RMW, a long time student of Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet/Thea and resident of Skambha wrote the letter below explaining to her friends and family why she had chosen to leave a life she knew to go to the mountains of South India and live on a 30 acre property with a dairy farm, cheese factory, horse breeding and a lot of D-I-Y. As a novice student I am just beginning to understand and integrate the knowledge and at the same time am getting the same question from friends, so I asked R if I could publish her letter on my blog and she agreed.
I encourage you to check out the embedded links as well and if you are interested to learn more, a great introduction to PNB’s work is The Magical Carousel,”a simple yet profound tale of two souls on an evolutionary journey.”
CARPE DIEM!
The Happy Yogini
My Life in the Gnostic Circle
I would like to share with you my experience with the Gnostic Circle and Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet/Thea over the years. My work started with Thea herself in 1990. Of course the Gnostic Circle is timeless so I jumped into the Circle itself at birth, as everyone does, at the 0 Point. By the time I came in contact with Thea’s work I had gone through several 9 year cycles and had reached the 5 Point which is ruled By Jupiter, the planet of the guru.
How My life Began in the Gnostic Circle
By 1993 I came to India to study directly with her and in 1996 I wrote the following letter to my friends and family who were wondering what I was doing in India and why I was still here:
“When I talked on the phone with a friend the other day I found it difficult to give her a satisfactory, nutshell explanation of what it is that Patrizia is and does and what I am doing as her student so I tried to do it in a
letter. This in part is from the letter that I wrote and I have given it to others who have inquired about my activities. It will take a bit of background work as well as the current update on the yoga I am involved in.
As you know this is a time of transition on the Earth. All the spiritual teachers from the East and the West, the Native Americans as well as the fundamentalists know this is a time of great change. It is perceived by most as an upheaval on the Earth making volcanoes to erupt, earth quakes to occur, floods to take place and creating general mayhem in the world. What is it really all about?
The ‘New Age’ that we are moving into is the Aquarian Age which began in 1926. It is not that we are to transform this world but rather, as the Mother described it, ‘witness the birth of a whole new world’. At a time of such great magnitude as we are experiencing now there are those who are born on earth to focus that new energy. They are called Evolutionary Avatars. I know there is a lot of hype about avatars, ‘you too can be an avatar if you attend the workshops and join the club’. That is not the kind of avatar I am writing of. These are the incarnations who came to ’see’ the earth through this time, the Supramentalisation of life on earth. This process is not accomplished by ‘getting away from it all’ by getting on space ships and leaving the planet, nor is it through meditating yourself into ‘Nirvana’. It is done through the Integral Yoga and realising the supramental life on earth. It is divinizing the earth through this realisation and anchoring it in the earth. ‘The goal, as the Mother said, ‘is not to lose oneself in the Divine Consciousness. The goal is to let the Divine Consciousness penetrate into Matter and transform it. ‘
This has nothing to do with channeling other beings. In ‘The Gnostic Circle’ Patrizia wrote, ‘The consciousness of the Gnostic being is characterized primarily by the ability to see beyond the appearances, with a vision of unity. But this we know has always been the state of realized souls; yet that makes the difference in today’s realization is that the integral yogi follows the perfection of the unfolding spirit in the events of the world with close precision, recognizing the connecting link in the surface events as well as those deeply hidden. That is, he sees the Divine in her full Cosmic Truth, in the state of waking consciousness, not in trance or semi-conscious states, or in the inebriated spasms of divine ecstasies, from where one can perceive the Beloved in All. The experience is in the ordinary consciousness because this has evolved to a higher level and becomes a permanent state which cognizes always in terms of unity, harmony and hence perfection. No aspect of the Earth’s life and process is excluded and one need not abandon this creation in despair and seek the perfection of another plane. The Gnostic being is capable of perceiving the three modes of action the Divine Mother’s creation, preservation and destruction and walks in rhythm with her power at all times.”
In the early 1900’s, Sri Aurobindo was deeply involved with the freedom fighters who were fighting to free India
from British rule and began his yoga with the idea of gaining powers to overcome the Brits. Because he was not conscious of his true identity he found himself in jail for a year seemingly for his activities as the editor of one of the freedom journals. I fact it was to take him out of action and confine him in a way that he would go deeply into himself and he opened to the teachings by Ramakrishna and Vivikananda on the inner planes. When he was acquitted and released from prison he left the freedom fighters and went to Pondicherry which was then ruled by the French and out of the hands of the British. There he began his real fight for freedom, his yoga of creating a perfect vessel to anchor the Supramental Consciousness on earth.
