{"id":3746,"date":"2013-07-13T01:50:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3746"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:50:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:57","slug":"12-yoga-force-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\/12-yoga-force-vol-01-first-series-1947","title":{"rendered":"-12_Yoga-Force.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\nYoga-Force <\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nALL the world, according to Science, is nothing
\nbut a play of Energy\u2014a material Energy it used
\nto be called, but it is now doubted whether Matter
\nscientifically speaking, exists except as a phenomenon
\nof Energy. All the world, according to Vedanta, is
\na play of a power of a spiritual entity, the power of an
\noriginal consciousness, whether it be Maya or Shakti,
\nand the result an illusion or real. In the world so far
\nas man is concerned we are aware only of mind energy,
\nlife energy, energy in matter; but it is supposed that
\nthere is a spiritual energy or force also behind them
\nfrom which they originate. All things, in either case,
\nare the results of a Shakti, energy or force. There is
\nno action without a Force or Energy doing the action
\nand bringing about its consequence. Further, anything
\nthat has no Force in it is either something dead or
\nsomething unreal or something inert and without
\nconsequence. If there is no such thing as spiritual
\nconsciousness, there can be no reality of Yoga, and if
\nthere is no Yoga-force, spiritual force. Yoga Shakti, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 387<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthen also there can be no effectivity in Yoga. A Yoga
\nconsciousness or spiritual consciousness which has
\nno power or force in it, may not be dead or unreal but
\nit is evidently something inert and without effect or
\nconsequence. Equally a man who sets out to be a Yogi
\nor Guru and has no spiritual consciousness or no power
\nin his spiritual consciousness\u2014a Yoga-force or
\nspiritual force\u2014is making a false claim and is either a
\ncharlatan or a self-deluded imbecile; still more is
\nhe so if having no spiritual force he claims to have
\nmade a path others can follow. If Yoga is a reality,
\nif spirituality is anything better than a delusion,
\nthere must be such a thing as Yoga-force or spiritual force. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is evident that if spiritual force exists, it must
\nbe able to produce spiritual results\u2014therefore there
\nis no irrationality in the claim of those sadhakas who
\nsay that they feel the force of the Guru or the force
\nof the Divine working in them leading towards
\nspiritual fulfilment and experience. Whether it is so
\nor not in a particular case is a personal question, but
\nthe statement cannot be denounced as per se<\/i> incredible
\nand manifestly false because such things cannot be.
\nFurther, if it be true that spiritual force is the original
\none and the others are derivative from it, then there
\nis no irrationality in supposing that spiritual force
\ncan produce mental results, vital results, physical
\nresults. It may act through mental, vital or physical
\nenergies and through the means which these energies
\nuse or it may act directly on mind, life or matter as the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 388<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfield of its own special and immediate action. Either
\nway is prima facie<\/i> possible. In a case of cure or illness someone is ill for two days, weak, suffering
\nfrom pains and fever; he takes no medicine, but finally
\nasks for cure from his Guru; the next morning he rises
\nwell, strong and energetic. He has at least some
\njustification for thinking that a force has been used
\non him and put into him and that it was a spiritual
\npower that acted. But in another case, medicines may
\nbe used, while at the same time the invisible force may
\nbe called for to aid the material means, for it is a known
\nfact that medicines may or may not succeed\u2014there
\nis no certitude. Here for the reason of an outside
\nobserver ( one who is neither the user of the force nor
\nthe doctor nor the patient) it remains uncertain
\nwhether the patient was cured by the medicines only
\nor by the spiritual force with the medicines as an instrument. 
