{"id":3743,"date":"2013-07-13T01:50:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3743"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:50:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:56","slug":"03-spiritual-evolution-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\/03-spiritual-evolution-vol-01-first-series-1947","title":{"rendered":"-03_Spiritual Evolution .htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nEvolution :<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\nMaterial – Spiritual – Supramental<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/div>\n

\n
\nSpiritual Evolution <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE have been times when the seeking for
\nspiritual attainment was, at least in certain
\ncivilisations, more intense and widespread than now or rather than it has been in the world in general
\nduring the past few centuries. For now the curve
\nseems to be the beginning of a new turn of seeking
\nwhich takes its start from what was achieved in the
\npast and projects itself towards a greater future. But
\nalways, even in the age of the Vedas or in Egypt,
\nthe spiritual achievement or the occult knowledge
\nwas confined to a few, it was not spread in the whole
\nmass of humanity. The mass of humanity evolves
\nslowly, containing in itself all stages of the evolution
\nfrom the material and the vital man to the mental
\nman. A small minority has pushed beyond the
\nbarriers, opening the doors to occult and spiritual
\nknowledge and preparing the ascent of the evolution
\nbeyond mental man into spiritual and supramental
\nbeing. Sometimes this minority has exercised an
\nenormous influence as in Vedic India, Egypt or,
\naccording to tradition, in Atlantis, and determined <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 3<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe civilisation of the race, giving it a strong stamp
\nof the spiritual or the occult; sometimes they have
\nstood apart in their secret schools or orders, not
\ndirectly influencing a civilisation which was sunk in
\nmaterial ignorance or in chaos and darkness or in
\nthe hard external enlightenment which rejects spiritual
\nknowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe cycles of evolution tend always upward, but
\nthey are cycles and do not ascend in a straight line.
\nThe process therefore gives the impression of a series
\nof ascents and descents, but what is essential in the
\ngains of the evolution is kept or, even if eclipsed for
\na time, re-emerges in new forms suitable to the new
\nages. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe creation has descended all the degrees of being
\nfrom the Supermind to Matter and in each degree
\nit has created a world, reign, plane or order proper
\nto that degree. In the creating of the material world
\n: there was a plunge of this descending Consciousness
\ninto an apparent Inconscience and an emergence of
\nit out of that Inconscience, degree by degree, until
\nit recovers its highest spiritual and supramental summits
\nand manifests their powers here in Matter. But
\neven in the Inconscience there is a secret Consciousness
\nwhich works, one may say, by an involved and
\nhidden Intuition proper to itself. In each stage of
\nmatter, in each stage of life, this Intuition assumes
\na working proper to that stage and acts from behind
\nthe veil, supporting and enforcing the immediate
\nnecessities of the creative Force. There is an<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 4<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIntuition in Matter which holds the action of the
\nmaterial world from the electron to the sun and
\nplanets and their contents. There is an Intuition in
\nLife which similarly supports and guides the play
\nand development of Life in matter till it is ready
\nfor the mental evolution of which man is the vehicle.
\nIn man also the creation follows the same upward
\nprocess,\u2014the Intuition within develops according to
\nthe stage he has reached in his progress. Even the
\nprecise intellect of the scientist, who is inclined to
\ndeny the separate existence or the superiority of
\nIntuition yet cannot really move forward unless there
\nis behind him a mental Intuition, which enables him
\nto take a forward step or to divine what has to be
\ndone. Intuition therefore is present at the beginning
\nof things and in their middle as well as at their con-
\nsummation.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut Intuition takes its proper form only when one
\ngoes beyond the mental into the spiritual domain,
\nfor there only it comes fully forward from behind
\nthe veil and reveals its true and complete nature.
\nAlong with the mental evolution of man there has
\nbeen going forward the early process of another
\nevolution which prepares the spiritual and supramental
\nbeing. This has had two lines, one the discovery
\nof the occult forces secret in Nature and of
\nthe hidden planes and worlds concealed from us by
\nthe world of Matter and the other the discovery of
\nman’s soul and spiritual self. If the tradition of
\nAdantis is correct, it is that of a progress which <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 5<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwent to the extreme of occult knowledge, but could
\ngo no farther. In the India of Vedic times we have
\nthe record left of the other line of achievement, that
\nof spiritual self-discovery; occult knowledge was there
\nbut kept subordinate. We may say that here in India
\nthe reign of Intuition came first, intellectual Mind
\ndeveloping afterwards in the later philosophy and
\nscience. But in fact the mass of men at the time,
\nit is quite evident, lived entirely on the material
\nplane, worshipped the Godheads of material Nature,
\nsought from them entirely material objects. The
\neffort of the Vedic mystics revealed to them the things
\nbehind through a power of inner sight and hearing
\nand experience which was confined to a limited
\nnumber of seers and sages and kept carefully secret
\nfrom the mass of humanity\u2014secrecy was always
\ninsisted on by the mystic. We may very well attribute
\nthis flowering of Intuition on the spiritual plane to
\na rapid re-emergence of essential gains brought down
\nfrom a previous cycle. If we analyse the spiritual
\nhistory of India we shall find that after reaching this
\nheight there was a descent which attempted to take
\nup each lower degree of the already evolved consciousness
\nand link it to the spiritual at the summit.
