Celebrating 100 Years of Siddhi Divas

Date: August 26, 2026

Venue: Online

Sri Aurobindo once said about his yogic work was in a way continuation of Sri Krishna’s work. This has been made amply clear by the events of November 24, 1926, when Sri Krishna, as the Overmind Godhead, descended into Sri Aurobindo’s physical consciousness, fixing Himself there. This was a concrete yogic realization that opened the possibility for the Supramental descent.

The Overmind, being the highest plane below the Supramental, had to be brought into the physical before the next evolutionary step could be attempted. This Siddhi marked the completion of a major phase of Sri Aurobindo’s yogic tapasya and the initiation of a new collective movement of consciousness.

After the Siddhi of November 24, 1926, the Mother took charge of the inner and outer progress of all the sadhaks, and thus grew the Ashram organically under her direct guidance.

To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of this momentous event, BhāratShakti, Sri Aurobindo Society organised a webinar on August 26, 2026.

The programme included two talks by the aspirants on the path of Integral Yoga. They spoke on two related topics:

Reminiscences of the Siddhi Day – Speaker: Jishnu Guha
Bhagavad Gita in Daily Life – Speaker: Deven Shah

After Dr. Beloo Mehra, Director, BhāratShakti welcomed the speakers and the participants, Narendra Murty, Research Associate, read out a brief introduction of the first speaker Jishnu Guha and invited him to speak.

The topic of Jishnu Guha’s talk was “Reminiscences of the Siddhi Day”. He began his presentation by showing the picture of the exact room where Sri Aurobindo was staying in 1926 where he had his “Siddhi” of the Overmind. It is a room that is now just in front of the main entrance of the Ashram on the first floor and currently houses the Philately department of the Ashram. Thereafter, he showed a life size photograph of Sri Aurobindo that was placed in the room in 1976 on the 50^th Anniversary of Siddhi Day.

Jishnu Guha noted that though it is difficult to say exactly what happened that day, the event had several witnesses like the Mother herself, Nolini Kanta Gupta, A.B. Purani, Champaklal ji etc. He read out passages from the writings of A.B. Purani who described what they had experienced – the pressure of a force, the descent of a Light, in some details. Datta, an Irish lady who was also present on the occasion, declared simply: The Lord has descended into the Physical today. To those present that day, it sounded like a prophecy.

Jishnu explained that though it was not the final goal of Sri Aurobindo or the Mother’s Integral Yoga, it was a very important milestone in that journey for it paved the way for the descent of the Supermind. Thereafter, he read out a few passages that Sri Aurobindo had himself written about the experience of Siddhi Day and what the Mother had explained about it.

Jishnu summed up by saying that the work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is continuing and the Force and Light is working on the terrestrial plane as they had wanted. Only we have to aspire and open ourselves to receive that with our sadhana. He concluded his presentation with a reading of some lines from Sri Aurobindo’s poem A God’s Labour.

Narendra Murty then introduced the next speaker, Deven Shah who spoke on the topic ‘Bhagavad Gita in Everyday Life’. He began by saying how he was influenced by a person who had worked in close contact with Vinoba Bhave. It was he who prompted Deven to read the works of Sri Aurobindo. His association with Auroville started in 2010 and his journey into the Gita started with Essays on the Gita.

Deven cited passages about what Sri Aurobindo said about the Gita, and briefly spoke about the deep intimacy between Sri Aurobindo and Sri Krishhna by reading an excerpt from the Uttarpara Speech and also sharing about what the Mother’s vision of Sri Krishna whom she recognised when she met Sri Aurobindo the first time. Thereafter, he cited a few verses from the Gita and explained terms like Dharma and what Krishna taught about Duty.

Deven said that at Vidyamandir, Auroville the study group works with the traditional Indian learning approach which includes Sravana (hearing), Manana (thinking), Nidhidhyasana (meditating/contemplating) and Sakshatkara (direct realization). He illustrated this by sharing how the concept of Divine Love or Bhakti may be taken up by the group. He played an audio recording of seven verses in Sanskrit along with the English interpretation from Chapter 12 (Verse 13 to 19) which enumerated various qualities of a devotee as described by Sri Krishna.

Allowing the participants a few minutes of silent contemplation on these verses, Deven gently explained that one can go deeper into one’s understanding and experience of Bhakti when one relates the learning from Bhagavad Gita with other sources such as Kabir’s couplets on Love, or awakening to the reality of Divine Love as expressed by Sri Aurobindo in Savitri in Book XII.

Deven also said that at Vidyamandir they are guided by the Mother’s guidance on the importance of practice compared to mere intellectual study. The other concepts briefly touched by him citing the Gita and the Essays on the Gita were the path to knowledge and the four categories of seekers – Arta (distressed), Artharthi (seekers of wellbeing), Jignasu (seeker of knowledge) and Jnani (the realized soul).

Deven concluded his session by sharing that the work happening at Vidyamandir is inspired by what the Mother said about what is required to be a true Aurovillian – about consecrating ourselves entirely to the Divine.

This was followed by a round of questions and interactions by the participants which were addressed by both Jishnu and Deven. The final summing up was done by Dr. Beloo Mehra after which the programme came to a conclusion.

About the Speakers

Jishnu Guha was born in Kolkata in a family of devotees of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and has been a student of Integral Yoga from an early age. He is a Chartered Accountant by profession and studied Management at the University of Southern California. He considers work as a way of Sadhana and has a keen love for Indian art and culture. His writings have been published in different journals associated with the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

Deven Shah an eternal student of Yoga has explored various factors that lead to inner and outer harmony. He is one of the founding executives of Vidyamandir, Auroville – an initiative that offers learning programs that support people in harmonizing spiritual and material life, in the light of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s Integral Yoga.