\nEither is possible, and it cannot be said that
\nbecause medicines were used, therefore the working of
\nspiritual force is per se<\/i> incredible and demonstrably
\nfalse. On the other hand it is possible for the doctor
\nto have felt a force working in him and guiding him or
\nhe may see the patient improving with a rapidity which
\naccording to medical science, is incredible. The patient
\nmay feel the force working in himself bringing health,
\nenergy, rapid cure. The user of the force may watch
\nthe results, see the symptoms he works on diminishing,
\nthose he did not work upon increasing till he does work
\non them and then immediately diminishing, the doctor
\nworking according to his unspoken suggestions etc. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 389<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\netc., until the cure is done. (On the other hand he may
\nsee forces working against the cure and conclude that
\nthe spiritual force has to be contented with a withdrawal
\nor an imperfect success.) In all that the doctor, the
\npatient or the user of force is justified in believing
\nthat the cure is at least partly or even fundamentally
\ndue to the spiritual force. Their experience is valid
\nof course for themselves only, not for the outside
\nrationalising observer. But the latter is not logically
\nentitled to say that their experience is incredible
\nand must be false. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnother point, it does not follow that a spiritual
\nforce must either succeed in all cases or, if it does
\nnot, that proves its non-existence. Of no force can
\nthat be said. The force of fire is to bum, but there
\nare things it does not bum, under certain circumstances
\nit does not bum even the feet of the man who walks
\nbarefoot on red-hot coals. That does not prove that
\nfire cannot bum or that there is no such thing as force
\nof fire, Agni Shakti. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have no time to write more, it is not necessary
\neither. My object was not to show that spiritual force
\nmust be believed in, but that the belief in it is not
\nnecessarily a delusion and that this belief can be
\nrational as well as possible. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n7-12-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 390<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nYoga-Force<\/a> <\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE invisible Force producing tangible results
\nboth inward and outward is the whole meaning
\nof the Yogic consciousness. Your question about Yoga
\nbringing merely a feeling of Power without any result
\nwas really very strange. Who would be satisfied with
\nsuch a meaningless hallucination and call it Power?
\nIf we had not had thousands of experiences showing
\nthat the Power within could alter the mind, develop its
\npowers, add new ones, bring in new ranges of know-
\nledge, master the vital movements, change the character, 
\ninfluence men and things, control the conditions
\nand functionings of the body, work as a concrete
\ndynamic Force on other forces, modify events etc. etc.,
\nwe would not speak of it as we do. Moreover, it is not
\nonly in its results but in its movements that the Force
\nis tangible and concrete. When I speak of feeling
\nForce or Power, I do not mean simply having a vague
\nsense of it, but feeling it concretely and consequently
\nbeing able to direct it, manipulate it, watch its movement, 
\nbe conscious of its mass and intensity and in <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 391<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe same way of that of other perhaps opposing forces; all these things are possible and usual by
\nthe development 
\nof Yoga. It is not, unless it is Supramental Force, a Power
\nthat acts without conditions and limits. The conditions
\nand limits under which Yoga or sadhana has to be
\nworked out are not arbitrary or capricious; they arise
\nfrom the nature of things. These\u2014including the will,
\nreceptivity, assent, self-opening and surrender of the
\nsadhaka have to be respected by the Yoga-force\u2014unless
\nit receives a sanction from the Supreme to override
\neverything and get something done, but that sanction
\nis sparingly given. It is only if the Supramental Power
\ncame fully down, not merely sent its influences through
\nthe Overmind that things could be very radically
\ndirected towards that object\u2014for then the sanction
\nwould not be rare! For the Law of the Truth would be
\nat work not constantly balanced by the law of the
\nIgnorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nStill the Yoga-force is always tangible and concrete
\nin the way I have described and has tangible results.
\nBut it is invisible\u2014not like a blow given or the rush
\nof a motor car knocking somebody down which the
\nphysical senses can at once perceive. How is the mere
\nphysical mind to know that it is there and working?
\nBy its results? but how can it know that the results
\nwere that of the Yogic force and not of something else?
