{"id":3740,"date":"2013-07-13T01:50:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3740"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:50:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:55","slug":"04-different-approaches-to-the-divine-vol-01-first-series-1947","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-first-series-1947\/04-different-approaches-to-the-divine-vol-01-first-series-1947","title":{"rendered":"-04_Different Approaches to the Divine.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n11<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nApproaches to the Divine.
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\nPartial \u2014 Integral <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nDifferent Approaches’ to the Divine <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT seems to me that these differences of valuations
\ncome from the mind laying stress on one side
\nor another of the approach to the Divine or exalting
\none aspect of realisation over another. When there is
\nthe approach through the heart, through Love and
\nBhakti, the highest culmination is in a transcendent
\nAnanda, an unspeakable Bliss or Beatitude of union
\nwith the Divine through Love. The school of Chaitanya
\nlaid especial and indeed sole emphasis on this
\nway and made this the whole reality of Krishna consciousness. 
\nBut the transcendent Ananda is there at
\nthe origin and end of all existence and this is not
\nand cannot be the sole way to it. One can arrive at
\nit through the Vasudeva consciousness, which is a
\nwider, more mentalised approach\u2014as in the method
\nof the Gita where knowledge, works, bhakti are all
\ncentred in Krishna, the One, the Supreme, the All,
\nand arrive through the cosmic consciousness to the
\nluminous transcendence. There is the way too described
\nin the Taittiriya Upanishad, the Vedanta’s
\nGospel of Bliss. These are certainly wider methods,<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 43<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfor they take up the whole existence through all its
\nparts and ways of being to the Divine. If less intense
\nat their starting-point, a vaster and slower movement,
\nthere is no reason to suppose that they are less intense
\non their summits of arrival. It is the same transcendence
\nto which all arrive, either with a large movement
\ngathering up everything spiritual in us to take it
\nthere in a vast sublimation, or in single intense uplifting 
\nfrom one part, a single exaltation leaving all
\nthe rest aside. But who shall say which is profounder
\nof the two? Concentrated love has a profundity of
\nits own which cannot be measured; concentrated
\nwisdom has a wider profundity, but one cannot say that it is deeper. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nCosmic values are only reflections of the truth of
\nthe Transcendence in a lesser truth of time experience
\nwhich is separative and sees diversely a thousand
\naspects of the One. As one rises through the mind or
\nany part of the manifested being, any one or more of
\nthese aspects can become more and more sublimated
\nand tend towards its supreme transcendental intensity
\nand whatever aspect is so experienced is
\ndeclared by the spiritualised mental consciousness to
\nbe the supreme thing. But when one goes beyond
\nmind all tends not only to sublimate but to fuse
\ntogether until the separated aspects recover their original
\nunity, indivisible in the absoluteness of all mad®
\none. Mind can conceive and have experience o?
\nexistence without consciousness or Ananda and this
\nreceives its utmost expression in the inconsciene<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 44<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nattributed to Matter. So also it can conceive of Ananda
\nor Love as a separate principle; it even feels consciousness
\nand existence losing themselves in a trance or
\nswoon of Love or Ananda. So too the limited personal
\nloses itself in the illimitable Person, the lover in the
\nsupreme Beloved, or else the personal in the Impersonal
\n\u2014the lover feels himself immersed, losing himself
\nin the transcendental reality of Love and Ananda.
\nThe personal and the impersonal are themselves
\nposited and experienced by mind as separate realities
\nand "one or other is declared and seen as supreme,
\nso that the personal can have laya<\/i> in the Impersonal
\nor, on the contrary, the impersonal disappears into
\nthe absolute reality of the supreme and divine Person
\n\u2014the impersonal in that view is only an attribute or
\npower of the personal Divine. But at the summit of
\nspiritual experience passing beyond mind one begins
\nto feel the fusion of all these things into one. Consciousness,
\nExistence, Ananda return to their indivisible
\nunity, Sachchidananda. The personal and the
\nimpersonal become irrevocably one, so that to posit
\none as against the other appears as an act of ignorance.
\nThis tendency of unification is the basis of the Supramental
\nconsciousness and experience; for cosmic or
\ncreative purposes the Supermind can put forward
\none aspect prominently where that is needed but it is
\naware of all the rest behind it or contained in it and.