Although he had a few others around him it was not until Mirra Richards came to stay that the Sri Aurobindo Ashram came into being in 1920. She was his counterpart, his equal in all ways. Sri Aurobindo said that when one looked at him they should see her and when one looked at her they should see him as well. She was ‘The Mother‘, a manifestation of the Divine Mother on earth. In 1924 his intense yoga took him to his room where he stayed until he left his body in 1950.
The Mother carried on his work in the physical, the transformation of the cells, fully conscious of the job that had to be done. This work for her culminated in 1970 by bringing down the vision of this age, the design of a temple that would anchor this Supramental Energy for this period of time just as the pyramids did in the age of Leo. All through their yoga there were undivine and anti-divine forces attempting to obstruct the work and now they came out in full force in order to disrupt the structure design before it left the drawing board. Over a period of 18 days and nights her vision came and was made clear, the measurements she say were exact, each one being a symbol of Time and in the end the perfect execution of it was thwarted. She was in her 90’s at that time and was not physically able to do battle but the vision was there on the occult plane, she had ’seen’ it and that was enough.
Patrizia came to the Ashram having gone through a major initiation while she was in Rome. She had been studying with Krishnamurthi, who frequently went to Rome. And she studied astrology and she did in depth horoscopes for people, sometimes taking a week to complete. She had never had a desire to go to India until she was requested to do so by the Mother whom she had not met in the physical as yet.
It was not until the Mother left her body in 1973 that Patrizia, through a series of circumstances learned of the conspiracy to change the blueprints of the perfect vision from the very beginning. She was the only one who could ’see’ and understand how utterly perfect the design was and then able to explain it. When she went to the ones responsible for the construction not only with her own knowledge but the Mother’s own words and directions, she too was ignored. So her yoga for all these years, first at the Ashram and then in Kodaikanal, through her writings has been able to hold that vision, document it, and work with the knowledge it brings. This is a monument that shows the evolution of our time that lives and breaths. It is the way of explaining the whole evolution of mankind as well as the Universe, the Cosmos. It is truly bringing the Divine into Matter.
So Skambha, as I see it, is like the Garden of Eden where the Tree of Knowledge grows and must be tended and nurtured. It is not a place to go with the idea that you can contemplate in peace and harmony, but it is a place to be totally involved in the work of holding the Centre for the entry of the Supramental Consciousness on earth. Early in my stay at Skambha, as I was attempting to understand why I was there besides to make cheese, Patrizia told me that I was there to Serve, Participate and See. It is not only for the Tree to grow but for us to eat the fruit as well and ’see’ as she does. Over my time there I have served, I’ve tried to participate, I have had glimpses but I have so much more work to do for it is a long way to the top of the mountain.
The following is an excerpt from conversations of the Mother concerning those who wanted to go to the Sri Aurobindo Asharam which is very apropos for anyone wanting to go to Skambha.
Come for the Divine Work
Every time someone comes to tell me, ‘I come for my yoga, I say, ‘Oh, no! then don’t come. It is much more difficult here than anywhere else. ‘ …
If someone comes to tell me, ‘I come to work, I come to make myself useful’, it is all right. But if someone comes and says, ‘I have many difficulties outside, I can’t manage these difficulties, I want to come here because it will help me, I say, ‘No, no, it will be much more difficult here; your difficulties will increase considerably. And that is what it means, because they are no longer isolated difficulties; they are collective difficulties.
So in addition to your own personal difficulty you have all the frictions, all the contacts, all the reactions, all the things which come from the outside. As a test. Exactly on the weak point, the thing that’s most difficult to solve; it is there that you will hear from someone the phrase which was just the one you did not want to here; someone will make towards you that gesture which could shock you; you find yourself facing a circumstance, a movement, a fact, an object, anything at all - just the things which
… ‘Ah, how I should liked this not to happen’. And that is what will happen and more and more. Because you do not do your yoga for yourself alone. You do the yoga for everybody - without wanting to – automatically.
So when people come and tell me, ‘I come here for peace, quietness, leisure, to do my yoga’, I say, ‘No, no, no! Go away immediately somewhere else, you will be much more peaceful any where else than here.’
If someone else comes and says, ‘Well here I am, I felt I should consecrate myself to the divine Work, I am ready to do any work at all that you give me’, then I say, ‘Good, that’s all right. You have good will, endurance, and some capacity, it is all right. But to find the solitude necessary for your inner development it is better to somewhere else, anywhere else, but not here ‘.
