TH 17: The Chariot of Jagannath

‘The Chariot of Jagannath’ is an ideal that Sri Aurobindo envisaged and explained in his early Bengali writings of the same name. It is the symbol of the collective development of Society with the Divine at its centre. A society can move like a ‘ratha’ or chariot, towards its goal that is to manifest God in collective life provided it places the Divine at the centre and not some magnified image of his collective or religious ego. Human societies can be broadly seen as of three main types as described in the Essay mentioned above. These three types are based on the three gunas, Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. The Divine Society has to move beyond these three gunas towards something that is yet to be born. This Ideal Society should have the Divine at its centre and for its four wheels it must have or build unity, freedom, knowledge and power working in harmony and unison. In the talk the speaker explains it with details how these seemingly contradictory qualities work for the growth of a higher collective life.

Recorded in 2009.