journal d'une transition

1090

The more we argue and persist in the worded rhetorics of the separate mind with its train of judgements and preferences, the longer we remain lazily the willing arms of plays that rob us of the capacity to serve, the more difficult it will be to turn the tide of ordinariness that seeks to engulf the new birth. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have told us all how the sunlit path is possible, its harmonious transition to the next condition, provided we contribute the aspiration and the courage of progress. The Mother has often referred to Her choice for harmony, a living harmony within the Grace: but this requires of us to let go of our exclusivism and to commit to an evolving integrality. There is no doubt now that collectively we have failed a few of those tests given by Mahasaraswati, the technician of perfection. We had to take, early last year, 1996, the rather unpopular decision to halt the production of both the gilded discs and the FRP panels of the inner shell. There were simply too many problems. For those who had always disapproved of a design which they felt was too complicated and ostensive, this decision was taken as an admission. For others who had taken the stand that everything would eventually be solved as we pushed along, the same decision was taken as a betrayal. Yet to us it was neither. We just knew that we had to review the technical problems thoroughly, reassess the validity of the technical advice which had been issued and offer it all in a more conscious manner, with more calm and dedication, whatever the consequences. At the school of the Matrimandir we fail many of our tests.

A time of reflection and search was indispensable, a break from the relentless pressures to achieve.

Now one full year has elapsed and some of the questions have met answers which definitely constitute a progress and a vast improvement.

The method which we have now chosen for the lasting gilding of the discs is tested and proved, with enormous relief. The gold leaf is held between two thin square tiles of pure window glass fused together in a vacuum oven, filed and grooved and affixed mechanically to the surface of the disc, providing a durable shield, easy to maintain and weather-resistant. As for the inner shell translucent panels help has now come with the method known as fused glass developed by a German artist who has recently visited and has committed to supervise and personally guide the entire work. On 6mm float glass sheets, available in the country, glass nodules of the right colouring are fused in a specially-designed oven to the right degree of translucency; the safety of the finished glass is given by a coat of special varnish over the finely sand-blasted back surface.

Some of the questions however are still unanswered, such as the effective method for the sealing and protection of the grooves between the prefabricated outer shell