{"id":3748,"date":"2013-07-13T01:50:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3748"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:50:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:50:58","slug":"06-consciousness-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\/06-consciousness-vol-01-first-series-1947","title":{"rendered":"-06_Consciousness.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nParts of Total Consciousness<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/div>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nCONSCIOUSNESS is not, to my experience, a
\nphenomenon dependent on the reactions of
\npersonality to the forces of Nature and amounting to no
\nmore than a seeing or interpretation of these reactions.
\nIf that were so, then when the personality becomes
\nsilent and immoblie and gives no reactions, as there
\nwould be no seeing or interpretative action, there would
\ntherefore be no consciousness. That contradicts some of
\nthe fundamental experiences of Yoga, e.g., a silent and
\nimmoblie consciousness infinitely spread out, not
\ndependent on the personality but impersonal and universal,
\nnot seeing and interpreting contacts but motionlessly
\nself-aware, not dependent on the reactions, but
\npersistent in itself even when no reactions take place.
\nThe subjective personality itself is only a formation of
\nconsciousness which is a power inherent, not in the
\nactivity of the temporary manifested personality, but
\nin the being, the Self or Purusha. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nConsciousness is a reality inherent in
\nexistence. It is there even when it is not active on the surface, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 105<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbut silent and immobile, it is there even when it is.
\ninvisible on the surface, not reacting on outward things
\nor sensible to them, but withdrawn and either active or,
\ninactive within; it is there even when it seems to us
\nto be quite absent and the being to our view unconscious
\nand inanimate. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nConsciousness is not only power of awareness of
\nself and things, it is or has also a dynamic and creative
\nenergy. It can determine its own reactions or abstain
\nfrom reactions; it can not only answer to forces, but
\ncreate or put out from itself forces. Consciousness
\nis Chit but also Chit Shakti. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nConsciousness is usually identified with mind, but
\nmental consciousness is only the human range which
\nno more exhausts all the possible ranges of consciousness
\nthan human sight exhausts all the gradations of
\ncolour or human hearing all the gradations of sound
\n\u2014for there is much above or below that is to man in-
\nvisible and inaudiable. So there are ranges of consciousness
\nabove and below the human range, with which
\nthe normal human has no contact and they seem to it
\nunconscious,\u2014supramental or overmental and submental
\nranges. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen Yajnavalkya says there is no consciousness in
\nthe Brahman state, he is speaking of consciousness as
\nthe human being knows it. The Brahman state is that
\nof a supreme existence supremely aware of itself,
\nswayamprakasha,\u2014<\/i>it is Sachchidananda, Existence-
\nConsciousness-Bliss. Even if it be spoken of as beyond
\nthat, paratparam,<\/i> it does not mean that it is a state <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 106<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof Non-existence or Non-consciousness, but beyond
\neven the highest spiritual substratum (the "foundation
\nabove" in the luminous paradox of the Rig Veda) of
\ncosmic existence and consciousness. As it is evident
\nfrom the description of Chinese Tao and the Buddhist
\nShunya that that is a Nothingness in which all is, so
\nwith the negation of consciousness here. Superconscient
\nand subconscient are only relative terms; as we rise into the superconscient we see that it is a
\nconsciousness greater than the highest we yet have and
\ntherefore in our normal state inaccessible to us and,
\nif we can go down into the subconscient, we find there
\na consciousness other than our own at its lowest mental
\nlimit and therefore ordinarily inaccessible to us. The
\nInconscient itself is only an involved state of consciousness
\nwhich like the Tao or Shunya, though in a
\ndifferent way, contains all things suppressed within it
\nso that under a pressure from above or within all
\ncan evolve out of it\u2014"an inert Soul with a somnambulist
\nForce." <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe gradations of consciousness are universal states
\nnot dependent on the outlook of the subjective
\npersonality; rather the outlook of the subjective
\npersonality is determined by the grade of consciousness
\nin which it is organised according to its typical
\nnature or or its evolutionary stage. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt will be evident that by consciousness is meant
\nsomething which is essentially the same throughout
\nbut variable in status, condition and operation, in
\nwhich in some grades or conditions the activities we call <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 107<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nconsciousness can exist either in a suppresssed or an
\nunorganised or a differently organised state, while in
\n-other states some other activities may manifest which,
\nin us are suppressed, unorganised or latent or else
\nare less perfectly manifested, less intensive, extended
\nand powerful than in those higher grades above our
\nhighest mental limit. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n13-10-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 108<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nCONSCIOUSNESS has no need of a clear individual
\n"I" to dispose variously the centralising
\nstress,\u2014wherever the stress is put the "I" attaches
\nitself to that, so that one thinks of oneself as a mental
\nbeing or physical being or whatever it may be. The
\nconsciousness in me can dispose its stress in this way
\nor the other way\u2014it may go down into the physical
\nand work there in the physical nature keeping all the
\nrest behind or above for the time or it may go up into
\nthe overhead level and stand above mind, life and body
\nseeing them as instrumental lower forms of itself or
\nnot seeing them at all and merged in the free undifferentiated
\nSelf or it may throw itself into an
\nactive dynamic cosmic consciousness and identify with
\nthat or do any number of other things without resorting
\nto the help of this much overrated and meddlesome fly
\non the wheel which you call the clear individual "I".