\nOne of two things it must be. Either it must allow the
\nconsciousness to go inside, to become aware of inner
\nthings, to believe in the experience of the invisible and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 392<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe supraphysical, and then by experience, by the
\nopening of new capacities, it becomes conscious of these
\nforces and can see, follow and use their workings just as
\nthe Scientist uses the unseen forces of Nature. Or one
\nmust have faith and watch and open oneself and then it
\nwill begin to see how things happen, it will notice that
\nwhen the Force was called in, there began after a time
\nto be a result, then repetitions, more repetitions, more
\nclear and tangible results, increasing frequency, increasing 
\nconsistency of results, a feeling and awareness
\nof the Force at work\u2014until the experience becomes
\ndaily, regular, normal, complete. These are the two
\nmain methods, one internal, working from in outward,
\nthe other external, working from outside and calling
\nthe inner force out till it penetrates and is visible in the
\nexterior consciousness. But neither can be done if one
\ninsists always on the extrovert attitude, the external
\nconcrete only and refuses to join to it the internal
\nconcrete\u2014 or if the physical mind at every step raises
\na dance of doubts which refuses to allow the nascent
\nexperience to develop. Even the Scientist carrying on
\na new experiment would never succeed if he allowed
\nhis mind to behave in that way. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2-8-1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 393<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSupernatural Phenomena<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHESE extraordinary occurrences which go
\noutside
\nthe ordinary course of physical Nature,
\nhappen frequently in India and are not unknown elsewhere; 
\nthey are akin to what is called poltergeist
\nphenomena in Europe. Scientists do not speak or think
\nabout such supernormal happenings except to pooh-pooh 
\nthem or to prove that they are simply the tricks
\nof children simulating supernatural manifestations. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nScientific laws only give a schematic account of
\nmaterial process of Nature\u2014as a valid scheme they can
\nbe used for reproducing or extending at will a material
\nprocess, but obviously they cannot give an account of
\nthe thing itself. Water for instance is not merely so
\nmuch oxygen and hydrogen put together\u2014the combination 
\nis simply a process or device for enabling the
\nmaterialisation of a new thing called water; what that
\nnew thing really is is quite another matter. In fact there
\nare different planes of substance, gross, subtle and more
\nsubtle going back to what is called causal (Karana)
\nsubstance. What is more gross can be reduced to the
\nsubtle state and the subtle brought into the gross state; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 394<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthat accounts for dematerialisation and rematerialisation. 
\nThese are occult processes and are vulgarly
\nregarded as magic. Ordinarily the magician knows
\nnothing of the why and wherefore of what he is doing,
\nhe has simply learned the formula or process or else
\ncontrols elemental beings of the subtler states (planes
\nor worlds) who do the thing for him. The Tibetans
\nindulge widely in occult processes; if you see the books
\nof Madame David Neel who has lived in Tibet you will
\nget an idea of their expertness in these things. But
\nalso the Tibetan Lamas know something of the laws of
\noccult (mental and vital) energy and how it can be
\nmade to act on physical things. That is something
\nwhich goes beyond mere magic. The direct power of
\nmind-force or life-force upon matter can be extended
\nto an almost illimitable degree. It must be remembered
\nthat Energy is fundamentally one in all the planes,
\nonly taking more and more dance forms, so there is
\nnothing a priori<\/i> impossible in mind-energy or life-energy 
\nacting directly on material energy and substance; if they do they can make a material object do things
\nor rather can do things with a material object which
\nwould be to that object in its ordinary poise or "law"
\nunhabitual and therefore apparently impossible.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nI do not see how cosmic rays can explain the
\norigination of matter; it is like Sir Oliver Lodge’s
\nexplanation of life on earth that it comes from another
\nplanet; it only pushes the problem one step farther
\nback\u2014for how do the cosmic rays come into existence ?
\nBut it is a fact that Agni is the basis of forms as the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 395<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSankhya pointed out long ago, i.e. the fiery principle in
\nthe three powers radiant, electric and gaseous (the
\nVedic trinity of Agni) is the agent in producing liquid
\nand solid forms of what is called matter. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nObviously a layman cannot do these things, unless he
\nhas a native "psychic" (that is, occult) faculty and even then he will have to learn the law of the thing before he can use it at will. It is always possible to use spiritual
\nforce or mind-power or will-power or a certain kind of
\nvital energy to produce effects in men, things and
\nhappenings; but knowledge and much practice is needed before this possibility ceases to be occasional
\nand haphazard and can be used quite consciously, at
\nwill or to perfection. Even then to have "a control
\nover the whole material world" is too big a proposition, a local and partial control is more possible or, more widely, certain kinds of control over matter. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n24-10-1938 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 396<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSpiritism<\/a> <\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nABOUT spiritism, I think, I can say this much for the present. It is quite possible for the
\ndead or rather the departed\u2014for they are not dead
\n\u2014who are still in regions near the earth to have
\ncommunication with the living; sometimes it happens
\nautomatically, sometimes by an effort at communication 
\non one side of the curtain or the other. There
\nis no impossibility of such communication by the
\nmeans used by the spiritists; usually however, genuine
\ncommunications or a contact can only be with those
\nwho are yet in a world which is a sort of idealised
\nreplica of the earth-consciousness and in which the
\nsame personality, ideas, memories persist that the
\nperson had here. But all that pretends to be communications 
\nwith departed souls is not genuine, especially
\nwhen it is done through a paid professional medium.