\ndoes not admit into its view any separation or opposition
\nanywhere. For that reason a Supramental
\ncreation would be a manifold harmony, not a<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 45<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nseparative process fragmenting or analysing the One
\ninto parts and setting these parts over against each
\nother or else putting them contradictorily against each
\nother and having afterwards to synthetise and piece
\nthem together in order to arrive at harmony or else
\nto exclude one or all of the parts in order to realise <\/font><\/p>\n

\nthe indivisible <\/b> One.<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYou speak of the Vaishnava school emphasising
\nthe personal felicities, as in the classification of the
\nbhavas,<\/i> and you say that these are short and quick
\nfeelings and lack in vastness or amplitude. No doubt,
\nwhen they are first felt and as they are felt by the
\nlimited consciousness in its ordinary functioning and
\nmovement; but that is only because the emotional in
\nman with this imperfect bodily instrument acts
\nlargely by spasms of intensity when it wants to sublimate
\nand cannot maintain either the continuity or
\nthe extension or the sublimated paroxysm of these
\nthings. But as the individual becomes cosmic (the
\nuniversalising of the individual without his losing
\nhis higher individuality as a divine centre is one of the processes which leads towards the Supramental
\nTruth), this disability begins to "disappear. The
\ntruth behind the Dasya<\/i> or Madhura<\/i> or any other
\nbhava<\/i> or fusion of bhavas<\/i> becomes a vast and ample
\ncontinuous state,\u2014if, by chance, they lose something
\nof their briefer intensities by this extension of themselves,
\nthey recover them a thousandfold in<\/i> the movement of the universalised individual towards the
\nTranscendence. There is an ever-enlarging experience<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 46<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhich takes up the elements of spiritual realisation
\nand in this uplifting and transforming process they
\nbecome other and greater things than they were
\nand more and more they take their place by
\nsublimation, first in the spiritual cosmic, then in the
\nall-embracing transcendent whole. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe difference of view between Shankara and
\nRamanuja and on the other side Chaitanya about
\nKrishna arises from the turn of their experience.
\nKrishna was only an aspect of Vishnu to the others
\nbecause that ecstatic form of love and bhakti
\nwhich had become associated with Krishna was not for
\nthem the whole. The Gita, like Chaitanya, but from a
\ndifferent view-point regarded Krishna as the Divine
\nhimself. To Chaitanya he was Love and Ananda and
\nLove and Ananda being for him the highest transcendental
\nexperience, so Krishna too must be the Supreme.
\nFor the writer of the Gita, Krishna was the source
\nof Knowledge and Power as well as Love, the Destroyer,
\nPreserver, Creator in one, so necessarily
\nVishnu was only an aspect of this universal Divine.
\nIn the Mahabharata indeed Krishna comes as an
\nincarnation of Vishnu, but that can be turned by
\ntaking k that it was through the Vishnu aspect as
\nhis frontal appearance that he manifested; for that
\nthe greater Godhead can manifest later than others
\nis logical if we consider the manifestation as progressive
\n\u2014just as Vishnu is in the Veda a Younger Indra,
\nUpendra, but gains upon his elder and subsequently
\nlakes place above him in the Trimurti. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 47 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nI cannot say much about the Vaishnava idea of
\nthe form of Krishna. Form is the basic means of
\nmanifestation and without it it may be said that the
\nmanifestation of anything is not complete. Even if
\nthe Formless logically precedes Form, yet it is not
\nillogical to assume that in the Formless, Form is
\ninherent and already existent in a mystic latency,
\notherwise how could it be manifested? For any other
\nprocess would be the creation of the non-existent; not manifestation. If so, it would be equally logical
\nto assume that there is an eternal form of Krishna,
\na spirit body. As for the highest Reality it is no
\ndoubt Absolute Existence, but is it only that? Absolute
\nExistence as an abstraction may exclude everything
\nelse from itself and amount to a sort of very
\npositive zero; but Absolute Existence as a reality
\nwho shall define and say what is or is not in its inconceivable
\ndepths, its illimitable Mystery? Mind can
\nordinarily conceive of the Absolute Existence only