\nThe real "I"\u2014if you want to use that word\u2014 is not
\n"clear individual," that is, a clear-cut limited separative
\nego, it is as wide as the universe and wider and can <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 109<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ncontain the universe in itself, but that is not the
\nAhankar, it is the Atman. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nConsciousness is a fundamental thing, the fundamental
\nthing in existence\u2014it is the energy, the motion,
\nthe movement of consciousness that creates the uni-
\nverse and all that is in it\u2014not only the macrocosm but
\nthe microcosm is nothing but consciousness arranging
\nitself. For instance, when consciousness in its movement
\nor rather a certain stress of movement forgets
\nitself in the action it becomes an apparently "unconscious"
\nenergy; when it forgets itself in the form
\nit becomes the electron, the atom, the material object.
\nIn reality it is still consciousness that works in the
\nenergy and determines the form and the evolution of
\nform. When it wants to liberate itself, slowly, evolutionarily,
\nout of matter, but still in the form, it emerges
\nas life, as animal, as man and it can go on evolving
\nitself still farther out of its involution and become
\nsomething more than mere man. If you can grasp
\nthat, then it ought not to be difficult to see further
\nthat it can subjectively formulate itself as a physical,
\na vital, a mental, a psychic consciousness\u2014all these are
\npresent in man, but as they are all mixed up together
\nin the external consciousness with their real status
\nbehind in the inner being, one can only become fully
\naware of them by releasing the original limiting stress
\nof the consciousness which makes us live in our external
\nbeing and become awake and centred within in the
\ninner being. As the consciousness in us, by its external
\n.concentration or stress, has to put all these things<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 110
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbehind\u2014behind a wall or veil, it has to break down
\nthe wall or veil and get back in its stress into these
\ninner parts of existence\u2014that is what we call living
\nwithin; then our external being seems to us something
\nsmall and superficial, we are or can become aware of
\nthe large and rich and inexhaustible kindgom within.
\nSo also consciousness in us has drawn a lid or covering
\nor whatever one likes to call it between the lower
\nplanes of mind, life, body supported by the psychic
\nand the higher plane which contain the spiritual
\nkingdoms where the self is always free and limitless,
\nand it can break or open the lid or covering and ascend
\nthere and become the Self free and wide and luminous
\nor else bring down the influence, reflection, finally
\neven the presence and power of the higher consciousness
\ninto the lower nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nNow that is what consciousness is\u2014it is not composed
\nof parts, it is fundamental to being and itself
\nformulates any parts it chooses to manifest\u2014developing
\nthem from above downward by a progressive
\ncoming down from spiritual levels towards involution
\nin matter or formulating them in an upward working
\nin the front by what we call evolution. If it chooses
\nto work in you through the sense of ego, you think
\nthat it is the clear-cut individual "I" that does everything
\n\u2014if it begins to release itself from that limited
\nworking, you begin to expand your sense of "I" till
\nit bursts into infinity and no longer exists or you shed
\nit and flower into spiritual wideness. Of course, this
\nis not what is spoken of in modem materialistic thought <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 111<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nas consciousness, because that thought is governed
\nby science and sees consciousness only as a phenomenon
\nthat emerges out of inconscient Matter and
\nconsists of certain reactions of the system to outward
\nthings. But that is a phenomenon of consciousness,
\nit is not consciousness itself, it is even only a very
\nsmall part of the possible phenomenon of consciousness
\nand can give no clue to Consciousness the Reality
\nwhich is of the very essence of existence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThat is all at present. You will have to fix yourself
\nin that\u2014for it is fundamental\u2014before it can be useful
\nto go any farther. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n18-7-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 112<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\nSupracosmic Reality, Supermind and
\nOvermind, Cosmic Consciousness
\nand Nirvana <\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nI MEAN by the supracosmic Reality the supreme
\nSachchidananda who is above this and all
\nmanifestation, not bound by any, yet from whom all
\nmanifestation proceeds and all universe. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2. The supramental and the supracosmic are not the
\nsame. If it were so there could be no Supramental world 
\nand no descent of the Supramental principle
\ninto the material world\u2014we would be brought back
\nto the idea that the divine Truth and Reality can only
\nexist beyond and the universe\u2014any universe\u2014can
\nonly be half truth or an illusion of ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3. I mean by the Supramental the Truth Consciousness 
\nwhether above or in the universe by which
\nthe Divine knows not only his own essence and being
\nbut his manifestation also. Its fundamental character
\nis knowledge by identity, by that the Self is known,
\nthe Divine Sachchidananda is known, but also the
\ntruth of manifestation is known because this too is <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 113<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThat\u2014sarvam khalvidam brahma, vasudevah sarvam,
\n<\/i>etc. Mind is an instrument of the Ignorance trying
\nto know\u2014Supermind is the Knower possessing knowledge,
\nbecause one with it and the known, therefore
\nseeing all things in the light of His own Truth, the
\nlight of their true self which is He. It is a dynamic
\nand not only a static Power, not only a Knowledge,
\nhut a Will according to Knowledge\u2014there is a Supramental
\nPower or Shakti which can manifest direct
\nits world of Light and Truth in which all is luminously
\nbased on the harmony and unity of the One,
\nnot disturbed by a veil of Ignorance or any disguise.
