Study Notes
PARAGRAPH 28
The sharp opposition made between personality and impersonality by our mental way of thinking is a creation of the mind based on the appearances of the material world; for here in terrestrial existence the Inconscient from which everything takes its origin appears as something entirely impersonal; Nature, the inconscient Energy, is entirely impersonal in her manifest essence and dealings; all Forces wear this mask of impersonality, all qualities and powers, Love and Delight and Consciousness itself, have this aspect.
EXPLANATION
The sharp opposition made between personality and impersonality is the creation of our mind. Because our mind comes to a conclusion based on the appearances of the material world which may not always be true.
In the material world everything has its origin in Inconscient. Everything originates from Matter. The Inconscient is entirely impersonal. Nature, which is the inconscient energy, is impersonal in her manifest essence and dealings. All Forces wear this mask of impersonality. All qualities and powers, Love and Delight and Consciousness itself have this aspect of impersonality.
Personality makes its apparition as a creation of consciousness in an impersonal world; it is a limitation by a restricted formation of powers, qualities, habitual forces of the nature-action, an imprisonment in a limited circle of self-experience which we have to transcend,—to lose personality is necessary if we are to gain universality, still more necessary if we are to rise into the Transcendence.
EXPLANATION
Personality becomes visible as a creation of consciousness in an impersonal world. The personality is infact a limitation by a restricted formation of powers, qualities, habitual forces of the nature-action. It is an imprisonment in a limited circle of self-experience.
Since personality is a limitation we have to transcend – go beyond it. An individual who wants to universalise himself, has to lose his personality. It is all the more important if he has to rise into the Transcendence.
But what we thus call personality is only a formation of superficial consciousness; behind it is the Person who takes on various personalities, who can have at the same time many personalities but is himself one, real, eternal. If we look at things from a larger point of view, we might say that what is impersonal is only a power of the Person: existence itself has no meaning without an Existent, consciousness has no standing-place if there is none who is conscious, delight is useless and invalid without an enjoyer, love can have no foundation or fulfilment if there is no lover, all-power must be otiose if there is not an Almighty.
EXPLANATION
What we call personality is only a formation of superficial consciousness. Behind the personality it is the Person who takes on various personalities. He is one, real, eternal and at the same time can have many personalities.
From a larger point of view we can say, what is impersonal in only a power of the Person. Existence has no meaning without an Existent. Consciousness has no meaning if there is none who is conscious. Delight is useless and invalid without a person who enjoys it. Love can have no foundation or fulfilment without the lover. All-power is useless if there is not an Almighty. There is no impersonality without person.
For what we mean by Person is conscious being; even if this emerges here as a term or product of the Inconscient, it is not that in reality: for it is the Inconscient itself that is a term of the secret Consciousness; what emerges is greater than that in which it emerges, as Mind is greater than Matter, Soul than Mind; Spirit, most secret of all, the supreme emergence, the last revelation, is the greatest of all, and Spirit is the Purusha, the All-Person, the omnipresent Conscious Being.
EXPLANATION
What we mean by Person is conscious being. One may say the conscious being itself is a term or product of the Inconscient (Matter to life to mind). But in reality it is not so. Because what we call the Inconscient is itself a term of the secret Consciousness. Consciousness is prior to everything and is involved secretly in everything.
In the evolution of Consciousness we find what emerges is greater than that in which it emerges; Mind emerges in Matter and is greater than it; Soul emerges in Mind and is greater than it. The supreme emergence, the most secret of all, the last revelation, the greatest of all is the Spirit. The Spirit is the Purusha, the All-Person, the omnipresent Conscious Being.
It is the mind’s ignorance of this true Person in us, its confusion of person with our experience of ego and limited personality, the misleading phenomenon of the emergence of limited consciousness and personality in an inconscient existence that have made us create an opposition between these two aspects of the Reality, but in truth there is no opposition.
EXPLANATION
Our mind is ignorant of the true Person in us. It confuses the person with our experience of ego and limited personality. Our limited personality is the misleading phenomenon of the emergence of limited consciousness and personality in an inconscient existence. All this has made us create an opposition between the Personal and Impersonal aspects of the Reality. But in truth there is no opposition.
An eternal infinite self-existence is the supreme reality, but the supreme transcendent eternal Being, Self and Spirit,—an infinite Person, we may say, because his being is the essence and source of all personality,—is the reality and meaning of self-existence: so too the cosmic Self, Spirit, Being, Person is the reality and meaning of cosmic existence; the same Self, Spirit, Being or Person manifesting its multiplicity is the reality and meaning of individual existence.
EXPLANATION
There is the supreme transcendent eternal Being, the Self and Spirit. We may call him an Infinite person because his being is the essence and source of all personality. He is the reality and meaning of self-existence.