\nThe Vedic age was followed by a great outburst of
\nintellect and philosophy which yet took spiritual truth,
\nas its basis and tried to reach it anew, not through a
\ndirect Intuition or occult process as did the Vedic
\nseers, but by the power of the mind’s reflective,
\nspeculative, logical thought, at the same time processes <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 6<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof Yoga were developed which used the thinking
\nmind as a means of arriving at spiritual realisation,
\nspiritualising this mind itself at the same time. Then
\nfollowed an era of the development of philosophies
\nand Yoga processes which more and more used the
\nemotional and aesthetic being as the means of spiritual
\nrealisation and spiritualised the emotional level in man
\nthrough the heart and feeling. This was accompanied
\nby Tantric and other processes which took up the
\nthe mental will, the life-will, the will of sensations
\nand made them at once the instruments and the
\nfield of spiritualisation. In the Hathayoga and the
\nvarious attempts at divinisation of the body there
\nis also a line of endeavour which attempted to arrive
\nat the same achievement with regard to living matter,,
\nbut this still awaits the discovery of the true characteristic
\nmethod and power of Spirit in the body.
\nWe may say therefore that the universal Consciousness
\nafter its descent into Matter has conducted the evolution
\nthere along two lines, one of ascent to the
\ndiscovery of the Self and Spirit, the other of descent
\nthrough the already evolved levels of mind, life and
\nbody so as to bring down the spiritual consciousness-
\ninto these also and to fulfil thereby some secret
\nintention in the creation of the material universe. Our Yoga is in its principle a taking up and
\nsummarising and completing of this process, an
\nendeavour to rise to the highest possible supra-
\nmental level and bring down its consciousness and
\npower into mind, life and body. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 7<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe condition of present-day civilisation, materialistic
\nwith an externalised intellect and life-endeavour,
\nwhich you find So painful, is an episode, but one
\nwhich was perhaps inevitable. For if the spiritualisation  of the mind, life and body is the thing
\nto be achieved, the conscious presence of the Spirit
\neven in the physical consciousness and material body,
\nan age which puts matter and the physical life in
\nthe forefront and devotes itself to the effort of the
\nintellect to discover the truth of material existence,
\nhad perhaps to come. On one side, by materialising
\neverything up to the intellect itself it has created
\nthe extreme difficulty of which you speak for the
\nspiritual seeker, but on the other hand it has given
\nthe life in matter an importance which the spirituality
\nof the past was inclined to deny to it. In a way it has
\nmade the spiritualisation of it a necessity for spiritual
\nseeking and so aided the descent movement of the
\nevolving spiritual consciousness in the earth nature.
\nMore than that we cannot claim for it, its conscious
\n.effect has been rather to stifle and almost extinguish
\nthe spiritual element in humanity; it is only by the
\ndivine use of the pressure of contraries and an intervention
\nfrom above that there will be the spiritual  outcome. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n27-12-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 8<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Materialistic Phase of Evolution<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nALL the phases of human history may be regarded
\nas a working out of the earth-consciousness in
\nwhich each phase has its place and significance, so this
\nmaterialistic intellectual phase had to come and has
\nhad, no doubt, its purpose and significance. One may
\nalso hold that one of its issues was as an experiment
\nto see how far and whither the human consciousness
\nwould go through an intellectual and external control
\nof Nature with physical and intellectual means only
\nand without the intervention of any higher conscious-
\nness and knowledge\u2014or that it may help by resistance
\nto draw the spiritual consciousness that is growing
\nbehind all vicissitudes to attempt the control of Matter
\nand turn it towards the Divine, as the Tantrics and
\nVaishnavas tried to do with the emotional and lower
\nvital nature, not contenting themselves with the
\nVedantic turning of the mind towards the Supreme.
\nBut it is difficult to go farther than that or to hold that
\nthis materialism is itself a spiritual thing or that the
\ndark confused and violent state of contemporary
\nEurope was an indispensable preparation for the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 9<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndescent of the Spirit. This darkness and violence
\nwhich seems bent on destroying such light of mental
\nidealism and desire Of harmony as had succeeded in establishing 
\nitself in the mind of humanity, is obviously
\ndue to a descent of fierce and dark vital Powers which
\nseek to possess the human world for their own, not
\nfor a spiritual purpose. It is true that such a precipitation
\nof Asuric forces from the darker vital worlds
\nhas been predicted by some occultists as the one first
\nresult of the pressure of the Divine descent on their
\nvital domain, but it was regarded as a circumstance
\nof the battle, not as something helping towards the
\nDivine Victory. The churning of Matter by the
\nattempt of human intellect to conquer material Nature
\nand use it for its purpose may break something of the
\npassivity and inertia, but it is done for material ends,
\nin a rajasic spirit, with a denial of spirituality as its
\nmental basis. Such an attempt may end, seems to be
\nending indeed, in chaos and disintegration, while the
\nnew attempts at creation and reintegration seem to
\ncombine the obscure rigidity of material Nature with
\na resurgence of the barbaric brutality and violence of
\na half-animal vital Nature. How are the spiritual
\nforces to deal with all that or make use of such a
\nchurning of the energies of the material universe?
