{"id":1215,"date":"2013-07-13T01:33:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:33:19","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:33:19","slug":"23-the-action-of-equality-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\/23-the-action-of-equality-vol-21-the-synthesis-of-yoga-volume-21","title":{"rendered":"-23_The Action of Equality.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


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

 <\/font>The
\nAction of Equality<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n <\/font>                    T<\/font><\/b>HE<\/font>
\ndistinctions that have already been made, will have shown in sufficiency what
\nis meant by the status of equality. It is not mere quiescence and indifference,
\nnot a withdrawal from experience, but a superiority to the present reactions of
\nthe mind and life. It is the spiritual way of replying to life or rather of
\nembracing it and compelling it to become a perfect form of action of the self
\nand spirit. It is the first secret of the soul’s mastery of existence. When we
\nhave it in perfection, we are admitted to the very ground of the divine
\nspiritual nature. The mental being in the body tries to compel and conquer
\nlife, but is at every turn compelled by it, because it submits to the desire
\nreactions of the vital self. To be equal, not to be overborne by any stress of
\ndesire, is the first condition of real mastery, self-empire is its basis. But a
\nmere mental equality, however great it may be, is hampered by the tendency of
\nquiescence. It has to preserve itself from desire by self-limitation in the
\nwill and action. It is only the spirit which is capable of sublime undisturbed rapidities<\/span> of will as well as an illimitable patience, equally
\njust in a slow and deliberate or a swift and violent, equally secure in a
\nsafely lined and limited or a vast and enormous action. It can accept the
\nsmallest work in the narrowest circle of cosmos, but it can work too upon the
\nwhirl of chaos with an understanding and creative force; and these things it
\ncan do because by its detached and yet intimate acceptance it carries into both
\nan infinite calm, knowledge, will and power. It has that detachment because it
\nis above all the happenings, forms, ideas and movements it embraces in its
\nscope; and it has that intimate acceptance because it is yet one with all
\nthings. If we have not this free unity, ekatvam<\/i><\/span> anupaśyatah<\/span><\/i>, we have not the full equality of the
\nspirit. <\/p>\n

The first
\nbusiness of the sadhaka is to see whether he has <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 693<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the perfect equality, how far he
\nhas gone in this direction or else where is the flaw, and to exercise steadily
\nhis will on his nature or invite the will of the Purusha to get rid of the
\ndefect and its causes. There are four things that he must have; first, equality
\nin the most concrete practical sense of the word, samatā<\/i><\/span>, freedom from mental,
\nvital, physical preferences, an even acceptance of all God’s workings within
\nand around him; secondly, a firm peace and absence of all disturbance and
\ntrouble, śānti<\/i><\/span>;
\nthirdly, a positive inner spiritual happiness and spiritual ease of the natural
\nbeing which nothing can lessen, sukham<\/i><\/span>; fourthly, a clear joy and laughter of the soul
\nembracing life and existence. To be equal is to be infinite and universal, not
\nto limit oneself, not to bind oneself down to this or that form of the mind and
\nlife and its partial preferences and desires. But since man in his present
\nnormal nature lives by his mental and vital formations, not in the freedom of
\nhis spirit, attachment to them and the desires and preferences they involve is
\nalso his normal condition. To accept them is at first inevitable, to get beyond
\nthem exceedingly difficult and not, perhaps, altogether possible so long as we
\nare compelled to use the mind as the chief instrument of our action. The first
\nnecessity therefore is to take at least the sting out of them, to deprive them,
\neven when they persist, of their greater insistence, their present egoism,
\ntheir more violent claim on our nature. <\/p>\n

