{"id":2645,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2645"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:58","slug":"09-the-jivatman-in-other-indian-systems-vol-28-letters-on-yoga-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/28-letters-on-yoga-i\/09-the-jivatman-in-other-indian-systems-vol-28-letters-on-yoga-i","title":{"rendered":"-09_The Jivatman in Other Indian Systems.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\tChapter Two <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Jivatman <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n


\nin Other Indian Systems <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Jivatman in Other Schools
\n\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

The word Jiva has two meanings in the Sanskritic tongues
\n\u2014”living creature”1 and the spirit individualised and upholding
\nthe living being in its evolution from birth to birth. In the latter sense the full term is Jivatma
\n\u2014the Atman, spirit or eternal self
\nof the living being. It is spoken of figuratively by the Gita as “an eternal portion of the Divine”
\n\u2014but the word fragmentation (used by you) is too strong, it could be applicable to the forms, but not to the spirit in them. Moreover the multiple
\nDivine is an eternal reality antecedent to the creation here. An elaborate description of the Jivatma would be: “the multiple
\nDivine manifested here as the individualised self or spirit of the created being”. The Jivatma in its essence does not change or
\nevolve, its essence stands above the personal evolution; within the evolution itself it is represented by the evolving psychic being
\nwhich supports all the rest of the nature. <\/p>\n

The Adwaita Vedanta (Monism) declares that the Jiva has
\nno real existence, as the Divine is indivisible. Another school attributes a real but not an independent existence to the Jiva
\n\t\u2014
\nit is, they say, one in essence, different in manifestation, and as the manifestation is real, eternal and not an illusion, it cannot be
\ncalled unreal. The dualistic schools affirm the Jiva as an independent category or stand on the triplicity of God, soul and Nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tThe Jivatman and the Pure “I” of the Adwaita<\/b>
\n\t<\/a> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, it is a little difficult to explain. Perhaps the best thing is to <\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

 
\n\t1 In Bengal when one is about to kill a small animal, people often protest saying,
\n “Don’t kill \u2014it is Krishna’s Jiva (his living creature).”
\n <\/font>  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t68<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

break up my answer into a number of separate statements, for the whole thing has got too complicated to do otherwise. <\/p>\n

(1) It is impossible to equate my conception or experience of the Jivatman with the pure “I” of the Adwaita, by which
\nyou mean, I suppose, something which says, “I am He” and by that perception merges itself into the Brahman. According to
\nthe Adwaita of the Mayavadins this Jivatman, like the Ishwara himself, is simply an appearance of the Brahman in illusory
\nMaya. There is no Ishwara, Lord of the world, because there is no world \u2014except in Maya; so too there is no Jivatman, only
\nthe Paramatman illusorily perceived as an individual self by the lower (illusory) consciousness in Maya. Those, on the other
\nhand, who wish to unite with the Ishwara, regard or experience the Jiva either as a separate being dependent on the Ishwara
\nor as something one in essence with him, yet different, but this difference like the essential oneness is eternal
\n\u2014and there are
\nalso other ideas of the Jivatman and its relation to the Divine or Supreme. So this pure “I”, if that is how it is to be described,
\npresents itself differently, in different aspects, one may say, to different people. The Overmind presents the truth of things in all
\nsorts of aspects and mind, even the spiritual mind, fastens on one or the other as the very truth, the one real truth of the matter. It is
\nthe mind that makes these differences, but that does not matter, because, through its own way of seeing and experiencing the
\nsoul or individualised consciousness or whatever you may like to call it, the mental being goes where it has to go. I hope this
\nmuch is clear as the first step in the matter. <\/p>\n

