{"id":2662,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:04","slug":"03-sachchidananda-existence-consciousness-force-and-bliss-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\/03-sachchidananda-existence-consciousness-force-and-bliss-vol-28-letters-on-yoga-i","title":{"rendered":"-03_Sachchidananda Existence, Consciousness Force and Bliss.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

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

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tSachchidananda: Existence, Consciousness-Force and Bliss
\n \t<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tSachchidananda
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tSachchidananda is the One with a triple aspect. In the Supreme the three are not three but one
\n\u2014existence is consciousness,
\nconsciousness is bliss, and they are thus inseparable, not only inseparable but so much each other that they are not distinct at
\nall. In the superior planes of manifestation they become triune \u2014although inseparable, one can be made more prominent and
\nbase or lead the others. In the lower planes below they become separable in appearance, though not in their secret reality, and
\none can exist phenomenally without the others so that we become aware of what seems to us an inconscient or a painful
\nexistence or a consciousness without Ananda. Indeed without this separation of them in experience pain and ignorance and
\nfalsehood and death and what we call inconscience could not have manifested themselves
\n\u2014there could not have been this
\nevolution of a limited and suffering consciousness out of the universal nescience of Matter.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tThe Sachchidananda is not in itself an active consciousness, it
\nis simply pure existence, consciousness and bliss. By a Truth Consciousness is meant a knowledge consciousness which is
\nimmediately, inherently and directly aware of Truth in manifestation and has not to seek for it like Mind. Sachchidananda is
\neverywhere behind the manifestation and supporting it as well as above it and can be experienced below the supermind
\n\t\u2014even
\nin mind and vital it can be experienced. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\n

\nThe original substance of the spirit is pure existence carrying in it pure self-existent consciousness (or consciousness-force) and
\npure self-existent Ananda. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nThere is no plane beyond Sachchidananda. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nPeople say like that [the Transcendent is something beyond Sachchidananda<\/i>] because the transcendent Absolute is not only what
\nto us is existence but also what to us is non-existence. But there is really no such thing as non-existence. So the Transcendent can be
\nconceived as transcendent Sat, transcendent Chit, transcendent Ananda. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tSat or Pure Existence <\/a> <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tYou must remember that there are reflections of the higher
\nworlds in the lower planes which can easily be experienced as supreme for that stage of the evolution. But the supreme Sachchidananda is not a world, it is supracosmic. The Sat (Satyaloka) world is the highest of the scale connected with this universe.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tSubstance and being are the same thing. In the creation they can
\nbe looked at as two aspects of the Spirit. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Pure Existence is not something abstract, but substantial and concrete. Moreover it is descending into the body, so it is
\nquite natural to feel it materially. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tChit or Consciousness <\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tYou seem to want to reduce everything to a catalogue and a scientific analysis. Nobody has ever been able to do that with
\nthe working of the consciousness. The elements of a condition of  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\nconsciousness cannot be classified like the “elements” of Matter.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nI had intended to give only a concise answer to your question about consciousness but it began to develop itself at great length
\nand I could not as yet finish it. I send you for the moment a more summary reply.1
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nConsciousness is not, to my experience, a phenomenon dependent on the reactions of personality to the forces of Nature
\nand amounting to no more than a seeing or interpretation of these reactions. If that were so, then when the personality be
\ncomes silent and immobile and gives no reactions, as there would be no seeing or interpretative action, there would therefore be
\nno consciousness. That contradicts some of the fundamental experiences of Yoga, e.g., a silent and immobile consciousness
\ninfinitely spread out, not dependent on the personality but impersonal and universal, not seeing and interpreting contacts but
\nmotionlessly self-aware, not dependent on the reactions, but persistent in itself even when no reactions take place. The subjective
\npersonality itself is only a formation of consciousness which is a power inherent, not in the activity of the temporary manifested
\npersonality, but in the being, the Self or Purusha. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tConsciousness is a reality inherent in existence. It is there
\neven when it is not active on the surface, but silent and immobile; it is there even when it is invisible on the surface, not reacting on
\noutward things or sensible to them, but withdrawn and either active or inactive within; it is there even when it seems to us
\nto be quite absent and the being to our view unconscious and inanimate.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nConsciousness is not only power of awareness of self and things, it is or has also a dynamic and creative energy. It can
\ndetermine its own reactions or abstain from reactions; it can not only answer to forces, but create or put out from itself forces.
