Study Notes
If one knows Him as Brahman the Non-being, he becomes merely the non-existent. If one knows that Brahman Is, then is he known as the real in existence.
Taittiriya Upanishad
It is possible to experience Brahman as the Reality that is omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time). It is equally possible to experience Brahman as not this Existence alone but something else, something more. This is the real meaning of Brahman the Non-Being. Non-Being signifies the freedom of the Brahman to exceed all determination, all mental definition.
If man arrives at this knowledge of Brahman as Non-Being, and confines himself to it alone, naturally he tends to see the whole world as not-existent in terms of the Brahman Reality. Consequently, he sees no meaning in his life. He strives to cancel himself from the world. He becomes a force for denial of life and draws others away from their proper role in life.
If, however, man realises Brahman as the Reality that is, outside of Whom there can be nothing, the perspective changes. He is filled with faith that all that exists is Brahman, there can be nothing that is Non-Brahman. Brahman is all and Brahman is everywhere, and his life gains significance. Everything becomes meaningful. He becomes a centre for the radiation of the reality that is Brahman.
(Courtesy: Legends in the Life Divine: Shri M.P.Pandit, p.16, Dipti Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ashram)
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SINCE, then, we admit both the claim of the pure Spirit to manifest in us its absolute freedom and the claim of universal Matter to be the mould and condition of our manifestation, we have to find a truth that can entirely reconcile these antagonists and can give to both their due portion in Life and their due justification in Thought, amercing neither of its rights, denying in neither the sovereign truth from which even its errors, even the exclusiveness of its exaggerations draw so constant a strength. For wherever there is an extreme statement that makes such a powerful appeal to the human mind, we may be sure that we are standing in the presence of no mere error, superstition or hallucination, but of some sovereign fact disguised which demands our fealty and will avenge itself if denied or excluded.
EXPLANATION
We have seen in the previous chapter that both the materialist and the ascetic are justified in their own views; we have to admit both their positive aspects.
We admit the pure spirit to manifest in us. While doing so we remain very much within the frame work of our material life. We must find the truth principle that reconciles both the spirit and matter; it gives both their due share in our Life and Thought; it denies neither of its ultimate truth. Only from this truth the errors and exaggerations of both draw their support. Sri Aurobindo says we cannot punish a truth for its extreme view.
Both denials are extreme viewpoints. Sri Aurobindo says whenever there is an extreme statement which appeals to human mind, we cannot treat it as mere error, superstition or hallucination. We must know that there is some supreme truth hidden behind such extreme stands. We must discover the truth behind them. Such a truth demands our loyal attention. We must not deny or exclude its true significance.
Herein lies the difficulty of a satisfying solution and the source of that lack of finality which pursues all mere compromises between Spirit and Matter. A compromise is a bargain, a transaction of interests between two conflicting powers; it is not a true reconciliation. True reconciliation proceeds always by a mutual comprehension leading to some sort of intimate oneness. It is therefore through the utmost possible unification of Spirit and Matter that we shall best arrive at their reconciling truth and so at some strongest foundation for a reconciling practice in the inner life of the individual and his outer existence.
EXPLANATION
Now, the question comes, how to arrive at a reconciling truth? We can always arrive at a compromise between the Spirit and Matter. Yet it cannot give us a final, satisfactory solution. In a compromise we only arrive at an interim solution. It is a kind of bargaining between two opposing sides.
What we need is a true reconciliation between matter and spirit. It is possible by mutual comprehension (understanding) leading to intimate oneness. By unification of spirit and matter we can arrive at their reconciling truth. Through unification we can lay some strongest foundation for the individual to lead an inner life that reconciles with his outer life.
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We have found already in the cosmic consciousness a meeting-place where Matter becomes real to Spirit, Spirit becomes real to Matter. For in the cosmic consciousness Mind and Life are intermediaries and no longer, as they seem in the ordinary egoistic mentality, agents of separation, fomenters of an artificial quarrel between the positive and negative principles of the same unknowable Reality.
EXPLANATION
We speak of opposition between Matter and Spirit. In fact, they are the positive and negative principles of the same unknowable Reality (Brahman). If that is the fact what create the division between the two? They are Mind and Life.
In our egoistic mentality we live separated by our mind and life. Now, rising above our egoistic consciousness to cosmic consciousness we experience that our mind and life are united. They become intermediaries like links in a chain. They are no longer separate. Our mind and life act as links between Matter and Spirit. They no longer act as instigators of artificial quarrel between the positive and negatives of Divine Reality which is unknowable.
Attaining to the cosmic consciousness Mind, illuminated by a knowledge that perceives at once the truth of Unity and the truth of Multiplicity and seizes on the formulae of their interaction, finds its own discords at once explained and reconciled by the divine Harmony; satisfied, it consents to become the agent of that supreme union between God and Life towards which we tend. Matter reveals itself to the realising thought and to the subtilised senses as the figure and body of Spirit, — Spirit in its self-formative extension. Spirit reveals itself through the same consenting agents as the soul, the truth, the essence of Matter. Both admit and confess each other as divine, real and essentially one.