\nThere is there an enormous amount of mixture
\nof a very undesirable kind\u2014for apart from the great
\nmass of unconscious suggestions from the sitters or
\nthe contributions of the medium’s subliminal consciousness 
\none gets into contact with a world of<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 397<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbeings which is of a very deceptive or self-deceptive
\nillusory nature. Many of these come and claim to
\nbe the departed souls of relatives, acquaintances,
\nwell-known men, famous personalities, etc. There are
\nalso beings who pick up the discarded feelings and
\nmemories of the dead and masquerade with them.
\nThere are a great number of beings who come to
\nsuch seances only to play with the consciousness of
\nmen or exercise their powers through this contact
\nwith the earth and who dope the mediums and sitters
\nwith their falsehoods, tricks and illusions. (I am
\nsupposing, of course, the case of mediums who are
\nnot themselves tricksters.) A contact with such a
\nplane of spirits can be harmful (most mediums
\nbecome nervously or morally unbalanced) and spiritually  dangerous. Of course all pretended communications  with the famous dead of long-past times
\nare in their very nature deceptive and most of those
\nwith the recent ones also\u2014that is evident from the character of these
\ncommunications. Through conscientious  mediums one may get sound results (in
\nthe matter of the dead) but even these are very ignorant  of the nature of the forces they are handling
\nand have no discrimination which can guard them
\nagainst trickery from the other side of the veil. Very
\nlittle genuine knowledge of the nature of the after-life
\ncan be gathered from these seances; a true knowledge
\nis more often gained by the experience of individuals
\nwho make serious contact or are able in one way
\nor another to cross the border. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page – 198<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Revolution in Science<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE defect in what X writes about Science seems to be that he is insisting vehemently on the idea that Science is still materialistic or at least that
\nscientists, Jeans and Eddington excepted, are still
\nfundamentally materialists. This is not the fact.
\nMost continental scientists have now renounced the
\nidea that Science can explain the fundamentals of
\nexistence. They hold that Science is only concerned
\nwith process and not with fundamentals. They
\ndeclare that it is not the business of Science nor is it
\nwithin its means to decide anything about the great
\nquestions which concern philosophy and religion. This is the enormous change
\nwhich the latest developments  of Science have brought about. Science itself
\nnowadays is neither materialistic nor idealistic. The
\nrock on which materialism was built and which in
\nthe i9th Century seemed unshakeable has now been
\nshattered. Materialism has now become a philosophical  speculation just like any other theory, it cannot
\nclaim to found itself on a sort of infallible Biblical
\nauthority, based on the facts and conclusions of <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 399<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nScience. This change can be felt by one like myself
\nwho grew up in the hey-day of absolute rule of scientific  materialism in the
\n19th Century. The way which
\nhad been almost entirely barred except by rebellion.
\nnow lies wide open to spiritual truths, spiritual ideas,
\nspiritual experiences. That is the real revolution. Mentalism is only a half-way house but mentalism
\nand vitalism are now perfectly possible as hypotheses based on the facts of
\nexistence, scientific facts as well
\nas any others. The facts of Science do not compel
\nany one to take any particular philosophical direction.
\nThey are now neutral and can even be used on one
\nside or another though most scientists do not consider
\nsuch a use as admissible. Nobody here ever said
\nthat the new discoveries of Physics supported the
\nideas of religion or churches; they merely contended
\nthat Science had lost its old materialistic dogmatism
\nand moved away by a revolutionary change from its
\nold moorings. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is this change which I expected and prophesied
\nin my poems in the first Ahana<\/i> volume, "A Vision
\n<\/b>of <\/b>Science" and "In the Moonlight". <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 400<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nComments on Sir Tames Teans’s
\nSpeculations about Life on Earth<\/a><\/i>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nHOW does Sir James Jeans or any other scientist know that it was. by a "mere accident" that
\nlife came into existence or that there is no life anywhere  else in the universe or that life elsewhere must
\neither be exactly the same as life here under the same conditions or not
\nexistent at all? These are mere mental
\nspeculations without any conclusiveness in them..