\nConsciousness is Chit but also Chit Shakti.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 Sri Aurobindo’s incomplete draft reply, which “began to develop itself at great<\/i>
\nlength”, is reproduced immediately after the present letter. \u2014Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\n

\nConsciousness is usually identified with mind, but mental consciousness is only the human range which no more exhausts
\nall the possible ranges of consciousness than human sight exhausts all the gradations of colour or human hearing all the
\ngradations of sound \u2014for there is much above or below that is to man invisible and inaudible. So there are ranges of consciousness above and below the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem to it unconscious,
\n\u2014supramental or overmental and submental ranges. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Yajnavalkya says there is no consciousness in the
\nBrahman state, he is speaking of consciousness as the human being knows it. The Brahman state is that of a supreme existence supremely aware of itself,
\n\tsvayamprakaśa<\/i>,
\n\u2014it is Sachchidananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Even if it be spoken of as beyond that,
\n\tparātparam<\/i>, it does not mean that it is a
\nstate of Non-existence or Non-consciousness, but beyond even the highest spiritual substratum (the “foundation above” in the
\nluminous paradox of the Rig Veda) of cosmic existence and consciousness. As it is evident from the description of Chinese
\nTao and the Buddhist Shunya that that is a Nothingness in which all is, so with the negation of consciousness here. Superconscient
\nand subconscient are only relative terms; as we rise into the superconscient we see that it is a consciousness greater than
\nthe highest we yet have and therefore in our normal state inaccessible to us and, if we can go down into the subconscient,
\nwe find there a consciousness other than our own at its lowest mental limit and therefore ordinarily inaccessible to us. The In
\nconscient itself is only an involved state of consciousness which like the Tao or Shunya, though in a different way, contains
\nall things suppressed within it so that under a pressure from above or within all can evolve out of it
\n\t\u2014”an inert Soul with a
\nsomnambulist Force”. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe gradations of consciousness are universal states not
\ndependent on the outlook of the subjective personality; rather the outlook of the subjective personality is determined by the
\ngrade of consciousness in which it is organised according to its typal nature or its evolutionary stage.
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\nIt will be evident that by consciousness is meant something which is essentially the same throughout but variable in status,
\ncondition and operation, in which in some grades or conditions the activities we call consciousness can exist either in a sup
\npressed or an unorganised or a differently organised state; while in other states some other activities may manifest which in us
\nare suppressed, unorganised or latent or else are less perfectly manifested, less intensive, extended and powerful than in those
\nhigher grades above our highest mental limit. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nIf your definition is correct, consciousness cannot be a
\nself-existent reality; it is a result, a phenomenon dependent on the
\nreactions of something \u2014you say a personality, but what is a personality apart from consciousness?
\n\u2014to the universal forces
\nof Nature. We can take a purely external view and say that consciousness is the result of a mass of reactions to the impact
\nof outward physical things on the brain and nerves of a physical being. In this case consciousness is a sort of effective hallucination \u2014there is no real and permanent consciousness but only a subjective impression created by a constant activity of reactions.