EXPLANATION
How does Mind perceive in the state of cosmic consciousness?
Mind gets enlightened by a new Knowledge; at once it perceives the truth of unity and the truth of multiplicity. It gets at the root of the principle by which unity is represented in multiplicity. Mind at the lower level finds a discord between unity and multiplicity. But at the level of cosmic consciousness the discord is reconciled by divine Harmony. In a harmonic state without any division Mind becomes an agent of supreme union between God and Life (In the lower plane Mind creates division between God and Life).
How does matter reveal itself in cosmic consciousness?
We have seen earlier that Matter is also Brahman. But at a lower plane it does not reveal its reality. It appears only as matter. At the level of cosmic consciousness, the thought realises the true reality behind the matter; our senses become subtilized (meaning instead of perceiving gross matter they are able to perceive subtle matter). Then, the matter is revealed to them as the figure and body of Spirit. Matter is perceived as a self-formative extension of Spirit. (Remember Sri Aurobindo’s words in the chapter II: Eternal spirit is the inhabitant of this bodily mansion; our body is a fit and noble material from which he weaves his dress)
Our Mind and Life (acting as consenting agents) perceive the Spirit as the soul, the truth, the essence of Matter. Both Spirit and Matter realise that they are essentially one Divine Reality.
Mind and Life are disclosed in that illumination as at once figures and instruments of the supreme Conscious Being by which It extends and houses Itself in material form and in that form unveils Itself to Its multiple centres of consciousness. Mind attains its self-fulfilment when it becomes a pure mirror of the Truth of Being which expresses itself in the symbols of the universe; Life, when it consciously lends its energies to the perfect self-figuration of the Divine in ever-new forms and activities of the universal existence.
EXPLANATION
In the cosmic consciousness Mind and Life are revealed as at once figures and instruments of the supreme Conscious Being. The Supreme Being extends Itself by the Mind and Life in the material form. Through forms It appears as multiplicity. The Supreme reveals Itself to its multiple centres of consciousness – meaning, individual human beings.
Mind becomes a pure mirror of the Truth of Being and attains self-fulfilment. The Divine puts on new forms and participates in the activities of the universal existence by conscious support of the Life energy. By this Life attains self-fulfilment.
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In the light of this conception we can perceive the possibility of a divine life for man in the world which will at once justify Science by disclosing a living sense and intelligible aim for the cosmic and the terrestrial evolution and realise by the transfiguration of the human soul into the divine the great ideal dream of all high religions.
EXPLANATION
In the state of cosmic consciousness Spirit and Matter are perfectly harmonised. Mind and Life attain self-fulfilment. They become instruments of Divine Manifestation. In the light of this we can perceive of a divine life for man in the world. Then the cosmic and terrestrial evolution gains significance by acquiring a living sense and an intelligible aim for mankind. This justifies the ultimate goal of Science also. All religions have the ideal of complete change of human soul into the Divine. This ideal is well served with the possibility of a divine life for man.
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But what then of that silent Self, inactive, pure, self-existent, self-enjoying, which presented itself to us as the abiding justification of the ascetic? Here also harmony and not irreconcilable opposition must be the illuminative truth. The silent and the active Brahman are not different, opposite and irreconcilable entities, the one denying, the other affirming a cosmic illusion; they are one Brahman in two aspects, positive and negative, and each is necessary to the other.
EXPLANATION
We have seen in the previous chapter that when a yogi enters the gates of the Transcendent, he experiences the perfect Spirit, the pure Self, the inactive Brahman, the Transcendent Silence. The ascetic on reaching this state receives a sense of the unreality of the world and the sole reality of the Silence.
Does the inactive Brahman in Transcendent state and the active Brahman in manifestation at lower plane of cosmic consciousness contradict each other? Sri Aurobindo says it does not. The illuminative (throwing light) truth behind these two states is one of harmony than an irreconcilable opposition.
The Silent and active Brahman are not different. They are not opposite and irreconcilable – one accepting the cosmos and the other rejecting it. They are one Brahman in two aspects. Even though one is a positive and the other is a negative state both are complementary to each other.
It is out of this Silence that the Word which creates the worlds for ever proceeds; for the Word expresses that which is self-hidden in the Silence. It is an eternal passivity which makes possible the perfect freedom and omnipotence of an eternal divine activity in innumerable cosmic systems. For the becomings of that activity derive their energies and their illimitable potency of variation and harmony from the impartial support of the immutable Being, its consent to this infinite fecundity of its own dynamic Nature.
EXPLANATION
It is from the Silence, the Word that creates the worlds spring forth. (Sri Aurobindo refers by the term ‘Word’ – Om, the mantra or expressive sound symbol of the Brahman in its four domains. It denotes the creative energy of Brahman). What is self-hidden in Silence is expressed by the Word.
One state of Brahman is an eternal passivity (meaning – stillness, absence of any activity). It is this eternal passivity that makes possible the perfect freedom and all-powerfulness for an eternal divine activity. This activity is not only restricted to our world but extended to innumerable cosmic systems.
