{"id":1207,"date":"2013-07-13T01:33:16","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:33:16","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:16","slug":"27-the-action-of-the-divine-shakti-vol-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21\/27-the-action-of-the-divine-shakti-vol-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","title":{"rendered":"-27_The Action of the Divine Shakti.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\nChapter XVII<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font>The
\nAction of the Divine Shakti<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

T<\/font><\/b>HIS<\/font>
\nis the nature of the divine Shakti that it is the timeless power of the Divine
\nwhich manifests itself in time as a universal force creating, constituting,
\nmaintaining and directing all the movements and workings of the universe. This
\nuniversal Power is apparent to us first on the lower levels of existence as a
\nmental, vital and material cosmic energy of which all our mental, vital and
\nphysical activities are the operations. It is necessary for our sadhana that we
\nshould thoroughly realise this truth in order to escape from the pressure of
\nthe limiting ego view and universalise ourselves even on these lower levels
\nwhere ordinarily the ego reigns in full force. To see that we are not the
\noriginators of action but that it is rather this Power that acts in ourselves
\nand in all others, not I and others the doers, but the one Prakriti, which is
\nthe rule of the Karmayoga, is also the right rule here. The ego sense serves to
\nlimit, separate and sharply differentiate, to make the most of the individual
\nform and it is there because it is indispensable to the evolution of the lower
\nlife. But when we would rise above to a higher divine life we must loosen the
\nforce of the ego and eventually get rid of it \u2013 as for the lower life the
\ndevelopment of ego, so for the higher life this reverse movement of elimination
\nof the ego is indispensable. To see our actions as not our own but those of the
\ndivine Shakti working in the form of the lower Prakriti on the inferior levels
\nof the conscious being, helps powerfully towards this change. And if we can do
\nthis, then the separation of our mental, vital and physical consciousness from
\nthat of other beings thins and lessens; the limitations of its workings remain
\nindeed, but they are broadened and taken up into a large sense and vision of
\nthe universal working; the specialising<\/span> and
\nindividualising differentiations of Nature abide for their own proper purpose,
\nbut are no longer a prison. The individual feels his mind, life and phy<\/span>– <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 734<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

sical<\/span>
\nexistence to be one with that of others amid all differences and one with the
\ntotal power of the spirit in Nature. <\/p>\n

This however is
\na stage and not the whole perfection. The existence, however comparatively
\nlarge and free, is still subject to the inferior nature. The sattwic, rajasic
\nand tamasic ego is diminished but not eliminated; or if it seems to disappear,
\nit has only sunk in our parts of action into the universal operation of the
\ngunas, remains involved in them and is still working in a covert, subconscient
\nfashion and may force itself to the front at any time. The sadhaka has
\ntherefore first to keep the idea and get the realisation of a one self or
\nspirit in all behind all these workings. He must be aware behind Prakriti of
\nthe one supreme and universal Purusha. He must see and feel not only that all
\nis the self-shaping of the one Force, Prakriti or Nature, but that all her
\nactions are those of the Divine in all, the one Godhead in all, however veiled,
\naltered and as it were perverted \u2013 for perversion comes by a conversion into
\nlower forms \u2013 by transmission through the ego and the gunas. This will farther
\ndiminish the open or covert insistence of the ego and, if thoroughly realised,
\nit will make it difficult or impossible for it to assert itself in such a way
\nas to disturb or hamper the farther progress. The ego-sense will become, so far
\nas it interferes at all, a foreign intrusive element and only a fringe of the
\nmist of the old ignorance hanging on to the outskirts of the consciousness and
\nits action. And, secondly, the universal Shakti must be realised, must be seen
\nand felt and borne in the potent purity of its higher action, its supramental
\nand spiritual workings. This greater vision of the Shakti will enable us to
\nescape from the control of the gunas, to convert them into their divine
\nequivalents and dwell in a consciousness in which the Purusha and Prakriti are
\none and not separated or hidden in or behind each other. There the Shakti will
\nbe in its every movement evident to us and naturally, spontaneously,
\nirresistibly felt as nothing else but the active presence of the Divine, the
\nshape of power of the supreme Self and Spirit. <\/p>\n

