{"id":617,"date":"2013-07-13T01:29:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=617"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:29:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:29:15","slug":"18-the-divine-soul-vol-18-the-life-divine-volume-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/18-the-life-divine-volume-18\/18-the-divine-soul-vol-18-the-life-divine-volume-18","title":{"rendered":"-18_The Divine Soul .htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nC<\/font>HAPTER<\/font> 
\nXVII<\/p>\n

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


\n\t\tThe Divine Soul<\/p>\n

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

            <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

He whose self has become all existence, for he has the knowledge,<\/small><\/p>\n

how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have grief, he who sees,<\/small><\/p>\n

\n                                                                                                                                 everywhere oneness?<\/small><\/p>\n

\n                                                                               
\n<\/font>Isha Upanishad <\/small>1<\/sup><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    H<\/font><\/b>e whose self has become all existences, for he has the knowledge, how shall he be deluded, whence shall he have
\ngrief, he who sees everywhere oneness? Isha Upanishad.\u00b9<\/font><\/p>\n

By the conception we have formed of the Supermind, by its opposition to the mentality on which our human existence is
\nbased, we are able not only to form a precise instead of a vague idea of divinity and the divine life,—expressions which we
\nare otherwise condemned to use with looseness and as the vague wording of a large but almost impalpable aspiration,—but
\nalso to give these ideas a firm basis of philosophical reasoning, to put them into a clear relation with the humanity and the
\nhuman life which is all we at present enjoy and to justify our hope and aspiration by the very nature of the world and of our
\nown cosmic antecedents and the inevitable future of our evolution. We begin to grasp intellectually what is the Divine, the
\neternal Reality, and to understand how out of it the world has come. We begin also to perceive how inevitably that which
\nhas come out of the Divine must return to the Divine. We may now ask with profit and a chance of clearer reply how we
\nmust change and what we must become in order to arrive there in our nature and our life and our relations with others and
\nnot only through a solitary and ecstatic realisation in the profundities of our being. Certainly, there is still a defect in our premisses; for we have so far been striving to define for ourselves what the Divine is in its descent towards limited Nature,
\nwhereas what we ourselves actually are is the Divine in the individual ascending back out of limited Nature to its own
\nproper divinity. This difference of movement must involve a difference between the life of the gods who have never known
\nthe fall and the life of man redeemed, conqueror of the lost godhead and bearing within him the experience and it may be
\nthe new riches gathered by him from his<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     
\n\u00b9 <\/font>Verse 7.<\/font><\/p>\n

 Page-150<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

acceptance of the utter descent. Nevertheless, there
\ncan be no difference of essential characteristics, but only of mould
\nand colouring. We can already ascertain on the basis of the conclusions
\nat which we have arrived the essential nature of the
\ndivine life towards which we aspire.<\/p>\n

     
\nWhat then would be the existence of a divine soul, not descended into the ignorance by the fall of Spirit into Matter and
\nthe eclipse of soul by material Nature? What would be its consciousness, living in the original Truth of things, in the
\ninalienable unity, in the world of its own infinite being, like the Divine Existence itself, but able by the play of the Divine
\nMaya and by the distinction of the comprehending and apprehending Truth-Consciousness to enjoy also difference from God
\nat the same time as unity with Him and to embrace difference and yet oneness with other divine souls in the infinite play of
\nthe self-multiplied Identical?\n<\/p>\n

     Obviously, the existence of
\nsuch a soul would be always self-contained in the conscious play of
\nSachchidananda. It
\nwould be pure and infinite self-existence in its being; in its becoming
\nit would be a free play of immortal life uninvaded by
\ndeath and birth and change of body because unclouded by ignorance and
\nnot involved in the darkness of our material being.
\nIt would be a pure and unlimited consciousness in its energy, poised in
\nan eternal and luminous tranquillity as its foundation,
\nyet able to play freely with forms of knowledge and forms of conscious
\npower, tranquil, unaffected by the stumblings of
\nmental error and the misprisions of our striving will because it never
\ndeparts from truth and oneness, never falls from the
\ninherent light and the natural harmony of its divine existence. It
\nwould be, finally, a pure and inalienable delight in its eternal
\nself-experience and in Time a free variation of bliss unaffected by our
\nperversions of dislike, hatred, discontent and suffering
\nbecause undivided in being, unbaffled by erring self-will, unperverted
\nby the ignorant stimulus of desire.<\/p>\n

     
\nIts consciousness would not be shut out from any part of the infinite truth, nor limited by any poise or status that it might
\nassume in its relations with others, nor condemned to any loss of self-knowledge by its acceptance of a purely phenomenal<\/p>\n