There are two states of Brahman, immutable (changeless, Akshara) and mutable (changing, Kshara). The immutable Being (Brahman) supports the mutable Being. Brahman in manifestation derives its energy and its capacity for variation and harmony from its immutable state. Immutable Brahman lends its impartial support to mutable Brahman. The dynamic nature of Brahman gives its consent to the infinite fecundity (ability to create a lot of new things).
Thus, Sri Aurobindo says there is one Reality behind the cosmic and transcendent states. There is no conflict between the two. There exists only harmony.
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Man, too, becomes perfect only when he has found within himself that absolute calm and passivity of the Brahman and supports by it with the same divine tolerance and the same divine bliss a free and inexhaustible activity. Those who have thus possessed the Calm within can perceive always welling out from its silence the perennial supply of the energies that work in the universe. It is not, therefore, the truth of the Silence to say that it is in its nature a rejection of the cosmic activity.
EXPLANATION
In the previous paragraph we have seen that the silent Brahman supports the active Brahman. We know that man has to perform various activities in his external life. As long as he lives activity cannot be stopped. Whether mere performance of activities will make the man perfect?
Sri Aurobindo states here that man becomes perfect only when he has found within himself the absolute calm and passivity of the Brahman and all his external activities are supported by the same divine tolerance and same divine bliss of the Brahman.
The perennial source of energy in the universe is always the Calm (a Divine quality) within. Therefore, it is wrong to say that Silence is the rejection of cosmic activity.
In absolute silence sleeps an absolute Power (Savitri – III.2.311.66)
The apparent incompatibility of the two states is an error of the limited Mind which, accustomed to trenchant oppositions of affirmation and denial and passing suddenly from one pole to the other, is unable to conceive of a comprehensive consciousness vast and strong enough to include both in a simultaneous embrace. The Silence does not reject the world; it sustains it. Or rather it supports with an equal impartiality the activity and the withdrawal from the activity and approves also the reconciliation by which the soul remains free and still even while it lends itself to all action.
EXPLANATION:
Still, we find that the two states, Silence and activity are mutually incompatible. This is due to the error of our limited Mind. Our Mind is always accustomed to sharp contrasts of affirmation and denial. It jumps from one pole to another. It does not possess a comprehensive consciousness which is vast and strong enough to embrace both Silence and Activity at the same time.
It is only Silence that supports the Universe; it does not reject it. It is impartial in its support to both activity and inactivity. The soul always remains free and still. Yet it involves itself in all action. Here there is reconciliation supported by Silence.
(It is pertinent to recall here what the Mother said about Silence and activity:
……The illusion of action is one of the greatest illusions of human nature. It hurts progress because it brings on you the necessity of rushing always into some excited movement…. Those who are thus rushing about are the tools of forces that make them dance for their own amusement. And they are not forces of the best quality either.
Whatever has been done in the world has been done by the very few who can stand outside the action in silence; for it is they who are the instruments of the Divine Power. They are dynamic agents, conscious instruments; they bring down the forces that change the world. Things can be done in that way, not by a restless activity. In peace, in silence and in quietness the world was built; and each time something is to be truly built, it is in peace and silence and quietness that it must be done – CWM: VOL 3:66-67)
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But, still, there is the absolute withdrawal, there is the Non-Being. Out of the Non-Being, says the ancient Scripture, Being appeared. Then into the Non-Being it must surely sink again. If the infinite indiscriminate Existence permits all possibilities of discrimination and multiple realisation, does not the Non-Being at least, as primal state and sole constant reality, negate and reject all possibility of a real universe? The Nihil of certain Buddhist schools would then be the true ascetic solution; the Self, like the ego, would be only an ideative formation by an illusory phenomenal consciousness.
EXPLANATION
Quoting Taittriya Upanishad Sri Aurobindo mentions that Being appeared out of Non-Being; and into the Non-Being it must vanish. Here there is absolute withdrawal of Being into the Non-Being.
The original (Being)Existence, which is unmanifest, is infinite and without any differentiation. When It manifests in the universe, it creates differentiation and multiplicity. Likewise, it is possible for one to take a view that nothing real can come out of the Non-Being which is the primary and fundamental state. It is the only constant reality that rejects and negates this universe as unreal.
If one takes that view then he will fall in line with the teaching of certain Buddhist schools which say that life has no intrinsic value or objective or meaning; there is nothing real that exists (Nihilism). The Self like our ego would be only a formation of idea; an illusion of our phenomenal (meaning – happening in space and time) consciousness. It would be a complete world rejecting solution.
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But again we find that we are being misled by words, deceived by the trenchant oppositions of our limited mentality with its fond reliance on verbal distinctions as if they perfectly represented ultimate truths and its rendering of our supramental experiences in the sense of those intolerant distinctions. Non-Being is only a word. When we examine the fact it represents, we can no longer be sure that absolute non-existence has any better chance than the infinite Self of being more than an ideative formation of the mind.