\nThe way of the Spirit is the way of peace and light
\nand harmony; if it has to battle it is precisely because
\nof the presence of such forces which seek either to
\nextinguish or to prevent the spiritual light. In the
\nspiritual change inertia has to be replaced by the<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 10<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndivine peace and calm, the rajasic troubled energy
\nby a tranquil and potent, pure and liberated dynamis,
\nwhile the mind must be kept plastic for the workings
\nof a higher Light of knowledge. How will the activity
\nof Materialism lend itself to that change? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nMaterialism can hardly be spiritual in its basis
\nbecause its basic method is just the opposite of the
\nspiritual way of doing things. The spiritual works
\nfrom within outward, the way of materialism is to
\nwork from out inwards. It makes the inner a result of
\nthe outer, fundamentally a phenomenon of Matter
\nand it works upon that view of things. It seeks to
\n"perfect" humanity by outward means and one of
\nits main efforts is to construct a perfect social machine
\nwhich will train and oblige men to be what they ought
\nto be. The loss of the ego in the Divine is the spiritual
\nideal; here it is replaced by the immolation of the
\nindividual to the military and industrial State. Where
\nis there any spirituality in all that? Spirituality can
\nonly come by opening of the mind, vital and physical.
\nto the inmost soul, to the higher Self, to the Divine,
\nand their subordination to the spiritual forces and
\ninstrumentation as channels of the inner Light, the
\nhigher Knowledge and Power, Other things, mental-
\naesthetic, vital, are often misnamed ‘spirituality,’ but
\nthey lack the essential character without which the-
\nword loses its true significance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n30-6-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 11<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nDescent of the Supermind<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE descent of the Supermind is a long process, or at least a process with a long preparation,
\nand one can only say that the work is going on sometimes
\nwith a strong pressure for completion, sometimes
\nretarded by the things that rise from below
\nand have to be dealt with before further progress
\ncan be made. The process is a spiritual evolutionary
\nprocess, concentrated into a brief period; it could be
\ndone otherwise (by what men would regard as a
\nmiraculous intervention) only if the human mind were
\nmore flexible and less attached to its ignorance than
\nit is. As we envisage it, it must manifest in a few
\nfirst and then spread, but it is not likely to overpower
\nthe earth in a moment. It is not advisable to discuss
\ntoo much what it will do and how it will do it,
\nbecause these are things the Supermind itself will
\nfix, acting out of that Divine Truth in it, and the
\nmind must not try to fix for it grooves in which it
\nwill run. Naturally, the release from subconscient
\nignorance and from disease, duration of life at will,
\nand a change in the functionings of the body must <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 12<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbe among the ultimate elements of a Supramental
\nchange; but the details of these things must be left for the Supramental Energy
\nto work out according to the Truth of its own nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe descent of the Supramental is an inevitable
\nnecessity in the logic of things and is therefore sure. It is because people do
\nnot understand what the Supermind is or realise the significance of the
\nemergence of consciousness in a world of incoriscient Matter that they are
\nunable to realise this inevitability. I suppose a matter-of-fact observer, if
\nthere had been one at the time of the unrelieved reign of inanimate Matter in
\nthe earth’s beginning, would have criticised any promise of the emergence of
\nlife in a world of dead earth and rock and mineral as an absurdity and a
\nchimera; so too, afterwards he would have repeated this mistake and regarded the
\nemergence of thought and reason in an animal world as an absurdity and a
\nchimera. It is the same now with the appearance of Supermind in the stumbling
\nmentality of this world of human consciousness and its reasoning ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 13<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Divine and its Opposites-
\nSupramental Evolution<\/a> <\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT is meant here is the Divine in its essential
\nmanifestation which reveals itself to us as
\nLight and Consciousness, Power, Love and Beauty.
\nBut in its actual cosmic manifestation the Supreme, 
\nbeing the Infinite and not bound by any limitation, I
\ncan manifest in Itself, in its consciousness of innumerable
\npossibilities, something that seems to be the
\nopposite of itself, something in which there can be I
\nDarkness, Inconscience, Inertia, Insensibility, Disharmony and Disintegration.