\nas a negation of its own concepts spatial, temporal
\nor other. But it cannot tell what is at the basis of
\nmanifestation or what manifestation is or why there
\nis any manifestation at all out of its positive zero
\n\u2014and the Vaishnavas, we must remember, do not
\nadmit this conception as the absolute and original
\ntruth of the Divine. It is therefore not rigidly impossible
\nthat what we conceive and perceive as spatial
\nform may correspond to some power of the spaceless
\nAbsolute. I do not say all that as a definite statement
\nof Truth, I am only pointing out that the Vaishnava <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 48<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nposition on its own ground is far from being logically
\nor metaphysically untenable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n8 – 11 – 1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 49<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nImpressions of the Infinite<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE impressions in the approach to Infinity or
\nthe entry into it are not always quite the
\nsame; much depends on the way in which the mind
\napproaches it. It is felt first by some as an infinity
\nabove, by others as an infinity around into which
\nthe mind disappears (as an energy) by losing its
\nlimits. Some feel not the absorption of the mind
\nenergy into the infinite, but a falling entirely inactive; others feel it as a lapse or disappearance of energy
\ninto pure Existence. Some first feel the infinity
\nas a vast existence into which all sinks or disappears,
\nothers as you describe it as an infinite ocean of Light
\nabove, others as an infinite ocean of Power above.
\nIf certain school of Buddhists felt it in their experience
\nas a limitless Shunya, the Vedantists on the
\ncontrary see it as a positive Self-Existence featureless
\nand absolute. No doubt the various experiences
\nwere erected into various philosophies each putting
\nits conception as definitive; but behind each conception
\nthere was such an experience. What you describe
\nas a completely emptied mind-substance devoid of<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 50<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nenergy or light, completely inert is the condition
\nof neutral peace and empty stillness which is or can
\nbe a stage of the liberation. But it can afterwards
\nfeel itself filled with infinite existence, consciousness
\n(carrying energy in it) and finally Ananda. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

31 – 10 – 1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page – 51<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIllusionism and the Supramental Knowledge<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE Shankara knowledge is, as your Guru pointed
\nout, only one side of the Truth; it is the know-
\nledge of the Supreme as realised by the spiritual
\nMind through the static silence of the pure Existence,
\nIt was because he went by this side only that Shankara
\nwas unable to accept or explain, the origin of the
\nuniverse except as illusion, a creation of Maya. Unless
\none realises the Supreme on the dynamic as well
\nas the static side, one cannot experience the true
\norigin of things and the equal reality of the active
\nBrahman. The Shakti or Power of the Eternal becomes
\nthen a power of illusion only and the world
\nbecomes incomprehensible, a mystery of cosmic
\nmadness, an eternal delirium of the Eternal. Whatever
\nverbal or ideative logic one may bring to support
\nit, this way of seeing the universe explains- nothing;
\nit only erects a mental formula of the inexplicable,
\nIt is only if you approach the Supreme through his
\ndouble aspect of Sat and Chit-Shakti, double but
\ninseparable, that the total truth of things can become <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 52<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmanifest to the inner experience. This other side was
\ndeveloped by the Shakta Tantrics. The two together,
\nthe Vedantic and the Tantric truth unified, can arrive
\nat the integral knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut philosophically this is what your Guru’s
\nteaching comes to and it is obviously a completer
\ntruth and a wider knowledge than that given by the
\nShankara formula. It is already indicated in the Gita’s
\nteaching of the Purushottama and the Parashakti
\n(Adya Shakti) who become the Jiva and upholds the
\nuniverse. It is evident that Purushottama and Parashakti
\nare both eternal and are inseparable and one
\nin being; the Parashakti manifests the universe,
\nmanifests too the Divine in the universe as the Ishwara
\nand Herself appears at His side as the Ishwari Shakti.