EXPLANATION
Sri Aurobindo portrays here the severe limitations of our mind which tries to bring everything under the rigid formula of our words. He says we are being misled by our words. Our mind deceives us by creating sharp oppositions between two apparently (not real) differing ideas. Our mind being limited has tendency to rely on verbal distinctions(contrasts). It believes that our words perfectly represent the ultimate truths. It is under the mistaken belief that our supra-mental experiences can be conveyed through the verbal distinctions (Sri Aurobindo qualifies them as intolerant – meaning, very narrow, refusing to accept anything beyond the scope of their definitions).
In the light of the above we see that Non-Being is only a word. If we examine the true facts, we will come to the conclusion that absolute non-existence has no real basis. It is also a formation of idea similar to the conclusion of Buddhist Nihilism which states that the infinite self does not exist; it is only an ideative formation of mind.
We really mean by this Nothing something beyond the last term to which we can reduce our purest conception and our most abstract or subtle experience of actual being as we know or conceive it while in this universe. This Nothing then is merely a something beyond positive conception.
EXPLANATION
Our purest conception is the Divine Being. Our experience of the Divine is the most abstract (meaning – existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete experience). We conceive of the Divine as subtle experience. We can reduce all the above conceptions of the Divine in a final term. If we can do that, then, this Nothing or Non-Being is still something beyond that term. It is something beyond all positive conception.
We erect a fiction of nothingness in order to overpass, by the method of total exclusion, all that we can know and consciously are. Actually when we examine closely the Nihil of certain philosophies, we begin to perceive that it is a zero which is All or an indefinable Infinite which appears to the mind a blank, because mind grasps only finite constructions, but is in fact the only true Existence.
EXPLANATION
Nothingness is a fiction erected by us. By that we overpass and exclude all that we know; all that we consciously are. The Zero of certain Nihilist philosophies, when examined closely, is All or an indefinable Infinite. The same appears to the mind a blank. Because mind can grasp only the finite and not the infinite. But It is the only true Existence.
The zero covers an immortal face ( Savitri- Book III: 2:311:61)
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And when we say that out of Non-Being Being appeared, we perceive that we are speaking in terms of Time about that which is beyond Time. For what was that portentous date in the history of eternal Nothing on which Being was born out of it or when will come that other date equally formidable on which an unreal all will relapse into the perpetual void? Sat and Asat, if they have both to be affirmed, must be conceived as if they obtained simultaneously. They permit each other even though they refuse to mingle. Both, since we must speak in terms of Time, are eternal. And who shall persuade eternal Being that it does not really exist and only eternal Non-Being is? In such a negation of all experience how shall we find the solution that explains all experience?
EXPLANATION
Earlier we read the statement that out of Non-Being, Being appeared. While making that statement we are describing an event in a sequence of time. But Being and Non-Being are concepts that are beyond Time.
Sri Aurobindo asks on what date of special significance in the history of eternal Nothing (if we take Non-Being as Nothing or Zero) It gave birth to Being? Nor can we say on what date of great importance an unreal all will vanish into the eternal void. Both are impossible paradoxes.
Sri Aurobindo mentions here that if we consider both Sat (Existence) and Asat (Non-Existence) as Truths they must be treated as if they exist simultaneously. They permit each other though they are different. They are eternal in terms of Time. There is no question of one giving birth to the other.
Can we deny an existence to the Being which is eternally present and affirm that only Non-Being is the reality? It amounts to complete negation of everything. Sri Aurobindo points out a paradox here. In a total negation we also negate all experience. When there is no experience how can we find a solution that explains all experience?
Sri Aurobindo exposes the vanity of human logic which wants to logicise things that are beyond the reach of human logic.
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Pure Being is the affirmation by the Unknowable of Itself as the free base of all cosmic existence. We give the name of Non-Being to a contrary affirmation of Its freedom from all cosmic existence, — freedom, that is to say, from all positive terms of actual existence which consciousness in the universe can formulate to itself, even from the most abstract, even from the most transcendent. It does not deny them as a real expression of Itself, but It denies Its limitation by all expression or any expression whatsoever.
EXPLANATION
The Unknowable is Something to us supreme, wonderful and ineffable which continually formulates Itself to our consciousness and continually escapes from the formulation It has made (Definition given by Sri Aurobindo). Unknowable is something that escapes all mental formula.
Pure Being (the Silent Self) is the free base of all cosmic existence. It is nothing but an affirmation by the Unknowable of Itself. Being is the term used to refer the status of existence of the Divine. We must note that the Divine has the freedom to be present as existence as well as beyond existence.
We give the name Non-Being which refers to Its freedom from all cosmic existence. Being is a positive term of cosmic existence. Non-Being is a contrary affirmation of Its freedom from all positive terms of actual existence. The fact of the reality exceeding our definition of being is described in the word non-being. It has been wrongly interpreted as meaning that the ultimate stage is where being is not, a non-existence.
The consciousness in the universe can formulate to itself some positive terms of actual existence even from the most abstract and the most transcendent. Yet the ultimate Reality escapes all such formulations. This freedom of not being limited by any expression or all expressions is the essence of Non-Being. It does not deny any expression of it but exceeds all expression.