\nIt is this that we see at the basis of the material world and speak of nowadays 
\nas the Inconscient\u2014the Inconscient Ocean of
\nthe Rigveda in which the One was hidden and arose
\nin the form of this universe\u2014or, as it is sometimes called, the non-being, Asat. The Ignorance which is’
\nthe characteristic of our mind and life is the result
\nof this origin in the Inconscience. Moreover, in the
\nevolution out of inconscient existence there rise up
\nnaturally powers and beings which are interested in
\nthe maintenance of all negations of the Divine, error <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 14<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand unconsciousness, pain, suffering, obscurity, death,
\nweakness, illness, disharmony, evil. Hence the
\nperversion of the manifestation here, its inability to
\nreveal the true essence of the Divine. Yet in this
\nvery base of this evolution all that is divine is there
\ninvolved and pressing to evolve. Light, Consciousness,
\nPower, Perfection, Beauty, Love. For in the Inconscient
\nitself and behind the perversions of the
\nIgnorance the Divine Consciousness lies concealed
\nand works and must more and more appear,
\nthrowing off in the end its disguises. That is why it is said that the world is called to express the
\nDivine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYour statement about the supramental evolution
\nis correct except that it does not follow that humanity
\nas a whole will become supramental. What is more
\nlikely to happen is that the supramental principle
\nwill be established in the evolution by the descent
\njust as the mental principle was established by the
\nappearance of thinking Mind and Man in earthly
\nlife. There will be a race of supramental beings on
\nthe earth just as now there is a race of mental beings.
\nMan himself will find a greater possibility of rising
\nto the planes intermediary between his mind and
\nSupermind and making their powers effective in his
\nlife, which will mean a great change in humanity
\non earth, but it is not likely that the mental stage
\nwill disappear from the ascending ladder and, if so,
\nthe continued existence of a mental race will be necessary so as to form a stage between the vital <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 15<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand the supramental in the evolutionary movement of the Spirit.
\nSuch a descent of higher beings as you suggest may be envisaged as a part of the process of the change.
\nBut the main part of the change will be the appearance of the supramental being and the organisation
\nof a supramental nature here, as a mental being has
\nappeared and a mental nature organised itself during
\nthe last stage of the evolution. I prefer nowadays
\nnot to speak of the descent of the higher beings
\nbecause my experience is that it leads to a vain
\nand often egoistic romanticism which distracts the
\nattention from the real work, that of the realisation
\nof the Divine and the transformation of the nature.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n 6-1-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 16<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nSpiritual and Supramental Consciousness<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIN the Supramental consciousness, there are no problems\u2014the problem is created by the
\ndivision set up by the Mind. The Supramental sees
\nthe Truth as a single whole and everything falls
\ninto its place in that whole. The Supramental is also
\nspiritual, but the old Yogas reach Sachchidananda
\nthrough the spiritualised mind and depart into the
\neternally static oneness of Sachchidananda or rather
\npure Sat (Existence), absolute and eternal or else a
\npure Non-existence, absolute and eternal. Ours
\nhaving realised Sachchidananda in the spiritualised mind plane proceeds to realise it in the Supramental
\nplane. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe supreme supra-cosmic Sachchidananda is
\nabove all. Supermind may be described as its power
\nof self-awareness and world-awareness, the world
\nbeing known as within itself and not outside. So to
\nlive consciously in the supreme Sachchidananda one
\nmust pass through the Supermind. If one is in the
\nsupra-cosmic apart from the manifestation, there is
\nno place for problems or solutions. If one lives in <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 17<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe transcendence and the cosmic view at the same-time, that can only be by the Supramental conscious-
\nness in the supreme Sachchidananda consciousness\u2014
\nso why should the question arise? Why should
\nthere be a difference between the supreme Sachchidananda
\nversion of the cosmos and the Supermind’s
\nversion of it? Your difficulty probably comes from -thinking of both in terms of the mind. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe Supermind is an entirely different conscious-
\n.ness not only from the spiritualised Mind, but from
\nthe planes above spiritualised Mind which intervene
\n"between it and the Supramental plane. Once one
\npasses beyond Overmind to Supermind, one enters
\n.into a consciousness to which the norms of the other
\nplanes do not at all apply and in which the same
\nTruth, e.g. Sachchidananda and truth of this universe,
\nis seen in quite a different way and has a different
\ndynamic consequence. This necessarily results from
\nthe<\/i> fact that Supermind has an indivisible knowledge,
\nwhile Overmind proceeds by union in division and
\nMind by division taking division as the first fact, for that is the natural process of its knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn all planes the essential experience of Sachchidananda,
\npure Existence, Consciousness, Bliss is the
\nsame and Mind is often contented with it as the sole
\nTruth and dismisses all else as part of the grand
\nIllusion, but there is also a dynamic experience of
\nthe Divine or of Existence (e.g. as One and Many,
\nPersonal and Impersonal, the Infinite and Finite etc.,)
\nwhich is essential for the integral knowledge. The<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 18<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndynamic experience is not the same in the lower
\nplanes as in the higher, in the intermediate spiritual
\nplanes and in the Supramental. In these the oppositions
\ncan only be put together and harmonised, in
\nthe Supermind they fuse together and are inseparably
\none; that makes an enormous difference. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe universe is dynamism, movement\u2014the
\nessential experience of Sachchidananda apart from
\nthe dynamism and movement is static. The full
\ndynamic truth of Sachchidananda and the universe
\nand its consequence cannot be grasped by any other
\nconsciousness than the Supermind, because the
\ninstrumentation in all other (lower) planes is inferior
\nand there is therefore a disparity between the fullness
\nof the static experience and the incompleteness of
\nthe dynamic power, knowledge, result of the inferior
\nlight and power of other planes. This is the reason
\nwhy the consciousness of the other spiritual planes
\neven if it descends can make no radical change in the; earth-consciousness, it can only modify or enrich it.