I hope this has helped you understand in part where I am and what I am doing there with cheese making as a portion of the yoga involved. Of course there is much, much more that Patrizia has put into her many books. The object is to live the yoga for as Sri Aurobindo said ‘All life is yoga’”
Living the Gnostic Circle
Today I’m not sure I can say it any better for I am still amazed at the process of the Gnostic Circle. With the Circle and the living guru to guide me I have lived another full cycle of 9 years becoming more aware of this natural process of growth and consciousness with each year. I have found the Gnostic Circle valid to follow as an individual but also as a way to see all in the light of a dynamic movement and life in everything. Thea has recently written, ‘The Gnostic Circle is a static composite diagram. It is when we add TIME to the equation that the Circle moves and becomes dynamic. This is the key feature. What has been eliminated from the quest for the past two thousand years is DYNAMISM. This is what the Gnostic Circle can contribute by the allegiance of Time. Therefore it can now be stated that Time is an ally and not simply the destroyer of all material substance. With it we can BUILD since there can be no material structure without the mortar of TIME and with the Gnostic Circle we BUILD a cosmos, a harmonious whole. ‘
As I have lived the Gnostic Circle each year I have tried to follow it more consciously watching how the cycles manifest in my life as activities and opportunities to learn and grow not only in my own personal microcosm but as it is played out in the world affairs. Like a tapestry the threads are interwoven some more slowly than others. Looking at the Circle you will see that it is a circle within a circle, within another circle, within another circle. Each is one moving at a different pace. The annual cycle is completed in twelve months, next is completed in 9 years having traversed the full circle 9 times, then the one moving more slowly taking 90 years.
The threads of the tapestry stem from the 12 sections of the zodiac and the 9 points or 10 planets. Each one interjects its own special quality providing us with a subtle focus of energy for a period of time, crossing, merging with that of the other layers as it goes creating the fabric which we call our lives. As time moves on events happen to shape us providing opportunities to learn and to grow. To find your present place in the Gnostic Circle is quite easy by calculating from your birth date the positions in various layers of the Circle. All layers start at 0 then move forward at their specific rates of 1 year, 9 years and life. By watching the passage of time at the rate of 12 signs of the zodiac in one year divided by the four quarters it gives you the way of knowing whether you are focusing on your physical, emotional, mental or spiritual bodies for that period. Moving simultaneously at the rate of 9 segments per cycle, each point/number is upheld by a planet and infusing its own specific energy.
If you look at the concentric circles of the Gnostic Circle as separate they appear to be wheels like the gears in a clock, each one is rotating at a regulated speed, interconnecting with the other wheels driven by the central shaft. This way you can see the dynamics of the Circle at work or you could say the Gnostic Circle at play for our lives played out; the journey of life regulated by the clock work of Time. Now if that were all that we had to regulate our lives everyone would have the same experience so the question is; What makes the difference in each individual life?
Knowing that each individual comes in at the 0 point of the Gnostic Circle everyone is equal but then when you can imagine placing that point at the place of your birth in your Zodiacal Natal Horoscope you will see that this is where the magnificent difference comes into play. The wheels begin to turn the blue print takes on shape starting with the parents you were born to, your place in the family, societal status, environment, country, plus all the elements involving the earth at that time, unlimited factors surrounding your birth. This is when the play, the music, the dance really begins. Starting out slowly at birth you lay down the basic web, weaving in the threads as growth goes on. You can see how it fans out around the center, the central shaft driving the whole, which is the seed of you. As the tapestry grows some threads interplay for a time, others just a short thread interjecting a knot of colour as people and events come and go through the picture of your life.
Once the picture is seen it is possible to do a yoga of examining your life by looking at it as a whole, then as separate parts and following the threads in need of rectification. Some times you will have to cut some of the threads off, sometimes repair the ones that have been frayed or left dangling, sometimes by untying the knots. When you become aware of the place you stand at this point in the circle you can see the best route you are able to use to root out the negativity active in your life and go more quickly towards the light. Again as Thea has written; ‘Therefore it can now be stated that Time is an ally and not simply the destroyer of all material substance. With it we can BUILD since there can be no material structure without the mortar of TIME and with the Gnostic Circle we BUILD a cosmos, a harmonious whole.‘ We can use Time on our journey as we ascend to our goal of Knowledge and Truth.
RMW
Skambha, 1996-2005