AUROVILLE – PONDICHERRY, INDIA
21 – 29 February 2024
Swarna Sankhya

Shakti Kumbh 2024 attempts to explain the symbolic significance of numbers from one to nine and their association with some important concepts and divinities of Indic knowledge. It also explores how we have used numbers to organize knowledge about creation and systematically ascertain the order of divinities in a complex pantheon to envision a grand view of cosmology from a numerical perspective.

Numbers are believed to be symbols, each having a potency and symbolic significance of its own. To the intuitive seekers of Brahman, the numbers offered many opportunities to meditate upon and realize the hidden symbolism, and its archetypal power, its shakti.

21 – 29 February 2024 | AUROVILLE-PONDICHERRY, INDIA

Duration of SK24: 9 days

Each day will be divided into two parts

Morning Track: 9am to 10am Keynote and 10.30am-12pm Experiential Workshop. Speakers-Facilitators will present on the numerical themes in the Light of Sri Aurobindo.
Evening Track: 4pm to 6pm Panel/Workshop/Presentations, will be associated philosophy and related concepts from all IKS (Indic Knowledge Systems) which will include external experts and speakers on the day’s numeric theme.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024: 1. Unity – Oneness | AdiParaShakti

The number one symbolizes the state of nonduality, the oneness of existence hidden in all of creation beyond the veil of delusion. The oneness of being is also the subjective state of both Brahman and Atman, in which there is no experience of distinction and separation between the known and the knower, the object and the subject, the self and the non-self. One alone exists by oneself, illumined by the self, immersed in the self, permanent, unchanging, and unmoving. It is a state in which one is, the state of “I am I am” in which “I” transcends the ego to become “I” alone.
This Being is experienced as and by AdiParaShakti

Thursday, February 22, 2024: 2. Dvaita - Spirit & Matter | ParaShakti-AparaShakti
The number two is a symbolic representation of the state of duality, which we experience objectively through our minds and the senses. It also symbolizes Purusha and Prakriti (God and Nature), Brahman and Atman as two separate entities, the knower and the known, the subject and the object, the doer and the deed, the self and the not-self, the bhutatman (ego or physical self) and the antaratman (inner Self), ParaShakti and AparaShakti, Siva and Shakti, Vishnu and Lakshmi, Brahma and Saraswathi, the earth and the sky, cause and effect, the day and the night, the heaven and the hell, the good and evil, the right and wrong, knowledge and ignorance, higher knowledge and lower knowledge, life and death, illusion and illumination and mortality and immortality.
Friday, February 23, 2024: 3. Trikaala - Past, Present, Future | Iccha-Jnana-Kriya Shakti
We find reference to the number three frequently in Indic civilisational knowledge. The number symbolizes Siva because he is the third in the Trinity. He has three eyes (trinetra), carries a three-pronged weapon called Trishul or triayudha (trident), brings forth the triple gunas (triguna) of sattva, rajas, and tamas, and also destroys them through his grace (trident). He removes the sins of three births (tri janma papa samhara). He has three braids of hair (trijata). He is known as triloka and trikala jnani, or the knower of three worlds (higher, lower, and the middle) and three times (past, present, and future).
In the Light of Sri Aurobindo, it is the triple labour of Aspiration, Rejection and Surrender.
The number three also symbolically represents AUM in its vocative and diagrammatic aspects. AUM has three letters. Together they symbolize Absolute consciousness (zero). The number three symbolizes many other aspects of creation:

  • the triple qualities of sattva, rajas, and tamas,
  • the three layers of nature, light, fire, and darkness,
  • the three states of being immanent, transcendent, and the absolute,
  • the triple division of time, past, present, and future,
  • the three periods of the day, morning, noon, and evening,
  • the three paths to self-realization, the path of knowledge, the path of love, and the path of action.
  • In Shakti’s unfoldment towards manifestation, it is Iccha-Jnana-Kriya Shakti. The Divine Will, Wisdom, Work needed.
Saturday, February 24, 2024: 4. Chaturmaa - Maheshwari (air), Mahakali (fire), Mahalakshmi (water), Mahasaraswati (earth) | Purushartha-Ashrama of a Woman’s Life
The number four is verily a symbolic representation of Sanatana dharma.
“The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet many-sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence.
The four Powers of the Mother are four of her outstanding Personalities, portions and embodiments of her divinity through whom she acts on her creatures, orders and harmonises her creations in the worlds and directs the working out of her thousand forces. For the Mother is one but she comes before us with differing aspects; many are her powers and personalities, many her emanations and Vibhutis that do her work in the universe.” – Sri Aurobindo
It is the solution to the problem of ahamkara or ego, the fourth in the 24 tattvas (principles) of creation. The number four is also associated with many other concepts.

  • The aims of life (purusharthas) are four, dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), kama (desire), and moksha (salvation).
  • The stages (ashrama) in life are four: the age of studentship (brahmacharya), the age of the householder (grihastha), the age of retirement (vanaprastha), and the age of ascetic (renunciation)
Sunday, February 25, 2024: 5. Panchaswapnam - the five dreams of Sri Aurobindo | PanchaKanya
Revolution, liberation, unification, spirituality and evolution.