\nThe radical transformation needs the descent of a
\nSupramental power and nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nOne cannot speak of two classes of Sachchidananda,
\nfor Sachchidananda is the same always\u2014but the
\nknowledge of Sachchidananda and the universe
\ndiffers according to the degree of the consciousness
\nwhich has the experience. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe personal realisation of the Divine may be
\nsometimes with Form, sometimes without Form.
\nWithout Form, it is the Presence of the living Divine <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 19<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nPerson, felt in everything. With Form, it comes with
\nthe image of the One to whom worship is offered.
\nThe Divine can always manifest himself in a form
\nto the bhakta or seeker. One sees him in the form
\nin which one worships or seeks him or in a form
\nsuitable to the Divine Personality who is the object
\nof the adoration. How it manifests depends on many
\nthings and it is too various to be reduced To a single
\nrule. Sometimes it is in the heart that the Presence
\nwith the form is seen, sometimes in any of the other
\ncentres, sometimes above and guiding from there,
\nsometimes it is seen outside and in front as if an
\nembodied Person. Its advantages are an intimate
\nrelation and constant guidance or if felt or seen
\nwithin, a very strong and concrete realisation of the constant Presence. But one
\nmust be very sure of the purity of one’s adoration and seeking\u2014for the
\ndisadvantage of this kind of embodied relation is that other Forces can imitate
\nthe Form or counterfeit the voice and the guidance and this gets more force if
\nit is associated with a constructed image which is not the true thing. Several
\nhave been misled in this way because pride, vanity or desire was strong in them
\nand robbed them of the finer psychic perception that is not mental and can at once turn the
\nMother’s light on such misleadings or errors.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 20<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\n Spiritualisation and Supramental
\nTransformation<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIF spiritual and Supramental were the same thing,
\n\u2014 as you say my readers imagine, then all the
\nsages and devotees and yogis and sadhakas throughout
\nthe ages would have been Supramental beings and all I
\nhave written about the Supermind would be so much
\nsuperfluous stuff, useless and otiose. Anybody who
\nhad spiritual experiences would then be a Supra-
\nmental being; the Ashram would be chockful of
\nSupramental beings and every other Ashram in India
\nalso. Spiritual experiences can fix themselves in the
\ninner consciousness and alter it, transform it, if you
\nlike; one can realise the Divine everywhere, the Self
\nin all and all in the Self, the universal Shakti doing all things; one can feel merged in the Cosmic Self
\nor full of ecstatic bhakti or Ananda. But one may
\nand usually does still go on in the outer parts of
\nNature thinking with the intellect or at best the
\nintuitive mind, willing with a mental will, feeling
\njoy and sorrow on the vital surface, undergoing
\nphysical afflictions and suffering from the struggle of <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 21<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlife in the body with death and disease. The change
\nthen only will be that the inner self will watch alt
\nthat without getting disturbed or bewildered, with a
\nperfect equality, taking it as an inevitable part of
\nNature, inevitable at least so long as one does not
\nwithdraw to the Self out of Nature. That is not the
\ntransformation I envisage. It is quite another power
\nof knowledge, another kind of will, another luminous
\nnature of emotion and aesthesis, another constitution
\nof the physical consciousness that must come in by
\nthe Supramental change. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 22<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Yoga of Transformation<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBY transformation I do not mean some change of the nature\u2014I do not mean for instance
\nsainthood or ethical perfection or Yogic siddhis
\n(like the Tantric’s) or a transcendental (chinmaya)
\nbody. I use transformation in a special sense, a change
\nof consciousness radical and complete and of a certain
\nspecific kind which is so conceived as to bring about
\na strong and assured step forward in the spiritual
\nevolution of the being of a greater and higher kind
\nand of a larger sweep and completeness than what
\ntook place when a mentalised being first appeared in a
\nvital and material animal world. If anything short of
\nthat takes place or at least if a real beginning is not
\nmade on that basis, a fundamental progress towards
\nthis fulfilment, then my object is not accomplished.
\nA partial realisation, something mixed and inconclusive, does not meet the demand I make on life and
\nYoga. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nLight of realisation is not the same thing as Descent.
\nRealisation by itself does not necessarily transform
\nthe being as a whole, it may bring only an opening or <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 23<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nheightening or widening of the consciousness at the
\ntop so as to realise something in the Purusha part
\nwithout any radical change in the parts of Prakriti.