\nThe Supermind therefore does not transcend all
\npossible manifestation, but it is above the triplicity
\nof mind, life and matter which is our present experience
\nof this manifestation. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n4. The Overmind is a sort of delegation from the Supermind (this is a metaphor only) which supports
\nthe present evolutionary universe in which we live
\nhere in Matter. If Supermind were to start here
\nfrom the beginning as the direct creative Power, a world of the kind we see now would be impossible; it would have been full of the divine Light from the
\nbeginning, there would be no involution in the inconscience of Matter, consequently no gradual striving evolution of consciousness in Matter. A line is therefore
\ndrawn between the higher half of the universe
\nof consciousness, parardha,<\/i> and the lower half, aparardha.
\n<\/i>The higher half is constituted of Sat, Chit,
\nAnanda, <\/b> Mahas (the Supramental)\u2014the lower half <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 114<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof mind, life, matter. This line is the intermediary
\nOvermind which, though luminous itself, keeps from
\nus the full indivisible Supramental Light, depends
\non it indeed, but in receiving it, divides, distributes,
\nbreaks it up into separated aspects, powers, multiplicities
\nof all kinds, each of which it is possible by a
\nfarther diminution of consciousness such as we reach
\nin Mind to regard as the sole or the chief Truth and
\nall the rest as subordinate or contradictory to it.
\nTo this action of the Overmind may be applied the
\nwords of the Upanishad, "The face of the Truth is
\ncovered by a golden Lid", or those of the Vedic ritena
\nritam apihitam.<\/i> Here there is the working of a sort
\nof Vidya-avidyamayi Maya<\/i> which makes possible the
\npredominance of Avidya.<\/i> It is by this primitive
\ndivisional principle that the Mind is enabled to
\nregard, for example, the Impersonal as the Truth,
\nthe Personal as only a mask or the personal Divine
\nas the greatest Truth and impersonality as only an
\naspect; it is so too that all the conflicting philosophies
\nand religions arise, each exalting one aspect or potentiality
\nof Truth presented to Mind as the whole
\nsufficient explanation of things or exalting one of the
\nDivine’s Godheads above all others as the true God
\nthan whom there can be no other or none so high or
\nhigher. This divisional principle pursues man’s
\nmental knowledge everywhere and even when he
\nthinks he has arrived at the final unity, it is only a
\nconstructed unity, based on an Aspect. It is so that
\nthe scientist seeks to found the unity of knowledge <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 115<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\non some original physical aspect of things. Energy
\nor Matter, Electricity or Ether, or the Mayavadin
\nthinks he has arrived at the absolute Adwaita by
\ncutting existence into two, calling the upper side
\nBrahman and the lower side Maya. It is the reason
\nwhy mental knowledge can never arrive at a final.
\nsolution of anything, for the aspects of Existence as
\ndistributed by Overmind are numberless and one
\ncan go on multiplying philosophies and religions for
\never. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn the Overmind itself there is not this confusion; for the Overmind knows the One as the support,
\nessence, fundamental power of all things, but in the
\ndynamic play proper to it it lays emphasis on its divisional
\npower of multiplicity and seeks to give each.
\npower or Aspect its full chance to manifest, relying
\non the underlying Oneness to prevent disharmony
\nor conflict. Each Godhead, as it were, creates his
\nown world, but without conflict with others; each
\nAspect, each Idea, each Force of things can be felt
\nin its full separate energy or splendour and work out
\nits values, but this does not create a disharmony,
\nbecause the Overmind has the sense of the Infinite
\nand in the true (not spatial) Infinite many concording
\nInfinites are possible. This peculiar security of Overmind
\nis however not transferable to the lesser planes
\nof consciousness which it supports and governs,
\nbecause as one descends in the scale the stress on
\ndivision and multiplicity increases and in the Mind
\nthe underlying oneness becomes vague, abstract, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 116<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nindeterminate and indeterminable and the only apparent
\nconcreteness is that of the phenomenal which
\nis by its nature a form and representation\u2014the self-view
\nof the One has already begun to disappear.
