Odyssey - Suitors of Penelope in Asphodel Meadows

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The Suitors in Asphodel Meadows and Odysseus with Laertes (Book

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The souls of the suitors were guided by Hermes. Beyond the course of the Ocean and the
White Rock, beyond the Gates of the Sun and the Land of Dreams, they finally reached the
Asphodel Meadows inhabited by the shadows. They saw those of Achilles, Patroclus,
Antilochos and Ajax, and then the one of Agamemnon and all those who had died with him.
Agamemnon evoked the glorious death of Achilles: Thetis coming out of the waves
accompanied by the Nereids for a final farewell to the body of her son, the singing of the nine
Muses in his honour, the mourning of the gods and men together for seventeen days and
seventeen nights, his ashes deposited in an urn with those of Patroclus, the burial mound
and the magnificent prizes offered by Thetis to the winners of the funeral games.

Agamemnon, seeing the suitors, was astonished by the presence of so many such great
heroes in this place, all young men of the same age. He then questioned Amphimedon, the
son of Melaneus, who hosted him when he went to convince Odysseus (Ulysses) to
participate in the war. Amphimedon described to him the pressure exerted by the suitors on
Penelope and the weaving of the veil which had no end. Then he recounted the exposed
scheming, the completion of the veil, the misbehaviour of the suitors in relation to the beggar
Odysseus (Ulysses), their death brought about by the latter and their corpses lying
unburied.

Then Agamemnon praised the fidelity and perseverance of Penelope, whereas he died
because of the treachery of his wife Clytemnestra.

Meanwhile, Odysseus (Ulysses) and his companions arrived at Laertes’ house. While they
were preparing the feast, he came to his old father in the orchard, wondering if he would
recognize him. Dolios and his sons were far off, working on the fence wall.

Laertes, his heart full of sorrow, was scantily clad but his orchard was beautifully tended.
Without revealing himself, Odysseus (Ulysses), posing as a stranger, pointed it out to him.
But he could not control himself for long in the face of his father’s distress and threw himself
into his arms, announcing the death of the suitors. However, in order to convince him he had
to show him his scar and remind him of the trees he received from him as a child.

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Fearing that the Cephallenians would come to attack them, they went back to the house. The
old man took his bath and as he was made to look taller and stronger by Athena, Odysseus
(Ulysses) understood that it was the action of a god.

Laertes recalled his feat as the leader of the Cephallenians against the city of Nericus. Then
Dolios arrived with his six sons and was delighted to find Odysseus (Ulysses).

Meanwhile, the Rumour had done its work. The Achaeans came to the house of Odysseus
(Ulysses) to bury their dead, and then gathered at the agora. Eupeithes, whose son Antinoos
had been shot with an arrow by Odysseus (Ulysses), harangued them to prevent the hero
from fleeing to Pylos or to the divine Elis, and avenge their brothers and children.

But Medon joined them and told them that he had seen a god support Odysseus (Ulysses).
Halitherses, one of Mastor’s sons, who saw the past and the future, also reminded them of
the excesses of their sons (the young suitors who no longer believed in the return of
Odysseus (Ulysses)) whom he and Mentor warned them from.

But many of them did not listen to these words of appeasement and took up arms under the
leadership of Eupeithes.

Then Athena asked Zeus if he intended to prolong this conflict, to which he replied that he
gave her the freedom to do as she pleased while offering to restore peace by giving power to
Odysseus (Ulysses) and let the grieving families forget.

As the armed people approached the house of Laertes, one of Dolios’ sons saw them and all
took up arms themselves, including the old man.

Before the fighting began, Odysseus (Ulysses) told Telemachus to remember not to tarnish
the reputation of his forefathers.

Then Athena approached them in the guise of Mentor. First, she gave Laertes a new vigour
and had him throw his javelin on Eupeithes, who died immediately. Then Odysseus
(Ulysses) and Telemachus killed many Achaeans until the goddess ordered the crowd of
Ithaca to stop the fight with a shout. As Odysseus (Ulysses) darted to pursue them, Zeus
launched his thunderbolt in front of Athena-Mentor. Then the goddess had to ask Odysseus
(Ulysses) to stop this battle between valiant warriors if he did not want to incur the wrath of
Zeus. His heart full of joy, the hero accepted.

Then Athena-Mentor sealed an accord between the two parties.