\nOne may have some light of realisation at the spiritual
\nsummit of the consciousness but the parts below
\nremain what they were. I have seen any number of
\ninstances of that. There must be a descent of the
\nlight not merely into the mind or part of it but into
\nall the being down to the physical and below before
\na real transformation can take place. A light in the
\nmind may spiritualise or otherwise change the mind
\nor part of it in one way or another, but it need not
\nchange the vital nature, a light in the vital may purify
\nand enlarge the vital movements or else silence and
\nimmobilise the vital being, but leave the body and the
\nphysical consciousness as it was, or even leave it inert
\nor shake its balance. And the descent of Light is not
\nenough, it must be the descent of the whole higher
\nconsciousness, its Peace, Power, Knowledge, Love,
\nAnanda. Moreover the descent may be enough to
\nliberate, but not to perfect, or it may be enough to
\nmake a great change in the inner being, while the
\nouter remains an imperfect instrument, clumsy, sick
\nor unexpressive. Finally, transformation effected by
\nthe sadhana cannot be complete unless it is a supra-mentalisation of the being. Psychicisation is notenough,
\nit is only a beginning, spiritualisation and the descent
\nof the higher consciousness is not enough, it is only a
\nmiddle term, the ultimate achievement needs the
\naction of the Supramental Consciousness and Force. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 24<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSomething less than that may very well be considered
\nenough by the individual, but it is not enough for the
\nearth-consciousness to take the definitive stride
\nforward it must take at one time or another. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have never said that my Yoga was something
\nbrand new in all its elements. I have called it the
\nintegral Yoga and that means that it takes up the
\nessence and many processes of the old Yogas\u2014its
\nnewness is in its aim, standpoint and the totality of its
\nmethod. In the earlier stages which is all I deal with
\nin books like the "Riddle" or the "Lights" or in the
\nnew book to be published1<\/sup> there is nothing in it that
\ndistinguishes it from the old Yogas except the aim
\nunderlying its comprehensiveness, the spirit in its
\nmovements and the ultimate significance it keeps
\nbefore it\u2014also the scheme of its psychology and its
\nworkings: but as that was not and could not be developed systematically or schematically in these letters,
\nit has not been grasped by those who are not already
\nacquainted with it by mental familiarity or some
\namount of practice. The detail or method of the
\nlater stages of the Yoga which go into little known or
\nuntrodden regions, I have not made public and I do not at present intend to do so. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI know very well also that there have been
\nseemingly allied ideals and anticipations-the perfectibility of
\nthe race, certain Tantric sadhanas, the effort after a
\ncomplete physical siddhi by certain schools of Yoga, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1<\/sup>The Bases of Yoga <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 25<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\netc., etc. I have alluded to these things myself and
\nhave put forth the view that the spiritual past of the
\nrace has been a preparation of Nature not merely for
\nattaining the Divine beyond the world, but also for
\nthe very step forward which the evolution of the earth-
\nconsciousness has still to make. I do not therefore
\ncare in the least,\u2014even though these ideals were, up
\nto some extent parallel, yet not identical with mine,\u2014
\nwhether this Yoga and its aim and method are accepted
\nas new or not, that is in itself a trifling matter. That
\nit should be recognised as true in itself by those who
\ncan accept or practise it and should make itself true
\nby achievement is the one thing important; it does not
\nmatter if it is called new or a repetition or revival
\nof the old which was forgotten. I laid emphasis on it
\nas new in a letter to certain sadhakas so as to explain
\nto them that a repetition of the aim and idea of the
\nold Yogas was not enough in my eyes, that I was putting forward a thing to be achieved that has not yet
\nbeen achieved, not yet clearly visualised, even though
\nit is one natural but still secret outcome of all the past
\nspiritual endeavour.
\nIt is new as compared with the old Yogas: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(l) Because it aims not at a departure out of
\nworld and life into Heaven or Nirvana, but
\nat a change of life and existence, not as something subordinate or incidental, but as a distinct
\nand central object. If there is a descent in
\nother Yogas, yet it is only an incident on the
\nway or resulting from the ascent\u2014the ascent is <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 26<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe real thing. Here the ascent is the first
\nstep, but it is a means for the descent. It is
\nthe descent of the new consciousness attained
\nby the ascent that is the stamp and seal of the sadhana. Even the Tantra and Vaishnavismend  in the release from life, here the object
\nis the divine fulfilment of life. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(2) Because the object sought after is not an
\nindividual achievement of divine realisation for
\nthe sake of the individual, but something to be gained for the
\nearth-consciousness here, a
\ncosmic, not solely a supra-cosmic achievement.