 
\nPage-151<\/p>\n

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

\n

individuality and the play of practical differentiation. It would in its self-experience live eternally in the presence of the
\nAbsolute. To us the Absolute is only an intellectual conception of indefinable existence. The intellect tells us simply that
\nthere is a Brahman higher than the highest,\u00b9<\/font><\/p>\n

an Unknowable that knows itself in other fashion than that of our knowledge; but the intellect cannot bring us into its
\npresence. The divine soul living in the Truth of things would, on the contrary, always have the conscious sense of itself as a
\nmanifestation of the Absolute. Its immutable existence it would be aware of as the original “self-form”
\n\u00b2 <\/font> of
\nthat Transcendent,—Sachchidananda; its play of conscious being it would
\nbe aware of as manifestation of That in forms
\nof Sachchidananda. In its every state or act of knowledge it would be
\naware of the Unknowable cognising itself by a form
\nof variable self-knowledge; in its every state or act of power, will or
\nforce aware of the Transcendence possessing itself by
\na form of conscious power of being and knowledge; in its every state or
\nact of delight, joy or love aware of the
\nTranscendence embracing itself by a form of conscious self-enjoyment.
\nThis presence of the Absolute would not be with it
\nas an experience occasionally glimpsed or finally arrived at and held
\nwith difficulty or as an addition, acquisition or
\nculmination superimposed on its ordinary state of being: it would be
\nthe very foundation of its being both in the unity and the
\ndifferentiation; it would be present to it in all its knowing, willing,
\ndoing, enjoying; it would be absent neither from its timeless
\nself nor from any moment of Time, neither from its spaceless being nor
\nfrom any determination of its extended existence,
\nneither from its unconditioned purity beyond all cause and circumstance
\nnor from any relation of circumstance, condition and
\ncausality. This constant presence of the Absolute would be the basis of
\nits infinite freedom and delight, ensure its security in
\nthe play and provide the root and sap and essence of its divine being.\n<\/p>\n

     Moreover, such a divine
\nsoul would live simultaneously in the two terms of the eternal
\nexistence of Sachchidananda, the
\ntwo inseparable poles of the self-unfolding of the Absolute which\n<\/p>\n

    
\n\u00b9<\/font> parā<\/font>tpara<\/i>.    
\n\u00b2<\/font>svarū<\/font>pa.<\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage-152<\/p>\n

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

\n

we call the One and the Many. All being does really
\nso live; but to our divided self-awareness there is an incompatibility,
\na
\ngulf between the two driving us towards a choice, to dwell either in
\nthe multiplicity exiled from the direct and entire
\nconsciousness of the One or in the unity repellent of the consciousness
\nof the Many. But the divine soul would not be
\nenslaved to this divorce and duality. It would be aware in itself at
\nonce of the infinite self-concentration and the infinite
\nself-extension and diffusion. It would be aware simultaneously of the
\nOne in its unitarian consciousness holding the
\ninnumerable multiplicity in itself as if potential, unexpressed and
\ntherefore to our mental experience of that state non-existent
\nand of the One in its extended consciousness holding the multiplicity
\nthrown out and active as the play of its own conscious
\nbeing, will and delight. It would equally be aware of the Many ever
\ndrawing down to themselves the One that is the eternal
\nsource and reality of their existence and of the Many ever mounting up
\nattracted to the One that is the eternal culmination
\nand blissful justification of all their play of difference. This vast
\nview of things is the mould of the Truth-Consciousness, the
\nfoundation of the large Truth and Right hymned by the Vedic seers; this
\nunity of all these terms of opposition is the real
\nAdwaita, the supreme comprehending word of the knowledge of the
\nUnknowable.<\/p>\n

     
\nThe divine soul will be aware of all variation of being, consciousness,
\nwill and delight as the outflowing, the extension,
\nthe diffusion of that self-concentrated Unity developing itself, not
\ninto difference and division, but into another, an extended
\nform of infinite oneness. It will itself always be concentrated in
\noneness in the essence of its being, always manifested in
\nvariation in the extension of its being. All that takes form in itself
\nwill be the manifested potentialities of the One, the Word
\nor Name vibrating out of the nameless Silence, the Form realising the
\nformless essence, the active Will or Power proceeding
\nout of the tranquil Force, the ray of self-cognition gleaming out from
\nthe sun of timeless self-awareness, the wave of
\nbecoming rising up into shape of self-conscious existence out of the
\neternally self-conscious Being, the joy and love welling
\nfor ever out of the eternal still Delight. It will be the Absolute
\nbiune in its\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-153<\/p>\n