\nOr,<\/b> we may say, it is the Supreme Conscious Power of
\nthe Supreme that manifests or puts forth itself as
\nIshwara Ishwari, Atma Atmashakti, Purusha Prakriti,
\nJiva Jagat. That is the truth in its completeness as far
\nas the mind can formulate it. In the Supermind
\nthese questions do not even arise: for it is the mind
\nthat creates the problem by creating oppositions
\nbetween aspects of the Divine which are not really <\/font><\/p>\n

\nopposed to each other but are one and inseparable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis Supramental knowledge has not yet been
\nattained, because the Supermind itself has not been
\nattained, but the reflection of it in intuitive spiritual
\nconsciousness is there and that was what was evidently
\nrealised in experience by your Guru and what he was <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 53<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nexpressing in mental terms in the quoted passage,
\nIt is possible to go towards the knowledge by beginning
\nwith the experience of dissolution in the One, but on
\ncondition that you do not stop there, taking it as the
\nhighest Truth, but proceed to realise the same One as
\nthe supreme Mother, the Consciousness-Force of the
\nEternal. If on the other hand, you approach through
\nthe Supreme Mother, she will give you the liberation
\nin the silent One also as well as the realisation of the
\ndynamic One, and from that it is easier to arrive at
\nthe Truth in which both are one and inseparable,
\nAt the same time, the gulf created by mind between
\nthe Supreme and His manifestation is bridged, and
\nthere is no longer a fissure in the truth which
\nmakes all incomprehensible. If in the light of this
\nyou examine what your Guru taught, you will see
\nthat it is the same thing in less metaphysical
\nlanguage. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs for Adesh, people speak of Adesh without making
\nthe necessary distinctions, but these distinctions
\nhave to be made. The Divine speaks to us in many
\nways and it is not always the imperative Adesh that
\ncomes. When it does, it is clear and irresistible, the
\nmind has to obey and there is no question possible,
\neven if what comes is contrary to the preconceived
\nideas of the mental intelligence. But more often-what
\nis said is an intimation or even less, a mere indication,
\nwhich the mind may not follow because it is not
\nimpressed with its imperative necessity. It is
\nsomething offered but not imposed, perhaps <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 54<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsomething not even offered but only suggested
\nfrom the Truth above. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n5 – 1 1936<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 55<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\nlllusionism and the Supramental Knowledge<\/a><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/i>II <\/i><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIF Shankara’s conception of the undifferentiated
\npure Consciousness as the Brahman is your
\nview of it, then it is not the path of this Yoga that
\nyou should choose; for here the realisation of pure
\nConsciousness and Being is only a first step and not
\nthe goal. But an inner creative urge from within can
\nhave no place in an undifferentiated Consciousness\u2014
\nall action and creation must necessarily be foreign to it.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI do not base my Yoga on the insufficient ground
\nthat the Self (not soul) is eternally free. That affirmation
\nleads to nothing beyond itself, or, if used as
\na starting-point, it could equally well lead to the
\nconclusion that action and creation have no significance
\nor value. The question is not that but of the
\nmeaning of creation, whether there is a Supreme who
\nis not merely a pure undifferentiated Consciousness
\nand being, but the source and support also of the
\ndynamic energy of creation and whether the cosmic
\nexistence has for It a significance and a value. That
\nis a question which cannot be settled by metaphysical <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 56<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlogic which deals in words and ideas, but by a
\nspiritual experience which goes beyond Mind and enters
\ninto spiritual realities. Each mind is satisfied with its
\nown reasoning, but for spiritual purposes that satisfaction
\nhas no validity, except as an indication of how
\nfar and on what line each one is prepared to go in
\nthe field of spiritual experience. If your reasoning
\nleads you towards the Shankara idea of the Supreme,
\nthat might be an indication that the Vedanta Adwaita
\n(Mayavada) is your way of advance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis Yoga accepts the value of cosmic existence and
\nholds it to be a reality; its object is to enter into a
\nhigher Truth-Consciousness or Divine Supramental
\nConsciousness in which action and creation are the
\nexpression not of ignorance and imperfection, but of
\nthe Truth, the Light, the Divine Ananda. But for
\nthat, surrender of the mortal mind, life and body to
\nthat Higher Consciousness is indispensable, since it
\nis too difficult for the mortal human being to pass by
\nits own effort beyond mind to a Supramental consciousness
\nin which the dynamism is no longer mental
\nbut of quite another power. Only those who can
\naccept the call to such a change should enter into
\nthis Yoga. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2-10-1938<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 57<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\nIllusionist and Realistic Adwaita \u2014
\nNirvana\u2014Rebirth and Evolution <\/a> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI DON’T know that I can help you very much with
\n\u2014 an answer to your friend’s questions. I can
\nonly state my own position with regard to these
\nmatters. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nl. Shankara’s Explanation <\/b> of the Universe<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is rather difficult to say nowadays what really
\nwas Shankara’s philosophy: there are numberless
\nexponents and none of them agrees with any of the
\nothers. I have read accounts given by some scores of
\nhis exegetes and each followed his own line. We are
\neven told by some that he was no Mayavadin at all
\nalthough he has always been famed as the greatest
\nexponent of the theory of Maya, but rather, the great-
\nest Realist in philosophical history. One eminent
\nfollower of Shankara even declared that my philosophy
\nand Shankara’s were identical, a statement which rather
\ntook my breath away. One used to think that Shankara’s <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 58<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nphilosophy was this that the Supreme Reality is a
\nspaceless and timeless Absolute (Parabrahman) which
\nis beyond all feature or quality, beyond all action or
\ncreation, and that the world is a creation of Maya, nor
\nabsolutely unreal but real only in time and while one
\nlives in time; once we get into a knowledge of the
\nReality we perceive that Maya and world and all in it.
