REALITY OMNIPRESENT
SYNOPSIS
- Taittriya Upanishad – It is possible to experience Brahman as the Reality that is omnipresent. It is equally possible to experience Brahman as not this Existence alone but something more – Brahman the Non-Being. If one confines to the Brahman the Non-Being he sees the Brahman as Reality and the whole world as not existent. If one realises Brahman is all and is everywhere his life gains significance.
- Denial of the materialist and the refusal of the ascetic are extreme viewpoints. Sri Aurobindo says whenever there is an extreme view 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.
- Spirit and Matter represent extreme ends. Only by their unification we shall best arrive at their reconciling truth. It can be done by expanding our individual egoistic consciousness to cosmic consciousness. Cosmic consciousness is a meeting-place where Matter becomes real to Spirit, Spirit becomes real to Matter.
- Mind and Life are divided at our individual level. In cosmic consciousness they become the instruments of the supreme Conscious Being. Mind no more finds discord between Unity and Multiplicity. Life fulfils itself by supporting Divine manifestation. Matter becomes extension of Spirit.
- In the light of the above conception, human soul is transfigured into the Divine. Divine life for man becomes possible in the world.
- Transcendent consciousness is still higher to cosmic consciousness. The Silent, Static Brahman at the Transcendent and the Active Brahman in manifestation are two aspects of one Brahman. They are not different.
- The worlds proceed from Silence. Eternal passivity makes possible eternal activity. Immutable Brahman lends its impartial support to mutable Brahman.
- Man becomes perfect only when his external activities are supported by calm and passivity of Brahman within. The Silence within is the perennial supplier of energy for work outside in the universe. Silence supports cosmic activity. The incompatibility between Silence and activity is due to the error of our limited mind.
- Beyond Transcendent Being there is Non-Being. Non-Being is not Non-existence. It is a wrong interpretation, on which is based the Nihil (Void,Shunya) of certain Buddhist schools.
- Only our words create distinction between Non-Being and Being. Both represent the same reality. Non-being represents something beyond and something more than what is known as Being. Zero is not negation but It represents the indefinable infinite that appears to mind as blank. Because mind can grasp only the finite.
- Non-Being & Being are eternal concepts, beyond time. There is no truth in the statement that Being appeared out of Non-Being in time sequence. Both exist simultaneously in eternity. Both permit each other. The awakened soul of Buddha attained Nirvana. Yet his powerful action produced great results in the world.
- Our words mislead and confuse with self-assertive violence. Our narrowness of experience in mind impose limitations on Brahman. It concentrates one aspect of Brahman denying all the rest.
- Our egoistic opinions and partial experiences affirm the one and deny the rest. When we speak of the Divine, we speak of something no words can express. Hence it is wiser to wait, not to jump to conclusions and to make a comprehensive, all-encompassing statement.
- It is possible for the individual consciousness to pass into a Silence beyond Silence, into a state of Nirvana. It gives absolute peace and freedom to the soul within. Yet one can carry out a desireless and effective action in external world based on Love, Truth and Righteousness. Here ego is absent. This forms the core of Buddha’s teaching. Not escaping from world.
- In cosmic consciousness Spirit and Matter are reconciled. In Transcendent consciousness all assertions and negations are reconciled. Affirmations are assertions of status or activity in the Unknowable. Negations are freedom from and in that status or activity.
- The Unknowable is something which continually formulates Itself to our consciousness and continually escapes from the formulation It has made. It is not an act of magic. Omnipresent Reality is Brahman and not an omnipresent cause of illusions.
- The true Adwaita, real Monism admits all things as one Brahman. Not as, Brahman and not-Brahman, Self and not-self. Brahman is self-conscient All and not a limited personality.
- The discord and apparent evil in the world are to be admitted; not as conquerors. Because deepest instinct of humanity always seeks wisdom, a finally triumphant good and victory and fulfilment of the soul.
- We cannot suppose that Brahman is compelled by something outside Itself; nor does it submit itself to something partial within Itself. Both are contradictions of an All. There is something in the Universe that wills the manifestation. It cannot be something than the All.
- Whatever is willed in the world has been ultimately willed by the Brahman. Our relative consciousness baffled by evil, ignorance and pain in the cosmos seeks to deliver Brahman from responsibility for Itself and erects some opposite principle like Maya or conscious devil or principle of evil.
- If world is an illusion or dream it is originated and willed by the Self. Brahman is Reality. Dream existing in Brahman is also reality. Dream, illusion are tricks of speech. They both represent and misrepresent the truth. Phenomenon is a Truth and not a phantasm (as supposed by Mayavadins).
- Non-Being on one hand and the Universe on the other represent the same Omnipresent reality- obverse and reverse affirmations. This Reality is experienced as Supreme Intelligence and Force and a self-existent Bliss in the universe and some utter and ineffable Bliss beyond the universe.
- With the liberation of our intelligence and experience all the dualities of the universe will be resolved into Sachchidananda. While we still labour under the stress of dualities of our world the perception of higher consciousness must support itself on an act of faith- a faith supported by our highest reason. This belief is gifted to humanity to support it in its journey till it arrives a stage when faith is replaced by knowledge and perfect experience.