Study Notes
PARAGRAPH 6
Different potentialities are embodied, placed, related in this field of Time and Space, each with its powers and possibilities fronting other powers and possibilities, and as a result the successions of Time become in their appearance to the mind a working out of things by shock and struggle and not a spontaneous succession. In reality, there is a spontaneous working out of things from within and the external shock and struggle are only the superficial aspect of this elaboration. For the inner and inherent law of the one and whole, which is necessarily a harmony, governs the outer and processive laws of the parts or forms which appear to be in collision; and to the supramental vision this greater and profounder truth of harmony is always present.
EXPLANATION
This world is a field of manifestation in Space and Time. In this world various forms embody different potentialities. Each creation with its powers and possibilities faces other powers and possibilities. It appears that things evolve themselves by shock and struggle with the succession of Time. It does not seem to be a spontaneous succession.
But in reality, there is a spontaneous working out of things from within. External shocks and struggles are only superficial aspects. The inner and the inherent (inborn) law of one and whole is harmony. This inner law of harmony governs the outer laws of the parts or forms which appear to be in collision. But to the supramental vision the greater and deeper truth of harmony is always present.
That which is an apparent discord to the mind because it considers each thing separately in itself, is an element of the general ever-present and ever-developing harmony to the Supermind because it views all things in a multiple unity. Besides, the mind sees only a given time and space and views many possibilities pell-mell as all more or less realisable in that time and space; the divine Supermind sees the whole extension of Time and Space and can embrace all the mind’s possibilities and very many more not visible to the mind, but without any error, groping or confusion; for it perceives each potentiality in its proper force, essential necessity, right relation to the others and the time, place and circumstance both of its gradual and its ultimate realisation. To see things steadily and see them whole is not possible to the mind; but it is the very nature of the transcendent Supermind.
EXPLANATION
Why does it look like discord to the mind? Because mind considers each thing separately in itself. But to the Supermind this discord appears like an ever-present and ever-developing harmony. Because it views all things in a multiple unity.
Also, because mind sees many possibilities in a disorderly way realisable in a given time and space. Whereas, the Supermind sees the whole extension of Time and Space and embraces all the mind’s possibilities. Not only that, Supermind sees many more things which the mind does not see. This it does without any error, blind search and confusion. It perceives each potentiality in its proper force, right relation to the others and the time, place and circumstance.
Mind cannot see things steadily as a whole. That is the very nature of the transcendent Supermind.
PARAGRAPH 7
This Supermind in its conscious vision not only contains all the forms of itself which its conscious force creates, but it pervades them as an indwelling Presence and a self-revealing Light. It is present, even though concealed, in every form and force of the universe; it is that which determines sovereignly and spontaneously form, force and functioning; it limits the variations it compels; it gathers, disperses, modifies the energy which it uses; and all this is done in accord with the first laws2 that its self-knowledge has fixed in the very birth of the form, at the very starting-point of the force. It is seated within everything as the Lord in the heart of all existences, —he who turns them as on an engine by the power of his Maya;3 it is within them and embraces them as the divine Seer who variously disposed and ordained objects, each rightly according to the thing that it is, from years sempiternal.4
(2 A Vedic expression. The gods act according to the first laws, original and therefore supreme, which are the law of the truth of things.
3 Gita, XVIII. 61.
4Isha Upanishad, Verse 8.)
EXPLANATION
It is the Supermind that creates all forms. It not only contains all the forms of itself but pervades them (spread in all) as an indwelling Presence. It is present in them as a self-revealing Light. It is present, yet concealed in every form and force of the universe. It is the Supermind that spontaneously determines the form, force and functioning. It gathers the energy and modifies them for its use.
We have earlier seen that it is the self-knowledge in Supermind which governs and guides the forms and forces It creates. The self-knowledge has fixed the first laws in the very birth of the form and the starting point of force. In accordance with the first laws, it guides the forms and forces it has created.
Quoting from Gita Sri Aurobindo says, the Supermind is seated within everything as the Lord in the heart of all existences. (It is the Lord seated in heart of every creature who has been turning us in all our inner and outer action during the ignorance as if mounted on a machine on the wheel of this Maya of the lower Nature. And whether obscure in the ignorance or luminous in the knowledge, it is for him in us and him in the world that we have our existence. To live consciously and integrally in this knowledge and this truth is to escape from ego and break out of Maya – Essays on Gita, p.555)
Sri Aurobindo, quoting Isha Upanishad, says that the Supermind is seated within all existences and embracing them like a divine Seer. It places and orders objects, each according to the thing that it is, for an eternal period of time.
(The question now is how the Supermind is in all. We say all is in Brahman and Brahman is in all; here we are concerned with the second aspect. The first is philosophical, the second is psychological. A very important truth for human existence is that Brahman is in all, that the Supermind is an indwelling presence in all….
It is easy to say that I am an Atman and the Lord lives within me. Sri Aurobindo is teaching us not to do that because it is a blind understanding. We need to ask, how is the Lord an indwelling presence? How is the Supermind an indwelling presence?