\nThe thing to be gained also is the bringing in
\nof a Power of consciousness (the Supramental)
\nnot yet organised or active directly in earth-
\nnature, even in the spiritual life, but yet to be
\norganised and made directly active. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(3) Because a method has been preconized for
\nachieving this purpose which is as total and
\nintegral as the aim set before it, viz., the total
\nand integral change of the consciousness and
\nnature, taking up old methods but only as a
\npart action and present aid to others that are
\ndistinctive. I have not found this method (as a
\nwhole) or anything like it professed or realised
\nm the old Yogas. If I had, I should not have
\nwasted my time in hewing out paths and in
\nthirty years of search and inner creation when
\n. l could have hastened home safely to my goat in an easy canter over paths already blazed out,<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage -27<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlaid down, perfectly mapped, macadamised,
\nmade secure and public. Our Yoga is not a
\nretreading of old walks, but a spiritual
\nadventure. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n5-10-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 28<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 Physical Transformation<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWHATEVER may have happened to Chaitanya or Ramalingam, whatever physical transformation
\nthey may have gone through is quite irrelevant to the
\naim of the supramentalisation of the body. Their new body was either a
\nnon-physical or subtle physical body not adapted for life on the earth. If it
\nwere not so, they would not have disappeared. The object of supramentalisation is a body fitted to embody
\nand express the physical consciousness on earth so
\nlong as one remains in the physical life. It is a step
\nin the spiritual evolution on the earth, not a step in
\nthe passage towards a supraphysical world. The
\nsupramentalisation is the most difficult part of the
\nchange arrived at by the Supramental Yoga, and all
\ndepends on whether a sufficient change can be achieved
\nin the consciousness at present to make such a step
\npossible, but the nature of the step is different from
\nthat aimed at by other Yogas. There is not therefore
\nmuch utility in these discussions\u2014one has first of
\nall to supramentalise sufficiently the mind and vital
\nand physical consciousness generally\u2014afterwards one <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 29<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ncan think of supramentalisation of the body. The
\npsychic and spiritual transformation must come
\nfirst, only afterwards would it be practical or useful
\nto discuss the supramentalisation of the whole being
\ndown to the body. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n4-6-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 30<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Aim of Supramental Evolution<\/a>
\n<\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n‘HAT we are doing, if and when we succeed, will be a beginning, not a completion. It is
\nthe foundation of a new consciousness on earth\u2014a
\nconsciousness with infinite possibilities of manifestation. The eternal progression is in the manifestation
\nand beyond it there is no progression. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf the redemption of the soul from the physical
\nvesture be the object, then there is no need of supramentalisation. Spiritual Mukti and Nirvana are sufficient. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf the object is to rise to supraphysical planes,
\nthen also there is no need of supramentalisation.
\nOne can enter into some heaven above by devotion
\nto the Lord of that heaven. But that is no progression.
\nThe other worlds are typal worlds, each fixed in its
\nown kind and type and law. Evolution takes place
\non the earth and therefore the earth is the proper
\nfield for progression. The beings of the other worlds
\ndo not progress from one world to another. They
\nremain fixed to their own type. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe purely monistic Vedantist says, all is Brahman,
\ne is a dream, an unreality, only Brahman exists. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 31<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nOne has Nirvana or Mukti, then one lives only till
\nthe body falls\u2014after that there is no such thing as
\nlife. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThey do not believe in transformation, because
\nmind, life and body are an ignorance, an illusion
\n\u2014the only reality is the featureless, relationless Self
\nor Brahman. Life is a thing of relations; in the pure
\nSelf, all life and relations disappear. What would
\nbe the use or the possibility of transforming an illusion that can never be anything else (however transformed) than an illusion? There is no such thing
\nfor them as a "Nirvanic life". <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is only some Yogas that aim at a transformation
\nof any kind except that of ignorance into knowledge,
\nThe idea varies,\u2014sometimes a divine knowledge or
\npower or else a divine purity or an ethical perfection
\nor a divine love. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat has to be overcome is the opposition of the
\nIgnorance that does not want the transformation of
\nthe nature. If that can be overcome, then old spiritual
\nideas will not form an obstacle. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is not intended to supramentalise humanity at
\nlarge, but to establish the principle of the Supramental
\nconsciousness in the earth-evolution. If that is done; all that is needed will be evolved by the Supramental
\nPower itself. It is not therefore important that the
\nmission should be widespread. What is important
\nis that the thing should be done at all in however
\nsmall a number, that is the only difficulty. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf the transformation of the body is complete. that means no subjection to death\u2014it does not mean <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n32<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthat one will be bound to keep the same body for
\nall time. One creates a new body for oneself when
\none wants to change, but how it will be done cannot
\nbe said now. The present method is by physical
\nbirth\u2014some occultists suppose that a time will come
\nwhen that will not be necessary\u2014but the question.
\nmust be left for the Supramental evolution to decide. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe questions about the Supermind cannot be
\nanswered profitably now. Supermind cannot be described in terms that the mind will understand,
\nbecause the terms will be mental and mind will
\nunderstand them in a mental way and mental sense
\nand miss their true import. It would therefore be
\na waste of time and energy which should be devoted
\nto the preliminary work\u2014psychicisation and spiritualisation of the being and nature without which no
\nsupramentalisation is possible. Let the whole dynamic
\nnature led by the psychic make itself full of the
\ndynamic spiritual light, peace, purity, knowledge,
\nforce; let it afterwards get experience of the intermediate spiritual planes and know, feel and act in
\ntheir sense; then it will be possible to speak last of
\nthe Supramental transformation. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 33<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nTechnique of World-Changing Yoga<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT is a perfect technique of Yoga or rather of a world-changing or Nature-changing
\nYoga? Not one that takes a man by a little bit of him
\nsomewhere, attaches a hook and pulls him up by a
\npulley into Nirvana or Paradise. The technique of a
\nworld-changing Yoga has to be as multiform, sinuous,
\npatient, all-including as the world itself. If it does not
\ndeal with all the difficulties or possibilities and carefully
\ndeal with each necessary element, has it any chance of
\nsuccess? And can a perfect technique which every-
\nbody can understand do that? It is not like writing a
\nsmall poem in a fixed metre with a limited number of
\nmodulations. If you take the poem simile, it is the
\nMahabharata of a Mahabharata that has to be done.