The Non-Being permits the Being, even as the Silence permits the Activity. By this simultaneous negation and affirmation, not mutually destructive, but complementary to each other like all contraries, the simultaneous awareness of conscious Self-being as a reality and the Unknowable beyond as the same Reality becomes realisable to the awakened human soul. Thus was it possible for the Buddha to attain the state of Nirvana and yet act puissantly in the world, impersonal in his inner consciousness, in his action the most powerful personality that we know of as having lived and produced results upon earth.
EXPLANATION
We have seen in the earlier paragraph that Silence permits all activity. In the same way Non-Being permits Being. They are complementary to each other. An awakened human soul can become aware of the conscious Self-being as a Reality and an Unknowable beyond as the same Reality, simultaneously.
Buddha attained Nirvana (liberation). Yet his actions created a very powerful impact on the world. He was impersonal (meaning, having no personal existence) in his inner consciousness. Yet, sri Aurobindo says, Buddha lived as a powerful personality producing great results upon the world. Buddha’s inner liberation could permit all outer activities.
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When we ponder on these things, we begin to perceive how feeble in their self-assertive violence and how confusing in their misleading distinctness are the words that we use. We begin also to perceive that the limitations we impose on the Brahman arise from a narrowness of experience in the individual mind which concentrates itself on one aspect of the Unknowable and proceeds forthwith to deny or disparage all the rest.
EXPLANATION
Sri Aurobindo, again, highlights the inadequacy of the words in conveying the Truth. Though, with limited scope of expression, our words tend to exhibit ‘self-assertive violence’. It means we forcibly convey through our words the impression that we are right and other are wrong. Our words in trying to explain a thing or a phenomenon make it look distinct or different from the other. Such distinctions are often misleading.
We face the same problem when we try to describe the Brahman by our words. This happens because of the narrowness of experience by our individual mind. Our mind always concentrates itself on one aspect of the Unknowable. Holding on to this one aspect it vehemently rejects all the others. This is the defect of the human mind.
We tend always to translate too rigidly what we can conceive or know of the Absolute into the terms of our own particular relativity. We affirm the One and Identical by passionately discriminating and asserting the egoism of our own opinions and partial experiences against the opinions and partial experiences of others.
EXPLANATION
Each one has a different perception of things. It is purely relative to his way of looking at things. We conceive of the Absolute into the terms of our own particular relativity. This means the views change from person to person.
The Brahman is One (means, without a second) and Identical (means, It is the same for all). While affirming the Brahman, we discriminate it with passion against the perception of others. We assert the egoism of our opinions and our partial experiences against the opinions and partial experiences of others.
It is wiser to wait, to learn, to grow, and, since we are obliged for the sake of our self-perfection to speak of these things which no human speech can express, to search for the widest, the most flexible, the most catholic affirmation possible and found on it the largest and most comprehensive harmony.
EXPLANATION:
Why do we speak of the Brahman, the Divine Reality? It is for the sake of our self-perfection. While doing so we must have it in mind that we try to speak of things which no human speech can express. We must search for the widest, the most flexible and the most catholic affirmation possible. We must found on it the largest and most comprehensive harmony. It cannot be done on narrowness which will only promote division and disharmony.
Hence Sri Aurobindo advises us to wait, not to be hasty in our affirmation; to learn, not to act on our inadequate knowledge; to grow, not to have a limited view of things but to have an all-encompassing consciousness.
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We recognise, then, that it is possible for the consciousness in the individual to enter into a state in which relative existence appears to be dissolved and even Self seems to be an inadequate conception. It is possible to pass into a Silence beyond the Silence. But this is not the whole of our ultimate experience, nor the single and all-excluding truth. For we find that this Nirvana, this self-extinction, while it gives an absolute peace and freedom to the soul within is yet consistent in practice with a desireless but effective action without.
EXPLANATION
In a state of Nirvana there is dissolution of personal self. In that consciousness the relative existence seems to be dissolved. Even Self (Atman) seems to be an inadequate conception. In that state one can pass into a Silence beyond Silence.
Sri Aurobindo mentions here that this is not the whole of our ultimate experience. Nor the Nirvanic experience is the sole truth excluding all others. Nirvanic state gives an absolute peace and freedom to the soul within. Yet one can perform in that state an effective and desireless action externally.
This possibility of an entire motionless impersonality and void Calm within doing outwardly the works of the eternal verities, Love, Truth and Righteousness, was perhaps the real gist of the Buddha’s teaching, — this superiority to ego and to the chain of personal workings and to the identification with mutable form and idea, not the petty ideal of an escape from the trouble and suffering of the physical birth.
EXPLANATION
Sri Aurobindo mentions here the essentials of Buddha’s teaching:
It is possible for one to reach the state of an entire motionless impersonality; one can have an emptiness filled with calm within. Still outwardly one can do the works of eternal principles of truth reflecting Love, Truth and Righteousness.