\nMind acts by representations and constructions, by
\nthe separation and weaving together of its constructed
\ndata; it can make a synthetic construction and see it
\nas the whole, but when it looks for the reality of things,
\nit takes refuge in abstractions\u2014it has not the concrete
\nvision, experience, contact sought by the mystic and
\nthe spiritual seeker. To know Self and. Reality directly
\nor truly, it has to be silent and reflect some light of
\nthese things or undergo self-exceeding and transformation,
\nand this is only possible either by a higher Light
\ndescending into it or by its ascent, the taking up or
\nimmergence of it into a higher Light of existence. In
\nMatter, descending below Mind, we arrive at the acme
\nof fragmentation and division; the One, though
\nsecretly there, is lost to knowledge and we get the
\nfullness of the Ignorance, even a fundamental Inconscience
\nout of which the universe has to evolve
\nconsciousness and knowledge. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n5. If we regard Vaikuntha or Goloka each as the
\nworld of a Divinity, Vishnu or Krishna, we would
\nbe naturally led to seek its place or its origin in the
\nOvermind plane. The Overmind is the plane of the
\nhighest worlds of the Gods. But Vaikuntha and
\nGoloka are human conceptions of states of being
\nthat are beyond humanity. Goloka is evidently a
\nworld of Love, Beauty and Ananda full of spiritual <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 117<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nradiances (the cow is the symbol of spiritual Light)
\nof which the souls there are keepers or possessors,
\nGopas and Gopis. It is not necessary to assign any
\nsingle plane to this manifestation\u2014in fact there can
\nbe a reflection or possession of it or of its conditions
\non any plane of consciousness\u2014the mental, vital or
\neven the subtle physical plane. The explanation of
\nit which you mention is not therefore excluded, it
\nis quite feasible. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n6. It is not possible to situate Nirvana as a world
\nor plane, for the Nirvana push is to a withdrawal
\nfrom world and world-values; it is therefore a state
\nof consciousness or rather of superconsciousness
\nwithout habitation or level. There is more than one
\nkind of Nirvana (extinction or dissolution) possible.
\nMan being a mental being in a body, manomaya
\npurusha,<\/i> makes this attempt at retreat from the
\ncosmos through the spiritualised mind, he cannot do
\notherwise and it is this that gives it the appearance
\nof an extinction or dissolution, laya, nirvana;<\/i> for
\nextinction of the mind and all that depends on it
\nincluding the separative ego in something Beyond
\nis the natural way, almost the indispensable way
\nfor such a withdrawal. In a more affirmative Yoga
\nseeking transcendence but not withdrawal there
\nwould not be this indispensability, for there would
\nbe the way already alluded to of self-exceeding or
\ntransformation of the mental being. But it is possible
\nalso to pass to that through a certain experience of
\nNirvana, an absolute silence of mind and cessation <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 118<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof activities, constructions, representations, which
\ncan be so complete that not only to the silent mind
\nbut also to the passive senses the whole world is
\nemptied of its solidity and reality and things appear
\nonly as unsubstantial forms without any real habitations 
\nor else floating in Something that is a nameless
\ninfinite: this infinite or else something still beyond
\nis That which alone is real; an absolute calm, peace
\nliberation would be the resulting state. Action
\nwould continue, but no initiation or participation in
\nit by the silent liberated consciousness; a nameless
\npower would do all until there began the descent
\nfrom above which would transform the consciousness
\nmaking its silence and freedom a basis for a luminous
\nknowledge, action, Ananda. But such a passage
\nwould be rare; ordinarily a silence of the mind, a
\nliberation of the consciousness, a renunciation of its
\nbelief in the final value or truth of the mind’s imperfect
\nrepresentations or constructions would be enough
\nfor the higher working to be possible. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n7. Now about the cosmic consciousness and Nirvana.
\nCosmic consciousness is a complex matter. To
\nbegin with, there are two sides to it, the expe-
\nrience of the Self free, infinite, silent, inactive, one
\nin all and beyond all and the direct experience of
\nthe cosmic Energy and its forces, workings and
\nformations, this latter experience not being complete
\ntill one has the sense of being commensurate with the
\nuniverse or pervading, exceeding and containing it. Till
\nthen there may be direct contacts, communications, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Page – 119<\/p>\n

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

\n

\ninterchanges with cosmic forces, beings, movements,
\nbut not the full unity of mind with the
\ncosmic Mind, of life with the cosmic Life, of body
\nand physical consciousness with the cosmic material
\nEnergy and its substance. Again there may be a
\nrealisation of the Cosmic Self which is not followed
\nby the realisation of the dynamic universal oneness.
\nOr, on the contrary, there may be some dynamic
\nuniversalising of consciousness without the experience
\nof the free static Self omnipresent everywhere,\u2014the
\npreoccupation with and pleasure of the greater energies
\nthat one would thus experience would stop the
\nway to that liberation. Also the identification or
\nuniversalisation may be more on one plane or level
\nthan on another, predominantly mental or predominantly 
\nemotional (through universal sympathy or
\nlove) or vital of another kind (experience of the
\nuniversal life forces) or physical. But in any case,
\neven with the full realisation and experience it should
\nbe evident that this cosmic play would be something
\nthat one would finally feel as limited, ignorant,
\nimperfect from its very nature. The free soul might
\nregard it untouched and unmoved by its imperfections
\nand vicissitudes, do some appointed work, try
\nto help all or be an instrument of the Divine, but
\nneither the work nor the instrumentation would
\nhave anything like the perfection or even the. full
\nlight, power, bliss of the Divine. This could only
\nbe gained by an ascension into higher planes of cosmic
\nexistence or their descent into one’s consciousness <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 120<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\u2014and, if this were not envisaged or accepted,
\nthe push to Nirvana would still remain as a way of
\nescape. The other way would be the ascent after
\ndeath into these higher planes\u2014the heavens of the
\nreligions signify after all nothing but such an urge
\nto a greater, luminous, beatific Divine Existence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut, one might ask, if the higher planes or if the
\nOvermind itself were to manifest their consciousness
\nwith all their power, light, freedom and vastness
\nand these things were to descend into an individual
\nconsciousness here, would not that make unnecessary
\nboth the cosmic negation or the Nirvanic push and
\nthe urge towards some Divine Transcendence? But
\nin the result though one might live in a union with