Although many ancient and modern exegetes may have doubted the affiliation of this last
chapter of the Odyssey to the original corpus, it helps to clarify some important points at this
time of the yoga: the recognition of past realisations, the major importance of total surrender
to the Divine (surrender that is both consecration and self-giving, implying leaving the
responsibility of the yoga to the Supreme by abandoning the pretension of wanting to effect

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the transformation by oneself) and the necessary transition from a yoga of exclusion and
elimination to a path of total integration of opposites, transcending the process of cause and
effect (by an act that no longer “forgives” but “erases”).

First, it is the overmind that enables the seeker to put into perspective past realisations and
their exact participation in the evolutionary process (Hermes guides the souls of the suitors).
These realisations are examined from the point of view of divine integration (this happens in
Hades, the place of realisation of unity in matter), which allows to preserve their memory in
the radiant Truth of the Supramental. First, they are judged in their relation to the purification
in the incarnation allowing access to the supramental world, to the knowledge of other planes
of consciousness and to the world of Truth (they go beyond the “White Rock,” “The Gates of
the Sun,” “The Land of Dreams” to reach the “Asphodel Meadows”).

Although the symbolism of Asphodel is unknown to us, the splendour of this flower and the
location of the Asphodel Meadows, at the edge of Hades’ kingdom, suggest it is a symbol of
the Supramental since it is a place beyond the “Gates of the Sun”.

As the suitors are symbols of higher realisations, it is normal for their souls to meet in Hades
those of other great heroes, respectively symbols of the “achievement of liberation”
(Achilles), “glorious realisations” (Patroclus), “vigilance” (Antilochos) and “highest
consciousness” (Ajax). Homer insists that Achilles belongs to the lineage of major
realisations (his ashes are with those of Patroclus), which have also enabled the seeker to
receive great “helpers” on the vital level (the magnificent prizes offered by Thetis to the
winners of the funeral games).

When the seeker relates his old aspiration oriented towards human perfection to its
realisations, he is surprised that these have been surpassed as soon as they were obtained
(Agamemnon is surprised to see the young suitors in these places). He gets the explanation
by observing that the “will for perfection” that manifested at the beginning of the great
reversal process, carried the seed of a twist (Amphimedon, son of Melaneus, who hosted
Agamemnon when he went to convince Odysseus (Ulysses) to participate in the war,
described to him the behaviour of the suitors and their deaths).

Then the seeker becomes aware of the help given to him by “the vision of greater freedom”
while what “aspires” in him strayed to pursue a refinement of the present nature (Then
Agamemnon praised the fidelity and perseverance of Penelope, he who died because of
Clytemnestra’s treachery). For, let us remember, it is not a question of making man wiser or
more virtuous, but of moving towards a different humanity.

He returns to the quest for humility undertaken on the mental level and finds that it has never
stopped working (Laertes, united with Anticlia “humility”, is of pitiful appearance but his
orchard is beautifully maintained). But this “mental humility” cannot recognize whether

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transparency is achieved in the vital (Laertes cannot recognize Odysseus (Ulysses)). When
recognition is effective, it confirms that mental and vital transparency has been achieved.
The continuity of yoga is then well established.

However, the part of the seeker that is still marked by the previous phase – the consecration
related to personal yoga – fears a powerful return of the highest mind that it had once set
against the new one (Laertes fears that the Cephallenians will attack them, a people he once
led in an attack on Nericos’ “openness to the new”). The seeker understands all the better
the risk of interference by the mind because he once developed it to the maximum of its
possibilities. This observation would give validity to the lineage of Odysseus (Ulysses) given
by Hygin, namely that his grandfather Arcisius, son of Laertes, is a son of Cephalus, himself
the son of the Aeolian Deion.

The inner guide then rekindles the flame of commitment for the being who has achieved
humility (Athena, the inner guide, gives a beautiful stature to Laertes, widower of Anticlia).

Although this is not indicated in this chapter, we can assume that the character of Dolios
“deceitful” mentioned here is the same as the father of Melantheus (the goatherd) and
Melantho (the assistant of Penelope) massacred by Odysseus (Ulysses). His wife is an old
Sicilian, “who is dishonest”, which shows the danger of progressing in “sneaky falsehood” if a
righteous attitude does not thwart her. So it would have made sense for Odysseus (Ulysses)
to fight and kill them as well. But this is not the case, and here Homer presents Dolios and
his six sons in a rather favourable light: they are faithful servants of Laertes, helping to
maintain his orchard in a beautiful way, and demonstrating their affection and fidelity to
Odysseus (Ulysses).