\nLife can be an accident only if the whole world also is
\nan accident\u2014a thing created by Chance and governed
\nby Chance. It is not worthwhile to waste time on this
\nkind of speculation, for it. is only the bubble of a moment. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe material universe is only the facade of an
\nimmense building which has other structures behind
\nit and it is only if one knows the whole that one can
\nhave some knowledge of the truth of the material
\nuniverse. There are vital, mental and spiritual ranges
\nbehind which give the material its significance. If
\nthe earth is the only field of the spiritual evolution
\nin matter\u2014(assuming that)\u2014then it must be as part <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 401<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof the total design. The idea that all the rest must
\nbe a waste is a human idea which would not trouble
\nthe vast Cosmic Spirit\u2014whose consciousness and
\nlife are everywhere, in the slime and dust as much as
\nin the human intelligence. But this is a speculative
\nquestion which is quite alien to our practical purpose.  For us it is the development of the spiritual
\nconsciousness in the human body that matters. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn this development there are stages\u2014the whole
\ntruth cannot be known till all are passed and the
\nfinal stage is there. The stage in which you are is
\none in which the self is beginning to be realised, the
\nself free from all embodiment and not depending on embodiment for its perpetual
\nexistence. It is therefore  natural that you should feel the embodiment to
\nbe something quite subordinate and like’ the earth-life  of Jeans almost accidental. It is because of this
\nstage that the Mayavadins, taking it for final, thought
\nthe world to be an illusion. But this is only a stage
\nof the journey. Beyond this Self which is static,
\nseparate, formless, there is a greater consciousness
\nin which the Silence and the Cosmic Activity are
\nunited but in another knowledge than the walled-in
\nignorance of the embodied human being. This Self
\nis only one aspect of the Divine Reality. It is when
\none gets to that greater Consciousness that cosmic
\nexistence and form and life and mind no longer appear
\nto be an accident but find their significance. Even there are two stages, the
\novermental and the Supramental  and it is not till one gets to the last that the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 402<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfull truth of existence can become entirely real to
\nthe consciousness. Observe what you experience
\nand know that it has its value and is indispensable
\nas a stage, but do not take the experience as the final knowledge.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n 28-8-I936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 403<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIntellect<\/a>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nALL depends on the meaning you attach to words used; it is a matter of nomenclature. Ordinarily
\none says a man has intellect if he can think well; the
\nnature and process and field of the thought do
\nnot matter. If you take intellect in that sense, then
\nyou can say that intellect has different strata and Ford
\nbelongs to one stratum of intellect, Einstein to another \u2014Ford has a practical
\nand executive business intellect,
\nEinstein a scientific discovering and theorising intellect,
\nBut Ford too in his own field theorises, invents, discovers.  Yet would you call Ford an intellectual or a
\nman of intellect? I would prefer to use for the general.
\nfaculty of mind the word intelligence. Ford has a
\ngreat and forceful practical intelligence, keen, quick,
\nsuccessful, dynamic. He has a brain that can deal with
\nthoughts also, but even there his drive is towards
\npracticality. He believes in rebirth (metempsychosis),
\nfor instance, not for any philosophic reason, but because
\nit explains life as a school of experience in which one
\ngathers more and more experience and develops by it.
\nEinstein has on the other hand a great discovering <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 404<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nscientific intellect, not, like Marconi, a powerful practical  inventive intelligence for the application of scientific  discovery. All men have of course an "intellect"
\nof a kind; all, for instance, can discuss and debate
\n(for which you say rightly intellect is needed); but it
\nis only when one rises to the realm of ideas and moves freely in it that you say "This man has an intellect".
\nAddress an assembly of peasants, you will find if
\n<\/b>you <\/b>give them scope that they can put to you points and
\nquestions which may often leave the parliamentary
\ndebater panting. But we are content to say that these
\npeasants have much practical intelligence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe power to discuss and debate is, as I say, a
\ncommon human faculty\u2014and habit. Perhaps it is here
\nthat man begins to diverge from the animal; for animals
\nhave much intelligence, many animals and even
\ninsects have some rudimentary power of practical
\nreasoning, but so far as we know, they do not meet
\nand put their ideas about things side by side or sling
\nthem at each other in a debate* as even the most
\nignorant human can do and very animatedly does. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut this, though a general faculty of the race, is
\nvery often specialised, so much so that a man whom
\nit is dangerous to cross in debate in the field of
\nliterature or of science or of philosophy may yet
\nmake a fool of himself and wallow contentedly
\nin a quagmire of blunders and fallacies if he discusses
\npolitics or economics or, let us say, spirituality <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n* Perhaps the crows do in the Crow-Parliament sometimes!