The Shakti in
\nthis higher status reveals itself as the presence or potentiality of the
\ninfinite existence, consciousness, will, delight, and when it is so seen and
\nfelt, the being turns towards it in whatever way, with its adoration or its
\nwill of aspiration or
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 735<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

some kind of attraction of the
\nlesser to the greater, to know it, to be full of and possessed by it, to be one
\nwith it in the sense and action of the whole nature. But at first while we
\nstill live in the mind, there is a gulf of division or else a double action.
\nThe mental, vital and physical energy in us and the universe is felt to be a derivation
\nfrom the supreme Shakti, but at the same time an inferior, separated and in
\nsome sense another working. The real spiritual force may send down its messages
\nor the light and power of its presence above us to the lower levels or may
\ndescend occasionally and even for a time possess, but it is then mixed with the
\ninferior workings and partially transforms and spiritualises<\/span>
\nthem, but is itself diminished and altered in the process. There is an
\nintermittent higher action or a dual working of the nature. Or we find that the
\nShakti for a time raises the being to a higher spiritual plane and then lowers
\nit back into the inferior levels. These alternations must be regarded as the
\nnatural vicissitudes of a process of transformation from the normal to the spiritual
\nbeing. The transformation, the perfection cannot for the integral Yoga be complete
\nuntil the link between the mental and the spiritual action is formed and a
\nhigher knowledge applied to all the activities of our existence. That link is
\nthe supramental or gnostic energy in which the incalculable infinite power of
\nthe supreme being, consciousness, delight formulates itself as an ordering
\ndivine will and wisdom, a light and power in the being which shapes all the
\nthought, will, feeling, action and replaces the corresponding individual
\nmovements. <\/p>\n

This
\nsupramental Shakti may form itself as a spiritualised intuitive light and power
\nin the mind itself, and that is a great but still a mentally limited spiritual
\naction. Or it may transform altogether the mind and raise the whole being to
\nthe supramental level. In any case this is the first necessity of this part of
\nthe Yoga, to lose the ego of the doer, the ego idea and the sense of one’s own
\npower of action and initiation of action and control of the result of action
\nand merge it in the sense and vision of the universal Shakti originating,
\nshaping, turning to its ends the action of ourselves and others and of all the
\npersons and forces of the world. And this realisation can become absolute and
\ncomplete in all the parts of our being only if we can have that <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 736<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

sense and vision of it in all its
\nforms, on all the levels of our being and the world being, as the material,
\nvital, mental and supramental energy of the Divine, but all these, all the
\npowers of all the planes must be seen and known as self-formulations of the one
\nspiritual Shakti, infinite in being, consciousness and Ananda. It is not the
\ninvariable rule that this power should first manifest itself on the lower
\nlevels in the lower forms of energy and then reveal its higher spiritual
\nnature. And if it does so come, first in its mental, vital or physical
\nuniversalism, we must be careful not to rest content there. It may come instead
\nat once in its higher reality, in the might of the spiritual splendour<\/span>. The difficulty then will be to bear and hold the
\nPower until it has laid powerful hands on and transformed the energies of the
\nlower levels of the being. The difficulty will be less in proportion as we have
\nbeen able to attain to a large quiet and equality, samatā<\/i><\/span>, and either to
\nrealise, feel and live in the one tranquil immutable self in all or else to
\nmake a genuine and complete surrender of ourselves to the divine Master of the Yoga.\n<\/p>\n

It is necessary
\nhere to keep always in mind the three powers of the Divine which are present
\nand have to be taken account of in all living existences. In our ordinary
\nconsciousness we see these three as ourselves, the Jiva in the form of the ego,
\nGod \u2013 whatever conception we may have of God, and Nature. In the spiritual
\nexperience we see God as the supreme Self or Spirit, or as the Being from whom
\nwe come and in whom we live and move. We see Nature as his Power or God as Power,
\nSpirit in Power acting in ourselves and the world. The Jiva is then himself
\nthis Self, Spirit, Divine, so ‘ham, because he is one with him in essence of
\nhis being and consciousness, but as the individual he is only a portion of the
\nDivine, a self of the Spirit, and in his natural being a form of the Shakti, a
\npower of God in movement and action, parā<\/span> prakŗtir<\/span> jīvabhūtā<\/span><\/i>. At first, when we become
\nconscious of God or of the Shakti, the difficulties of our relation with them
\narise from the ego consciousness which we bring into the spiritual relation.
\nThe ego in us makes claims on the Divine other than the spiritual claim, and
\nthese claims are in a sense legitimate, but so long as and in proportion as
\nthey take the egoistic form, they are open to much grossness and great
\nperversions,
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 737<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