The test that
\nwe have done this is the presence of an undisturbed calm in the mind and
\nspirit. The Sadhaka must be on the watch as the witnessing and willing Purusha
\nbehind or, better, as soon as he can manage it, above the mind, and repel even
\nthe least indices or incidence of trouble, anxiety, grief, revolt, disturbance
\nin his mind. If these things come, he must at once detect their source, the defect
\nwhich they indicate, the fault of egoistic claim, vital desire, emotion or idea
\nfrom which they start and this he must discourage by his will, his
\nspiritualised intelligence, his soul unity with the Master of his being. On no
\naccount must he admit any excuse for them, however natural, righteous in
\nseeming or plausible, or any inner or outer justification. If it is the Prana
\nwhich is troubled and clamorous, he must separate himself from the troubled
\nprana, keep seated his
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 694<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

higher nature in the Buddhi and
\nby the buddhi school and reject the claim of the desire-soul in him; and so too
\nif it is the heart of emotion that makes the clamour<\/span>
\nand the disturbance. If on the other hand it is the will and intelligence
\nitself that is at fault, then the trouble is more difficult to command, because
\nthen his chief aid and instrument becomes an accomplice of the revolt against
\nthe divine Will and the old sins of the lower members take advantage of this
\nsanction to raise their diminished heads. Therefore there must be a constant
\ninsistence on one main idea, the self-surrender to the Master of our being, God
\nwithin us and in the world, the supreme Self, the universal Spirit. The Buddhi
\ndwelling always in this master idea must discourage all its own lesser insistences
\nand preferences and teach the whole being that the ego whether it puts forth
\nits claim through the reason, the personal will, the heart or the desire-soul
\nin the Prana, has no just claim of any kind and all grief, revolt, impatience,
\ntrouble is a violence against the Master of the being.<\/p>\n

This complete
\nself-surrender must be the chief mainstay of the Sadhaka because it is the only
\nway, apart from complete quiescence and indifference to all action, \u2013 and that
\nhas to be avoided, \u2013 by which the absolute calm and peace can come. The
\npersistence of trouble, aśānti<\/i><\/span>,
\nthe length of time taken for this purification and perfection, itself must not
\nbe allowed to become a reason for discouragement and impatience. It comes
\nbecause there is still something in the nature which responds to it, and the
\nrecurrence of trouble serves to bring out the presence of the defect, put the
\nsadhaka upon his guard and bring about a more enlightened and consistent action
\nof the will to get rid of it. When the trouble is too strong to be kept out, it
\nmust be allowed to pass and its return discouraged by a greater vigilance and insistence
\nof the spiritualised Buddhi. Thus persisting, it will be found that these
\nthings lose their force more and more, become more and more external and brief
\nin their recurrence, until finally calm becomes the law of the being. This rule
\npersists so long as the mental Buddhi is the chief instrument; but when the
\nsupramental light takes possession of mind and heart, then there can be no
\ntrouble, grief or disturbance; for
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 695<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

that brings with it a spiritual
\nnature of illumined strength in which these things can have no place. There the
\nonly vibrations and emotions are those which belong to the ānandamaya<\/i><\/span> nature of divine
\nunity.<\/p>\n

The calm
\nestablished in the whole being must remain the same whatever happens, in health
\nand disease, in pleasure and in pain, even in the strongest physical pain, in
\ngood fortune and misfortune, our own or that of those we love, in success and failure,
\nhonour<\/span> and insult, praise and blame, justice done to
\nus or injustice, everything that ordinarily affects the mind. If we see unity
\neverywhere, if we recognise that all comes by the divine will, see God in all,
\nin our enemies or rather our opponents in the game of life as well as our
\nfriends, in the powers that oppose and resist us as well as the powers that favour
\nand assist, in all energies and forces and happenings, and if besides we can
\nfeel that all is undivided from our self, all the world one with us within our
\nuniversal being, then this attitude becomes much easier to the heart and mind.
\nBut even before we can attain or are firmly seated in that universal vision, we
\nhave by all the means in our power to insist on this receptive and active
\nequality and calm. Even something of it, svalpam<\/i><\/span> api<\/span> asya<\/span> dharmasya<\/span><\/i>, is a great step towards perfection; a first
\nfirmness in it is the beginning of liberated perfection; its completeness is
\nthe perfect assurance of a rapid progress in all the other members of
\nperfection. For without it we can have no solid basis; and by the pronounced
\nlack of it we shall be constantly falling back to the lower status of desire,
\nego, duality, ignorance.<\/p>\n