\nAs a number of dancing fires may create a glow in the sky, so consciousness is created by these reactions and is suspended or
\ndisappears when they halt or cease. In your definition you add a real (?) subjective personality and supplement the reactions of
\nphysical outward things by reactions of inner things or things from above or below. But still the consciousness is only a seeing
\nor interpretation of reactions, \u2014it is a result of them, a phenomenon. If there are no more reactions, consciousness ceases
\nto exist \u2014for what other basis has it or standing place than the impermanent reaction to forces? Unless it is something intrinsic
\nand inherent in the “subjective personality”; but then it is not a result of the reactions or a seeing and interpretation of them, but
\nrather the reactions are the result of a pre-existent consciousness and the seeing or interpretation is merely an activity, perhaps
\nonly a very partial and surface activity, of the consciousness already and always inherent in the “personality”. Even if there
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\n

\nwere no impact of forces and no reactions, the consciousness would still be there, but static and inactive. But again this activity
\nof consciousness might not be limited to an interpretation or a passive reaction to forces; it might also, if it chose, be the creator
\nor determinant of its reactions \u2014as for instance to a blow on the body or the vital it might refuse the natural reactions of
\npain or anger and remain still and immobile or it might return an unusual reaction of love or pleasure. Also this consciousness
\nmight not be only a recipient and seer of forces, but a creator or putter out of forces
\n\u2014it might be not only a knower, but an
\nenergy, a dynamis. In this view, your definition becomes totally inadequate. Farther, the word personality is misleading; for what
\nwe usually know as personality is itself only a formation of consciousness. Behind it we are aware of a Person or Purusha
\nwho puts forward the mutable surface formation we call personality and who may even have many personalities at a time
\nor different personalities at different times. This Purusha would be then a being and consciousness, would be not a result or an
\nactivity, but a constant reality, an intrinsic power of awareness and action inherent in the being,
\n\u2014as the being is self-existent,
\nso the consciousness self-existent in the being, the Purusha. This is the realisation we have of it in Yogic experience, eternal reality
\nof consciousness inherent in the eternal reality of existence, as in the concept and experience of Sachchidananda.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThis is the crucial point in the question, what is consciousness, whether it is a temporary phenomenon of Nature or a
\nreality in itself fundamental to existence. The first is the conclusion that is drawn, and must be drawn, from normal experience
\non the surface. The other is at best a metaphysical speculation or an instinctive feeling in humanity unless we go beyond the
\nnormal experience, deepen and widen the range of our present consciousness and test its inner depths and inferior abysses and
\nsupernormal heights, until we can touch its fundamental or its ultimate or its total reality as is done in Yoga. To judge from
\nonly normal and superficial experience as the ordinary mind does with phenomena is to miss the truth of things
\n\u2014we have
\nto go behind the surface phenomenon to find the reality of what a  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\nthing is. There are no gradations of consciousness if the ordinary phenomenon of consciousness is taken, unless perhaps we distinguish two gradations, the animal and the human; the differences created by the variations of subjective personality amount only
\nto degrees of power of the same human-animal consciousness, a better or worse, cruder or more complex organisation of the
\ninstruments by which it receives or reacts to the contacts of Nature. If, on the contrary, consciousness is an inherent power
\nof existence present even when it is not apparent to us or active on the surface, then we can conceive of it arranging its own
\nmanifestation in gradations which rise or fall between what seem to us now the subconscient depths and superconscient summits
\nof existence. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe ordinary view of consciousness is based on normal
\nsuperficial experience plus science. For physical science consciousness is a temporary phenomenon in an unconscious world,
\nsomething evolved in an animate organisation that somehow develops in an originally inanimate and unconscious Matter. It
\nis not inherent in life, for the plant has it not, it is rather a growing flicker that, once established, lasts intermittently through
\nsleep and waking while life lasts and disappears with the dissolution of life. The ordinary mind identifies consciousness with
\nhuman waking consciousness possibly shared by the animal \u2014though that is not certain, for many refuse consciousness to
\nthe animal. A man is conscious while he lives, when he is dead consciousness disappears, when he is asleep, stunned, drugged,
\nanaesthetised, in trance, then his consciousness is suspended; he is temporarily unconscious. How far is this scientific-superficial
\nview correct or maintainable? For it raises two fundamental questions \u2014is the waking surface consciousness the only form
\nof consciousness possible? and again, is the consciousness synonymous with mind, is all consciousness mental or are other
\nforms of it, supramental or submental, possible? <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tOuter Consciousness and Inner Consciousness
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tConsciousness is inherent in Being, though it is here involved and  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

\nconcealed in things so that it has to emerge out of an apparent unconsciousness and organise itself in individual life. But this is
\nonly on the surface which is all of which we are aware because we live on the surface of ourselves. This surface (the ordinary
\nwaking mind of man) is what we think to be ourselves, the whole of us, because living awake on the surface we are conscious of
\nthat only. But within, with a sort of wall of obscurity or oblivion between it and the outer being, there is an inner being, an inner
\nmind, vital, physical and an inmost or psychic being of which we are not aware. We are only aware of what comes up from there to
\nthe surface and do not know its source or how it comes. By Yoga the wall is slowly broken down and we become aware of this
\ninner and inmost being \u2014by doing so we build up a new, a Yogic, consciousness which is able to communicate direct with the
\nuniversal consciousness around and the higher spiritual above. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAs the individual has a consciousness of his own, so too
\nthere is a universal consciousness, a cosmic Being, a universal Mind, a universal Life, a universal physical conscious Nature.