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

\n

self-unfolding, and each relativity in it will be absolute to itself because aware of itself as the Absolute manifested but
\nwithout that ignorance which excludes other relativities as alien to its being or less complete than itself.\n<\/p>\n

     In the extension the divine
\nsoul will be aware of the three grades of the supramental existence,
\nnot as we are mentally
\ncompelled to regard them, not as grades, but as a triune fact of the
\nself-manifestation of Sachchidananda. It will be able to
\nembrace them in one and the same comprehensive self-realisation,—for a
\nvast comprehensiveness is the foundation of the
\ntruth-conscious Supermind. It will be able divinely to conceive,
\nperceive and sense all things as the Self, its own self, one
\nself of all, one Self-being and Self-becoming, but not divided in its
\nbecomings which have no existence apart from its own
\nself-consciousness. It will be able divinely to conceive, perceive and
\nsense all existences as soul-forms of the One which
\nhave each its own being in the One, its own standpoint in the One, its
\nown relations with all the other existences that people
\nthe infinite unity, but all dependent on the One, conscious form of Him
\nin His own infinity. It will be able divinely to
\nconceive, perceive and sense all these existences in their
\nindividuality, in their separate standpoint living as the individual
\nDivine, each with the One and Supreme dwelling in it and each therefore
\nnot altogether a form or eidolon, not really an
\nillusory part of a real whole, a mere foaming wave on the surface of an
\nimmobile Ocean,—for these are after all no more
\nthan inadequate mental images,—but a whole in the whole, a truth that
\nrepeats the infinite Truth, a wave that is all the sea, a
\nrelative that proves to be the Absolute itself when we look behind form
\nand see it in its completeness.<\/p>\n

     
\nFor these three are aspects of the one Existence. The first is based
\nupon that self-knowledge which, in our human realisation of the Divine,
\nthe Upanishad describes as the Self in us becoming all existences; the
\nsecond on that which is
\ndescribed as seeing all existences in the Self; the third on that which
\nis described as seeing the Self in all existences. The
\nSelf becoming all existences is the basis of our oneness with all; the
\nSelf containing all existences is the basis of our oneness
\nin difference; the\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-154<\/p>\n

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

\n

Self inhabiting all is the basis of our
\nindividuality in the universal. If the defect of our mentality, if its
\nneed of exclusive
\nconcentration compels it to dwell on any one of these aspects of
\nself-knowledge to the exclusion of the others, if a realisation
\nimperfect as well as exclusive moves us always to bring in a human
\nelement of error into the very Truth itself
\nand of conflict and mutual negation into the all-comprehending unity,
\nyet to a divine supramental being, by the essential
\ncharacter of the Supermind which is a comprehending oneness and
\ninfinite totality, they must present themselves as a triple
\nand indeed a triune realisation.\n<\/p>\n

     If we suppose this soul to
\ntake its poise, its centre in the consciousness of the individual
\nDivine living and acting in
\ndistinct relation with the “others”, still it will have in the
\nfoundation of its consciousness the entire unity from which all
\nemerges and it will have in the background of that consciousness the
\nextended and the modified unity and to any of these it
\nwill be capable of returning and of contemplating from them its
\nindividuality. In the Veda all these poises are asserted of the
\ngods. In essence the gods are one existence which the sages call by
\ndifferent names; but in their action founded in and
\nproceeding from the large Truth and Right Agni or another is said to be
\nall the other gods, he is the One that becomes all; at
\nthe same time he is said to contain all the gods in himself as the nave
\nof a wheel contains the spokes, he is the One that
\ncontains all; and yet as Agni he is described as a separate deity, one
\nwho helps all the others, exceeds them in force and
\nknowledge, yet is inferior to them in cosmic position and is employed
\nby them as messenger, priest and worker,—the creator
\nof the world and father, he is yet the son born of our works, he is,
\nthat is to say, the original and the manifested indwelling
\nSelf or Divine, the One that inhabits all.\n<\/p>\n