\nthe Divine in a luminous wide free consciousness embracing the universe in itself and be a channel
\nof great energies or creations, spiritual or external,
\nyet this world here would remain fundamentally the
\nsame\u2014there would be a gulf of difference between
\nthe Spirit within and its medium and stuff on which
\nit acted, between the inner consciousness and the
\nworld in which it is working. The achievement
\ninner, subjective, individual might be perfect, but
\nthe dynamic outcome insufficient, disparate, a mixture,
\nnot a perfect harmony of the inner and the
\nouter, a new integral rhythm of existence here that
\ncould be called truly divine. Only a consciousness
\nlike the Supramental, unconditioned and in perfect
\nunity with its source, a Truth-Consciousness empowered
\nto create its own free determinations would <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 121<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbe able to establish some perfect harmony and rhythm
\nof the higher hemisphere in this lowest rung of the
\nlower hemisphere. Whether it is to do so or not
\ndepends on the significance of the evolutionary
\nexistence; it depends on whether that existence is
\nsomething imperfect in its very nature and doomed
\nto frustration\u2014in which case either a negative way
\nof transcendence by some kind of Nirvana or a positive 
\nway of transcendence, perhaps by breaking the
\nshining shield of Overmind, hiranmaya patra,<\/i> into
\nwhat is above it, would be the final end of the soul
\nescaping from this meaningless universe; unless
\nindeed like the Amitabha Buddha one were held by
\ncompassion or else the Divine Will within to continue
\nhelping and sharing the upward struggle towards
\nthe Light of those here still in the darkness of the
\nIgnorance. If, on the contrary, this world is a .Lila
\nof spiritual involution and evolution in which one
\npower after another upto the highest is to appear
\nas Matter, Life and Mind have already appeared
\nout of an apparent indeterminate Inconscience, then
\nanother culmination is possible. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe push to Nirvana has two motive forces behind
\nit. One is the sense of the imperfection, sorrow, death,
\nsuffering of this world\u2014the original motive force of the
\nBuddha. But for escape from these afflictions Nirvana
\nmight not be necessary, if there are higher worlds into
\nwhich one can ascend where there is no such imperfection,
\nsorrow, death or suffering. But this other possibility 
\nof escape is met by the idea that these higher worlds <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 122<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ntoo are transient and part of the Ignorance, that
\none has to return here always till one overcomes the
\nIgnorance, that the Reality and the cosmic existence
\nare as Truth and Falsehood, opposite, incompatible.
\nThis brings in the second motive force, that of the
\ncall to transcendence. If the Transcendent is not only
\nsupracosmic but an aloof Incommunicable, avyavaharyam,<\/i>  <\/i>which one cannot reach except by a negation of
\nall that is here, then some kind of Nirvana, an absolute
\nNirvana even is inevitable. If, on the other hand, the
\nDivine is transcendent but not incommunicable, the call
\nwill still be there and the soul will leave the chequered 
\ncosmic play for the beatitude of the trancsendent
\nexistence; but an absolute Nirvana would not be indispensable,
\na beatific union with the Divine offers
\nitself as the way before the seeker. This is the reason
\nwhy the Cosmic Consciousness is not sufficient and
\nthe push away from ic is so strong,\u2014it is only if the
\ngolden lid of the Overmind is overpassed and opened
\nand the dynamic contact with the Supermind and a
\ndescent of its Light and Power here is intended that it
\ncan be otherwise. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n25-6-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 123<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSupermind and Overmind<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBY the Supermind is meant the full Truth-consciousness 
\nof the Divine Nature in which
\nthere can be no place for the principle of division
\nand ignorance; it is always a full light and knowledge
\nsuperior to all mental substance or mental movement.
\nBetween the Supermind and the human mind are
\na number of ranges, planes or layers, of consciousness \u2014one can regard it in various ways\u2014in which the
\nelement or substance of mind and consequently its
\nmovements also become more and more illumined and
\npowerful and wide. The Overmind is the highest of
\nthese ranges; it is full of lights and powers; but from
\nthe point of view of what is above it, it is the line of
\nthe soul’s turning away from the complete and
\nindivisible knowledge and its descent towards the
\nIgnorance. For although it draws from the Truth,
\nit is here that begins the separation of aspects of the
\nTruth, the forces and their working out as if they
\nwere independent truths and this is a process that
\nends, as one descends to ordinary Mind, Life and
\nMatter, in a complete division, fragmentation,<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 124<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nseparation from the indivisible Truth above. There is
\nno longer the essential, total, perfectly harmonising
\nand unifying knowledge, or rather knowledge for ever
\nharmonious because for ever one, which is the character
\nof Supermind. In the Supermind, mental
\ndivisions and oppositions cease, the problems created
\nby our dividing and fragmenting mind disappear and
\nTruth is seen as a luminous whole. In the Overmind
\nthere is not yet the actual fall into Ignorance, but the
\nfirst step is taken which will make the fall inevitable. <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe Supermind is the One Truth deploying and
\ndetermining the manifestation of its Powers\u2014all these
\nPowers working as a multiple Oneness, in harmony,-
\nwithout opposition or collision, according to the One
\nWill inherent in all. The Overmind takes these
\nTruths and Powers and sets each working as a force
\nin itself with its necessary consequences\u2014there can
\nbe harmony in their action, but it is rather synthetic
\nand mostly partial than inherent and inevitable and
\nas one descends from the highest Overmind, separation, 
\ncollision and conflict of forces increase,
\nseparability dominates, ignorance grows, existence
\nbecomes a clash of possibilities, a mixture of conflicting 
\nhalf-truths, an unsolved and apparently
\nunsolvable riddle and puzzle. <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nPage -125<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt is (sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly) by
\nthe power of the Overmind releasing the mind from its close partitions that the cosmic consciousness opens in the seeker and he becomes aware of the
\n.cosmic spirit and the play of the cosmic forces. It is from or at least through the Overmind plane
\nthat the original pre-arrangement of things in this
\nworld is effected; for from it the determining vibrations
\ncome. But there are corresponding movements
\non all the planes, the mind, the vital, the physical
\neven and it is possible in a very clear or illumined
\ncondition of the lower consciousness to become aware
\nof these movements and understand the plan of
\nthings and be either a conscious instrument or even,
\nto a limited extent, a determinant Will or Force.