\nWe are unaware of it because we are shut up in our outer physical selves. By the inner awakening and the opening above we
\nbecome aware of this cosmic consciousness, cosmic Nature and cosmic Self and its movements; our consciousness can widen and
\nbecome one with it. The forces of universal Nature are always working on us without our knowing how they act or being able
\nto get any general control over their action on us. By becoming conscious of the universal we are able to detect this working and
\ncontrol it. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nIt all depends upon where the consciousness places itself and centralises itself. If the consciousness places or associates itself
\nwithin the ego, you are identified with the ego \u2014if in the mind, it is identified with the mind and its activities and so on. If
\nthe consciousness puts its stress outside, it is said to live in the external being and becomes oblivious of its inner mind and vital
\nand inmost psychic; if it goes inside, puts its centralising stress there, then it knows itself as the inner being or, still deeper, as the
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u201320<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\npsychic being; if it ascends out of the body to the planes where self is naturally conscious of its wideness and freedom, it knows
\nitself as the self and not the mind, life or body. It is this stress of consciousness that makes all the difference. That is why one has
\nto concentrate the consciousness in heart or mind in order to go within or go above. It is the disposition of the consciousness
\nthat determines everything, makes one predominantly mental, vital, physical or psychic, bound or free, separate in the Purusha
\nor involved in the Prakriti. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nGood heavens! what a magnificent muddle [in the correspondent’s response to the preceding letter<\/i>]! The Jivatman is on the
\nsupramental plane and the Jiva is the psychic? It is the consciousness with a clear individual “I” that disposes variously
\nthe centralising stress on one part or another of the being and yet the quality of this “I” is determined by the part with which
\nit identifies itself \u2014therefore it must be a pure conscious I? All that has no basis whatever and does not hang together. I never
\nsaid that the Jivatman belongs to the supramental plane or is situated there. The word Jiva in its ordinary sense is the living
\ncreature, but in its philosophic sense it is often used as a short way of speaking of the Jivatman, the individual being. Neither
\ncan it be said that the psychic being is the Jiva. Nor is it the fact that it is the consciousness with a clear individual “I” that
\ndisposes variously the centralising stress on one part or another of the being. Consciousness has no need of a clear individual
\n“I” to dispose the stress, \u2014it can do that of itself; wherever the stress is put the “I” attaches itself to that, so that one thinks
\nof oneself as a mental being or physical being or whatever it may be. The consciousness in me can be utterly free of any sense
\nof an individual “I” and yet dispose its stress in this way or the other way \u2014it may go down into the physical and work
\nthere in the physical nature keeping all the rest behind or above for the time or it may go up into the overhead level and stand
\nabove mind, life and body seeing them as instrumental lower forms of itself; or it may not see them at all but rather immerge
\n  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

\n

\nin the free undifferentiated Self; or it may throw itself into an active dynamic cosmic consciousness and identify with that or
\ndo any number of other things without resorting to the help of this much overrated and meddlesome fly on the wheel which
\nyou call the clear individual “I”. The real “I” \u2014if you want to use that word \u2014is not a “clear individual”, that is, a clear-cut
\nlimited separative ego, \u2014it is as wide as the universe and wider, and can contain the universe in itself; it is not the
\nahankāra<\/i>, it is the Atman.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nConsciousness is a fundamental thing, it is the fundamental thing in existence
\n\u2014it is the energy, the action, the movement
\nof consciousness that creates the universe and all that is in it \u2014not only the macrocosm, but the microcosm is nothing but
\nconsciousness arranging itself. For instance when consciousness in its movement, or rather a certain stress of movement, forgets
\nitself in the action it becomes an apparently “unconscious” energy; when it forgets itself in the form it becomes the electron, the
\natom, the material object. In reality it is still consciousness that works in the energy and determines the form and the evolution
\nof form. When it wants to liberate itself, slowly, evolutionarily, out of matter, but still in the form, it emerges as life, as the
\nanimal, as man and it can go on evolving itself still farther out of its involution and become something more than mere man.
