Study Notes
One seated in the sleep of Superconscience, a massed Intelligence, blissful and the enjoyer of Bliss. . .. This is the omnipotent, this is the omniscient, this is the inner control, this is the source of all.
Mandukya Upanishad.1
EXPLANATION
Presiding over the waking consciousness, wise of the outward, is the Vaishvanara, the wakeful poise of the Self.
Presiding over the dream, the subtle, consciousness, wise of the inward, is the Taijasa, the dream poise of the Self.
Still higher, presiding over the state of deep sleep, neither outward-wise nor inward-wise, is the Prajna, the Superconscient poise of the Self. This is the Lord of Wisdom who broods on the Truth to be manifested before the creation ensues. He gathers in himself all the plenitude of the One, concentrates on its potencies, foresees and organises the multiple lines of its diversifications in the Many and builds up the creative movement in his utter bliss of being. He is a massed consciousness concentrated upon the development of the embryo of creation held in his luminous womb. This Self tranced in his state of superconscience is called the Sleep-Self because he is not accessible in waking state, neither in dream state, it is only in the state of utter sleep- dreamless, moveless sleep- that he can be communed with. All the lower states of consciousness have to be exceeded before this Master-Self can be approached.
This Self, the Prajna, wields all the Power that is inalienable from the unbounded Truth-Consciousness, possesses all the knowledge that is inseparable from that Consciousness. This supremely conscious Self is at the heart of things, controlling and guiding each movement, individual and universal. And he is the Source of All. For all comes into creation because all is loosed out manifold from the concentrated Unity of Being held firmly and brooded upon in this pre-creation poise of the superconscient Self.
This massed consciousness, superconscient, omniscient, omnipotent, tranced in the Truth before it is released into birth, is the supreme Truth-Consciousness, the Divine Consciousness in its supramental status. Above it is the triune Reality of Sat-chit-ananda; below it is this multiple creation. The Supermind is what gathers and delivers the unitive Truth into the manifold truth of manifestation.
In the individual scheme this Self, Purusha, is called the Prajna, Lord of Wisdom. In the collective scheme he is the Ishwara, the All-Ruler.
(Source: Shri M.P.Pandit: Legends in the Life Divine: p.45, Dipti Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry)
PARAGRAPH 1
WE HAVE to regard therefore this all-containing, all-originating, all-consummating Supermind as the nature of the Divine Being, not indeed in its absolute self-existence, but in its action as the Lord and Creator of its own worlds. This is the truth of that which we call God. Obviously this is not the too personal and limited Deity, the magnified and supernatural Man of the ordinary occidental conception; for that conception erects a too human Eidolon of a certain relation between the creative Supermind and the ego.
EXPLANATION
The Supermind contains all, originates all and consummates all (meaning, leads all existences towards their fulfilment). In this respect we can consider Supermind, the nature of the Divine Being. The Divine Being in its unmanifest status has absolute self-existence. But only in its action as the Lord and Creator of its own worlds we regard Supermind as the nature of the Divine Being. Because Supermind is the creator of the universe and not an absolute self-existence.
This aspect of the truth of the Supermind we call God. In the West the concept of personal God is based on the magnified and supernatural version of Man; God is conceived by the ego of man as his own idealised version. Supermind does not refer to this kind of personal God.
We must know that Supermind has both personal and impersonal character. When we speak of it as consciousness, as knowledge and will, as force, it is an impersonal principle. But when we speak of it as a Purusha, a Lord, a Being, it is a personal principle.
We must not indeed exclude the personal aspect of the Deity, for the impersonal is only one face of existence; the Divine is All-existence, but it is also the one Existent, —it is the sole Conscious-Being, but still a Being. Nevertheless, with this aspect we are not concerned at present; it is the impersonal psychological truth of the divine Consciousness that we are seeking to fathom: it is this that we have to fix in a large and clarified conception.
EXPLANATION
Yet, Sri Aurobindo says we must not exclude the personal aspect of the Deity. The Divine is All-existence in its impersonal aspect. It is also One Existent, the sole conscious-Being in its personal aspect.
Some of the older philosophies, like Shankara’s Adwaita speak of the highest Reality as impersonal. Also, the Buddhists refer to an impersonal existence or Non-Existence. Some religions speak of the Divine as God- referring to only the exclusive truth of the personal God.
But both the personal and the impersonal aspects are complementary. They are not opposed to each other.
However, Sri Aurobindo clarifies that for the purpose of our discussion on Truth-consciousness we will now consider only the impersonal psychological truth of the divine Consciousness.