{"id":430,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=430"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:58","slug":"60-the-aryas-fourth-year-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17\/60-the-aryas-fourth-year-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","title":{"rendered":"-60_The Arya’s Fourth Year.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nThe <\/span>"Arya’s<\/span>"
\nFourth <\/span>Year<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/span>W<\/font><\/span>E CLOSE<\/font><\/span><\/b> this month
\nthe fourth year of the "Arya", and bring to a conclusion at the same
\ntime the "Psychology of Social Development", the "Ideal of Human
\nUnity" and the first series of the "Essays on the Gita." A few
\nmore chapters will complete the "Life Divine." We are therefore well
\nin view of the completion of the first part of the work which we had proposed
\nto ourselves in starting this philosophical monthly, and we take the
\nopportunity to say a few words upon the principle which has governed our
\nwriting and which the difficulty of a serial exposition on several lines at a
\ntime, scattering and breaking up the total impression, may have prevented some
\nof our readers from grasping in its entirety.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We had not in view at any
\ntime a review or magazine in the ordinary sense of the word, that is to say, a
\npopular presentation or criticism of current information and current thought on
\nphilosophical questions. Nor was it, as in some philosophical and religious
\nmagazines in India, the restatement of an existing school or position<\/span> of philosophical thought cut out in its lines and
\nneeding only to be popularised<\/span> and supported. Our
\nidea was the thinking out of a synthetic philosophy which might be a
\ncontribution to the thought of the new age that is coming upon us. We start
\nfrom the idea that humanity is moving to a great change of its life which will
\neven lead to a new life of the race, – in all countries where men think, there
\nis now in various forms that idea and that hope, – and our aim has been to
\nsearch for the spiritual, religious and other truth which can enlighten and
\nguide the race in this movement and endeavour. The spiritual experience and the
\ngeneral truths on which such an attempt could be based, were already present to
\nus, otherwise we should have had no right to make the endeavour at all; but the
\ncomplete intellectual statement of them and their results and issues had to be
\nfound. This meant a continuous thinking, a high and subtle and difficult
\nthinking on several lines, and this strain, which we <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 399<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nhad to impose on ourselves, we were obliged<\/span> to impose
\nalso on our readers. This too is the reason why we have adopted the serial form
\nwhich in a subject like philosophy has its very obvious disadvantages, but was
\nthe only one possible.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Our original
\nintention was to approach the synthesis from the starting-point of the two
\nlines of culture which divide human thought and are now meeting at its apex,
\nthe knowledge of the West and the knowledge of the East; but owing to the
\nexigencies of the war this could not be fulfilled. The "Arya" except
\nfor one unfinished series has been an approach to the highest reconciling truth
\nfrom the point of view of the Indian mentality and Indian spiritual experience,
\nand Western knowledge has been viewed from that standpoint. Here the main idea
\nwhich has governed our writing, was imposed on us by the very conditions of the
\nproblem. All philosophy is concerned with the relations between two things, the
\nfundamental truth of existence and the forms in which existence presents itself
\nto our experience. The deepest experience shows that the fundamental truth is
\ntruth of the Spirit; the other is the truth of life, truth of form and shaping
\nforce and living idea and action. Here the West and East have followed
\ndivergent lines. The West has laid most emphasis on truth of life and for a
\ntime come to stake its whole existence upon truth of life alone, to deny the
\nexistence of Spirit or to relegate it to the domain of the unknown and
\nunknowable; from that exaggeration it is now beginning to return. The East has
\nlaid most emphasis on truth of the Spirit and for a time came, at least in
\nIndia, to stake its whole existence upon that truth alone, to neglect the
\npossibilities of life or to. Limit<\/span> it to a narrow
\ndevelopment or a fixed status; the East too is beginning to return from this
\nexaggeration. The West is reawaking to the truth of the Spirit and the
\nspiritual possibilities of life, the East is reawaking to the truth of Life and
\ntends towards a new application to it of its spiritual knowledge. Our view is
\nthat the antinomy created between them is an unreal one. Spirit being the
\nfundamental truth of existence, life can be only its manifestation; Spirit must
\nbe not only the origin of life but its basis, its pervading reality and its
\nhighest and total result. But the forms of life as they appear to us are at once
\nits disguises and its instruments of self- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 400<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>manifestation . Man has to grow in
\nknowledge till they cease to be disguises and grow in spiritual power and
\nquality till they become in him its perfect instruments. To grow into the
\nfullness of the divine is the true law of human life and to shape his earthly
\nexistence into its image manifestation is the meaning of his evolution. This is
\nthe fundamental tenet of the philosophy of the Arya<\/p>\n