(2) I do not dispute at all the fact that one can realise the
\nSelf, the Brahman or the Ishwara without going into the overhead regions, the dynamic spiritual planes, or stationing oneself
\npermanently above the body as happens in this Yoga. Even if it is done through the Sahasrara, well, the Sahasrara extends to
\nthe spiritualised mind and can be felt on the top of the head, so any ascent above is not indispensable. But, apart from that,
\none can very well, as you say, realise the Atman if one stands back from the mind and heart, detaches oneself from the parts of
\nPrakriti, ceases to identify oneself with mind, life and body, falls   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t69<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

into an inner silence. One need not even explore the kingdoms of the inner mind or inner vital, still less is it compulsory to
\nspread one’s wings in ranges above. The Self is everywhere and by entering into full detachment and silence, or even by either
\ndetachment or silence, one can get anywhere some glimpse, some reflection, perhaps even a full reflection, or a sense of the Self’s
\npresence or of one’s own immergence in that which is free, wide, silent, eternal, infinite. Obviously if it is a pure “I”, of whatever
\nnature, which gets the experience, it must be looked on by the consciousness that has the realisation as the individual self of
\nthe Being, Jivatman. <\/p>\n

(3) One can also have the experience of oneself as not the
\nmind but the thinker, not the heart but the self or “I” which supports the feelings, not the life but that which supports life,
\nnot the body but that which assumes a body. This self can be obviously dynamic as well as silent; or else you may say that,
\neven though still and immobile, from its silence it originates the dynamism of Nature. One can also feel this to be the Spirit
\none in all as well as the true “I” in oneself. All depends on the experience. Very usually, it is the experience of the Purusha,
\noften felt first as the Witness silent, upholding all the nature; but the Purusha can also be experienced as the Knower and the
\nIshwara. Sometimes it is as or through the mental Purusha in one centre or another, sometimes as or through the vital Purusha that
\none can become aware of one’s self or spirit. It is also possible to become aware of the secret psychic being within by itself as
\nthe true individual; or one can be aware of the psychic being as the pure “I” with these others standing in mind or vital as
\nrepresentatives in these domains or on these levels. According to one’s experience one may speak of any of these as the Jiva or
\npure “I” (this last is a very dubious phrase) or the true Person or true Individual who knows himself as one with or a portion of
\nor wholly dependent on the universal or transcendent Being and seeks to merge himself in that or ascend to that and be it or live
\nin oneness with it. All these things are quite possible without any need of the overhead experience or of the stable overhead
\nPermanence.   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t70<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

(4) One may ask, first, why not then say that the Jivatman which can be realised in this way is the pure “I” of which
\nthe lower self has the experience and through which it gets its salvation; and, secondly, what need is there of going into the
\noverhead planes at all? Well, in the first place, this pure “I” does not seem to be absolutely necessary as an intermediary of the
\nliberation whether into the impersonal Self or Brahman or into whatever is eternal. The Buddhists do not admit any soul or self
\nor any experience of the pure “I”; they proceed by dissolving the consciousness into a bundle of sanskaras, getting rid of the
\nsanskaras and so are liberated into some Permanent which they refuse to describe or some Shunya. So the experience of a pure
\n“I” or Jivatman is not binding on everyone who wants liberation into the Eternal but is content to get it without rising beyond
\nthe spiritualised mind into a higher Light above. I myself had my experience of Nirvana and silence in the Brahman, etc. long
\nbefore there was any knowledge of the overhead spiritual planes; it came first simply by an absolute stillness and blotting out as
\nit were of all mental, emotional and other inner activities \u2014the body continued indeed to see, walk, speak and do its other
\nbusiness but as an empty automatic machine and nothing more. I did not become aware of any pure “I”
\n\u2014nor even of any self,
\nimpersonal or other, \u2014there was only an awareness of That as the sole Reality, all else being quite unsubstantial, void, non-real.
\nAs to what realised that Reality, it was a nameless consciousness which was not other than That;2 one could perhaps say this,
\nthough hardly even so much as this, since there was no mental concept of it, but no more. Neither was I aware of any lower soul
\nor outer self called by such and such a personal name that was performing this feat of arriving at the consciousness of Nirvana.
\nWell then, what becomes of your pure “I” and lower “I” in all that? Consciousness (not this or that part of consciousness or an
\n“I” of any kind) suddenly emptied itself of all inner contents and remained aware only of unreal surroundings and of Something <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t2 Mark that I did not think these things, there were no thoughts or concepts nor did
\n they present themselves like that to any Me; it simply just was so or was self-apparently
\nso.    <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t71<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

real but ineffable. You may say that there must have been a consciousness aware of some perceiving existence, if not of a
\npure “I”, but, if so, it was something for which these names seem inadequate. <\/p>\n