Here one subordinates one’s ego. He is above the chain of personal workings (Karma). He surpasses all identification with mutable (that undergoes change, transient) form and idea. This is the central message of Buddha. It is not the petty ideal of escape from the trouble and suffering of physical birth.
In any case, as the perfect man would combine in himself the silence and the activity, so also would the completely conscious soul reach back to the absolute freedom of the Non-Being without therefore losing its hold on Existence and the universe. It would thus reproduce in itself perpetually the eternal miracle of the divine Existence, in the universe, yet always beyond it and even, as it were, beyond itself. The opposite experience could only be a concentration of mentality in the individual upon Non-existence with the result of an oblivion and personal withdrawal from a cosmic activity still and always proceeding in the consciousness of the Eternal Being.
EXPLANATION
As we have seen already a perfect man would act from the poise of silence within. So also, a completely conscious soul would reach back to the absolute freedom of Non-Being. Yet it would retain its hold on Existence and the universe. The soul would reproduce in itself perpetually the eternal miracle of the divine Existence in the universe. Yet it remains above its actions and above itself.
The opposite experience can happen if the individual mentality concentrates upon Non-Existence; the individual withdraws himself into oblivion; he withdraws himself from the cosmic activity still and always proceeds in the consciousness of the Eternal Being.
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Thus, after reconciling Spirit and Matter in the cosmic consciousness, we perceive the reconciliation, in the transcendental consciousness, of the final assertion of all and its negation. We discover that all affirmations are assertions of status or activity in the Unknowable; all the corresponding negations are assertions of Its freedom both from and in that status or activity.
EXPLANATION
The spirit and matter are reconciled in cosmic consciousness. All final assertions and negations are reconciled in Transcendent consciousness. All affirmations are assertions of status or activity in the Unknowable. All corresponding negations represent the freedom of the Unknowable. Freedom from what? Freedom from status or activity and freedom in that status and activity.
The Unknowable is Something to us supreme, wonderful and ineffable which continually formulates Itself to our consciousness and continually escapes from the formulation It has made. This it does not as some malicious spirit or freakish magician leading us from falsehood to greater falsehood and so to a final negation of all things, but as even here the Wise beyond our wisdom guiding us from reality to ever profounder and vaster reality until we find the profoundest and vastest of which we are capable. An omnipresent reality is the Brahman, not an omnipresent cause of persistent illusions.
EXPLANATION:
Sri Aurobindo here mentions the Unknowable as Something to us supreme, wonderful and ineffable (cannot be described in words). It continually formulates Itself to our consciousness. Yet It continually escapes from the formulation It has made.
This is not an act of some malicious spirit or the work of a strange magician. If that is so, it would lead us from falsehood to greater falsehood; it would lead us to a final negation of all things. But it is a greater Wisdom beyond ours guiding us from reality to ever profounder and vaster reality. It continues to lead us till we find the profoundest and the vastest of which we are capable.
Sri Aurobindo concludes this paragraph with a profound statement that an omnipresent reality is the Brahman, not an omnipresent cause of persistent illusions.
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If we thus accept a positive basis for our harmony — and on what other can harmony be founded? — the various conceptual formulations of the Unknowable, each of them representing a truth beyond conception, must be understood as far as possible in their relation to each other and in their effect upon life, not separately, not exclusively, not so affirmed as to destroy or unduly diminish all other affirmations.
EXPLANATION
We have seen various conceptual formulations (Buddhist, Monistic-Adwaitic, Vedantic) of the Unknowable. They are different approaches to the Unknowable. Yet we must find a harmony among these different paths. This harmony can be ensured only by accepting a positive basis behind all these conceptions regarding the Unknowable.
Each of them represents a truth beyond conception. Each must not be viewed as separate and exclusive truth. If we do so we will affirm the one and negate the other. Instead, each must be understood as far as possible in their relation to the other & in their effect upon life.
The real Monism, the true Adwaita, is that which admits all things as the one Brahman and does not seek to bisect Its existence into two incompatible entities, an eternal Truth and an eternal Falsehood, Brahman and not-Brahman, Self and not-Self, a real Self and an unreal, yet perpetual Maya. If it be true that the Self alone exists, it must be also true that all is the Self. And if this Self, God or Brahman is no helpless state, no bounded power, no limited personality, but the self-conscient All, there must be some good and inherent reason in it for the manifestation, to discover which we must proceed on the hypothesis of some potency, some wisdom, some truth of being in all that is manifested.
EXPLANATION
Sri Aurobindo describes here what true Adwaita (Real Monism) is:
It admits all things as one Brahman. It does not create a division of Itself into two incompatible (mutually not agreeable) entities like an eternal Truth and an eternal Falsehood, Brahman and not-Brahman, Self and not-Self, a real Self and an unreal Maya. It says Self alone exists. Then it is equally true that all is the Self. There is nothing which is not-Self.
This Self, God or Brahman is the self-conscient all. It is not a helpless state, not a power bounded within limits, not a limited personality. Then, there must be some good reason for the Brahman to manifest in the universe.