burdened with an element of
\nfalsehood, undesirable reaction and consequent evil, and the relation can only
\nbe wholly right, happy and perfect when these claims become part of the
\nspiritual claim and lose their egoistic character. And in fact the claim of our
\nbeing upon the Divine is fulfilled absolutely only then when it ceases at all
\nto be a claim and is instead a fulfilment of the Divine through the individual,
\nwhen we are satisfied with that alone, when we are content with the delight of
\noneness in being, content to leave the supreme Self and Master of existence to do
\nwhatever is the will of his absolute wisdom and knowledge through our more and
\nmore perfected Nature. This is the sense of the self-surrender of the
\nindividual self to the Divine, ātma-samarpaņa<\/i><\/span>. It does not exclude a will for the
\ndelight of oneness, for participation in the divine consciousness, wisdom, knowledge,
\nlight, power, perfection, for the satisfaction of the divine fulfilment in us,
\nbut the will, the aspiration is ours because it is his will in us. At first,
\nwhile there is still insistence on our own personality, it only reflects that,
\nbut becomes more and more indistinguishable from it, less personal and
\neventually it loses all shade of separateness, because the will in us has grown
\nidentical with the divine Tapas, the action of the divine Shakti. <\/p>\n

And equally
\nwhen we first become aware of the infinite Shakti above us or around or in us,
\nthe impulse of the egoistic sense in us is to lay hold on it and use this
\nincreased might for our egoistic purpose. This is a most dangerous thing, for
\nit brings with it a sense and some increased reality of a great, sometimes a
\ntitanic power, and the rajasic ego, delighting in this sense of new enormous
\nstrength, may instead of waiting for it to be purified and transformed throw
\nitself out in a violent and impure action and even turn us for a time or
\npartially into the selfish and arrogant Asura using the strength given him for
\nhis own and not for the divine purpose: but on that way lies, in the end, if it
\nis persisted in, spiritual perdition and material ruin. And even to regard
\noneself as the instrument of the Divine is not a perfect remedy; for when a
\nstrong ego meddles in the matter, it falsifies the spiritual relation and under
\ncover of making itself an instrument of the Divine is really bent on making
\ninstead God its instrument. The one remedy is to still the egoistic claim of
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 738<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

whatever kind, to lessen
\npersistently the personal effort and individual straining which even the
\nsattwic ego cannot avoid and instead of laying hold on the Shakti and using it
\nfor its purpose rather to let the Shakti lay hold on us and use us for the
\ndivine purpose. This cannot be done perfectly at once, \u2013 nor can it be done
\nsafely if it is only the lower form of the universal energy of which we are
\naware, for then, as has already been said, there must be some other control,
\neither of the mental Purusha or from above, \u2013 but still it is the aim which we
\nmust have before us and which can be wholly carried out when we become
\ninsistently aware of the highest spiritual presence and form of the divine
\nShakti. This surrender too of the whole action of the individual self to the
\nShakti is in fact a form of real self-surrender to the Divine. <\/p>\n

It has been
\nseen that a most effective way of purification is for the mental Purusha to
\ndraw back, to stand as the passive witness and observe and know himself and the
\nworkings of Nature in the lower, the normal being; but this must be combined,
\nfor perfection, with a will to raise the purified nature into the higher
\nspiritual being. When that is done, the Purusha is no longer only a witness,
\nbut also the master of his prakriti<\/span>, īśvara<\/i><\/span>.
\nAt first it may not be apparent how this ideal of active self-mastery can be
\nreconciled with the apparently opposite ideal of self-surrender and of becoming
\nthe assenting instrument of the divine Shakti. But in fact on the spiritual
\nplane there is no difficulty. The Jiva cannot really become master except in
\nproportion as he arrives at oneness with the Divine who is his supreme Self.
\nAnd in that oneness and in his unity with the universe he is one too in the
\nuniversal self with the will that directs all the operations of Nature. But
\nmore directly, less transcendentally, in his individual action too, he is a
\nportion of the Divine and participates in the mastery over his nature of that
\nto which he has surrendered himself. Even as instrument, he is not a mechanical
\nbut a conscious instrument. On the Purusha side of him he is one with the
\nDivine and participates in the divine mastery of the Ishwara. On the nature
\nside of him he is in his universality one with the power of the Divine, while
\nin his individual natural being he is an instrument of the universal divine
\nShakti, because <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 739<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the individualised<\/span>
\npower is there to fulfil the purpose of the universal Power. The Jiva, as has
\nbeen seen, is the meeting-place of the play of the dual aspect of the Divine,
\nPrakriti and Purusha, and in the higher spiritual consciousness he becomes
\nsimultaneously one with both these aspects, and there he takes up and combines
\nall the divine relations created by their interaction. This it is that makes
\npossible the dual attitude. <\/p>\n