Icarios “opening to the heights of the mind” had offered Dolios as a servant to his daughter
Penelope when she came to Ithaca. At that time, before the Trojan War, the seeker was in
search of the Supramental in the spirit (with reference to homonymy, see the myth of Icarus),
and this quest introduced the possibility of deviance, depending on the attitude adopted. This
“shadow” is useful as long as it helps the quest for knowledge in perfect humility, but if the
seeker deviates from this attitude, it brings the risk of a fall. (Dolios’ two children, Melantheus
and Melantho, fell into this trap. The first was the goatherd at the service of the suitors,
mainly Antinoos “wisdom” and Eurymachos “holiness”, while the second assisted Penelope).
The closer these “sneaky falsehoods” are to the highest realisations and even to the “vision
of greater freedom,” the more their pernicious influence reveals itself, whereas one might
think instead that they are redressed by holiness and wisdom or the vision of the goal.

But when this “deception” remains in contact with what works for humility, the shadow cannot
find a breeding ground for developing and even serves the yoga (the old Sicilian, her
husband Dolios and their six sons remained always with Laertes united with Anticlia).

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It is interesting to note that the movement represented by Laertes, initiated in the heights of
the spirit, ends in the most perfect humility in contact with a well-maintained orchard, and
thus close to the body. In a way, Dolios was the evolutionary chance of Laertes and the latter
prevented Dolios from being harmful.

The deviance of the suitors is therefore presented here as a lack of humility. But when the
latter is present, the shadow itself is integrated and can no longer have a hold. It is even
constitutive of the right progression in the incarnation and used to fight what still opposes the
New (Dolios and his sons arm themselves to fight alongside Odysseus (Ulysses)).

In the new yoga, the seeker will have to progress by integration and no longer by rejection.

Once he has recognized that achieving transparency is the right development of the work of
humility, the realisations of ancient yoga can be put in their rightful place (after the reunion of
Odysseus (Ulysses) and Laertes, the bodies of the suitors were taken away to be buried by
their families).

While the yoga is “corrected” there is still opposition in some parts of the being, especially in
what has paved the way for the realisations of the ancient yoga: beliefs in immutable laws
stand in the way of crossing the “door” for complete unification (Eupeithes “vast belief”, father
of Antinoos “powerful spirit, wise,” fears that Odysseus (Ulysses) will leave for Pylos or the
divine Elide).

Neither the “protective intuition” that perceives the movement of divine forces, nor “fire” that
can see past and future (from the body consciousness if omega is taken into account in the
name), can defeat these beliefs (Medon saw a god helping Odysseus (Ulysses) himself, and
Halitherses who saw the past and future, son of Mastor, reminded them of the excesses of
their sons, the suitors, but to no avail).

The master of yoga, seeing a new yoga struggle in separation, enters into contact with the
super-conscious to perceive the right path (Athena asked Zeus for his intentions). But all
latitude is left to the master of yoga with, however, the indication of a new path: no longer
struggle or forgiveness, but a higher movement of consciousness that “erases”. Indeed,
when forgiveness is a personal act, it maintains duality, but what comes from the world of
Truth erases the consequences of the acts (Zeus tells his daughter Athena that she is free to
continue the fight but offers to restore peace by making the families forget wanting revenge).
In a way this movement implies the end of yoga in a space-time of inescapable causes and
consequences, because the Supramental will work according to other laws. In the Agenda
(Vol. 2, June 2, 1961), Mother insists that the past can be completely purified and abolished
and have no effect on the future provided that it is not repeated into a perpetual present,
provided that the vibration is no longer reproduced.

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But before that, the inner guide fuels one last struggle in duality in order to eradicate
definitively the beliefs in immutable states or way of functioning: anything is possible, no
“law” can stop Divine evolution (the group led by Eupeithes “vast belief” must be destroyed).

Before this last confrontation, the seeker convinces himself that none of the fights has been
useless so far and should not be denied (Odysseus (Ulysses) recommends to Telemachus
not to tarnish the name of the forefathers). And the master of yoga, giving new energy to the
commitment to higher freedom, allows him to put an end to ancient certainties (Athena gives
new vigour to Laertes who kills Eupeithes).

He must no longer seek to eliminate anything because, at this level of yoga, when
transparency is achieved, everything now contributes equally to the new yoga (Athena asks
Odysseus (Ulysses) to stop pitting fighters of the same value against each other).

It is then the super-conscious which indirectly imposes his will in order to put a definitive end
to the yoga working by exclusion (Zeus throws his thunderbolt in front of Athena so that she
stops Odysseus (Ulysses) pursuing the Achaeans).

The seeker then definitely goes from “neither this, nor that” to “and this, and that”, from a
yoga by exclusion to a yoga by integration.

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