\nhave no abiding or true existence. It is, if not non-
\nexistent, yet false, jaganmithya;<\/i> it is a mistake of the
\nconsciousness, it is and it is not; it is an irrational
\nand inexplicable mystery in its origin, though we can
\nsee its process or at least how it keeps itself imposed
\non the consciousness. Brahman is seen in Maya as
\nIshwara upholding the works of Maya and the apparently
\nindividual soul is really nothing but Brahman
\nitself. In the end, however, all this seems to be a myth
\nof Maya, mithya,<\/i> and not anything really true. If
\nthat is Shankara’s philosophy, it is to me unacceptable
\nand incredible, however brilliantly ingenious it may
\nbe and however boldly and incisively reasoned; it
\ndoes not satisfy my reason and it does not agree with
\nmy experience. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI don’t know exactly what is meant by this yuktivada.
\n<\/i>If it is meant that it is merely for the sake of
\narguing down opponents, then this part of the philosophy
\nhas no fundamental validity; Shankara’s theory
\ndestroys itself. Either he meant it as a sufficient
\nexplanation of the universe or he did not. If he did,
\nit is no use dismissing it as Yuktivada. I can under-
\nstand that thoroughgoing Mayavadin’s declaration <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 59<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthat the whole question is illegitimate, because Maya
\nand the world do not really exist; in fact the problem how the world came to existence is only a part of Maya,
\nis like Maya unreal and does not truly arise, but if an explanation is to be given it must be a real and valid satisfying explanation. If there are two planes and
\nin putting the question we are confusing the two
\nplanes, that argument can only be of value if both
\nplanes have some kind of existence and the reasoning
\nand explanation are true in the lower plane but cease to have any meaning for a consciousness which
\nhas passed out of it. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n2<\/font>.<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/font>
\n
\n
\nAdwaita <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPeople are apt to speak of the Adwaita, as if it were identical with Mayavada monism, just as they
\nspeak of Vedanta as if it were identical with Adwaita only; that is not the case. There are several forms of
\nIndian philosophy which base themselves upon the
\nOne Reality, but they admit also the reality of the
\nworld, the reality of the Many, the reality of the
\ndifferences of the Many as well as the sameness of
\nthe One (Bhedabheda).<\/i> But the Many exist in the
\nOne and by the One, the differences are variations
\nin manifestation of that which is fundamentally ever
\nthe same. This we actually see as the universal law
\nof existence where oneness is always the basis with
\nan endless multiplicity and difference in the oneness; as for instance there is one mankind but many <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 60<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nkinds of man, one thing called leaf of flower but.
\nmany forms, patterns, colours of leaf and flower.
