Study Notes
PARAGRAPH 11
A new factor, a new action of conscious force is therefore needed to create the operation of a helplessly limited as opposed to a freely limiting mind, —that is to say, of mind subject to its own play and deceived by it as opposed to mind master of its own play and viewing it in its truth, the creature mind as opposed to the divine. That new factor is Avidya, the self-ignoring faculty which separates the action of mind from the action of the supermind that originated and still governs it from behind the veil. Thus separated, Mind perceives only the particular and not the universal, or conceives only the particular in an unpossessed universal and no longer both particular and universal as phenomena of the Infinite. Thus we have the limited mind which views every phenomenon as a thing-in-itself, separate part of a whole which again exists separately in a greater whole and so on, enlarging always its aggregates without getting back to the sense of a true infinity.
EXPLANATION
Avidya is the new action of conscious force needed to create the operation of a helplessly limited mind – a mind subject to its own play and deceived by it. On the contrary a freely limiting mind is the master of its own play and views it in its truth. Sri Aurobindo calls this limited mind as creature mind and the free mind as the divine mind. It is the action of conscious force that creates the ignorance.
Avidya is the self-ignoring faculty that separates the action of the mind from the action of the supermind. It is the supermind that originated the mind and governs it from behind the veil. (Self-ignoring means the self of unity is put behind. And this is the beginning of Avidya which later develops into a movement of ignorance. Philosophically it is explained as an exclusive concentration of consciousness in each particular form, so that for the moment, you forget everything else; at any rate you put aside everything else behind and you are exclusively concentrated in that state. This is the beginning of ignorance – Shri M.P.Pandit: Talks on The Life Divine, p. 118)
The separated Mind perceives only the particular and not the universal. It does not conceive both particular and universal as phenomena of the Infinite. The limited mind views every phenomenon as a thing-in-itself. It views it as a separate part of a whole which again exists separately in a greater whole. This goes on, enlarging always its aggregates (wholes) without getting back to the sense of a true infinity.
PARAGRAPH 12
Mind, being an action of the Infinite, depieces as well as aggregates ad infinitum. It cuts up being into wholes, into ever smaller wholes, into atoms and those atoms into primal atoms, until it would, if it could, dissolve the primal atom into nothingness. But it cannot, because behind this dividing action is the saving knowledge of the supramental which knows every whole, every atom to be only a concentration of all-force, of all-consciousness, of all-being into phenomenal forms of itself. The dissolution of the aggregate into an infinite nothingness at which Mind seems to arrive, is to the Supermind only the return of the self-concentrating conscious-being out of its phenomenon into its infinite existence. Whichever way its consciousness proceeds, by the way of infinite division or by the way of infinite enlargement, it arrives only at itself, at its own infinite unity and eternal being.
EXPLANATION
Mind is an action of the Infinite. It depieces (makes into piece) as well as aggregates (make into whole) endlessly. Mind cuts the being into wholes, into ever smaller wholes and into atoms. It further cuts the atoms into primal atoms. It would further dissolve the primal atoms into nothingness if that could be possible.
But the Mind cannot end up in creating nothingness. Because, there is a saving action of Supermind behind the dividing action of the Mind. The supermind knows every whole, every atom to be only a concentration of all-force (Chit-shakti), of all-consciousness (Chit), all-being (Sat) into phenomenal forms of itself.
Mind seems to arrive at nothingness by dissolution of the aggregate. But to the Supermind it is the return of the self-concentrating conscious-being out of its phenomenon into its infinite existence; what has come out of the infinite into a phenomenon returns back to its source, the infinite.
The consciousness proceeds by way of infinite division or by way of infinite enlargement. In either way it arrives only at itself, at its own infinite unity and eternal being.
And when the action of the mind is consciously subordinate to this knowledge of the supermind, the truth of the process is known to it also and not at all ignored; there is no real division but only an infinitely multiple concentration into forms of being and into arrangements of the relation of those forms of being to each other in which division is a subordinate appearance of the whole process necessary to their spatial and temporal play. For divide as you will, get down to the most infinitesimal atom or form the most monstrous possible aggregate of worlds and systems, you cannot get by either process to a thing-in-itself; all are forms of a Force which alone is real in itself while the rest are real only as self-imagings or manifesting self-forms of the eternal Force-consciousness.
EXPLANATION
The mind also comes to know the truth of the process when its action becomes consciously subordinate to this knowledge of the supermind. The truth of the infinite unity and eternal existence of the consciousness is not ignored by the mind. In that case there is no real division. There is only an infinitely multiple concentration into forms of being. Also there is multiple concentration into arrangements of the relation of those forms of being to each other. Here the division is a subordinate appearance of the whole process.