     All the relations of the
\ndivine soul with God or its supreme Self and with its other selves in
\nother forms will be
\ndetermined by this comprehensive self-knowledge. These relations will
\nbe relations of being, of consciousness and
\nknowledge, of will and force, of love and delight. Infinite in their
\npotentiality of variation, they need exclude no possible
\nrelation of soul with soul\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-155<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

that is compatible with the preservation of the
\ninalienable sense of unity in spite of every phenomenon of difference.
\nThus in
\nits relations of enjoyment the divine soul will have the delight of all
\nits own experience in itself; it will have the delight of all
\nits experience of relation with others as a communion with other selves
\nin other forms created for a varied play in the
\nuniverse; it will have too the delight of the experiences of its other
\nselves as if they were its own—as indeed they really are.
\nAnd all this capacity it will have because it will be aware of its own
\nexperiences, of its relations with others and of the
\nexperiences of others and their relations with itself as all the joy or
\nAnanda of the One, the supreme Self, its own self,
\ndifferentiated by its separate habitation of all these forms
\ncomprehended in its own being but still one in difference. Because
\nthis unity is the basis of all its experience, it will be free from the
\ndiscords of our divided consciousness, divided by ignorance
\nand a separatist egoism; all these selves and their relations will play
\nconsciously into each other’s hands; they will part and
\nmelt into each other as the numberless notes of an eternal harmony.<\/p>\n

     
\nAnd the same rule will apply to the relations of its being, knowledge,
\nwill with the being, knowledge and will of others.
\nFor all its experience and delight will be the play of a self-blissful
\nconscious force of being in which, by obedience to this
\ntruth of unity, will cannot be at strife with knowledge nor either of
\nthem with delight. Nor will the knowledge, will and delight
\nof one soul clash with the knowledge, will and delight of another,
\nbecause by their awareness of their unity what is clash and
\nstrife and discord in our divided being will be there the meeting,
\nentwining and mutual interplay of the different notes of one
\ninfinite harmony.\n<\/p>\n

     In its relations with its
\nsupreme Self, with God, the divine soul will have this sense of the
\noneness of the transcendent
\nand universal Divine with its own being. It will enjoy that oneness of
\nGod with itself in its own individuality and with its other
\nselves in the universality. Its relations of knowledge will be the play
\nof the divine omniscience, for God is Knowledge, and
\nwhat is ignorance with us will be there only the holding back of
\nknowledge in the repose of conscious self-awareness so that<\/p>\n

\nPage-156<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

certain forms of that self-awareness may be brought
\nforward into activity of Light. Its relations of will will be there the
\nplay
\nof the divine omnipotence, for God is Force, Will and Power, and what
\nwith us is weakness and incapacity will be the
\nholding back of will in tranquil concentrated force so that certain
\nforms of divine conscious-force may realise themselves
\nbrought forward into form of Power. Its relations of love and delight
\nwill be the play of the divine ecstasy, for God is Love
\nand Delight, and what with us would be denial of love and delight will
\nbe the holding back of joy in the still sea of Bliss so
\nthat certain forms of divine union and enjoyment may be brought in
\nfront in an active upwelling of waves of the Bliss. So
\nalso all its becoming will be formation of the divine being in response
\nto these activities and what is with us cessation, death,
\nannihilation will be only rest, transition or holding back of the
\njoyous creative Maya in the eternal being of Sachchidananda.
\nAt the same time this oneness will not preclude relations of the divine
\nsoul with God, with its supreme Self, founded on the
\njoy of difference separating itself from unity to enjoy that unity
\notherwise; it will not annul the possibility of any of those
\nexquisite forms of God-enjoyment which are the highest rapture of the
\nGod-lover in his clasp of the Divine.\n<\/p>\n

     But what will be the
\nconditions in which and by which this nature of the life of the divine
\nsoul will realise itself? All
\nexperience in relation proceeds through certain forces of being
\nformulating themselves by an instrumentation to which we
\ngive the name of properties, qualities, activities, faculties. As, for
\ninstance, Mind throws itself into various forms of
\nmind-power, such as judgment, observation, memory, sympathy, proper to
\nits own being, so must the Truth-Consciousness
\nor Supermind effect the relations of soul with soul by forces,
\nfaculties, functionings proper to supramental being; otherwise
\nthere would be no play of differentiation. What these functionings are,
\nwe shall see when we come to consider the psychological conditions of
\nthe divine Life; at present we are only considering its metaphysical
\nfoundations, its essential nature and principles. Suffice it at present
\nto observe that the absence or abolition of separatist egoism and of
\neffective division in consciousness is the\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-157<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

one essential condition of the divine Life, and therefore
\ntheir presence in us is that which constitutes our mortality and our fall from
\nthe Divine. This is our “original sin”, or rather let us say in a more
\nphilosophical language, the deviation from the Truth and Right of the Spirit,
\nfrom its oneness, integrality and harmony that was the necessary condition for
\nthe great plunge into the Ignorance which is the soul’s adventure in the world
\nand from which was born our suffering and aspiring humanity. <\/p>\n

\nPage-158<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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