    This truth had to be worked
\nout first of all from the meta- physical point of view; for in philosophy
\nmetaphysical truth is the nucleus of the rest, it is the statement of the last
\nand most general truths on which all the others depend or in which they are
\ngathered up. Therefore we gave the first place to the "Life Divine".
\nHere we start from the Vedantic position, its ideas of the Self and mind and
\nlife, of Sachchidananda and the world, of Knowledge and Ignorance, of rebirth
\nand the Spirit. But Vedanta is popularly supposed to be a denial of life, and
\nthis is no doubt a dominant trend it has taken. Though starting from the
\noriginal truth that all is the Brahman, the Self, it has insisted in the end
\nthat the world is simply not-Brahman, not-Self; it has ended in a paradox. We
\nhave attempted on the contrary to establish<\/span> from its data a comprehensive Adwaita. We have shown
\nthat mind and life and matter are derivations from the Self through a spiritual
\nmind or supermind which is the real support of cosmic existence and by
\ndeveloping mind into that man can arrive at the real truth of the spirit in the
\nworld and the real truth and highest law of life. The Self is Sachchidananda
\nand there is no incurable antinomy between that and the world; only we see the
\nworld through the eyes of the Ignorance and we have to see it through the eyes
\nof the Knowledge. Our Ignorance itself is only knowledge developing out of its
\ninvolution in the apparent nescience of Matter and on its way to a return to
\nits conscious integrality. To accomplish that return and manifest the spiritual
\nlife in the human existence is the opportunity given by the suc<\/span>cessions of rebirth. We accept the truth of evolution, not so much in the
\nphysical form given to it by the West as in its philosophical truth, the
\ninvolution of life and mind and spirit here in matter and their progressive
\nmanifestation. At the summit of this evolution<\/span> is the spiritual life, the life divine.<\/p>\n

It was necessary to show
\nthat these truths were not incon<\/span>– <\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n401<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

sistent<\/span> with the old Vedantic truth, therefore We
\nincluded expla<\/span>nations from this point of view of
\nthe Veda, two of the Upanishads<\/span>
\nand the Gita. But the Veda has been obscured by the ritualists<\/span>
\nand the scholiasts. Therefore we showed in a series of articles, initially only
\nas yet, the way of writing of the Vedic mystics, their system of symbols and
\nthe truths they figure. Among the Upanishads we took the Isha<\/span>
\nand the Kena<\/span>; to be full we should have added the Taittiriya<\/span>, but it is a long one and for it we had no
\nspace. The Gita we are treating as a powerful application of truth of spirit to
\nthe largest and most difficult part of the truth of life, to action, and a way
\nby which action can lead us to birth into the Spirit and can be harmonised with
\nthe spiritual life<\/span>. Truth
\nof philosophy is of a merely theoretical value unless it can be lived, and we
\nhave therefore tried in the "Synthesis of Yoga" to arrive at a
\nsynthetical view of the principles and methods of the various lines of
\nspiritual self-discipline and the way in which they can lead to an integral
\ndivine life in the human existence. But this is an individual self-development,
\nand therefore it was necessary to show too how our ideal can work out in the
\nsocial life of mankind. In the "Psychology of Social Development<\/span>" we have indicated how these truths
\naffect the evolution<\/span> of
\nhuman society. In the "Ideal of Human Unity" we have taken the
\npresent trend of mankind towards a closer unification and tried to appreciate
\nits tendencies and show what is wanting to them in order that real human unity
\nmay be achieved.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Our plan has compelled us to
\ndeal mainly with first principles and work them out in their fullness. In
\nfuture we do not propose to start any other long series of this kind, but to
\nhave more short articles with a broader, more direct and, as far as possible,
\nmore popular treatment. We shall also permit ourselves a freer range and
\ndiversity, so far as that is permissible in a philosophical review . <\/p>\n

\nPage – 402<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The "Arya’s" Fourth Year   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0WE CLOSE this month the fourth year of the "Arya", and bring to a conclusion at the same time the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","wpcat-9-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}