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Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet (born January 5, 1938), also known as Thea, is a cosmologist, author and founder of the Aeon Centre of Cosmology who presents her work as a continuation of the Supramental and Integral Yogas of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Often considered controversial, her writing has sparked heated discussions about Vedic astrology, sacred architecture, Supramental Yoga, the role of the Evolutionary Avatar, Cosmology and other issues. Her work as Director of the Aeon Centre of Cosmology has produced a body of applied cosmological knowledge both large in scope and highly specific.

History

In 1971, PNB arrived at the Ashram of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother in Pondicherry, India. She continued to live there until 1980, seven years after the Mother's death (1973) and then moved to the Palani Hills in South India where she established the Aeon Centre of Cosmology. While proceeding with her yoga and cosmological formulations in the Palani Hills, she maintained connection and correspondence with senior Trustee, Dyuman, until his death in the mid 1980s, as well as with a number of former Ashram colleagues. Details of her arrival in India, her time in Pondicherry and of the seeds of her later move to the Palani Hills can be found in the autobiography, 'The Tenth Day of Victory'.

Teachings

Supramental Yoga

In February of 1969 The Mother told her disciple Satprem that the Supramental Action in the world would involve a universal, cosmological and numbered expression and application to life (The Mother's Agenda, 1969). Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet's yoga, in turn, is largely an account of how cosmological and numerological symbolism figure prominently in understanding the Descent of the Supramental Consciousness. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother's yoga raised the question of how the Supramental Consciousness would organize itself on the Earth, and Ms. Norelli-Bachelet claims that she answers that question.

Time

Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet suggests that she adds a Supramental Vision of Time to the Integral Yoga, which is referred to in the last chapter of Sri Aurobindo's Synthesis of Yoga entitled "Toward a Supramental Vision of Time". She teaches that the Supramental Consciousness organizes both Time and Space and that this superior organization (of micro and macrocosm) can be seen when one has specific keys of knowledge. The ‘Gnostic circle' - the Zodiac superimposed on the Enneagram - is presented by PNB as one such key of knowledge, the last such key passed on to her before the Mother left her body in 1973 (as told in The Tenth Day of Victory). Cycles of 9 – such as 9 days, 9 months, 9 years, 36 years, 72 years, 2160 years or 25,920 years – figure prominently in her teachings regarding Time.

The Matrimandir

Ms. Norelli-Bachelet openly criticizes the architects and builders of the Matrimandir (the Mother's Temple) in Auroville, India, for altering the dimensions and design of the Mother's original blueprints. She also openly criticizes those who currently claim the Temple in Auroville is an accurate representation of the Mother's original Temple design. She calls the current structure in Auroville, ‘the Shadow Temple', due to her analysis that its altered dimensions and design are an exact reversal of the Mother's original vision. In 2005, the Archives departments of both Auroville and Pondicherry admitted a series of articles (‘The Chronicles of the Inner Chamber') by Ms. Norelli-Bachelet to their collections for scholars to consult. (1)

The Two Zodiacs

Tropical and Sidereal (Sayana and Nirayana) Indian Cosmologists throughout the ages have recognized two zodiacal systems - the Nirayana or Sidereal and the Sayana or Tropical zodiac. The Nirayana uses the backdrop of the constellations as its reference point and the Sayana uses the ecliptic. Ms. Norelli-Bachelet refers to modern Indian astrologers as ‘post-Vedic' due to her position that the Vedic Seers of ancient India referred to the Sayana or Tropical zodiac in their hymns of the Earth's 12-rayed or 12 part journey around the Sun.

