{"id":3182,"date":"2013-07-13T01:46:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3182"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:46:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:46:31","slug":"15-the-vision-of-the-world-spirit-vol-writings-in-bengali-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/writings-in-bengali-translation\/15-the-vision-of-the-world-spirit-vol-writings-in-bengali-translation","title":{"rendered":"-15_The Vision of the World Spirit.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n
\nThe Vision of the World Spirit <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nOur honourable friend Bipin Chandra Pal speaking about
\nthe Vision of the World Spirit by Arjuna in an article entitled
\n‘Bandematram’ has written that the vision of the World
\nSpirit described in the eleventh chapter of the Gita is entirely
\nfictitious, that it is purely and simply poetic imagination. We
\nare obliged to refute this statement. The vision of the World
\nSpirit is a very necessary element of the Gita. Sri Krishna
\ndispersed the doubt and the hesitation that rose in the mind
\nof Arjuna with logic and words pregnant with knowledge.
\n¦ But the foundation of the knowledge derived from logic and  good counsel is not solid. It is only when the knowledge is
\nrealised that it becomes firmly established. For this i reason,
\ninvisibly impelled by the Divine within, Arjuna expressed his
\ndesire to see the World Spirit. Once he had this vision of the
\nWorld Spirit, his doubt vanished for ever. His mind then
\nbecame cleansed and purified, worthy to receive the supreme secret of the Gita. The knowledge described in the
\nGita prior to the vision of the World Spirit is the external
\nform of knowledge useful to any spiritual seeker. But the
\nknowledge unfolded after the vision is the most hidden
\nTruth, the supreme secret, the eternal precept. If we characterise the description of the vision as a poetical metaphor,
\nthen the truth, the depth and solemnity of the Gita are
\ndestroyed and the most profound instructions obtained by
\nYoga are reduced to a few philosophical views and a
\ncollection of poetical fancies. The vision of the World Spirit
\nis neither a fiction nor a poetical metaphor but truth; it is not
\neven a supernatural truth. The universe being included in <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-86<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nNature, the World Form cannot be a supernatural phenomenon. The World Spirit is a truth of the causal world, and
\nthe forms of the causal world are visible to the eye of Yoga.
\nArjuna endowed with the eye of Yoga saw the form of the
\nUniversal Spirit in the causal world. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE FORM AND THE FORMLESS<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe worshippers of the formless Brahman without qualities dismiss any statement about its qualities and form as
\nbeing only metaphors and similes. The worshippers of the
\nformless Brahman with qualities deny its lack of attributes by
\nexplaining the Shastras in a different way and dismiss any
\nstatement about its form as being only metaphors and
\nsimiles. The worshippers of the Brahman with form and
\nattributes are up in arms against both of them. We hold all
\nthe three views to be narrow, incomplete and born of
\nignorance. For, those who have realised the formless Brahman and the Brahman with form, how can they hold one
\nview to be true and discard the other as being false and
\nimaginary, and thus abrogate the ultimate evidence of
\nknowledge and confine the infinite. Brahman within the
\n. finite? It is true that if we deny the formlessness and the lack
\nof attributes of the Brahman we belittle God. But it is
\nequally true that if we deny the qualities and the form of the
\nBrahman we belittle Him again. God is the Master, the
\nCreator and the Lord. He cannot be tied down to any form; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nas He is not limited by His form, so also He is not limited by
\nHis formlessness. God is all-powerful. If we feign to catch
\nHim in the net of the laws of the physical Nature or of Time
\nand Space and then tell Him, "Though you are infinite, we
\nshall not allow you to be finite, try as you may, you will not
\nsucceed, you are bound with our irrefutable logic and
\narguments like Ferdinand with Prospero’s magic." What <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-87<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ncould be more ludicrous, impertinent or ignorant?
\nGod is bound neither by His form nor by His formlessness; He reveals Himself in
\na form to the seeker. God is there in His fullness in that form, yet at the same
\ntime pervades the whole universe. For God is beyond time and space, unattainable
\nby any argument; time and space are His toys. He is playing with all beings
\ncaught in his net of time and space. But we shall never be able to catch Him in
\nthat net. Every time we try to achieve this impossibility with logic and
\nphilosophical argument, the Jester eludes the net and stands smiling in front of
\nus, behind us, near us and far from us, spreads out his World Form, and the Form
\nbeyond the universe, defeating the intellect. He who says, "I know Him," knows
\nnothing. He who says, "I know Him yet I do not know Him," has true knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE WORLD FORM <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe vision of the World Form is very necessary for an
\nadorer of Shakti, a Karmayogi or one who is missioned to do
\na specific work as an instrument of the Mover of instruments.