\nIf you can grasp that, then it ought not to be difficult to see farther that it can subjectively formulate itself as a physical, a
\nvital, a mental, a psychic consciousness \u2014all these are present in man, but as they are all mixed up together in our external
\nbeing and their real status is hidden behind in our inner secret nature one can only become fully aware of them by releasing the
\noriginal limiting stress of the consciousness which makes us live in our external selves and becoming awake and centred within
\nin the inner being. As the consciousness in us, by its external concentration or stress, has put all these things behind
\n\u2014behind
\na wall or veil \u2014it has to break down the wall or veil and get back in its stress into these inner parts of existence
\n\u2014that is
\nwhat we call living within; then our external being seems to us something small and superficial, we are or can become aware of
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\nthe large and rich and inexhaustible kingdoms within. So also consciousness in us has drawn a lid or covering or whatever
\none likes to call it between the lower planes of mind, life, body supported by the psychic and the higher planes which contain the
\nspiritual kingdoms where the self is always free and limitless, \u2014and it can break or open the lid or covering and ascend there and
\nbecome the Self free and wide and luminous or else bring down the influence, reflection, finally even the presence and power of
\nthe higher consciousness into the lower nature. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNow that is what consciousness is
\n\t\u2014it is not composed of
\nparts, it is fundamental to being and itself formulates any parts it chooses to manifest
\n\t\u2014developing them from above downward
\nby a progressive coming down from spiritual levels towards the evolution in matter or formulating them in an upward working
\nin the front by this process that we call evolution. If it chooses to work in you through the sense of ego, you think that it is the
\nclear-cut individual I that does everything; if it begins to release itself from that limited working, then you too either begin to
\nexpand your sense of I till it bursts into infinity and no longer exists or to shed it and flower into spiritual wideness. Of course
\nthis is not what is spoken of in modern materialistic thought as consciousness, because that thought is governed by science.
\nScience sees consciousness only as a phenomenon which emerges out of inconscient Matter and consists of certain reactions of the
\nsystem to outward things. But that is phenomenon of consciousness, it is not consciousness itself, it is even only a very small
\npart of the possible phenomena of consciousness and can give no clue to the true nature of Consciousness, the spiritual Reality
\nwhich is of the very essence of existence. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThat is all at present. You will have to fix yourself in that
\n\t\u2014
\nfor it is fundamental \u2014before it can be useful to go any farther. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nCertainly, the mind and the inner being are consciousness. For human beings who have not got deeper into themselves mind
\nand consciousness are synonymous. Only when one becomes more aware of oneself by a growing consciousness, then one
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
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\n

\n

\ncan see different degrees, kinds, powers of consciousness, mental, vital, physical, psychic, spiritual. The Divine has been de
\nscribed as Being-Consciousness-Ananda, even as a Consciousness (Chaitanya), as putting out a force or energy, Shakti, that
\ncreates worlds. The mind is a modified consciousness that puts forth a mental energy. But the Divine can stand back from his
\nenergy and observe it at its work, it can be the Witness Purusha watching the works of Prakriti. Even the mind can do that
\n\u2014
\na man can stand back in his mind-consciousness and watch the mental energy doing things, thinking, planning, etc.; all introspection is based upon that fact that one can so divide oneself into a consciousness that observes and an energy that acts. These
\nare quite elementary things supposed to be known to everybody. Anybody can do that merely by a little practice; anybody who
\nobserves his own thoughts, feelings, actions has begun doing it already. In Yoga we make the division complete, that is all.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tConsciousness and Force or Energy
\n\t<\/a> <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tConsciousness is made up of two elements, awareness of self
\nand things and forces and conscious power. Awareness is the first thing necessary, you have to be aware of things in the right
\nconsciousness, in the right way, seeing them in their truth; but awareness by itself is not enough. There must be a Will and
\na Force that make the consciousness effective. Somebody may have the full consciousness of what has to be changed, what has
\nto go and what has to come in its place, but may be helpless to make the change. Another may have the will-force, but for
\nwant of a right awareness may be unable to apply it in the right way at the right place. The advantage of being in the psychic
\nconsciousness is that you have the right awareness and its will being in harmony with the Mother’s will, you can call in the
\nMother’s Force to make the change. Those who live in the mind and the vital are not so well able to do this; they are obliged
\nto use mostly their personal effort and as the awareness and will and force of the mind and vital are divided and imperfect, the work done is imperfect and not definitive. It is only  
