Study Notes
PARAGRAPH 39 Contd..,
For it can see the whole Time development from outside or from above the movement; it can take a stable position within the movement and see the before and the after in a fixed, determined or destined succession; or it can take instead a mobile position in the movement, itself move with it from moment to moment and see all that has happened receding back into the past and all that has to happen coming towards it from the future; or else it may concentrate on the moment it occupies and see nothing but what is in that moment and immediately around or behind it.
EXPLANATION
Because the Infinite Consciousness can see the whole Time development from outside or from above the movement. It can take a stable position within the movement and see the before and the after in a fixed, determined or destined succession.
Or it can take a mobile position in the movement, itself moving with it from moment to moment. It can see all that has happened receding back into the past and all that has to happen coming towards it from the future.
Or else it may concentrate on the present moment and see nothing but what is in that moment and immediately around or behind it.
All these positions can be taken by the being of the Infinite in a simultaneous vision or experience. It can see Time from above and inside Time, exceeding it and not within it; it can see the Timeless develop the Time-movement without ceasing to be timeless, it can embrace the whole movement in a static and a dynamic vision and put out at the same time something of itself into the moment-vision.
EXPLANATION
The being of the Infinite takes all these positions in a simultaneous vision or experience. It can see Time from above and inside Time, exceeding it and not within it. It can see the Timeless develop the Time-movement and yet it never ceases to be Timeless.
It can embrace the whole Time movement in a static and a dynamic vision. It can put out at the same time something of itself into the moment-vision.
This simultaneity may seem to the finite consciousness tied to the moment-vision a magic of the Infinite, a magic of Maya; to its own way of perception which needs to limit, to envisage one status only at a time in order to harmonise, it would give a sense of confused and inconsistent unreality. But to an infinite consciousness such an integral simultaneity of vision and experience would be perfectly logical and consistent; all could be elements of a whole-vision capable of being closely related together in a harmonious arrangement, a multiplicity of view bringing out the unity of the thing seen, a diverse presentation of concomitant aspects of the One Reality.
EXPLANATION
Our mental consciousness is finite. It is tied to the moment-vision or the particular moment. This simultaneous awareness of past, present and future of the Infinite appears to the limited mind as a magic of Maya.
Our mind is tied to its own way of perception which needs to limit itself. It can envisage one status only at a time in order to harmonise. Therefore, the simultaneous awareness of the three states of Time would give a sense of confused and inconsistent unreality to our mind.
But to an infinite consciousness such an integral simultaneity of vision and experience would be perfectly logical and consistent. All would be constituent elements of a whole-vision. They could be capable of being closely related together in a harmonious arrangement. Here it is seen as a multiplicity of view bringing out the unity of the thing seen. It is a diverse presentation of co-existing aspects of the One Divine Reality.
PARAGRAPH 40
If there can be this simultaneous multiplicity of self-presentation of one Reality, we see that there is no impossibility in the coexistence of a Timeless Eternal and a Time Eternity. It would be the same Eternity viewed by a dual self-awareness and there could be no opposition between them; it would be a correlation of two powers of the self-awareness of the infinite and eternal Reality,—a power of status and non-manifestation, a power of self-effecting action and movement and manifestation.
EXPLANATION
We have seen in the previous paragraph that the Divine Reality can have three different states of its consciousness with regard to its own eternity. It can present itself in simultaneous multiplicity.
In that case it is quite possible that a Timeless Eternal and a Time Eternity can coexist. It would be the same Eternity viewed by a dual self-awareness (Timeless and Time) without any opposition between them.
It would be a correlation of two powers of the self-awareness of the infinite and eternal Reality – a power of status and non-manifestation on one side and and a power of self-effecting action and movement and manifestation on the other side.
Their simultaneity, however contradictory and difficult to reconcile it might seem to our finite surface seeing, would be intrinsic and normal to the Maya or eternal self-knowledge and all-knowledge of Brahman, the eternal and infinite knowledge and wisdom-power of the Ishwara, the consciousness-force of the self-existent Sachchidananda.
EXPLANATION
The simultaneous statuses of consciousness that the Divine Reality assumes would seem contradictory and difficult to reconcile to our finite surface seeing. Yet that would be intrinsic and normal to the Maya or eternal self-knowledge and all-knowledge of Brahman, the eternal and infinite knowledge and wisdom-power of the Ishwara, the consciousness-force of the self-existent Sachchidananda.