\nAnd what, compared with the limited Greek perfection,
\nis the technique of the Mahabharata? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNext, what is the use of vicharabuddhi<\/i> in such a case ? If one has to get a new consciousness which surpasses
\nthe reasoning intellect, can one do it on lines which are to be judged and understood by the reasoning intellect, controlled at every step by it, told by the intellect <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage -34<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhat it is to do, what is the measure of its achievements,
\nwhat its steps must be and what their value? If one
\ndoes that, will one ever get out of the range of
\nthe reasoning intelligence into what is beyond it?
\nAnd if one does, how shall others judge what one is
\ndoing by the intellectual measure? How can one judge
\nwhat is beyond the ordinary consciousness when
\none is oneself in the ordinary consciousness? Is
\nit not only by exceeding yourself that you can
\nfeel, experience, judge what exceeds you? What
\nis the value of a judgment without the feeling and
\nexperience? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat the Supramental will do the mind cannot
\nforesee or lay down. The mind is ignorance seeking
\nfor the Truth; the Supramental by its very definition
\nis the Truth-consciousness, Truth in possession of
\nitself and fulfilling itself by its own power. In a Supramental world imperfection and disharmony are bound
\nto disappear. But what we propose just now is not
\nto make the earth a Supramental world but to bring
\ndown the Supramental as a power and established
\nconsciousness in the midst of the rest\u2014to let it work
\nthere and fulfil itself as Mind descended into life and
\nmatter and has worked as a Power there to fulfil itself
\nm the midst of the rest. This will be enough to change
\nthe world and to change Nature by breaking down her
\npresent limits. But what, how, by what degrees it will
\ndo, it is a thing that ought not to be said now\u2014when
\nthe Light is there, the Light will itself do its work-
\nwhen the Supramental Will stands on earth, that Will <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 35<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwill decide. It will establish a perfection, a harmony..
\na Truth creation\u2014for the rest, well, it will be the rest-
\nthat is all. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI5-11-I933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 36<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Dynamic Aspect of the Divine<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n‘*HE dynamic aspect of the Divine is the Supreme
\nBrahman, not the Gods. The Gods are
\nPersonalities and Powers of the dynamic Divine.
\nYou speak as if the evolution were the sole creation; the creation or manifestation is very vast and contains
\nmany planes and worlds that existed before the
\nevolution, all different in character and with different
\nkinds of beings. The fact of being prior to the
\nevolution does not make them undifferentiated.
\nThe world of the Asuras is prior to the evolution, so are the. worlds of the mental, vital or subtle
\nphysical Devas\u2014but these beings are all different
\nfrom each other. The great Gods belong to the
\nOvermind plane, in the Supermind they are unified
\nas aspects of the Divine, in the Overmind they appear
\nas separate personalities. Any godhead can descend
\nby emanation to the physical plane and associate
\nhimself with the evolution of a human being with
\nwhose line of manifestation he is in affinity. But
\nthese are things which cannot be very easily understood by the mind, because the mind has too rigid <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 37<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nan idea of personality\u2014the difficulty only disappears
\nwhen one enters into a more flexible consciousness
\nabove where one is nearer to the experience of One in all and All in one. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n13-11-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 38<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\nThe Christian Ideal
\nand the Supramental Descent <\/a> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE is ho connection between the Christian
\nconception (of the Kingdom of Heaven) and the
\nidea of the Supramental descent. The Christian conception supposes a state of things brought about by
\nreligious emotion and moral purification, but these
\nthings are no more capable of changing the world,
\nwhatever value they may have for the individual, than
\nmental idealism or any other power yet called upon
\nfor the purpose. The Christian proposes to substitute
\nthe sattwic religious ego for the rajasic and tamasic
\nego, but although this can be done as an individual
\nachievement, it has never succeeded and will never
\nsucceed in accomplishing itself in the mass. It has no
\nhigher spiritual or psychological knowledge behind it
\nand ignores the foundation of human character and the
\nsource of the difficulty\u2014the duality of mind, life and
\nbody. Unless there is a descent of a new Power of
\nConsciousness, not subject to the dualities but still
\ndynamic which will provide a new foundation and a <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 39<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlifting of the centre of consciousness above the mind,
\nthe Kingdom of God on earth can only be an ideal, not a fact realised in the general earth-consciousness
\nand earth-life. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n28-11-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 40<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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