Likewise the cosmic Self, Spirit, Being, Person is the reality and meaning of cosmic existence.
The same Self, Spirit, Being or Person manifesting in multiplicity is the reality and meaning of individual existence.
PARAGRAPH 29
If we admit the Divine Being, the supreme Person and All- Person as the Ishwara, a difficulty arises in understanding his rule or government of world-existence, because we immediately transfer to him our mental conception of a human ruler; we picture him as acting by the mind and mental will in an omnipotent arbitrary fashion upon a world on which he imposes his mental conceptions as laws, and we conceive of his will as a free caprice of his personality.
EXPLANATION
We may accept the Divine Being, the supreme Person and All-Person as the Ishwara. Then a difficulty arises in our understanding of his governance of world existence. It is because we immediately impose our mental conception on him as a human ruler.
We picture him acting by his mind and mental will in an omnipotent arbitrary way upon the world. We think of him imposing his mental conceptions as laws on the world. We conceive of his will as an unexplainable behaviour of his personality.
But there is no need for the Divine Being to act by an arbitrary will or idea as an omnipotent yet ignorant human being—if such an omnipotence were possible—might do: for he is not limited by mind; he has an all-consciousness in which he is aware of the truth of all things and aware of his own all-wisdom working them out according to the truth that is in them, their significance, their possibility or necessity, the imperative selfness of their nature.
EXPLANATION
We must understand that there is no need for the Divine to act by an arbitrary will or idea as an omnipotent yet ignorant human being might do. First of all, such an omnipotence veiled by ignorance is not possible.
Because the Divine is not limited by Mind. He has an all-consciousness in which he is aware of the truth of all things. He is aware of his own all-wisdom. He works out things according to the truth that is in them, their significance, their possibility or necessity, the imperative selfness of their nature (svabhava & svadharma).
The Divine is free and not bound by laws of any making, but still he acts by laws and processes because they are the expression of the truth of things,—not their mechanical, mathematical or other outward truth alone, but the spiritual reality of what they are, what they have become and have yet to become, what they have it within themselves to realise. He is himself present in the working, but he also exceeds and can overrule it; for on one side Nature works according to her limited complex of formulas and is informed and supported in their execution by the Divine Presence, but on the other side there is an overseeing, a higher working and determination, even an intervention, free but not arbitrary, often appearing to us magical and miraculous because it proceeds and acts upon Nature from a divine Supernature: Nature here is a limited expression of that Supernature and open to intervention or mutation by its light, its force, its influence.
EXPLANATION
The Divine is free and is not bound by any laws. But still he acts by laws and processes which are expressions of the truth of things. It is not the mechanical, mathematical or other outward truth alone.
The truth of things by which the Divine acts is the spiritual reality of what they are, what they have become, what they have it within themselves to realise.
The Divine is himself present in the working. At the same time he can also exceed and overrule the working.
On one side Nature works according to her limited complex of formulas. She is imparted with knowledge and supported in their execution by the Divine Presence. On the other side, there is an overseeing, a higher working and determination; there is even an intervention which is free but not arbitrary.
This intervention often seems to us magical and miraculous. Because it proceeds and acts upon Nature from a divine Supernature. Nature here is a limited expression of that Supernature. It is open intervention or mutation by the light, force and influence of Supernature.
The mechanical, mathematical, automatic law of things is a fact, but within it there is a spiritual law of consciousness at work which gives to the mechanical steps of Nature’s forces an inner turn and value, a significant rightness and a secretly conscious necessity, and above it there is a spiritual freedom that knows and acts in the supreme and universal truth of the Spirit.
EXPLANATION
We find mechanical, mathematical, automatic law of things in the working of Nature. Yet within such working there is a spiritual law of consciousness at work. It gives to the mechanical steps of Nature’s forces an inner turn and value. It gives a significant rightness and a secretly conscious necessity.
There is a spiritual freedom above it that knows and acts in the supreme and universal truth of the Spirit.
Our view of the divine government of the world or of the secret of its action is either incurably anthropomorphic or else incurably mechanical; both the anthropomorphism and mechanism have their elements of truth, but they are only a side, an aspect, and the real truth is that the world is governed by the One in all and over all who is infinite in his consciousness and it is according to the law and logic of an infinite consciousness that we ought to understand the significance and building and movement of the universe.
EXPLANATION
How do we view the governance of the world by the Divine? We attribute human traits, emotions or intentions to the Divine acts (anthropomorphic). Or we simply treat them as mechanical. Though both these views have elements of truth in them, they are only a side, an aspect.
The real truth is that the world is governed by the One in all and overall; he is infinite in his consciousness. According to the law and logic of an infinite consciousness we must understand the significance and building and movement of the universe.