\nHe might receive the divine mandate even before he has the ; vision of the World Spirit but as long as he does not have the
\nvision the mandate is not fully endorsed; it has been registered but not yet authorised. Until that moment, it is a
\nperiod of training and preparation for his work. Only when
\nhe has the vision of the World Spirit, does the real work
\nbegin. This vision comes to the sadhaks in different ways
\naccording to their nature and their sadhana. In the vision of
\nKali as the World Spirit, the sadhak perceives a feminine
\nform of incomparable beauty pervading the universe, one yet
\nin multitudinous bodies; her jet black hair spreads out like a
\ncompact darkness over the entire sky; the lustre of her
\nscimitar dripping with blood dances everywhere dazzling the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-88<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\neyes; the continuous peal of her dreadful laughter resounds,
\nsmashing and crushing world after world in the universe.
\nThese words are not simply poetical imagination or a futile
\nattempt to describe a supernatural experience in inadequate
\nhuman terms. This is self-revelation of Kali; it is the true
\nform of our Mother, the true and simple description without
\nany exaggeration of what has been seen by the eye of Yoga.
\nArjuna did not have the vision of the World Form of Kali; he
\nhad the vision of the World Spirit as Time the Destroyer. It
\namounts to the same thing. He saw it with his eye of Yoga
\nand not in a trance insensible to the outer consciousness.
\nRishi Vyasa has described, without any exaggeration, exactly
\nwhat Arjuna has seen. It is not a dream or imagination but
\nthe truth, the living truth. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE FORM OF THE CAUSAL WORLD <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThree different states of the Self are mentioned in the
\nScriptures: Prajna, the spirit of the secret superconscient
\nomnipotence whose place is in perfect slumber; Taijasa, the
\nInhabitant in Luminous Mind, the spirit of the subtle and
\ninternal whose place is in dream; Virat, the spirit of the gross
\nand external whose place is in wakefulness. Each status of}
\n<\/i>the spirit is a world in itself: the causal world is in perfect
\nslumber; the subtle and internal world in dream state and the
\nphysical world in wakefulness. Whatever is decided in the
\ncausal world is reflected in the subtle world beyond our time
\nand space and partially enacted in the physical world accord-
\ning to the laws of the physical world. Sri Krishna told
\nArjuna, "The sons of Dhritarashtra are already slain by me,"
\nyet there they were on the battlefield standing in front of
\nhim, alive and engaged in fighting. The words of the
\nGodhead are neither a false statement nor a metaphor. He
\nhas already slain them in the causal world, otherwise it is <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-89<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nimpossible to slay them in this world. Our real life is in the
\ncausal world; only a shadow of it falls on the physical world.
\nBut the laws, time and space, name and form are different on
\nthe causal plane. The World Spirit is a form of the causal
\nworld which became visible in the physical world to the eye
\nof Yoga. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE EYE OF YOGA<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhat is the eye of Yoga? It is not imagination or
\npoetical symbolism. Three different powers of perception are obtained by Yoga: the
\nsubtle  vision the direct <\/font><\/p>\n

\n we see mental images in dream or in wakefulness. By the direct
\nspiritual awareness we see in trance the images and symbolical figures of the names and forms belonging to the subtle
\nand the causal worlds reflected in our inner mental sky. With
\nthe eye of Yoga we perceive the names and forms of the
\ncausal worlds in trance as well as with our physical eyes. If
\nanything invisible to the physical eye becomes visible to it
\nthen it must be understood as an effect of the eye of Yoga.
\nArjuna saw the World Spirit in the causal world in waking
\nstate with the eye of Yoga and was delivered from doubt.
\nThe vision of the World Spirit, though not a truth perceptible
\nto the senses of the physical world, is greater than any
\nphysical truth\u2014it is not a fiction or an illusion, neither is it a
\npoetical symbol. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-90<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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