We can suppose that there is some potency (strength), some wisdom, some truth of being in all that is manifested in the universe. Proceeding on this hypothesis(assumption) we can discover the reason for the manifestation of Brahman.
The discord and apparent evil of the world must in their sphere be admitted, but not accepted as our conquerors. The deepest instinct of humanity seeks always and seeks wisely wisdom as the last word of the universal manifestation, not an eternal mockery and illusion, — a secret and finally triumphant good, not an all-creative and invincible evil, — an ultimate victory and fulfilment, not the disappointed recoil of the soul from its great adventure.
EXPLANATION:
If all that is manifested in the universe is Brahman, why do we come across discord and evil in the world? Is what we see in the world an eternal mockery (without any value) and an illusion? Is the evil we face all-creative and invincible? Is there no option for the soul than to be disappointed with the world and to withdraw itself from the world?
These are all logical questions that may arise in our minds. Sri Aurobindo gives answer to these questions in very clear terms. The deepest instinct of humanity always seeks:
– wisdom as a final result in universal manifestation not a persisting illusion
– a finally victorious good and not an evil that cannot be won
– an ultimate victory and fulfilment of the soul and not a disappointed withdrawal from the world.
Therefore, we can presume that the manifestation proceeds to realise the above human ideals as its final goal.
(Sri Aurobindo’s view on Mayavada & Adwaita: Source- Letters on Yoga – Part II: p. 391 & 447)
Mayavada & Shankara’s philosophy:
I do not agree with the view that the world is an illusion, mithya. The Brahman is here as well as in the supracosmic Absolute. The thing to be overcome is the Ignorance which makes us blind and prevents us from realising Brahman in the world as well as beyond it and the true nature of existence.
One used to think that Shankara’s philosophy was this that the Supreme Reality is a spaceless and timeless Absolute (Parabrahman) which is beyond all feature or quality, beyond all action or creation, and that the world is a creation of Maya, not absolutely unreal but real only in time and while one lives in time; once we get into a knowledge of the Reality we perceive that Maya and world and all in it have no abiding or true existence. It is, if not non-existent, yet false, jagat mithya; it is a mistake of the consciousness, it is and it is not. ……… If that is Shankara’s philosophy, it is to me unacceptable and incredible, however brilliantly ingenious it may be and however boldly and incisively reasoned; it does not satisfy my reason and it does not agree with my experience.
…. The Shankara knowledge is only one side of the Truth; it is the knowledge of the Supreme as realised by the spiritual Mind through the static silence of the pure Existence. It was because he went by this side only that Shankara was unable to accept or explain the origin of the universe except as illusion, a creation of Maya. Unless one realises the Supreme on the dynamic as well as the static side, one cannot experience the true origin of things and the equal reality of the active Brahman….
Adwaita
People are apt to speak of the Adwaita as if it were identical with Mayavada monism, just as they speak of Vedanta as if it were identical with Adwaita only; that is not the case. There are several forms of Indian philosophy which base themselves upon the One Reality, but they admit also the reality of the world, the reality of the Many, the reality of the differences of the Many as well as the sameness of the One (bhedabheda)….
This a Realistic Adwaita we actually see as the universal law of existence where oneness is always the basis with an endless multiplicity and difference in the oneness; as for instance there is one mankind but many kinds of man, one thing called leaf or flower but many forms, patterns, colours of leaf and flower.
……here is possible a realistic as well as an illusionist Adwaita. The philosophy of The Life Divine is such a realistic Adwaita.
PARAGRAPH 14
For we cannot suppose that the sole Entity is compelled by something outside or other than Itself, since no such thing exists. Nor can we suppose that It submits unwillingly to something partial within Itself which is hostile to its whole Being, denied by It and yet too strong for It; for this would be only to erect in other language the same contradiction of an All and something other than the All.
EXPLANATION
Sri Aurobindo concluded the previous paragraph with the statement that the soul will attain ultimate victory and fulfilment over adverse elements in the manifestation.
It is the Brahman, the sole entity that manifests in the universe. We cannot suppose that there exists something other than Brahman or outside Brahman that compels the Brahman to be otherwise. Because there is no such thing exists.
Also, we cannot presume that there exists something partial within Brahman that is hostile to its whole Being. We cannot also suppose the Brahman unwillingly submitting Itself to it; nor can we presume that the hostile element is denied by Brahman and yet too strong for It. Such a presumption would be a contradiction of All (Brahman) and something other than the All (Brahman).
Even if we say that the universe exists merely because the Self in its absolute impartiality tolerates all things alike, viewing with indifference all actualities and all possibilities, yet is there something that wills the manifestation and supports it, and this cannot be something other than the All.
EXPLANATION
We may even say that the Self is absolutely impartial to all things in the universe; It tolerates all things, good or bad, alike; It does not take interest in what happens in the Universe; It views all actualities and possibilities in the Universe with indifference.
Yet, the truth is, there is something behind all activities in the universe that wills the manifestation and supports it. Sri Aurobindo says this cannot be anything other than the All, the Brahman.