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t24<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nin the supermind that Awareness, Will, Force are always one movement and automatically effective.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tIf consciousness and energy are the same thing, there would
\nbe no use in having two different words for them. In that case instead of saying, “I am conscious of my defects”, one can say,
\n“I am energetic of my defects.” If a man is running fast, you can say of him, “He is running with great energy.” Do you think it
\nwould mean the same if you said, “He is running with great consciousness”? Consciousness is that which is aware of things
\n\t\u2014
\nenergy is a force put in action which does things. Consciousness may have energy and keep it in or put it out, but that does not
\nmean that it is only another word for energy and that it has to go out when the energy goes out and that it cannot stand back
\nand observe the energy in action. You have plenty of inertia in you but that does not mean that you and inertia are the same
\nand when inertia rises and swamps you it is you who rise and swamp yourself.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tForce, Energy, Power, Shakti <\/a> <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThere is a force behind each action acting in a manner appropriate to that action. It takes all these many forms for the necessity of the working, but it is one Force.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tI have never classified the different forms [of Force<\/i>]
\n\t\u2014they can
\nbe hundreds or thousands in number. Force varies its form according to the work it has to do.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tA passive Force has no meaning
\n\t\u2014Force is always dynamic.
\nOnly a Force can act on a basis of calm passivity just as in the material world the Force acts on the basis of inertia.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t* 
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t25<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tStatic and dynamic in reality always go together
\n\u2014it is in appearance that anything seems only dynamic or only static.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tIn each atom of the being there is an Energy, a Shakti
\n\t\u2014just as
\nthere is in every material atom a great material energy. When you see like that, you become aware of these energies. They are
\nneither good nor bad \u2014it depends on how they are used or how they act.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tPower means strength and force, Shakti, which enables one to
\nface all that can happen and to stand and overcome, also to carry out what the Divine Will proposes. It can include many
\nthings, power over men, events, circumstances, means etc. But all this not of the mental or vital kind, but by an action through
\nunity of consciousness with the Divine and with all things and beings. It is not an individual strength depending on certain
\npersonal capacities, but the Divine Power using the individual as an instrument. It has no special relation to occult siddhis.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tForce is the essential Shakti; Energy is the working drive of the
\nForce, its active dynamism; Power is the capacity born of the Force; Strength is energy consolidated and stored in the Adhar.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tThe Divine Force can act on any plane
\n\t\u2014it is not limited to the
\nSupramental Force. The Supramental is only one aspect of the power of the Divine.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tThe Supreme cannot create through the Transcendent because
\nthe Transcendent is the Supreme. It is through the Cosmic Shakti that the Divine creates.
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t26<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t
\n\tAnanda <\/a>
\n <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tAnanda is a thing to be felt
\n\t\u2014it cannot be defined except negatively that it is not mere joy, but something much more deep and essential.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tIt is the statement of the Upanishad that there is an ether of
\nAnanda in which all breathe and live; if it were not there, none could breathe or live.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tIt is fundamentally true for most people that the pleasure of
\nlife, of existence in itself, predominates over the troubles of life; otherwise most people would want to die whereas the fact is
\nthat everybody wants to live \u2014and if you proposed to them an easy means of eternal extinction they would decline without
\nthanks. That is what X <\/i>is saying and it is undeniable. It is also true that this comes from the Ananda of existence which is
\nbehind everything and is reflected in the instinctive pleasure of existence. Naturally, this instinctive essential pleasure is not the
\nAnanda, \u2014it is only a pale and dim reflection of it in an inferior life-consciousness
\n\t\u2014but it is enough for its purpose. I have said
\nthat myself somewhere and I do not see anything absurd or excessive in the statement.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\tWhy should the joy of creation be unyogic? Every creator feels
\nthe joy of creation \u2014including the Divine Creator.   <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t*
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tPage <\/font>\u2013
\n\t\t\t27<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter Two     Sachchidananda: Existence, Consciousness-Force and Bliss   Sachchidananda   Sachchidananda is the One with a triple aspect. In the Supreme the three…<\/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-2662","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\/2662","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=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}