Invocation 08 - Auroville

not narrate the whole series of questions and answers here, for that will
consume all the time at our disposal. The last of the questions Yudhisthira is
asked is, "What is the most surprising experience in life?" Yudhisthira answers,
"At every moment we see human beings dying, yet those who are alive
conduct themselves in a manner as though they themselves were never to
die. What is more surprising than this?" But in several places Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother have given a hint: that somewhere deep within us the
knowledge if immortality lies hidden. It is because something in us knows
that we ought to be immortal that we are ever reluctant to accept death as
the ultimate truth. And that is why, despite all the knowledge of soul and
everything, the revolt against death continues and acceptance of death has
never been so spontaneous as it ought to be after the realisation of the soul.
It is because there is also a truth in that revolt.
The fight against the phenomenon that is death has been carried on along
several different lines: scientific, occult and spiritual. I won't go into the first
two. Coming to the spiritual line alone, we find the next significant example
of this victory over death in the life-story of a young rishi called Markandeya.
One reason why this is very significant is that in the Mahabharata it is
Markandeya who relates the story of Savitri. And Markandeya's own life
was marked by a grand experiment in winning a victory over death.
Markandeya was the son of a rishi called Mrikanda, who was childless; as
such he undertook tapasya - askesis - to get a child. He was offered two
alternatives: he could either have a child who is a genius, but will live for
only twelve years, or a child who will live for a hundred years, but be a
stupid fellow. He was asked to choose. And in that elated moment Mrikanda
chose for the first option. He said, "Let me have a child who will be worthy of
rishi." So the child was born, and named Markandeya, which means 'son of
Mrikanda', and it is said that at the age of six he was taking classes on the Rig
Veda - not as a student, but teaching students and other rishis. Such prodigies
are always possible - in our own time you may have heard of a child prodigy,
known as the child of Lubeck: in his fourth year, when he was four or five, he
was giving talks on the fourth dimension to professors. Such prodigies are possible;
but in this case it was not a freak, but a child born with a consciousness which
was quite mature, and who had the knowledge and wisdom inherited from his
past experiences in earlier lives. Probably his vital memory too was entirely
present with his present incarnation. And by the time this wonderful boy
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