Such a division is necessary for their spatial (relating to space) and temporal (relating to time) play. By dividing we can get down to the most infinitesimal atom. Or we can form the most gigantic aggregate of the worlds and systems. Yet, we cannot get by either process to the thing-in-itself (the inmost Reality). All are forms of a Force which alone is real in itself. The rest are only self-imagings or manifesting self-forms of the eternal Force-consciousness (Chit-shakti).
PARAGRAPH 13
Whence then does the limiting Avidya, the fall of mind from Supermind and the consequent idea of real division originally proceed? exactly from what perversion of the supramental functioning? It proceeds from the individualised soul viewing everything from its own standpoint and excluding all others; it proceeds, that is to say, by an exclusive concentration of consciousness, an exclusive self-identification of the soul with a particular temporal and spatial action which is only a part of its own play of being; it starts from the soul’s ignoring the fact that all others are also itself, all other action its own action and all other states of being and consciousness equally its own as well as the action of the one particular moment in Time and one particular standing-point in Space and the one particular form it presently occupies.
EXPLANATION
We have seen in the earlier paragraph that it is the supermind that originated the mind and governs it from behind the veil. Such being the case, when does the fall of mind from supermind start? Because such a fall created the limiting Avidya and the consequent idea of real division.
The fall starts from the individual soul viewing everything from its own stand point and excluding all others. There is an exclusive concentration of consciousness. There is an exclusive self-identification of soul with a particular time-bound and space-bound action which is only a part of its own play of being.
It starts from the soul’s ignoring the fact that all others are also itself; all other actions are its own action. It ignores the fact that all other states of being and consciousness are equally its own as well as the action of one particular moment in time and one particular stand-point in space and one particular form it presently occupies. In other words there is an exclusive concentration in one particular moment of time; there is an exclusive concentration in one particular point in space; there is an exclusive concentration in one particular form.
It concentrates on the moment, the field, the form, the movement so as to lose the rest; it has then to recover the rest by linking together the succession of moments, the succession of points of Space, the succession of forms in Time and Space, the succession of movements in Time and Space. It has thus lost the truth of the indivisibility of Time, the indivisibility of Force and Substance. It has lost sight even of the obvious fact that all minds are one Mind taking many standpoints, all lives one Life developing many currents of activity, all body and form one substance of Force and Consciousness concentrating into many apparent stabilities of force and consciousness; but in truth all these stabilities are really only a constant whorl of movement repeating a form while it modifies it; they are nothing more.
EXPLANATION
The individualised soul concentrates on the moment; it concentrates on the field of space; it concentrates on the form; it concentrates on the movement. In this process it loses the rest. Whatever thus it has lost it then tries to recover by linking together the succession of moments, the successions of points of Space, the successions of forms in Time and Space, the successions of movements in Time and Space. Thus, it has lost the truth of the indivisibility of Time, the indivisibility of Force and Substance.
(Time is for the Mind a mobile extension measured out by the succession of the past, present and future in which Mind places itself at a certain standpoint whence it looks before and after. Space is a stable extension measured out by divisibility of substance; at a certain point in that divisible extension Mind places itself and regards the disposition of substance around it – Ref: Ch XV: The Supreme Truth Consciousness: Para 3)
It is a fact that all minds are one Mind taking many stand-points; all lives are one life developing many activities; all body and form are one substance of Force and Consciousness, yet they concentrate into many apparent stabilities of force and consciousness. These stabilities are not really stable. They are nothing but whorl of movement repeating a form, at the same time changing the form. In fact, nothing is stable in the universe. Everything is constantly changing.
For the Mind tries to clamp everything into rigidly fixed forms and apparently unchanging or unmoving external factors, because otherwise it cannot act; it then thinks it has got what it wants: in reality all is a flux of change and renewal and there is no fixed form-in-itself and no unchanging external factor. Only the eternal Real-Idea is firm and maintains a certain ordered constancy of figures and relations in the flux of things, a constancy which the Mind vainly attempts to imitate by attributing fixity to that which is always inconstant. These truths Mind has to rediscover; it knows them all the time, but only in the hidden back of its consciousness, in the secret light of its self-being; and that light is to it a darkness because it has created the ignorance, because it has lapsed from the dividing into the divided mentality, because it has become involved in its own workings and in its own creations.
EXPLANATION
Rigidity and fixity mark the operations of the Mind. It clamps everything into rigidly fixed forms. It bases everything on the apparently unchanging and unmoving external factors. If this fixity and rigidity is not there Mind cannot act. Finally Mind claims that it has got what it wanted.
In reality there are no fixed forms; there is no unchanging external factor. Everything is in state of movement and change. What is constant is the eternal Real-Idea. It only maintains a certain ordered constancy of figures and relations in the movement of things. Mind tries to imitate the Real-Idea; it attributes fixity to that which is changing.
These truths are hidden at the back of the consciousness of the Mind. It has to rediscover them. These truths are held back from the Mind because it has fallen into ignorance because of division.