\nThrough this we can look back into one of the
\nfundamental secrets of existence, the secret which is
\ncontained in the one reality itself. The oneness of
\nthe Infinite is not something limited, fettered to its
\nunity; it is capable of an infinite multiplicity. The
\nSupreme Reality is an Absolute not limited by either
\noneness or multiplicity but simultaneously capable of
\nboth, for both are its aspects, although the oneness
\nis fundamental and the multiplicity depends upon the
\noneness.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is possible a realistic as well as an illusionist
\nAdwaita. The philosophy of the Life Divine is such
\na realistic Adwaita. The world is a manifestation of
\nthe Real and therefore is itself real. The reality is
\nthe infinite and eternal Divine, infinite and eternal
\nBeing, Consciousness-Force and Bliss. This Divine
\nby his power has created the world or rather manifested it in his own infinite Being. But here in the
\nmaterial world or at its basis he has hidden himself
\nin what seem to be his opposites, Non-Being,
\nInconscience and Insentience. This is what we
\nnowadays call the Inconscient which seems to have
\ncreated the material universe by its inconscient
\nEnergy; but this is only an appearance, for we find
\nm the end that all the dispositions of the world can
\nonly have been arranged by the working of a supreme
\nsecret intelligence. The Being which is hidden in what seems to be an inconscient void emerges in the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 61<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nworld first in Matter, then in Life, then in Mind
\nand finally as the Spirit. The apparently inconscient
\nEnergy which creates is in fact the Consciousness-
\nForce of the Divine and its aspect of consciousness,
\nsecret in Matter, begins to emerge in Life, finds
\nsomething more of itself in Mind and finds its true self in a spiritual
\nconsciousness and finally a Supramental  consciousness through which we become
\naware of the Reality, enter into it and unite ourselves
\nwith it. This is what we call evolution which is an
\nevolution of consciousness and an evolution of the
\nSpirit in things and only outwardly an evolution of
\nspecies. Thus also, the delight of existence emerges
\nfrom the original insentience first in the contrary
\nforms of pleasure and pain and then has to find itself
\nin the bliss of the Spirit or as it is called in the Upanishads, the bliss of the Brahman. That is the central
\nidea in the explanation of the universe put forward
\nin the Life Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n3. Nirguna and Saguna <\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIn a realistic Adwaita there is no need to regard
\nthe Saguna as a creation from the Nirguna or even
\nsecondary or subordinate to it: both are equal aspects
\nof the one Reality, its position of silent status and
\nrest and its position of action and dynamic force; a
\nsilence of eternal rest and peace supports an eternal
\naction and movement. The one Reality, the Divine
\nbeing is bound by neither since it is in no way limited; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 62<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nit possesses both. There is no incompatibility between
\nthe two, as there is none between the Many and the
\nOne, the sameness and the difference. They are all
\neternal aspects of the universe which could not exist
\nif either of them were eliminated, and it is reasonable
\nto suppose that they both came from the Reality
\nwhich has manifested the universe and are both real.
\nWe, can only get rid of the apparent contradiction\u2014
\nwhich is not really a contradiction but only a natural
\nconcomitance\u2014by treating one or the other as an
\nillusion. But it is hardly reasonable to suppose that
\nthe eternal Reality allows the existence of an eternal
\nillusion with which it has nothing to do or that it
\nsupports and enforces on being a vain cosmic illusion
\nand has no power for any other and real action.
