The Triune Formula of the Supermind

By
Robert E. Wilkinson ©

In my recent article, ‘The Unravelling of the Auroville Cult’, I wrote about the Vedic ‘Law of Three’ and the absolute necessity of a Third to complete the Supramental Descent begun by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. I gave examples of this eternal principle in some of its most revered forms and expressions such as the Trimurti of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the Tridoshas of Ayurveda, the Three Gunas of the Bhagavad Gita, and the Christian Trinity. I even included Sri Aurobindo’s comments on these three powers of the eternal manifestation, by which, he said, we come to understand existence itself. This was immediately rejected by Savitri Era’s Tusar Mohapatra who said that this immutable law, upon which the whole edifice of Vedic knowledge is built, was ‘beyond his comprehension, unverifiable, and thus a piece of fiction.’ How can it be that the same person who would make such a stunningly backward statement has been entrusted with the sacred duty of promoting Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s knowledge to the world.

Evidently, the many thousand year old Vedic tradition, extolled by Sri Aurobindo in his ‘Secret of the Veda’ as the highest spiritual knowledge of which the human mind is capable, is not sufficient for Tusar. He needs more and verifiable proofs. So let us examine the many ways that the Law of Three appears in Sri Aurobindo’s work as a fact of objective knowledge.

In her Agenda of 5 February, 1969, the Mother explained that the Supermind would be intelligible through ‘Numbers, Planets and Principles’. Like Plato and Pythagoras before her, she understood that Numbers are ‘living things’ and contain the highest possible knowledge. Her mention of Planets refers of course to the ancient language of cosmology. But then she makes an astonishing statement: ‘...Not only does it (numbers and planets) express this thing, but it has a power for realizing it.’ Sri Aurobindo affirmed this view saying that the cosmological ideas of the Vedantin were indispensable to a realization of the Great Vedic Ideas in their totality. And in Savitri, he confirms this same knowledge as being the ‘self-known’ content of the human Soul.

‘All that the Gods have learned is there self-known.
There in a hidden chamber closed and mute
Are kept the record graphs of the cosmic scribe,
And there the tables of the sacred Law,
There is the Book of Being's index page;
The text and glossary of the Vedic truth
Are there; the rhythms and metres of the stars
Significant of the movements of our fate:
The symbol powers of number and of form,
And the secret code of the history of the world
And Nature's correspondence with the soul
Are written in the mystic heart of Life.’
Book One, Canto 5, The Yoga of the King

As we pursue these hidden correspondences, we need look no further for evidence of the Law of Three than Sri Aurobindo’s own symbol. In it we can see the Triple world of the Veda and Puranas expressed in the interlaced triangles of the three-fold divine principle of Sachchidananda: Existence, Knowledge and Bliss and the threefold mundane principles of Mind, Life and Matter.  




In addition to the expression of the Triple Principle, Sri Aurobindo’s symbol contains an equally important expression of Number harmonies in the petals of the Lotus. As we can see, there are 9 petals at the top of the lotus, 6 petals in the middle and 3 petals at the bottom, resting on the 7 waves. For those who SEE, this arrangement of the lotus is itself an unmistakable expression of the Law of Three and a Number Harmony that will be repeated throughout this work. The importance of these numbers, 9, 6, and 3 are not exclusive to Sri Aurobindo’s work but represent a universal key that helps us to understand the occult dynamic by which Spirit becomes Matter. The numbers 9, 6, 3 represent the involutionary formula, a Tri-fold point which lies at the core of matter as well as the octaves of a descent from the Formless into Form. As the great Nicola Tesla once wrote:

"…If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the universe."

Since the manifestation of the Avatars is determined by their inherent association with the Time-Spirit, their three-staged descent upon the earth occurs within an exquisite Geometry of Time that cannot possibly be concocted. It can only be arranged by the Supermind and thus becomes the basis of their objective cosmic credentials. One of the most fascinating examples of this Supramental formula, which may be found in the original Temple architecture, is the way it appears in the dates of births of the members of the Solar Line. As revealed below, these numbers appear in the exact order of the actual descent.