\n<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 405<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nor Yoga. His only salvation is the blissful depth
\nof his ignorance which prevents him from seeing what
\na mess he has made. Again a man may be a keen legal or political debater, the
\ntwo very commonly go together,  yet no intellectual. I admit that a man must
\nhave some logical intellect to debate well. But, after
\nall, the object of debate is to win, to make your point
\nand you may do that even if your point is false; success,
\nnot truth, is the aim of debate. So I admit what you
\nsay with reservations. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI agree also that labels, even when applied to less
\ndeveloped persons, are unsatisfactory. What we really
\ndo is to pick out something prominent and label
\nwith that as if it were all the person. But classification
\nis impossible without that and man’s intellect is driven
\nalways to classify, fix distinctions, set apart with a label.
\nThe philosophers have pointed out that Science does
\nit too rigidly and in doing so cuts falsely across the
\ntruth of Nature. But if we do not do that we cannot
\nhave any Science. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n23-6-1939 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 406<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBeauty<\/a> <\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBEAUTY is not the same as Delight, but like love it is an expression, a form of Ananda created
\nby Ananda, and composed of Ananda; it conveys  to the mind that delight of which it is made.
\nAesthetically the delight takes the appearance of Rosa
\n<\/i>and the enjoyment of this Rasa<\/i> is the mind’s and the
\nvital’s reaction to the perception of beauty. The
\nspiritual realisation has a sight, a perception, a feeling
\nwhich is not that of the mind and vital, it passes
\nbeyond the aesthetic limit, sees the universal beauty,
\nsees behind the object what the eye cannot see, feels
\nwhat the emotion of the heart cannot feel and passes
\nbeyond Rasa<\/i> and Bhoga<\/i> to pure Ananda,\u2014a thing
\nmore deep, intense, rapturous than any mental or
\nvital or any physical Rasa,<\/i> reaction can be. It sees
\nthe One everywhere, the Divine everywhere, the
\nBeloved everywhere, the original bliss of existence
\neverywhere and all these can create an inexpressible
\nAnanda of beauty, the beauty of the One, the beauty
\nof the Divine, the beauty of the Beloved, the beauty
\nof the eternal Existence in things. It can see also the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 407<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbeauty of forms and objects, but with a seeing other
\nthan the mind’s, other than that of a limited physical
\nvision,\u2014what was not beautiful to the eye becomes
\nbeautiful, what was beautiful to the eye wears now
\na greater marvellous and ineffable beauty. The spiritual  realisation can bring the vision and the rapture
\nof the All-Beautiful everywhere. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n26-10-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 408<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nArt for Art’s Sake<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nART for Art’s sake? But what after all is meant
\nby this slogan and what is the real issue behind
\nit? Is it meant, as I think it was when the slogan first
\ncame into use, that the technique, the artistry is all
\nin all? The contention would then be that it does not
\nmatter what you write or paint or sculpt or what
\nmusic you make or about what you make it so long
\nas it is beautiful writing, competent painting, good
\nsculpture, fine music. It is very evidently true in a
\ncertain sense,\u2014in this sense that whatever is perfectly
\nexpressed or represented or interpreted under the
\nconditions of a given art proves itself by that very
\nfact to be legitimate material for the artist’s labour.
\nBut that free admission cannot be confined only to all
\nobjects, however common or deemed to be vulgar\u2014
\nan apple, a kitchen pail, a donkey, a dish of carrots,
\n\u2014it can give a right of citizenship in the domain of
\nart to a moral theme or thesis, a philosophic conclusion,  a social experiment; even the Five Years’ Plan
\nor the proceedings of a District Board or the success
\nof a drainage scheme, an electric factory or a big <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 409<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhotel can be brought after the most modern or the
\nstill more robustious Bolshevik mode into the artist’s
\nprovince. For, technique being all, the sole question
\nwould be whether he as poet, novelist, dramatist,
\npainter or sculptor has been able to triumph over the
\ndifficulties and bring out creatively the possibilities
\nof his subject. There is no logical basis here for accepting an apple and
\nrejecting the (Shavian) Applecart.  But still you may say that at least the object of
\nthe artist must be art only,\u2014even if he treats ethical,
\nsocial or political questions, he must not make it his
\nmain object to wing with the enthusiasm of aesthetic
\ncreation a moral, social or political aim. But if in
\ndoing it he satisfies the conditions of his art, shows a. perfect technique and
\nin it beauty, power, perfection,
\nwhy not? The moralist, preacher, philosopher, social
\nor political enthusiast is often doubled with an artist
\n\u2014as shining proofs and examples there are Plato and
\nShelley, to go no farther. Only, you can say of him
\non the basis of this theory that as a work of art his creation should be judged
\nby its success of craftsmanship  and not by its contents; it is not made greater
\nby the value of his ethical ideas, his enthusiasms or
\nhis metaphysical seekings. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut then the theory itself is true only up to a certain
\npoint. The technique is only a means of expression,
\none does not write merely to use beautiful words or
\npaint for the sole sake of line and colour; there is
\nsomething that one is trying through these means to
\nexpress or to discover. What is that something? The <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 410<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfirst answer would be\u2014it is the creation, it is the
\ndiscovery of Beauty. Art is for that alone and can
\nbe judged only by its revelation or discovery of Beauty.