\nThe force of the Divine is always there in silence as
\nin action, inactive in silence, active in the manifestation. It is hardly possible to suppose that the Divine
\nReality has no power or force or that its only power
\nis to create a universal falsehood, a cosmic lie\u2014
\nmithya.<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n4. Compounds and Disintegration <\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nNo doubt all compounds, being not integral things
\nan themselves but integrations, can disintegrate. Also
\nit is true of life, though not a physical compound, that
\nit has a curve of birth or integration and, after it
\nreaches a certain point, of disintegration, decay and
\ndeath. But these ideas or this rule of existence cannot <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 63<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbe safely applied to things in themselves. The soul
\nis not a compound but an integer, a thing in itself;
\nit does not disintegrate, but at most enters into
\nmanifestation and goes out of manifestation. That is
\ntrue even of forms other than constructed physical or
\nconstructed life-forms, they do not disintegrate but
\nappear and disappear or at most fade out of manifestation. Mind itself as opposed to particular thoughts
\nis something essential and permanent, it is a power
\nof the divine Consciousness. So<\/i> is life, as opposed to
\nconstructed living bodies; so I think is what we call
\nmaterial energy which is really the force of essential
\nsubstance in motion, a power of the Spirit. Thoughts,
\nlives, material objects are formations of these energies,
\nconstructed or simply manifested according to the
\nhabit of the play of the particular energy. As for the
\nelements, what is the pure natural condition of an
\nelement? According to modem Science what used to
\nbe called elements turn out to be compounds and
\nthe pure natural condition, if any, must be a condition
\nof pure energy; it is that pure condition into which,
\ncompounds including what we call elements must go 
\nwhen they pass by disintegration into Nirvana, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n5. Nirvana<\/i> ; <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhat then is Nirvana? In orthodox Buddhism it
\ndoes mean a disintegration, not of the soul\u2014for that
\ndoes not exist\u2014but of a mental compound or stream
\nof associations or samskaras<\/i> which we mistake for ourself. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 64<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIn illusionist Vedanta it means, not a
\ndisintegration but a disappearance of a false and
\nunreal individual self into the one real self or Brahman; it is the idea and experience of individuality
\nthat so disappears and ceases,\u2014we may say a false
\nlight that is extinguished (nirvana)<\/i> in the true Light.
\nIn spiritual experience it is sometimes the loss of
\nall sense of individuality in a boundless cosmic
\nconsciousness; what was the individual remains only
\nas a centre or a channel for the flow of a cosmic
\nconsciousness and a cosmic force and action. Or it
\nmay be the experience of the loss of individuality
\nin a transcendent being and consciousness in which
\nthe sense of cosmos as well as the individual disappears. Or again, it may be in a transcendence which
\nis aware of and supports the cosmic action. But what.
\ndo we mean by the individual? What we usually call
\nby that name is a natural ego, a device of nature
\nwhich holds together her action in the mind and
\nbody. This ego has to be extinguished, otherwise
\nthere is no complete liberation possible; but the
\nindividual self or soul is not this ego. The individual
\nsoul is the spiritual being which is sometimes described as an eternal portion of the Divine but can
\nalso be described as the Divine himself supporting
\nhis manifestation as the Many. This is the true
\nspiritual individual which appears in its complete truth
\nwhen we get rid of the ego and our false separative
\nsense of individuality, realise our oneness with the
\ntranscendent and cosmic Divine and with all beings <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 65<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt is this which makes possible the Divine Life.
\nNirvana is a step towards it; the disappearance of
\nthe false separative individuality is a necessary condition for our realising and living in our true eternal being, living divinely in the Divine. But this we can do in the world and in life. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n6. Rebirth <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIf evolution is a truth and is not only a physical
\nevolution of species, but an evolution of consciousness, it must be a spiritual and not only a physical
\nfact. In that case, it is the individual who evolves
\nand grows into a more and more developed and
\nperfect consciousness and obviously that cannot be
\ndone in the course of a brief single human life. If
\nthere is the evolution of a conscious individual, then
\nthere must be rebirth. Rebirth is a logical necessity
\nand a spiritual fact of which we can have the experience. Proofs of rebirth, sometimes of an overwhelmingly convincing nature, are not lacking, but
\nas yet they have not been carefully registered and brought together. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n7. Evolution <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIn my explanation of the universe I have put
\nforward this cardinal fact of a spiritual evolution as
\nthe meaning of our existence here. It is a series of
\nascents from the physical being and consciousness to <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 66<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe vital, the being dominated by the life-self, thence
\nto the mental being realised in the fully developed
\nman and thence into the perfect consciousness which is beyond the mental, into the Supramental consciousness and the Supramental being, the Truth-Consciousness which is the integral consciousness of
\nthe spiritual being. Mind cannot be our last conscious
\nexpression because mind is fundamentally an
\nignorance seeking for knowledge; it is only the Supramental Truth-Consciousness
\nthat can bring us
\nthe true and whole Self-Knowledge and world
\nKnowledge; it is through that only that we can get
\nto our true being and the fulfilment of our spiritual
\nevolution. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 67<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

11   Approaches to the Divine. Partial \u2014 Integral   Different Approaches’ to the Divine   IT seems to me that these differences of valuations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-first-series-1947","wpcat-98-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3740","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=3740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}