Hi Sanjeev:

As a student of Mother and Sri Aurobindo for nearly 50 years, having written a book about their yoga psychology, a book chapter on practices in the Integral Yoga, and in the last several years a presenter (over Zoom) at several IY centers in India and the US - may I make a friendly suggestion?

I seem to be a minority of one - or maybe 5 or 6 in this view (the 5 or 6, to the best of my understanding, include Mother and Sri Aurobindo!!) but let me try:

I've studied all 57+ volumes of Their writings (including all of the Agenda) and I have yet to find ONE LINE - not even one sentence - that contradicts the following:

There is simply no possibility of even remotely comprehending what the Supramental is unless one is minimally awake - I just saw a passage in Letters yesterday where Sri Aurobindo uses the word "awakened" to refer BOTH to the coming forward of the psychic being and Self realization.

So I'll just use the word "awakened" (I see the name of one person in the comments who I know vociferously disagrees when what I'm writing so I'll offer the same gentle challenge to them as to you)

Find me ANYWHERE - in context - where Mother or Sri Aurobindo had said something different.

Now, I myself have written on the topic you've mentioned here. I might say, "It's not really possible without full awakening to even begin to glimpse the true nature of what Their work was, but I can just give a hint - it involves the most profound transformation of every aspect of the mind, heart and even every one of the trillion cells of the body."

Enough. I have NEVER met anyone or read anyone (including satprem) in the yoga (and I've read or skimmed all the books on IY in all the libraries in Pondicherry and Auroville as well as the Vak bookstore, as well as countless online sources, videos, etc) who I think has the understanding to talk about the supramental - Craig Holliday possibly being one exception.

I personally think there's a very simple reason why the majority of IY community members talk about this kind of thing so much.

In order to awaken (which Sri Aurobindo says even in his 1934 summary of His teaching is an absolute minimum for understanding anything of what He teaches) one must face the stupidity, arrogance, prejudices, biases, pain, fear, anger, etc of one's mental/vital/physical subconscient.

And it's just a heck of a lot more satisfying to the ego to spend one's life saying, "I surrender to the Mother" and "Isn't this path so wonderful and so much better than any other."

If all of the above seems so utterly contrary to what you've encountered in the Yoga, I suggest strongly you look at Sri Aurobindo's response to Nagin Doshi - I believe it was in 1934 - when Nagin suggested that other yogas were far inferior.

Now, I see in your first paragraph you say go directly to Their writings, but then in quoting and commenting them, you go against what you suggest.

leave the supramental and the details of the integral vision aside, and help people understand (a) how to awaken and (b) how to face the obstacles to awakening.

Mother and Sri aurobindo repeatedly said there's nothing essentially new in Their teaching regarding this early stage of practice, only the aim. This also is terribly deflating to the ego who wants to feel special.

But I think the world is now in such a critical stage and the evolutionary integral vision is so desperately needed, it does Them a profound disservice for us to talk about things we have absolutely no understanding of.