This calm once
\nattained, vital and mental preference has lost its disturbing force; it only
\nremains as a formal habit of the mind. Vital acceptance or rejection, the
\ngreater readiness to welcome this rather than that happening, the mental
\nacceptance or rejection, the preference of this more congenial to that other
\nless congenial idea or truth, the dwelling upon the will to this rather than to
\nthat other result, become a formal mechanism still necessary as an index of the
\ndirection in which the Shakti is meant to turn or for the present is made to
\nincline by the Master of our being. But it loses its disturbing aspect of
\nstrong egoistic will, intolerant desire, obstinate liking. These
\n <\/p>\n

Page \u2013 696<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

appearances may remain for a
\nwhile in a diminished form, but as the calm of equality increases, deepens,
\nbecomes more essential and compact, ghana<\/i><\/span>, they disappear, cease to colour<\/span>
\nthe mental and vital substance or occur only as touches on the most external
\nphysical mind, are unable to penetrate within, and at last even that
\nrecurrence, that appearance at the outer gates of mind ceases. Then there can
\ncome the living reality of the perception that all in us is done and directed
\nby the Master of our being, yathā<\/i><\/span> prayukto\u2019smi<\/span>, tathā<\/span> karomi<\/span><\/i>, which was before only a strong idea and faith
\nwith occasional and derivative glimpses of the divine action behind the
\nbecomings of our personal nature. Now every movement is seen to be the form
\ngiven by the Shakti, the divine power in us, to the indications of the Purusha,
\nstill no doubt personalised<\/span>, still belittled in the
\ninferior mental form, but not primarily egoistic, an imperfect form, not a
\npositive deformation. We have then to get beyond this stage even. For the perfect
\naction and experience is not to be determined by any kind of mental or vital
\npreference, but by the revealing and inspiring spiritual will which is the
\nShakti in her direct and real initiation. When I say that as I am appointed, I
\nwork, I still bring in a limiting personal element and mental reaction. But it
\nis the Master who will do his own work through myself as his instrument, and
\nthere must be no mental or other preference in me to limit, to interfere, to be
\na source of imperfect working. The mind must become a silent luminous channel
\nfor the revelations of the supramental Truth and of the Will involved in its
\nseeing. Then shall the action be the action of that highest Being and Truth and
\nnot a qualified translation or mistranslation in the mind. Whatever limitation,
\nselection, relation is imposed, will be self-imposed by the Divine on himself
\nin the individual at the moment for his own purpose, not binding, not final,
\nnot an ignorant determination of the mind. The thought and will become then an
\naction from a luminous Infinite, a formulation not excluding other
\nformulations, but rather putting them into their just place in relation to
\nitself, englobing<\/span> or transforming them even and
\nproceeding to larger formations of the divine knowledge and action. <\/p>\n

The first calm
\nthat comes is of the nature of peace, the
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 697<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

absence of all unquiet, grief and
\ndisturbance. As the equality becomes more intense, it takes on a fuller
\nsubstance of positive happiness and spiritual ease. This is the joy of the spirit
\nin itself, dependent on nothing external for its absolute existence, nirāśraya<\/i><\/span>,
\nas the Gita describes it, antah-sukho\u2019ntarārāmah<\/i><\/span>, an exceeding inner
\nhappiness, brahmasamsparśam<\/i><\/span> atyantam<\/span> sukham<\/span> aśnute<\/span><\/i>. Nothing
\ncan disturb it, and it extends itself to the soul’s view of outward things,
\nimposes on them too the law of this quiet spiritual joy. For the base of it is still
\ncalm, it is an even and tranquil neutral joy, ahaituka<\/i><\/span>. And as the supramental
\nlight grows, a greater Ananda comes, the base of the abundant ecstasy of the
\nspirit in all it is, becomes, sees, experiences and of the laughter of the
\nShakti doing luminously the work of the Divine and taking his Ananda in all the
\nworlds.<\/p>\n

