the adventurer must rediscover what motivated him to take up yoga (rediscover the soul of your fathers). In the face of an evolutionary necessity that calls for great upheaval, he must have inflexible determination, endurance and unfailing faith (bronze must be the heart of anyone who looks into the eyes of the implacable god of war!
But when Destiny has vanquished their gods and slaughtered their heroes,
And in this marble Ilion, bent under the feet of her enemies,
You’ll stand under the gaze of ancient buildings and immemorial towers,
Then let no clan chief, crowned for sacrifice, raise against Troy, on the advice of Atè,
The torch of the fire, does not raise upon it the hand of pillage, 310
Otherwise, in his groping for gold, he will meet death in his opulent chambers.
For he will moan in the night, longing for the earth and its green,
Spurred on like a steed towards the dark gorges by the spear plunged into his arrogant chest.
He’ll soon move on to the land of flowerless meadows and desolate pastures.
This song ends with the exhortation, made by those who lead the yoga of the depths, to those practices that seek to improve man in the union of spirit and matter, not to destroy the spirit and the achievements of ancient spirituality that have liberated the spirit.
When the task that has been given to it has been accomplished, when the forms and practices of the past have been destroyed and the forces that support them defeated, when their splendid foundations have been subjected to the yoga of the depths, those who could participate with this yoga of the depths in the overthrow will have to respect the spirit and the conquests of the yoga of the liberation of the spirit. (But when Destiny has vanquished their gods and slaughtered their heroes and, in this marble Ilion bent under the footsteps of its enemies, you will stand under the gaze of ancient buildings and immemorial towers),
The principal yogas who will have helped in the overthrow must not, under the influence of the misleading force represented by the goddess Até, destroy what animated the ancient spirituality turned towards the Spirit, nor its achievements, nor must they want to grant themselves these. In other words, there must be no desire for the powers obtained by the ancient yoga in the heights of the spirit (so let no clan leader, crowned for sacrifice, raise against Troy, on the advice of Ate, the torch of fire, raise upon it the hand of pillage, …).
If not, the person leading the overthrow will immediately put an end to these practices driven by the desire for possession and power, and by the arrogance of the ego. (Or else, in his groping for gold, he will meet death in his opulent chambers. For he will groan in the night, longing for the earth and its verdant green, spurred like a steed towards the dark gorges by the plunging spear
in his arrogant chest).
These practices will not be preserved in the unconscious in the Asphodel meadow or in the Elysian Fields, where, according to Homer, (Odyssey, IV, 563-568). “(He will soon move on to the land of flowerless meadows and desolate pastures
Don’t touch the city built by Apollo, where Poseidon toiled,
Do not tear down the work of the gods, the splendour for which the ages have lived.
Silenced by the voices of her children, empty of the rolling of her war tanks,
Let eternal Troy dream alone on the banks of the ancient Scamander,
Sacred and motionless, a city of remembrance spared by the Phthians.”
So spoke Talthybios: the Argians, in their anger, were silent. 320
The warrior assembly was speechless, the princes of Achaia silent.
In the midst of this silence, anger and deliberation competed for speakers’ voices.
After this great reversal, the foundations given by the god who works to develop the Mind of Light in humanity, and for which the force that watches over the subconscious has worked so hard, must be preserved intact. (Do not touch the city built by Apollo, where Poseidon toiled…). For the forces of the supermind, as a whole, have supported the work to liberate the spirit and splendid foundations have been forged for millennia. (Do not pull down the work of the gods, the splendour for which the ages have lived
When the corresponding practices have ceased and no longer disturb the new yoga, they should be remembered and honoured. (Mute from the voice of her children, empty from the rolling of her war chariots, let eternal Troy dream solitary dreams on the banks of the ancient Scamander, sacred and motionless, a city of remembrance spared by the Phthian).
This is how the adventurer expresses the part of his consciousness that is resolved to move forward with the yoga of the depths, a yoga that no longer separates spirit from matter. But the other parts, still attached to the improvement of the present mental man, are divided between those who refuse to keep anything of the old and those who want to take time for reflection, each tendency wanting to express itself before all the others. (Thus spoke Talthybios: the Argians, in their anger, were silent. The warrior assembly was speechless, the princes of Achaia silent. In the midst of this silence, wrath and deliberation competed for the voice of the orators).
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[1] It is equally ignorant and one thousand miles away from my teaching to find it in your relations with human beings or in the nobility of the human character or an idea that we are here to establish mental and moral and social Truth and justice on human and egoistic lines. I have never promised to do anything of the kind. Human nature is made up of imperfections, even its righteousness and virtue are pretensions, imperfections and prancings of a self-approbatory egoism… What is aimed at by us is a spiritual truth as the basis of life, the first words of which are surrender and union with the Divine and the transcendence of ego. So long as that basis is not established, a sadhak is only an ignorant and imperfect human being struggling with the evils of the lower nature.