\nBut the stuff of the lower planes always mixes with
\nthe Overmind forces when they descend and diminishes 
\nor even falsifies and perverts their truth and
\npower. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is even possible for the Overmind to transmit to the lower planes of consciousness something of the
\nSupramental Light, but, so long as the Supermind
\ndoes not directly manifest, its Light is modified in the Overmind itself and still further modified in the
\napplication by the needs, the demands, the circumscribing possibilities of the individual nature. The
\nsuccess of this diminished and modified Light e.g.
\nin purifying the physical, cannot be immediate
\nand absolute as the full and direct Supramental
\naction would be; it is still relative, conditioned by <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 126<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe individual nature and the balance of the universal
\nforces, resisted by adverse powers, baulked of its
\nperfect result by the unwillingness of the lower
\nworkings to cease, limited either in its scope or in
\nits efficacy by the want of a complete consent in the
\nphysical nature. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 127<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Jivatman<\/a> <\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWELL, it is a little difficult to explain. Perhaps the best thing is to break up my answer into
\na number of separate statements, for the whole thing
\nhas got too complicated to do otherwise. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI<\/font>. It is impossible to equate my conception or
\nexperience of the Jivatman with the pure "I" of the
\nAdwaita, by which you mean, I suppose, something
\nwhich says "I am He" and by that perception merges
\nitself into the Brahman. According to the Adwaita of
\nthe Mayavadins this Jivatman, like the Ishwara
\nhimself, is simply an appearance of the Brahman in
\nillusory Maya. There is no Ishwara, Lord of the
\nworld, because there is no world\u2014except in Maya; so too there is no Jivatman, only the Paramatman
\nillusorily perceived as an individual self by the lower
\n(illusory) consciousness in Maya. Those, on the other
\nhand, who wish to unite with the Ishwara, regard
\nor experience the Jiva either as a separate being
\ndependent on the Ishwara or as something one in
\nessence with him, yet different, but this difference
\nlike the essential oneness is eternal\u2014and there are <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPa – 128<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nalso other ideas of the Jivatman and its relation to
\nthe Divine or Supreme. So this pure "I", if that is
\nhow it is to be described, presents itself differently,
\nin different aspects, one may say, to different people.
\nIf you ask why, I refer you to my answer to X. The
\nOvermind presents the truth of things in all sorts of
\naspects and the mind, even the spiritual mind, fastens
\non one or the other as the very truth, the one real
\ntruth of the matter. It is the mind that makes these
\ndifferences, but that does not matter, because, through
\nits own way of seeing and experiencing the soul or
\nindividualised consciousness or whatever you may like
\nto call it, the mental being goes where it has to go.
\nI hope this much is clear as the first step in the
\nmatter. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2<\/font>. I do not dispute at all the fact that one can realise
\nthe Self, the Brahman or the Ishwara without going
\ninto the overhead regions, the dynamic spiritual
\nplanes, or stationing oneself permanently above the
\nbody as happens in this Yoga. Even if it is done
\nthrough the Sahasrara, well, the Sahasrara extends
\nto the spiritualised mind and can be felt in the top
\nof the head, so any ascent above is not indispensable.