“The first of these dreams was a revolutionary movement which would create a free and united India. India today is free but she has not achieved unity. At one moment it almost seemed as if in the very act of liberation she would fall back into the chaos of separate States. By whatever means, in whatever way, the division must go; unity must and will be achieved, for it is necessary for the greatness of India’s future. The second dream was for the resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia and her return to her great role in the progress of human civilisation. The third dream was a world-union forming the outer basis of a fairer, brighter and nobler life for all mankind. India’s spirituality is entering Europe and America in an ever increasing measure. That movement will grow; amid the disasters of the time more and more eyes are turning towards her with hope and there is even an increasing resort not only to her teachings, but to her psychic and spiritual practice. The final dream was a step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and larger consciousness and begin the solution of the problems which have perplexed and vexed him since he first began to think and to dream of individual perfection and a perfect society.” – Sri Aurobindo

In the Evening Track, we cover:

  • PanchaKanya (Five Virginal-Pure Shaktis)
Monday, February 26, 2024: 6. Sashtatara - the significance of the six pointed star symbol of Sri Aurobindo | Krttika

The descending triangle represents Sat-Chit-Ananda. The ascending triangle represents the aspiring answer from matter under the form of life, light and love. The junction of both – the central square – is the perfect manifestation having at its centre the Avatar of the Supreme – the lotus. The water – inside the square – represents the multiplicity, the creation.

In the Evening Track to explore:

  • Six Krttika (Who raise Kartikeya; Star Cluster called Pleiades)
  • Shatabhisha Nakshatra (‘Veiling Star’ ruled by Shani-Saturn)
Tuesday, February 27, 2024: 7. Saptavishwa - the seventh world to survive and thrive | SaptaMatrika
This is the seventh Creation

“There is an old tradition which says that the world was created seven times, that is, the first six times it returned into the Creator. This is the idea of pralaya. It is said that this happened six times and that we are now the seventh creation, and that this is the last one. That means the world will not go back again into pralaya, and there will be a perpetual progress. And this is the creation of Equilibrium.
Consequently, now, there is no longer anything good or bad: there is what is in equilibrium and what is not in equilibrium. There is imbalance and balance. That’s all.”
– The Mother Sri Aurobindo.

The ultimate question we must ask ourselves is what is the significance of our lives. We become self-aware and world-aware, but we have no reference point to determine why this may be. For most people, it is simply a matter of accepting the conditions of life and striving to survive and thrive in whatever situation we may find ourselves. The highest state of our being is not a denial, contradiction and annihilation of all that we now are;
“it is a supreme accomplishment of all things that our present existence means and aims at, but in their highest sense and in the eternal values”
– Sri Aurobindo

Evening Track:

Sapta Matrika.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024: 8. Ashta Ananta – Eternity & Nirvana | AshtaSakhi
“To see and worship the incarnation of the Divine upon Earth is man’s greatest fortune. Men, with immense Divine Grace, at some time of their life, get to see the incarnation of God. Those priceless moments become ‘Divine Moments’ of life. To see the Divine with the inner sight in the reality the answer to an intense and boundless aspiration of the Soul for the Divine. And this heavenly experience stays with him for ever, till eternity. No place or time can take away those precious moments from him. To understand the Divine Glory and God’s works upon the earth is beyond the capacity of the human mind. But the triple labour of Aspiration, Rejection and Surrender in man, takes him ahead on the Road of Light, on the Spiritual Path, where one experiences those Divine Moments. These are permanently etched in man’s consciousness. These sublime, deep inner experiences become a part of him for Eternity.”
– From ‘Sri Aurobindo’s Spiritual Journey to Eternity through Super Consciousness

“Nirvana in my liberated consciousness turned out to be the beginning of my realisation, a first step towards the complete thing, not the sole true attainment possible or even a culminating finale. It came unasked, unsought for, though quite welcome. I had no least idea about it before, no aspiration towards it, in fact my aspiration was towards just the opposite, spiritual power to help the world and do my work in it, yet it came – without even “May I come in” or a “By your leave”. It just happened and settled in as if for all eternity or as if it had been really there always. And then it slowly grew into something not less but greater than its first self!”
– Sri Aurobindo

Evening Track:

  • Displaying these myriad moments through the expressions and situations of the ashta sakhis of Radha – ashta Ananta
  • Ashta Lakshmi
Thursday, February 29, 2024: 9. Nava-atmabodha - Realisation and Manifestation | NavaDurga-NavaGraha

Morning Track: In the Light of Sri Aurobindo: 3-3-3

  • Our Triple Divinity: Psychic Being, Spiritual Being and Supramental Being
  • Our Triple Adhar: Mind, Life, Body
  • The Triple Transformation process: Psychicisation, Spiritualisation & Supramentalisation

Evening Track:

  • NavaDurga for our transformational realisation
  • NavaGraha for our harmonious manifestation

ADDITIONAL Cultural programs: TBC

February 21, 2024: Number 1 – Unity – Ekta

A short presentation of three shlokas from different geographic regions reiterating the concept of ekam. This is followed by three bhajans of Kabir, Subramanya Bharati and Akka Mahadevi that describe unity in diversity all directing one toward the one super power that guides us.

Dance and Music

February 23, 2024: Number 3: Iccha-Kriya-Gyana Shakti
February 26, 2024: Number 6: ShadRitu
February 28, 2024: Number 8: Ashta Sakhis of Radha

All four cultural programs will be 45-50 minutes and with live musicians and dancers.

Program subject to change.

For more deatails contact: shaktikumbhinfo@gmail.com