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For we have
his own words to describe the aspects of human nature that interfere
with the descent of a building which in his vision embodies a
‘living centre’.
‘It is
very hard to allow the wholeness to unfold. To do it, we must pay
attention, all the time, only to the wholeness, which exists in what
we are doing. That is hard, very hard. If we allow ourselves the
luxury of paying attention to our own ideas, we shall certainly
fail… The things which can and do most easily get in the way, are my
own idea, my thoughts about what to do, my desires about what
the building “ought” to be, or “might” be, my striving to make it
great, my concern with my own thoughts about it, my exaggerated
attention to others people’s thoughts. All this can damage the
building, because it replaces the wholeness which actually exists at
any given stage with some “idea” of what it ought to be.
‘The reason why I must try and make the building as a gift to God is that
this state of mind is the only one which reliably keeps me
concentrated on what is, and keeps me away from my own
vainglorious and foolish thoughts.’ (The Nature of Order,
Book 4, p.304)
We know that the architects and the community involved with the
Matrimandir were not in the poise Christopher Alexander describes
during the execution of the construction. Alexander states that it
is hard to hold on to this ‘state of mind’. But isn’t that what
could and should have been done when these instruments were given
this unique gift by the Mother? Christopher Alexander emphasises
time and again in the last Book of his magnum opus, The Nature of
Order, that the builder must execute in this poise: ‘The core
of this necessary state of mind is that you make each building in a
way which is a gift to God. It belongs to God. It does not belong to
you. It is made to serve God, to glorify God. It is not made to
glorify you…’ (Ibid, p. 304)
This was not
written by a yogi or a follower of any known path, much less the
Mother’s. It is based on his own experience, his discoveries of the
true nature of architecture and the poise the builder must maintain
for something divine to imbue the creation. Throughout his writings
one hears echoes of the Vedic Age. His description of those
centres as ‘blazing ones’, ‘blazing furnaces’ is a purely Vedic
seeing. This western architect, with no connection to the
Mother or Sri Aurobindo, has experienced the essence of the Vedic
Agni, not as a concept or a philosophical formulation, but as a
living truth. He is not Indian and therefore cannot be said to
be mouthing a tradition he has inherited but not earned. Yet this
western professor emeritus at the University of California at
Berkeley has lived the Vedic experience.
The question one may legitimately ask is why the Mother
did not draw into her entourage such a person? After all, it was in
the 1970s and 80s that most of his philosophy of architecture was
formulated – the very time that the new cosmology took shape which
provided the keys of Knowledge to understand the Mother’s creation.
And let us not forget that those were the years when a ‘distilling’
process was in effect to ‘sort out the people’ who could build her
temple, once her entourage had refused to comply. Surely Christopher
Alexander was feeling the effects of that specialised action of the
Supramental Shakti precisely in his field of endeavour, though
unbeknown to him.
But in India this was not meant to be; her action was
deflected. Instead we had to bear time and again mocking, scoffing,
ridicule, and bad will, on the part of those handling Matrimandir
matters;
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