\nWhatever is capable of being manifested as Beauty
\nis the material of the artist. But there is not only"
\nphysical beauty in the world\u2014there is moral, intellectual,  spiritual beauty also. Still one might say
\nthat Art for Art’s sake means that only what is aesthetically  beautiful must be expressed and all that
\ncontradicts the aesthetic sense of beauty must be
\navoided. Art has nothing to do with Life in itself,
\nthings in themselves. Good, Truth or the Divine for
\ntheir own sake, but only in so far as they appeal to
\nsome aesthetic sense of beauty. And that would seem
\nto be a sound basis for excluding the Five Years’
\nPlan, a moral sermon or a philosophical treatise.
\nBut here again, what after all is Beauty? How much is
\nit in the thing itself and how much in the consciousness that perceives it? Is
\nnot the eye of the artist constantly  catching some element of aesthetic value in
\nthe plain, the ugly, the sordid, the repellent and
\ntriumphantly conveying it through his material,\u2014
\nthrough the word, through line and colour, through the sculptured shape? <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is a certain state of Yogic consciousness
\nin which all things become beautiful to the eye of
\nthe seer simply because they spiritually are\u2014because
\nthey are a rendering in line and form and quality
\nand force of existence, of consciousness, of the
\nAnanda that rules the worlds,\u2014of the hidden Divine.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 411<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nWhat a thing is to the exterior sense may not be, often is not beautiful for the ordinary aesthetic vision, but the Yogin sees in it the something More which the external eye does not see, he sees the soul behind, the self and spirit, he sees too lines,
\nhues, harmonies and expressive dispositions which are not to the first surface sight visible or seizable. It
\nmay be said that he brings into the object something  that is in himself, transmutes it by adding
\nout of his own being to it\u2014as the artist too does
\nsomething of the same kind but in another way. It is not quite that however; what the Yogin sees,
\nwhat the artist sees, is there, his is a transmuting vision because it is a revealing vision. He discovers behind what the object appears to be, the something
\nMore that it is. And so from this point of view of a realised supreme harmony
\nall is or can be subject-matter  for the artist because in all he can discover and reveal the Beauty that is everywhere. Again we
\nland ourselves in a devastating catholicity; for here
\ntoo one cannot pull up short at any given line. It
\nmay be a hard saying that one must or may discover and reveal beauty in a pig or its poke or in a parish
\npump or an advertisement of somebody’s pills, and
\nyet something like that seems to be what modern
\nArt and literature are trying with vigour and a conscientious  labour to do. By extension one ought to
\nbe able to extract beauty equally well out of morality
\nor social reform or a political caucus or allow at
\nleast that all these things can, if he wills, become <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 412<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlegitimate subjects for the artist. Here too one cannot
\nsay that it is on condition he thinks of beauty only
\nand does not make moralising or social reform or a political idea his main
\nobject. For if with that idea foremost in his mind he still produces a great work of art, discovering Beauty as he moves to his
\naim, proving himself in spite of his unaesthetic
\npreoccupations a great artist, it is all we can justly
\nask from him, whatever his starting-point, to be a
\ncreator of Beauty. Art is discovery and revelation of
\nBeauty and we can say nothing more by way of prohibitive <\/b> or limiting rule. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut there is one thing more that can be said and
\nthat makes a big difference. In the Yogin’s vision
\nof universal beauty, all becomes beautiful, but all
\nis not reduced to a single level. There are gradations,
\nthere is a hierarchy in this All-Beauty and we see
\nthat it depends on the ascending power (vibhuti)
\nof consciousness and Ananda that expresses itself in
\nthe object. All is the Divine, but some things are
\nmore divine than others. In the artist’s vision too
\nthere are or can be gradations, a hierarchy of values.