The perfected
\naction of equality transforms all the values of things on the basis of the
\ndivine ānandamaya<\/i><\/span>
\npower. The outward action may remain what it was or may change, that must be as
\nthe Spirit directs and according to the need of the work to be done for the
\nworld, \u2013 but the whole inner action is of another kind. The Shakti in its
\ndifferent powers of knowledge, action, enjoyment, creation, formulation, will
\ndirect itself to the different aims of existence, but in another spirit; they
\nwill be the aims, the fruits, the lines of working laid down by the Divine from
\nhis light above, not anything claimed by the ego for its own separate sake. The
\nmind, the heart, the vital being, the body itself will be satisfied with
\nwhatever comes to them from the dispensation of the Master of the being and in
\nthat find a subtlest and yet fullest spiritualised satisfaction and delight;
\nbut the divine knowledge and will above will work forward towards its farther
\nends. Here both success and failure lose their present meanings. There can be
\nno failure; for whatever happens is the intention of the Master of the worlds,
\nnot final, but a step on his way, and if it appears as an opposition, a defeat,
\na denial, even for the moment a total denial of the aim set before the
\ninstrumental being, it is so only in appearance and afterwards it will appear
\nin its right place in the economy of his action, \u2013 a fuller supramental vision
\nmay even see at once or beforehand its necessity and its true relation to the
\neventual result to which it seems so contrary and even
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 698<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

perhaps its definite prohibition.
\nOr, if \u2013 while the light is deficient \u2013 there has been a misinterpretation
\nwhether with regard to the aim or the course of the action and the steps of the
\nresult, the failure comes as a rectification and is calmly accepted without
\nbringing discouragement or a fluctuation of the will. In the end it is found
\nthat there is no such thing as failure and the soul takes an equal passive or
\nactive delight in all happenings as the steps and formulations of the divine
\nWill. The same evolution takes place with regard to good fortune and ill
\nfortune, the pleasant and the unpleasant in every form, mangala<\/i><\/span> amangala<\/span>, priya<\/span> apriya<\/span>.<\/i><\/p>\n

And as with
\nhappenings, so with persons, equality brings an entire change of the view and
\nthe attitude. The first result of the equal mind and spirit is to bring about
\nan increasing charity and inner toleration of all persons, ideas, views,
\nactions, because it is seen that God is in all beings and each acts according
\nto his nature, his svabhāva<\/i><\/span>,
\nand its present formulations. When there is the positive equal Ananda, this
\ndeepens to a sympathetic understanding and in the end an equal universal love.
\nNone of these things need prevent various relations or different formulations
\nof the inner attitude according to the need of life as determined by the
\nspiritual will, or firm furtherings<\/span> of this idea,
\nview, action against that other for the same need and purpose by the same
\ndetermination, or a strong outward or inward resistance, opposition and action
\nagainst the forces that are impelled to stand in the way of the decreed
\nmovement. And there may be even the rush of the Rudra<\/span>
\nenergy forcefully working upon or shattering the human or other obstacle,
\nbecause that is necessary both for him and for the world purpose. But the
\nessence of the equal inmost attitude is not altered or diminished by these more
\nsuperficial formulations. The spirit, the fundamental soul remain the same,
\neven while the Shakti of knowledge, will, action, love does its work and assumes
\nthe various forms needed for its work. And in the end all becomes a form of a
\nluminous spiritual unity with all persons, energies, things in the being of God
\nand in the luminous, spiritual, one and universal force, in which one’s own
\naction becomes an inseparable part of the action of all, is not divided from
\nit, but feels perfectly every relation as a relation with God in all in the
\ncomplex terms of his universal oneness. That is
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 699<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

a plenitude which can hardly be
\ndescribed in the language of the dividing mental reason for it uses all its oppositions,
\nyet escapes from them, nor can it be put in the terms of our limited mental
\npsychology. It belongs to another domain of consciousness, another plane of our
\nbeing. <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 700<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter XIII   The Action of Equality                        THE distinctions that have already been made, will have shown in sufficiency what is meant by 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-1215","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\/1215","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=1215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}