Study Notes
PARAGRAPH 17
As with the cause,—the Ignorance,—so is it with the consequences of the Ignorance. All this that seems to us incapacity, weakness, impotence, limitation of power, our will’s hampered struggle and fettered labour, takes from the point of view of the Divine in his self-workings the aspect of a just limitation of an omniscient power by the free will of that Power itself so that the surface energy shall be in exact correspondence with the work that it has to do, with its attempt, its allotted success or its destined because necessary failure, with the balance of the sum of forces in which it is a part and with the larger result of which its own results are an indivisible portion.
EXPLANATION
We have seen in the earlier paragraph that the action of the ignorance is no real ignorance. But it is a power, a sign, a proof of an omniscient self-knowledge and all-knowledge.
The same is true with the consequences of the Ignorance. What seems to us incapacity, weakness, impotence, limitation of power and our will, our restrained labour are derived from the aspect of a just (proper, exact) limitation of an omniscient power. This limitation is self-imposed by the free will of that Power itself.
Why does the Divine have to limit its power in its self-workings? It does so in order to ensure that the surface energy shall be in exact correspondence with the work that it has to do. It matches the energy exactly in proportion to its attempted work, its allotted success or its failure (because failure also is necessary in certain circumstances).
When the Divine applies itself in its self-workings only a portion of its energy is engaged with the work and the balance of the sum of forces is withheld. Whatever result it produces is only an indivisible portion of the larger result. Therefore the limitation of power is done in correspondence with the balance sum of forces held at the back and with its larger result.
Behind this limitation of power is the All-Power and in the limitation that All-Power is at work; but it is through the sum of many limited workings that the indivisible Omnipotence executes infallibly and sovereignly its purposes. This power to limit its force and to work through that self-limitation, by what we call labour, struggle, difficulty, by what seems to us a series of failures or half-baulked successes and through them to achieve its secret intention, is not therefore a sign, proof or reality of weakness, but a sign, proof, reality— the greatest possible—of an absolute omnipotence.
EXPLANATION
Behind this limitation of power is the All-Power. All power is at work in the limitation. The Divine acts in this world through many limited workings. Through all these limited workings the indivisible Omnipotence executes infallibly (without mistake) and sovereignly its purposes.
The Divine uses Its power to limit its force; It works through that self-limitation. This self-limitation is what we call labour, struggle, difficulty, series of failures or half-reluctant successes. Through all these the Divine achieves its secret intention. This limitation is therefore not a sign, proof or reality of weakness. But it is a sign, proof, the greatest possible reality of an absolute omnipotence.
PARAGRAPH 18
As to suffering, which is so great a stumbling-block to our understanding of the universe, it is evidently a consequence of the limitation of consciousness, the restriction of force which prevents us from mastering or assimilating the touch of what is to us other-force: the result of this incapacity and disharmony is that the delight of the touch cannot be seized and it affects our sense with a reaction of discomfort or pain, a defect or excess, a discord resultant in inner or outer injury, born of division between our power of being and the power of being that meets us.
EXPLANATION
Next Sri Aurobindo takes up the question of suffering. It is true that suffering acts as a great stumbling-block to our understanding of the universe. He says, suffering is evidently a consequence of the limitation of consciousness. There is a restriction of force which prevents us from mastering or assimilating the touch of what appears to us as the other-force.
Because of this incapacity and disharmony we are unable to seize the delight of the touch. It affects our sense with a reaction of discomfort or pain. We either feel a defect or an excess. There is a discord as a result of an inner or outer injury. This is because of the division between our power of being and the power of being that meets us.
(Each form, each one of us represents a certain limited formation of force, of consciousness. We are exposed always to impacts, contacts of other formations of force, of consciousness, particularly on a universal scale and when we are unable to meet those contacts, to front these impacts and bear them, we react with shrinking, a withdrawal or depression, we suffer. Now if our fund of consciousness and force were adequate to receive and hold the contacts or the impacts of other consciousnesses and forces, there would be only an exchange of joy, exchange of delight, because behind the consciousness, behind the force, there is this stream of delight – Shri M.P.Pandit: Talks on the Life Divine: Vol II : p. 51)
Behind in our self and spirit is the All-Delight of the universal being which takes its account of the contact, a delight first in the enduring and then in the conquest of the suffering and finally in its transmutation that shall come hereafter; for pain and suffering are a perverse and contrary term of the delight of existence and they can turn into their opposite, even into the original All- Delight, Ananda. This All-Delight is not present in the universal alone, but it is here secret in ourselves, as we discover when we go back from our outward consciousness into the Self within us; the psychic being in us takes its account even of its most perverse or contrary as well as its more benign experiences and grows by the rejection of them or acceptance; it extracts a divine meaning and use from our most poignant sufferings, difficulties, misfortunes.
EXPLANATION
There is the All-Delight of the universal being behind, in our self and spirit. It takes its account of the contact. There is delight first in enduring the suffering. Next there is delight in the conquest of the suffering. Finally there is delight in transmutation of suffering into bliss that shall come hereafter.
Because pain and suffering are a perverse and contrary term of the delight of existence. They can turn into their opposite (pleasure), even into the original All-Delight, Ananda.
This All-Delight is not present in the universal alone. But it is here secret in ourselves. We discover this All-Delight in ourselves when we go back from our outward consciousness into the Self within us. The psychic being in us takes its account even of its most perverse or contrary as well as its more benign experiences. It grows by the rejection of them or acceptance of them.
Our psychic being extracts a divine meaning and use from our most pitiful sufferings, difficulties, misfortunes.
(Suffering is how our external being renders a particular contact, a particular experience, but the soul in us, the psychic being, registers the same experience in a different manner. What we feel to be suffering, the inner soul, the psychic being may not, and normally does not, experience as suffering. It renders it differently, constitutes it as a part of its experience which adds to its evolution. What we feel to be suffering on the surface renders itself as an element of growth, an element of strength inside. So there is this distinction between the reception and the rendering of the experience inside and outside. From a certain point of view what we feel as suffering contributes more to the rapid growth of the soul than pleasurable contacts – Shri M.P.Pandit: Talks on the Life Divine: Vol II : p. 52)
Nothing but this All-Delight could dare or bear to impose such experiences on itself or on us; nothing else could turn them thus to its own utility and our spiritual profit. So too nothing but an inalienable harmony of being inherent in an inalienable unity of being would throw out so many harshest apparent discords and yet force them to its purpose so that in the end they are unable to do anything else but to serve and secure, and even themselves change into elements that constitute, a growing universal rhythm and ultimate harmony.
EXPLANATION
Because this All-Delight is present in us, it could dare or bear to impose such experiences as sufferings, misfortunes on itself or on us. Nothing else than this All-Delight could turn them thus to its own utility and to our spiritual profit.
There is an inalienable (inseparable) harmony of being inherent in an inalienable unity of being. It throws out so many harshest apparent discords. Yet it forces them to its purpose so that in the end they would not do anything else than to serve and secure a growing universal rhythm and ultimate harmony. They, even, themselves change into elements that constitute the harmony.