\nBut, apart from that, one can very well, as you say,
\nrealise the Atman if one stands back from the mind
\nand heart, detaches oneself from the parts of Prakriti,
\nceases to identify oneself with mind, life and body,
\nfalls into an inner silence. One need not even explore
\nthe kingdoms of the inner mind or inner vital, still
\nless is it compulsory to spread one’s wings in ranges<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 129 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nabove. The Self is everywhere and by entering
\ninto full detachment and silence, or even by either
\ndetachment or silence, one can get anywhere some
\nglimpse, some reflection, perhaps even a full reflection,
\nor a sense of the Self’s presence or of one’s
\nown immergence in that which is free, wide, silent,
\neternal, infinite. Obviously if it is a pure "I", of
\nwhatever nature, which gets the experience, it must be
\nlooked on by the consciousness that has the realisation as the individual self of the Being, Jivatman. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3<\/font>. One can also have the experience of oneself as
\nnot the mind but the thinker, not the heart but the
\nself or "I" which supports the feelings, not the life
\nbut that which supports life, not the body but that
\nwhich assumes a body. This self can be obviously
\ndynamic as well as silent; or else you ‘may say that,
\neven though still and immobile, from its silence it
\noriginates the dynamism of Nature. One can also feel
\nthis to be the Spirit one in all as well as the true "I"
\nin oneself. All depends on the experience. Very
\nusually, it is the experience of the Purusha, often felt
\nfirst as the Witness silent, upholding all the nature; but the Purusha can also be experienced as the
\nKnower and the Ishwara. Sometimes it is as or
\nthrough the mental Purusha in one centre or another,
\nsometimes as or through the vital Purusha that one can
\nbecome aware of one’s self or spirit. It is also possible
\nto become aware of the secret psychic being within by
\nitself as the true individual; or one can be aware of the
\npsychic being as the pure "I" with these others <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 130<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nstanding in mind or vital as representatives in these
\ndomains or on these levels. According to one’s experience one may speak of any of these as the Jiva or
\npure "I" (this last is a very dubious phrase) or the
\ntrue Person or true Individual who knows himself as
\none with or a portion of or wholly dependent on the
\nuniversal or transcendent Being and seeks to merge
\nhimself in that or ascend to that and be it or live in
\noneness with it. All these things are quite possible
\nwithout any need of the overhead experience or of
\nthe stable overhead Permanence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n4<\/font>. One may ask, first, why not then say that the Jivatman which can be realised in this way is the pure
\n"I" of which the lower self has the experience and
\nthrough which it gets its salvation; and, secondly,
\nwhat need is there of going into the overhead planes
\nat all? Well, in the first place, this pure "I" does not
\nseem to be absolutely necessary as an intermediary of
\nthe liberation whether into the impersonal Self or
\nBrahman or into whatever is eternal. The Buddhists
\ndo not admit any soul or self or any experience of the
\npure "I"; they proceed by dissolving the consciousness into a bundle of samskaras, get rid of the samskaras
\n <\/i>and so are liberated into some Permanent which
\nthey refuse to describe or some Shunya. So the
\nexperience of a pure "I" or Jivatman is not binding
\non everyone who wants liberation into the Eternal
\nbut is content to get it without rising beyond the
\nspiritualised mind into a higher Light above. I myself
\nhad my experience of Nirvana and silence in the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 131<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nBrahman, etc. long before there was any knowledge of
\nthe overhead spiritual planes; it came first simply by
\nan absolute stillness and blotting out as it were of all
\nmental, emotional and other inner activities\u2014the body
\ncontinued indeed to see, walk, speak and do its
\nother business but as an empty automatic machine
\nand nothing more. I did not become aware of any
\npure "I" nor even of any self, impersonal or other,\u2014
\nthere was only an awareness of That as the sole
\nReality, all eke being quite unsubstantial, void, non-
\nreal. As to what realised that Reality, it was a nameless
\nconsciousness which was not other than That ;* one
\ncould perhaps say this, though hardly even so
\nmuch as this, since there was no mental concept
\nof it, but not more. Neither was I aware of any
\nlower soul or outer self called by such and such a
\npersonal name that was performing this feat of arriving at the consciousness of Nirvana. Well, then what
\nbecomes of your pure "I" and lower "I" in all that?
\nConsciousness (not this or that part of consciousness or
\nan "I" of any kind) suddenly emptied itself of all inner contents and
\nremained aware only of unreal surroundings  and of Something real but ineffable. You may
\nsay that there must have been a consciousness aware
\nof a some perceiving existence, if not of a pure "I", but, if so, it was something for which these names
\nseem inadequate. <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n*Mark that I did not think these things, there were no
\nthoughts or concepts or did they present themselves like that to
\nany Me, it simply just was so or was self-apparently so. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 132<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n5<\/font>. I have said the overhead
\nascension is not indispensable for the usual spiritual purposes,\u2014but it is
\nindispensable for the purposes of this Yoga. For its aim is to become aware of
\nand liberate and transform and unite all the being in the light of a Truth
\nconsciousness which is above and cannot be reached if there is no entirely
\ninward-going and no transcending  and upward-going movement. Hence all the
\ncomplexity of my psychological statements as a whole,
\nnot new in essence\u2014for much of it occurs in the
\nUpanishads and elsewhere, but new in its fullness of
\ncollective statement and its .developments directed
\ntowards an integral Yoga. It is not necessary for any-
\none to accept it unless he concurs in the aim; for
\nother aims it is unnecessary and may very well be
\nexcessive. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n6<\/font>. But when one has<\/i> made the inner exploration and
\nthe ascension, when one’s consciousness is located
\nabove, one cannot be expected to see things precisely
\nas they are seen from below. The Jivatman is for me
\nthe Unborn who presides over the individual being and
\nits developments, associated with it but above it and
\nthem and who by the very nature of his existence knows
\nhimself as universal and transcendent no less than
\nindividual and feels the Divine to be his origin, the
\ntruth of his being, the master of his nature, the very
\nstuff of his existence. He is plunged in the Divine
\nand one with the Eternal for ever, aware of his own
\nexpression and instrumental dynamism which is the
\nDivine’s, dependent in love and delight, with adoration. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 133<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\non That with which yet through that love and delight
\nhe is one, capable of relation in oneness, harmonic in
\nthis many-sidedness without contradiction, because this
\nis another consciousness and existence than that of the
\nmind, even of the spiritualised mind; it is an intrinsic
\nconsciousness of the Infinite, infinite not only in essence but in capacity,
\nwhich can be to its own self-awareness  all things and yet forever the same and one.