Ms. Norelli-Bachelet holds that true Vedic Seers would not discard the Sayana zodiac and favor the Nirayana or Sidereal system to measure the Earth's entry into the signs of the zodiac or individual destinies of events or people. Ms. Norelli-Bachelet is firm in her position that, by using the Nirayana/Sidereal, 'post-vedic' astrologers are 23 days late in their measurements of entry into the 12 signs of the zodiac. She teaches that zero degrees Capricorn should always correspond directly to the December Solstice (when the days are shortest and the light begins to increase, and when Earth is at its closest distance to the Sun), and that it is erroneous to celebrate Makar Sankranti (entrance into Capricorn) 23 days after the Winter Solstice as is commonly practiced in India.

‘Astrology in India today,' according to Ms. Norelli-Bachelet, ‘is no longer a repository of Knowledge. It is simply used as a predictive tool and nothing more ... it is impossible to locate the exact point in the constellations to designate as the Sidereal Zodiac's degrees Aries point. Hence there are dozens of different almanacs in India each offering a different Zero Point for these "corrections".'

The Astrological Ages

Ms. Norelli-Bachelet notes that the Zodiacal Ages are a function of the 25,920 year Precession of the Equinoxes, each of the 12 Ages being 2160 years. She asserts that the beginning of the Precessional cycle (which would have begun the Age of Pisces) started at 234 BCE and that the Age of Aquarius began precisely at 1926 AD.

According to Ms. Norelli-Bachelet, the verses describing Three Steps of Vishnu (see Trivikrama) in the Rig Veda are proof enough to demonstrate that the ancient Vedic civilization, or at least its priests, were aware of the precessional cycle and of the zodiac as a key to understanding large and small cycles of Time. She also holds that the zodiac used throughout the world today, and partially in India as well, originated in India, was exported from the subcontinent and then the knowledge was lost to India for some time.

  • '* so called Western Zodiac....either originated in India thousands of years ago and was then transported beyond her borders in a westward direction, along with Sanskrit and other cultural expressions; or else, that India too inherited it from a now lost or submerged civilisation, perhaps the one located in the Indian Ocean of which the Tamil Sangam literature speaks.' - 'Kashmir and the Convergence of Time, Space, and Destiny', PNB

St. John's Revelation

Ms. Norelli-Bachelet holds that St. John's Revelation is written largely in terms of zodiacal symbolism and cannot be properly read or understood without knowledge of esoteric, initiatic astrology. She cites Chapter IV of the Book of Revelation (Verses 6 and 7) claiming it is an obvious reference to the four fixed signs of the Zodiac: the Scorpion (Scorpio), the Lion (Leo), the Bull (Taurus) and the Friend (Aquarius). Similar reference to these signs can be found in ‘The Book of the Prophet', Ezekiel Chap: 1; 4-20. (See History of astrology: 'Astrology in the Bible').

Evolutionary Avatars

PNB's teachings on avatarhood draw a distinction between spiritual teachers who are frequently considered 'avatars' and the specific ten manifestations of Vishnu (see The Ten Avatars of Vishnu, or Dasavatara]]. She refers to the Hindu Line of Ten Avatars as ‘Evolutionary' Avatars, because both she and Sri Aurobindo saw the Line of Ten as figures in a "parable of evolution". PNB's contends that Sri Aurobindo, rather than Guatama the Buddha, was the 9th Evolutionary Avatar in the Hindu Line of Ten, and that 13 years after leaving his body, he reincarnated as the 10th of the Line. In her teachings, PNB refers to this Evolutionary ‘Line' of Avatars as the ‘Solar Line' and writes that Sri Aurobindo's emergence as an Evolutionary Avatar is ‘Triadic' in nature, involving himself as the Transcendent Divine, the Mother as the Cosmic Divine, PNB as the Individual Divine and the reincarnation of Sri Aurobindo as the fourth component - the One at the center of a ‘Divine Trinity'. PNB's position on ‘Evolutionary Avatars' is discussed fully in her publication, ‘The Vishaal Newsletters'(1985-1996), but especially in her major opus, The New Way, Volumes 1, 2 & 3.

