Study Notes
PARAGRAPH 7 (2nd Part) Contd…,
And when Life awakes and seeks to impose itself on physical form and material force and to use all things at its own will and for its own need, when Mind awakes and seeks to know the who, the why, the how of itself and all things and above all to use its knowledge for the imposition of its own freer law and self-guiding action upon things, material Nature seems to yield, even to approve and aid, though after a struggle, reluctantly and only up to a certain point. But beyond that point it presents an obstinate inertia, obstruction, negation and even persuades Life and Mind that they cannot go farther, cannot pursue to the end their partial victory.
EXPLANATION
When Life awakes in Matter it imposes its power on physical form and material force. Life uses Matter to suit its own needs and at its own will. When Mind awakes in Life (with the appearance of Man) it questions the who, why and how of itself and all things. Mind uses this knowledge to impose its own freer law and self-guiding action upon material things.
Material Nature seems to yield to the working of Life and Mind upon it. With the scientific advancement we are able to conquer the material nature. Though it approves their actions and cooperates with them, it does so reluctantly only after a struggle and only up to a certain point. Beyond this point it presents an obstinate inertia, obstruction and negation. Matter persuades Life and Mind that they cannot go farther; they cannot go beyond their partial victory to full victory.
Life strives to enlarge and prolong itself and succeeds; but when it seeks utter wideness and immortality, it meets the iron obstruction of Matter and finds itself bound to narrowness and death. Mind seeks to aid life and to fulfil its own impulse to embrace all knowledge, to become all light, to possess truth and be truth, to enforce love and joy and be love and joy; but always there is the deviation and error and grossness of the material life-instincts and the denial and obstruction of the material sense and the physical instruments. Error ever pursues its knowledge, darkness is inseparably the companion and background of its light; truth is successfully sought and yet, when grasped, it ceases to be truth and the quest has to continue; love is there but it cannot satisfy itself, joy is there but it cannot justify itself, and each of them drags as if its chain or casts as if its shadow its own opposites, anger and hatred and indifference, satiety and grief and pain. The inertia with which Matter responds to the demands of the Mind and Life, prevents the conquest of the Ignorance and of the brute Force that is the power of the Ignorance.
EXPLANATION
Life is dependent on Matter. It always tries to enlarge and prolong itself. Over the years the longevity of man has increased. But when Life seeks wideness and immortality it always meets with the iron obstruction of Matter. Life is bound to narrowness and death.
Mind seeks to help Life in its pursuits. Mind tries to remove diseases to improve the longevity. The basic impulse of Mind is to embrace all knowledge, to become all Light, to possess truth and be truth, to enforce love and joy and be love and joy.
What comes in the way of Mind achieving its objectives? There is the deviation and error and grossness of the material life-instincts. There is the denial and obstruction of the material sense and the physical sense-instruments.
Error always accompanies the knowledge of the Mind; darkness accompanies its light. Truth ceases to be truth when it is successfully sought by the Mind and the quest after truth never ends. Love though it is present, cannot satisfy itself. Joy is there but it cannot justify itself.
Each of them drags like its chain or casts its shadow of its own opposites – anger and hatred and indifference, satiety (sense of over satisfaction), grief and pain. Matter responds to the demands of the Mind and Life with the inertia. It prevents the conquest of the Ignorance of Matter; it prevents the conquest of the brute Force of Matter that is the power of Ignorance.
PARAGRAPH 8
And when we seek to know why this is so, we see that the success of this inertia and obstruction is due to a third power of Matter; for the third fundamental opposition which Matter offers to Spirit is this that it is the culmination of the principle of division and struggle. Indivisible indeed in reality, divisibility is its whole basis of action from which it seems forbidden ever to depart; for its only two methods of union are either the aggregation of units or an assimilation which involves the destruction of one unit by another; and both of these methods of union are a confession of eternal division, since even the first associates rather than unifies and by its very principle admits the constant possibility and therefore the ultimate necessity of dissociation, of dissolution.
EXPLANATION
Inertia and obstruction are caused by a third power of Matter; it is the culmination of the principle of division and struggle. It is the third fundamental opposition which Matter offers to Spirit.
In reality Matter is indivisible (Because it is the Sat of Sachchidananda). But divisibility is its whole basis of action. Matter cannot depart from this quality. There are only two methods by which union is possible. It is either through the aggregation of units or an assimilation of one unit by another. Both these methods admit the principle of eternal division.
The first method of aggregation only associates the individual units rather than unifying it. By its very principle it admits the constant possibility and the ultimate necessity of dissociation and dissolution. Because when there is no real unity there is always the possibility of dissociation.