\nThe triune realisation, therefore, full of difficulties.
\nfor the mind, is quite natural, easy, indisputable to
\nthe Supramental consciousness or, generally, to the
\nconsciousness of the upper hemisphere. It can be
\nseen and felt as knowledge in all the spiritual planes,
\nbut the completely indivisible knowledge, the full
\ndynamics of it can only be realised through the Supra-
\nmental consciousness itself on its own plane or by
\nits descent here. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n7. The description of a pure "I" is quite insufficient
\nto describe the realisation of the Jivatman\u2014it is rather
\ndescribable as the true Person or Divine Individual,
\nthough that too is not adequate. The word "I" always
\ncomes with an undersuggestion of ego, of separativeness; but there is no separativeness in this self-vision,
\nfor the individual here is a spiritual living centre of
\naction for the One and feels no separation from all
\nthat is the One, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n8. The Jivatman has its representative power
\nin the individual nature here; this power is the
\nPurusha upholding the Prakriti\u2014centrally in the psychic, more instrumentally in the mind, vital and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 134<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nphysical being and nature. It is therefore possible
\nto regard these or any of them as if they were the
\nJiva here. All the same I am obliged to make a distinction  not only for
\nclear thinking but because of the necessity of experience and integral dynamic
\nself-knowledge  without which it is difficult to carry through this Yoga.
\nIt is not indispensable to formulate men- tally to oneself all this, one can
\nhave the experience and, if one sees clearly with an inner perception, it is
\nsufficient for progress towards the goal. Nevertheless  if the mind is clarified without falling into
\nmental rigidity and error, things are easier for the
\nsadhaka of the Yoga. But plasticity must be preserved,.
\nfor loss of plasticity is the danger of a systematic
\nintellectual formulation; one must look into the
\nthing itself and not get tied up in the idea. Nothing
\nof all this can be really grasped except by the actual
\nspiritual experience. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n22-7-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 135<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nJiva and Jivatman<\/a>
\n<\/b>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI HAVE used the words Jiva and Jivatman in these and all passages in exactly the same sense\u2014it
\nnever occurred to me that there could be a difference.
\nIf I had so intended it, I would have drawn the
\ndistinction\u2014the two words being similar\u2014very
\nclearly and not left it to be gathered by inference. In the passage from the chapter on the triple
\nstatus of the Supermind I was describing how the Supermind working as a force of
\nthe highest self-determination  of the Divine manifested it in three
\npoises and what was the consciousness of the Jivatman
\nin a Supramental creation. There is no statement chat
\nthe place of the Jivatman is in the Supramental plane
\nalone, if that were so man could have no knowledge
\nof his individual Self or Spirit before he rose to the
\nSupramental plane; he could not have any experience
\nof the Self, though he may have the sense of the
\ndissolution of his ego in something Universal. But
\nhe can become aware of his unborn non-evolving
\nSelf, a centre of the Divine consciousness, long <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 136<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbefore that; the Self cosmic or individual is experienced  long before rising to Supermind. If
\nit were not so, spiritual experience of that high
\nkind would be impossible to mental man, liberation.
\nwould be impossible; he would first have to become
\na Supramental being. As for the Purusha it is there
\non all planes: there is a mental Purusha, manomaya,
\n<\/i>leader of the life and body, as the Upanishad puts
\nit, a vital, a physical Purusha; there is the psychic
\nbeing or Chaitya Purusha which supports and carries
\nall these as it were. One may say that these are projections  of the Jivatman put there to uphold Prakriti
\non the various levels of the being. The Upanishad
\nspeaks also of a Supramental and a Bliss Purusha,
\nand if the Supramental and the Bliss Nature were
\norganised in the evolution on earth we could
\nbecome aware of them upholding the movements
\nhere. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAs for the psychic being, it enters into the evolution,
\nenters into the body at birth and goes out of it at death; but the Jivatman as I know it is unborn and eternal
\nalthough upholding the manifested personality from
\nabove. The psychic being can be described as the
\nJivatman entering into birth, if you like, but if the
\ndistinction is not made, then the nature of the Atman
\nis blurred and a confusion arises. This is a necessary distinction for
\nmetaphysical knowledge and for something  that is very important in spiritual experience.
\nThe word Atman like ‘spirit’ in English is popularly
\nused in all kinds of senses, but both for spiritual <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 137<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand philosophical knowledge it is necessary to be
\nclear and precise in one’s use of terms so as to avoid
\nconfusion of thought and vision by confusion in the
\nwords we use to express them. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n20-7-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 139<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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