(5) I have said the overhead ascension is not indispensable for the usual spiritual purposes,
\n\u2014but it is indispensable for
\nthe purposes of this Yoga. For its aim is to become aware of and liberate and transform and unite all the being in the
\nlight of a Truth-consciousness which is above and cannot be reached if there is no entirely inward-going and no transcending
\nand upward-going movement. Hence all the complexity of my psychological statements as a whole, not new in essence
\n\u2014for
\nmuch of it occurs in the Upanishads and elsewhere, but new in its fullness of collective statement and its developments directed
\ntowards an integral Yoga. It is not necessary for anyone to accept it unless he concurs in the aim; for other aims it is unnecessary
\nand may very well be excessive. <\/p>\n

(6) But when one has <\/i>made the inner exploration and the
\nascension, when one’s consciousness is located above, one cannot be expected to see things precisely as they are seen from
\nbelow. The Jivatman is for me the Unborn who presides over the individual being and its developments, associated with it but
\nabove it and them and who by the very nature of his existence knows himself as universal and transcendent no less than individual and feels the Divine to be his origin, the truth of his being, the master of his nature, the very stuff of his existence.
\nHe is plunged in the Divine and one with the Eternal for ever, aware of his own expression and instrumental dynamism which
\nis the Divine’s, dependent in love and delight, with adoration, on That with which yet through that love and delight he is one,
\ncapable of relation in oneness, harmonic in this many-sidedness without contradiction, because this is another consciousness and
\nexistence than that of the mind, even of the spiritualised mind; it is an intrinsic consciousness of the Infinite, infinite not only in
\nessence but in capacity, which can be to its own self-awareness all things and yet for ever the same and one. This triune realisation,
\ntherefore, full of difficulties for the mind, is quite natural, easy,   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t72<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

indisputable to the supramental consciousness or, generally, to the consciousness of the upper hemisphere. It can be seen and
\nfelt as knowledge in all the spiritual planes, but the completely indivisible knowledge, the full dynamics of it can only be realised
\nthrough the supramental consciousness itself on its own plane or by its descent here. <\/p>\n

(7) The description of a pure “I” is quite insufficient to describe the realisation of the Jivatman
\n\u2014it is rather describable
\nas the true Person or Divine Individual, though that too is not adequate. The word “I” always comes with an undersuggestion
\nof ego, of separativeness; but there is no separativeness in this self-vision, for the individual here is a spiritual living centre of
\naction for the One and feels no separation from all that is the One. <\/p>\n

(8) The Jivatman has its representative power in the individual nature here; this power is the Purusha upholding the Prakriti
\n\u2014centrally in the psychic, more instrumentally in the mind, vital and physical being and nature. It is therefore possible to regard
\nthese or any of them as if they were the Jiva here. All the same I am obliged to make a distinction not only for clear thinking
\nbut because of the necessity of experience and integral dynamic self-knowledge without which it is difficult to carry through this
\nYoga. It is not indispensable to formulate mentally to oneself all this, one can have the experience and, if one sees clearly
\nwith an inner perception, it is sufficient for progress towards the goal. Nevertheless if the mind is clarified without falling into
\nmental rigidity and error, things are easier for the sadhak of the Yoga. But
\nplasticity must be preserved, for loss of plasticity is the danger of a
\nsystematic intellectual formulation; one must look into the thing itself and not
\nget tied up in the idea. Nothing of all this can be really grasped except by the
\nactual spiritual experience.  <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t73<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter Two   The Jivatman in Other Indian Systems   The Jivatman in Other Schools   The word Jiva has two meanings in the Sanskritic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-28-letters-on-yoga-i","wpcat-53-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645","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=2645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}