The Supermind has come in the very birth of the form, in the very substance of the form. It is in the very substance of the human body, in the bones and the flesh, not simply as the soul and the psyche. It is the soul and the spirit in the atom itself. It is an indwelling spirit at the atomic level. It is the central light of consciousness in the atom, without it no transformation could have been possible – Ananda Reddy, Deliberations on the Life Divine, p. 66, SACAR, Pondicherry)
PARAGRAPH 8
Each thing in Nature, therefore, whether animate or inanimate, mentally self-conscious or not self-conscious, is governed in its being and in its operations by an indwelling Vision and Power, to us subconscient or inconscient because we are not conscious of it, but not inconscient to itself, rather profoundly and universally conscient. Therefore each thing seems to do the works of intelligence, even without possessing intelligence, because it obeys, whether subconsciously as in the plant and animal or half-consciously as in man, the real-idea of the divine Supermind within it.
EXPLANATION
There is an indwelling Vision and Power in each thing in Nature. It can be a living or a non-living thing, a being mentally self-conscious or not self-conscious. Yet, each is governed by this Vision and Power. We are not conscious of its operations because it appears sub-conscient or inconscient to us. But it is fully conscient to itself and is universally conscient.
(Each functions exactly as it should; it is in that sense that we have to understand the Mother’s oft repeated statement that from a certain angle everything is as it should be and where it should be. Even a thing that seems to us wrong is exactly where it should be because we are seeing it in the midst of a process; something else has to develop later on and we will then be able to appreciate better the rationale of what once seemed wrong or negative. And all that because there is this constantly guiding intelligence from within. That is why we say, the plants, the creatures, the animals, all do exactly what is to be done; they don’t have the human intelligence but still they act alright because of this consciousness, the supramental law that governs from within – Shri M.P.Pandit, Talks on the Life Divine. p.97, Dipti Publications, Pondicherry)
Each thing may not possess the intelligence but seems to do the works of intelligence. This intelligence, the Real-Idea of the divine Supermind is present subconsciously in plant and animals and half-consciously in man. They obey the law of this secret intelligence present in them.
(Real-Idea is the Real as Idea. When Sri Aurobindo puts a dash between two words like this, its meaning is Real as Idea. Consciousness as force, it does not mean consciousness and force- Shri M.P.Pandit – Talks on the Life Divine, p. 98)
But it is not a mental Intelligence that informs and governs all things; it is a self-aware Truth of being in which self-knowledge is inseparable from self-existence: it is this Truth-consciousness which has not to think out things but works them out with knowledge according to the impeccable self-vision and the inevitable force of a sole and self-fulfilling Existence. Mental intelligence thinks out because it is merely a reflecting force of consciousness which does not know, but seeks to know; it follows in Time step by step the working of a knowledge higher than itself, a knowledge that exists always, one and whole, that holds Time in its grasp, that sees past, present and future in a single regard.
EXPLANATION
What is the nature of intelligence that governs all things and beings in the universe? It is not a mental Intelligence that informs (here the meaning is ‘that guides’) and governs. It is a self-aware Truth of being. In this self-knowledge (meaning, the substance itself is having knowledge) is inseparable self-existence. It is the Truth-Consciousness.
This Truth-consciousness does not have to think out things as our mind does. It has the impeccable (faultless) self-vision and the inevitable force of a sole and self-fulfilling Existence (Sat). Based on this self-vision and force, Truth-consciousness works out things.
Our mental intelligence is based on the process of thinking.
It is simply a reflecting force of consciousness. It does not know but seeks to know. Our mind follows in Time step by step the working of a knowledge higher than itself. This higher knowledge is a wholistic knowledge that is eternal. Time becomes still in its grasp. It sees past, present and future in a single regard.
(Some birds transmigrate thousands of kilometres, spending weeks on flights and reach the exact pond they have come the previous year. They go to the exact trees where they had rested midway in their previous trip. They don’t have a route map or a compass. But they have a precision better than a compass or a computer. Where does the bird get this supreme intelligence? We can see this wonder throughout nature. When we look at the sunflower and see the pattern of the seeds miraculously perfect, we are bound to admit that there is some supreme intelligence at work somewhere. It is not just a question of spirit, it is intelligence. This intelligence is the Supermind which expresses itself subconsciously in the plant and the animal.
This intelligence is not a mental intelligence. It is the intelligence of the conscious force which is linked with existence. In all things that exist right from the inconscient to mankind, the very fact of our existence means this intelligence is working in us because existence and consciousness work together. It is something like an inborn knowledge, what we normally call instinct.
The ant and the bird don’t think, don’t rationalise or analyse. They spontaneously work out their self-vision through the inevitable force of their self-existence. They have the knowledge suited to their existence- Ananda Reddy, Deliberations on the Life Divine, Vol III, p. 68, SACAR, Pondicherry)