\nShakespeare can get dramatic and therefore aesthetic
\nvalues out of Dogberry and Malvolio and he is as
\nthorough a creative artist in his treatment of them
\nas in his handling of Macbeth or Lear. But if we
\nhad only Dogberry or Malvolio to testify to Shakespeare’s  genius, no Macbeth, no Lear, would he be
\nso great a dramatic artist and creator as he now is?
\nIt is in the varying possibilities of one subject or <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 413<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nanother that there lies an immense difference.
\nApelles’ grapes deceived the birds that came to peck
\nat them, but there was more aesthetic content in
\nthe Zeus of Phidias, a greater content of conscious-
\nness and therefore of Ananda to express and to fill in
\nwith it the essential principle of Beauty, even though
\nthe essence of beauty may be realised perhaps with
\nequal aesthetic perfection by either artist and in
\neither theme. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAnd that is because just as technique is not all,
\nso even Beauty is not all in Art. Art is not only technique  or form of Beauty, not only the discovery or
\nthe expression of Beauty\u2014it is a self-expression of
\nConsciousness under the conditions of aesthetic
\nvision and a perfect execution. Or, to put it otherwise,
\nthere are not only aesthetic values, but life values,
\nmind values, soul values that enter into Art. The artist puts out into form not only the powers of
\nhis own consciousness, but the powers of the Consciousness  that has made the worlds and their objects.
\nAnd if that Consciousness according to the Vedantic
\nview is fundamentally equal everywhere, it is still
\nin manifestation not an equal power in all things.
\nThere is more of the Divine expression in the Vibhuti
\nthan in the common man, prakrito janah;<\/i> in some forms of life there are
\nless potentialities for the self-expression  of the Spirit than in others. And there
\nare also gradations of consciousness which make a
\ndifference if not in the aesthetic value or greatness
\nof a work of art, yet in its contents-value. Homer <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 414<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmakes beauty out of man’s outward life and action
\nand stops there. Shakespeare rises one step and,
\nreveals to us a life-soul and life-forces and life-values
\nto which Homer had no access. In Valmiki and Vyas
\nthere is the constant presence of great Idea-Forces
\nand Ideals supporting life and its movements which
\nwere beyond the scope of Homer and Shakespeare.
\nAnd beyond the Ideals and Idea-Forces even there
\nare other presences, more inner or inmost realities,
\na soul behind things and beings, the spirit and its
\npowers, which could be the subject-matter of an.
\nart still more rich and deep and abundant in its
\ninterest than any of these could be. A poet finding
\nthese and giving them a voice with a genius equal
\nto that of the poets of the past might not be greater
\nthan they in a purely aesthetic valuation, but his
\nart’s contents-value, its consciousness-values could
\nbe deeper and higher and much fuller than in any
\nachievement before him. There is something here
\nthat goes beyond any consideration of Art for Art’s
\nsake or Art for Beauty’s sake; for while these stress
\nusefully sometimes the indispensable first elements
\nof artistic creation, they would limit too much the
\ncreation itself if they stood for the exclusion of the
\nsomething More that compels Art to change, always
\nin its constant seeking for more and more that must
\nbe expressed of the concealed or the revealed Divine,
\nof the individual and the universal or the transcendent
\nSpirit. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf we take these three elements as making the whole <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 415<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof Art, perfection of expressive form, discovery
\nof beauty, revelation of the soul and essence of things
\nand the powers of creative consciousness and Ananda
\nof which they are the vehicles, then we shall get
\nperhaps a solution which includes the two sides of
\nthe controversy and reconciles their difference. Art
\nfor Art’s sake certainly. Art as a perfect form and
\ndiscovery of Beauty; but also Art for the soul’s sake,
\nthe spirit’s sake and the expression of all that the
\nsoul, the spirit wants to seize through the medium
\nof beauty. In that self-expression there are grades
\nand hierarchies, widenings and steps that lead to
\nthe summits. And not only to enlarge Art towards
\nthe widest wideness but to ascend with it to the
\nheights climbing towards the Highest is and
\nmust be part both of our aesthetic and our spiritual
\nendeavour. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 416<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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