Criticisms and Controversy

  • The Matrimandir - There have been decades of controversy around Ms. Norelli-Bachelet's criticisms of the Temple in Auroville. In 1981 two-thirds of PNB's The New Way, Volumes 1 & 2, which describe multiple divergences from the Mother's original plan, were printed and subsequently destroyed at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, against the express unanimous orders of the Ashram Trustees, for its 'controversial' content. PNB writes that earlier at the same press, some elements from Auroville tried to stop publication of her book, The Gnostic Circle, because of a footnote referring to changes made to the Mother's original plan. The Gnostic Circle made its way to publication and was completed. The New Way had to be published elsewhere; this was finally done in Canada in 1981. These episodes form a part of the history of the temple recorded by Matrimandir Action Committee (1). But PNB's claims that the Matrimandir was not built according to the Mother's plans have been unanimously refuted by those who were involved in the actual construction. They also point out that the design of the Matrimandir as built is in agreement with Mother's requirements in the Agenda (transcribed from Satprem's tapes).

  • Vedic Astrology and History - Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet's interpretation of Vedic symbolism has been strongly criticized (Rajaram 2002). Modern Vedic astrologers and scholars (as well as Western Astrologers) do not find it credible that the authors of the Rig Veda referred to the Tropical Zodiac in their sacred hymns regarding the yearly journey of the Earth around the Sun, although Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet argues that the verses themselves prove her thesis (see History of astrology, 'Astrology in the Rig Veda').

  • The Supramental Lineage - Those who hold Buddha to be the 9th Avatar in the Hindu Line of Ten, criticize PNB's position that Sri Aurobindo is the rightful 9th in that Line.
    • Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet's claim that she is the Third in line of the Supramental Descent of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is rejected by all students of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother apart from her own followers.
    • Her claim that Sri Aurobindo reincarnated as her son (called "The Fourth") in 1963 is also unanimously rejected by Sri Aurobindo's followers, and by various religious and secular interests. In her books, she describes the process and the indications which led her to make this declaration. Her position is that the Supramental Descent ‘cannot be understood, much less imprinted in the evolutionary matrix, without this reincarnation completing the Line of Four.' According to the Agenda, Sri Aurobindo said that he would wait to incarnate again only in the first body to be formed in a totally supramental way, and PNB and her followers claim this is actually what happened.

  • Evolutionary Enlightenment - Students of PNB question the originality of Andrew Cohen's teachings on ‘Evolutionary Enlightenment'. Some hold that he has incorporated PNB's work on the evolution of consciousness into his own without being forthright about his knowledge of her work.

See also

References

Books by Patrizia Norelli-Bachelet

  • The Magical Carousel and Commentaries (a fairy tale in which two children venture through all the lands of the Zodiac accompanied by detailed explanation of the significance of the Zodiac and all the symbolism of the children's adventure).
  • The Gnostic Circle: A Synthesis in the Harmonies of the Cosmos (a study of the use of the Zodiac and the Enneagram as a key to understanding the evolution of matter, life and consciousness)
  • The Hidden Manna (a study of the Revelation called Apocalypse of St. John in terms of the Zodiac and the Supramental Descent)
  • Symbols and the Question Of Unity
  • Time & Imperishability
  • The Tenth Day of Victory (autobiography 1971-74, a story of Initiation into her work)
  • The New Way: A Study in the Rise and Establishment of a Gnostic Society, Volumes 1 & 2 (PNB writes of the true dimensions of the Matrimandir and the significance of the dimensions in terms of the establishment of a New Age of Gnostic Being)
  • The New Way A Study in the Rise and Establishment of a Gnostic Society Volume 3 (PNB writes of the Biblical Genesis in terms of the creation of Mental man, and, in the same vein of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Individual consciousness is meant to evolve past the Mental, and the Individual is destined to be a full expression of the Divine on Earth.)
  • The Vishaal Newsletters

External links

Astrologers | Sri Aurobindo | 1938 births | Living people

 

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