Brahman is indivisible in all things and whatever is willed in the world has been ultimately willed by the Brahman. It is only our relative consciousness, alarmed or baffled by the phenomena of evil, ignorance and pain in the cosmos, that seeks to deliver the Brahman from responsibility for Itself and its workings by erecting some opposite principle, Maya or Mara, conscious Devil or self-existent principle of evil. There is one Lord and Self and the many are only His representations and becomings.
EXPLANATIONS:
There is one Lord and Self in the universe. The Many we see around us are His becomings or representations. The Brahman is One and indivisible. Whatever is willed in the world has been ultimately willed by the Brahman.
But we live in our relative consciousness in the physical world. When we see evil, ignorance, pain and suffering around us we get perplexed. We say that some opposite principle Maya (illusion) or Mara (in Buddhism: the Destroyer, the Evil One) is responsible for it. Thereby we deliver the Brahman from responsibility for Itself.
PARAGRAPH 15
If then the world is a dream or an illusion or a mistake, it is a dream originated and willed by the Self in its totality and not only originated and willed, but supported and perpetually entertained. Moreover, it is a dream existing in a Reality and the stuff of which it is made is that Reality, for Brahman must be the material of the world as well as its base and continent. If the gold of which the vessel is made is real, how shall we suppose that the vessel itself is a mirage?
EXPLANATION
We have seen in the earlier paragraph that whatever is willed in the world is willed by the Brahman. Going by that, if world is a dream or an illusion it is originated and willed in the Brahman. Not only that, such a state is supported and entertained by the Brahman.
As the dream exists in Reality (Brahman) the material of which it is made is also the same Reality. Brahman is the material of the world and its base and continent (one that contains). If the gold out of which a vessel is made is real, then the vessel cannot be other than gold.
We see that these words, dream, illusion, are tricks of speech, habits of our relative consciousness; they represent a certain truth, even a great truth, but they also misrepresent it. Just as Non-Being turns out to be other than mere nullity, so the cosmic Dream turns out to be other than mere phantasm and hallucination of the mind. Phenomenon is not phantasm; phenomenon is the substantial form of a Truth.
EXPLANATION
We live in the physical world of relativity. By the habit our relative consciousness we use the words dream & illusion. They are nothing but tricks of speech. Sri Aurobindo says they do represent a certain truth, even a great truth. But they also misrepresent it.
We have earlier seen that Non-Being though misinterpreted as nullity, proved to be a Reality beyond Reality (Being). Similarly, the Cosmos appearing as Dream is not an illusion (wrong sensory perception) or a hallucination (apparent perception of something not present). Sri Aurobindo says cosmic phenomenon represents a substantial Truth and not a phantasm (something that is seen or imagined but is not real).
PARAGRAPH 16
We start, then, with the conception of an omnipresent Reality of which neither the Non-Being at the one end nor the universe at the other are negations that annul; they are rather different states of the Reality, obverse and reverse affirmations. The highest experience of this Reality in the universe shows it to be not only a conscious Existence, but a supreme Intelligence and Force and a self-existent Bliss; and beyond the universe it is still some other unknowable existence, some utter and ineffable Bliss.
EXPLANATION
We start with the fundamental concept of an omnipresent Reality. It is present both behind Non-Being in one end and the Universe at the other end. Now, we can perceive that these two are not opposite states cancelling each other. They are different states of the same Reality; obverse and reverse affirmations (like a coin).
How does one experience this Reality in the universe in the highest state?
It is not only a conscious Existence; but a supreme Intelligence and Force and a self-existent (without any external cause) Bliss.
How does one experience the same beyond the universe?
One can experience it beyond the universe as some other unknowable existence of utter and ineffable Bliss.
Therefore we are justified in supposing that even the dualities of the universe, when interpreted not as now by our sensational and partial conceptions, but by our liberated intelligence and experience, will be also resolved into those highest terms. While we still labour under the stress of the dualities, this perception must no doubt constantly support itself on an act of faith, but a faith which the highest Reason, the widest and most patient reflection do not deny, but rather affirm. This creed is given, indeed, to humanity to support it on its journey, until it arrives at a stage of development when faith will be turned into knowledge and perfect experience and Wisdom will be justified of her works.
EXPLANATION
We live in a world of dualities like truth and falsehood, good and evil, pleasure and pain, happiness and suffering. We are affected by them because of our sensational experience of them. We are unable to understand fully the significance behind these dualities.
Sri Aurobindo says we have to liberate our intelligence and experience from the clutches of our egoistic mentality and our sensations. If we do that, all the dualities will be resolved into Sachchidananda.
Unfortunately, till we attain that liberation we have to live under the stress of dualities. Yet we must not lose sight of this perception of our highest existence. To sustain it only our faith can come to our rescue. The nature of our faith should be such that our highest Reason must not deny it. Our most patient reflection (a serious thought or consideration about something) should affirm it.
How can one develop one’s faith? Sri Aurobindo says humanity is gifted with this set of beliefs to support it in its journey. A stage will be reached when faith will be turned into knowledge and perfect experience. Our life will be turned into the works of Wisdom (of Supreme Intelligence).