There is
\nhowever a possibility of arriving at this result without the passage through
\nthe passivity of the mental Purusha, by a more persistently and predominantly
\nkinetic Yoga. Or there may be a combination of both the methods, alternations between
\nthem and an ultimate fusion. And here the problem of spiritual action assumes a
\nmore simple form. In this kinetic movement there are three stages. In the first
\nthe Jiva is aware of the supreme Shakti, receives the power into himself and uses
\nit under her direction, with a certain sense of being the subordinate doer, a
\nsense of minor responsibility in the action,\u2013 even at first, it may be, a
\nresponsibility for the result; but that disappears, for the result is seen to
\nbe determined by the higher Power, and only the action is felt to be partly his
\nown. The sadhaka then feels that it is he who is thinking, willing, doing, but
\nfeels too the divine Shakti or Prakriti behind driving and shaping all his
\nthought, will, feeling and action: the individual energy belongs in a way to
\nhim, but is still only a form and an instrument of the universal divine Energy.
\nThe Master of the Power may be hidden from him for a time by the action of the
\nShakti, or he may be aware of the Ishwara sometimes or continually manifest to
\nhim. In the latter case there are three things present to his consciousness,
\nhimself as the servant of the Ishwara, the Shakti behind as a great Power
\nsupplying the energy, shaping the action, formulating the results, the Ishwara
\nabove determining by his will the whole action. <\/p>\n

In the second
\nstage the individual doer disappears, but there is not necessarily any quietistic<\/span> passivity; there may be a full kinetic action,
\nonly all is done by the Shakti. It is her power of knowledge which takes shape
\nas thought in the mind; the Sadhaka has no sense of himself thinking, but of
\nthe Shakti thinking in him. The will and the feelings and action are also in the
\nsame way nothing but a formation, operation, activity of the <\/p>\n

 Page \u2013 740<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

 Shakti in her immediate presence
\nand full possession of all the system. The Sadhaka does not think, will, act,
\nfeel, but thought, will, feeling, action happen in his system. The individual on
\nthe side of action has disappeared into oneness with universal Prakriti, has
\nbecome an individualised<\/span> form and action of the
\ndivine Shakti. He is still aware of his personal existence, but it is as the
\nPurusha supporting and observing the whole action, conscious of it in his
\nself-knowledge and enabling by his participation the divine Shakti to do in him
\nthe works and the will of the Ishwara. The Master of the power is then
\nsometimes hidden by the action of the power, sometimes appears governing it and
\ncompelling its workings. Here too there are three things present to the
\nconsciousness, the Shakti carrying on all the knowledge, thought, will,
\nfeeling, action for the Ishwara in an instrumental human form, the Ishwara, the
\nMaster of existence governing and compelling all her action, and ourself<\/span> as the soul, the Purusha of her individual action
\nenjoying all the relations with him which are created by her workings. There is
\nanother form of this realisation in which the Jiva disappears into and becomes
\none with the Shakti and there is then only the play of the Shakti with the
\nIshwara, Mahadeva<\/span> and Kali, Krishna
\nand Radha<\/span>, the Deva<\/span> and the
\nDevi<\/span>. This is the intensest<\/span>
\npossible form of the Jiva’s<\/span> realisation of himself as
\na manifestation of Nature, a power of the being of the Divine, parā<\/i><\/span> prakŗtir<\/span> jīvabhūtā<\/span><\/i>. <\/p>\n

A third stage
\ncomes by the increasing manifestation of the Divine, the Ishwara in all our
\nbeing and action. This is when we are constantly and uninterruptedly aware of
\nhim. He is felt in us as the possessor of our being and above us as the ruler of
\nall its workings and they become to us nothing but a manifestation of him in
\nthe existence of the Jiva. All our consciousness is his consciousness, all our
\nknowledge is his knowledge, all our thought is his thought, all our will is his
\nwill, all our feeling is his Ananda and form of his delight in being, all our
\naction is his action. The distinction between the Shakti and the Ishwara begins
\nto disappear; there is only the conscious activity in us of the Divine with the
\ngreat self of the Divine behind and around and possessing it; all the world and
\nNature is seen to be only <\/p>\n

 Page \u2013 741<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

 that, but here it has become
\nfully conscious, the Maya of the ego removed, and the Jiva is there only as an
\neternal portion of his being, amśa<\/i><\/span> sanātana<\/span><\/i>, put forth to support a divine
\nindividualisation and living now fulfilled in the complete presence and power
\nof the Divine, the complete joy of the Spirit manifested in the being. This is
\nthe highest realisation of the perfection and delight of the active oneness;
\nfor beyond it there could be only the consciousness of the Avatara, the Ishwara
\nhimself assuming a human name and form for action in the Lila.<\/p>\n

\n Page \u2013 742<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter XVII   The Action of the Divine Shakti    THIS is the nature of the divine Shakti that it is the timeless power of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","wpcat-26-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}