Sri Aurobindo was born in 1872: 1+8+7+2 = 18  = 9
The Mother was born in 1878 1+8+7+8 =24       = 6
Thea, ΘΕΑ, was born in 1938: 1+9+3+8 = 21      = 3

The Mother once wrote that the whole earth and everything it contains is a kind of concentration, a condensation of something which exists in other worlds invisible to the material eye. Each thing manifest here has its principle, idea or essence somewhere in the subtler regions. The triune formula of the Supermind allows us to follow the descent of these principles, ideas and essences as a condensation of consciousness from the formless into forms that ultimately manifest as our material reality. In the scheme of the Supramental Descent we observe that this process has three stages: the Transcendent 9, the Cosmic 6 and the Individual Soul 3. These octaves of descent may be observed through an understanding of certain laws of correspondence and equivalence that are expressed in the Hermetic axiom, ‘As above, So below’. As we follow these eternal principles in their descent from the higher planes into material manifestation they manifest first as Cosmic and Planetary harmonies before reaching a highly specific individuation on the Earth.

This sacred formula is impeccably expressed in the life and work of each member of the Solar line. Sri Aurobindo’s role as the TRANSCENDENT Principle - 9, was largely concentrated on planting the integral seed of the Supramental creation. He remained on the Transcendent heights rarely even coming out of his room for over 24 years. His work on the inner planes bore the nature of a vast and total spiritual action as expressed in his epic poem, Savitri. As the power and force of the Solar Line descended from the Transcendent to the COSMIC plane - 6, the Mother worked tirelessly preparing new material forms which could accommodate and contain the Supramental consciousness-force. Toward the end of her life the knowledge was brought down and unveiled in material creation as the original plan for her Temple. It was a New Model of the Universe, a Cosmos in microcosm representing the Soul of the Earth and what she called ‘the symbol of the Future Realization’.

As we follow the actions of each member of the Solar Line, we find that Sri Aurobindo's work on the transcendent planes is almost never revealed. The Mother's work on the occult planes is somewhat clearer yet even she was not inclined to explain the details of what she did and saw. It isn't until the Third level of the work that these details become revealed because that is the nature of the Third, precision in truth and the ability to APPLY the knowledge. As the work of the Supermind reaches the Third stage, the realization of the INDIVIDUAL Soul – 3, we begin to perceive this precision because the action is observed from the most intimate dimension the human consciousness can experience, the 'center' or individual Soul that Sri Aurobindo described so beautifully in Savitri. Through the work of the Third, what before in the old spirituality could only be expressed in terms of paradoxes and irreconcilables, can now be perceived in a vastly truer light. This is the level of the Gnostic Being and the evolutionary goal of the Supramental Manifestation. With the ‘keys of knowledge’ unveiled by the Third, which ‘not only express the Supermind but also provides the power to realize it’, seekers are granted a direct experience of the Supreme within the physical manifestation and the means to KNOW and not merely BELIEVE that the Truth-Consciousness has descended and is now manifest upon the Earth.

We could go on and on with these objective proofs. The 3, 9, and 6, have a correspondence with the Gunas: Rajas, Sattva and Tamas or as they are known in cosmological terms, Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. These energy flows are also expressed as the Speaker, the Voice and the Word. Notably, each member of the Solar Line was born in the sign of one of the Three Gunas: Sri Aurobindo, a Leo – Fixed Guna, the Mother, a Pisces – a Mutable Guna, and the Third, a Capricorn, a Cardinal Guna. We even see these numbers expressed in their names: Aurobindo has 9 letters, Mother has 6, and ΘΕΑ (Thea) as it is properly written has 3.

The sole purpose of these number, energetic and planetary harmonies is the expression of WHOLENESS and INTEGRALITY. As much as Tusar and Paulette might protest, you simply cannot have wholeness with a partial manifestation of just Sri Aurobindo and the Mother any more than you could have a complete manifestation based on only two Gunas. THREE are required. It is an immutable law: The Law of Three.