The Human Aspiration

The Human Aspiration.............................Shrikant Soman...........Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo - Chapter I, pg 3-4


The peak of the human enquiry has always been the same since time immemorial. It does have its ups and downs, moments of skepticism and banishment. But is rebounds with vigour to again reach the height of enquiry. It is also the highest range which the human mind is capable of rising to. It manifests itself in various forms at different times. We can visualize it

• in the divination of Godhead,
•  in the impulse towards perfection,
• in the search after pure Truth and unmixed Bliss,
• in the sense of a secret immortality

The Vedic seers have embodied it in the ancient scriptures. This is metaphorically explained as ‘the ancient dawns of human knowledge have left us their witness to this constant aspiration’. We witness this quest in these scriptures as partially reproduced at the beginning of this chapter. Thus we see : “She follows to the goal of those that are passing on beyond, she is the first in the eternal succession of the dawns that are coming”. (Kutsa Angirasa—Rig Veda)

We also see : “She desires the ancient mornings and fulfils their light” These mystical uttering’s have a profound meaning. It indicates the quest after the higher knowledge as a continuum in time – without beginning and without an end. It also indicates the heights of knowledge scaled in the ancient times are the same heights we are scaling again and again – there is no ‘higher’ height to be scaled. The same quest is taking in different forms and shapes. Therefore it is said : “ She desires the ancient mornings and fulfils their light; projecting forwards her illumination she enters into communion with the rest that are to come “(Kutsa Angirasa—Rig Veda)

 Today we are witnessing an explosion of knowledge, particularly with the proliferation of internet. The human enquiry is taking all directions across the globe with full vigour and interest. Inspite of having a sea of knowledge, we are still not satisfied. We have made great progress in the ‘victorious analysis of the externalities of Nature’. Interestingly, we are still getting drawn by our ancient longing after the True Knowledge hidden behind these externalities of Nature. Inspite of going to great length with our scientific discovery of the microcosm of atoms and electrons and the cellular life and the macrocosm of the stars and planets and galaxies and the cosmos, we are realizing that the earliest formula of knowledge is also its last, and that is : God, Light, Freedom, Immortality. Therefore, we, the modern age humanity, join the vedic seer Rushi Vamdeva in Rigveda, in his invocation : “Become high-uplifted, O Strength, pierce all veils, manifest in us the things of the Godhead. “ (Vamadeva—Rig Veda)

We see here that our normal day to day experience is anything but these deeper revelations of higher and true reality. Our normal experiences of life is full of strife and discord, division, violence and darkness of ignorance and selfish motives. These higher experiences are therefore appearing to be ‘abnormal’ for the humanity at large. We can hope to reach the heights by a revolutionary individual effort, in a direct and speedy manner or by a very slow progress through the normal ‘evolution’ of the humanity.

We can therefore see that the Goal of Nature in her terrestrial evolution is to realise the God in Matter. This is translated as the individual goals of :

• To know, possess and be the divine being in an animal and egoistic consciousness,

Our consciousness is an animal nature full of ego, driven by our vital desires. In this body we have to know, possess and be the divine being.

• to convert our twilit or obscure physical mentality into the plenary supramental illumination,

Our physical mentality is having only half light and is obscure. It is ‘groping’ with only hunches and trial and errors. We are living in the world of half lights and false lights. From this state we have to rise to the plenary supramental illumination.

• to build peace and a self-existent bliss where there is only a stress of transitory satisfactions besieged by physical pain and emotional suffering,

Our satisfaction and happiness is mainly based on physical sensations and emotional egoistic happiness. It is having its inbuilt counterparts of pain and emotional suffering. We have to build peace and a self-existent bliss which is independent of physical and vital sensory and emotional satisfactions.

• to establish an infinite freedom in a world which presents itself as a group of mechanical necessities,

We are living in a world of mechanical necessities. We are slave to our gadgets and equipments like mobile phones, computers, microwave, fridge, car, aeroplane, TV, Music Systems etc. While enjoying these ‘facilities’, inwardly we have to establish an infinite freedom from these ‘apparent’ necessities.

• to discover and realise the immortal life in a body subjected to death and constant mutation

The most visible condition of life as we are witnessing in this material world is sickness, morbidity and death. We have to re-discover and realise the immortality in this very physical body.

From our ordinary intellect, we are tempted to conclude that our present state of the development of our consciousness is whatever we can ever achieve. We may feel that there is a little possibility of having any further progress. If we consider the enormity of the task as mentioned above and the apparent contradiction between what we are today and what is the goal which we want to achieve, then we are tempted to falsely believe that the goals are unrealistic and never to be achieved. They are only day dreaming.

On the other hand, if we peep behind the Natures method of working out her mission, we find ‘that direct opposition appears rather as part of Nature’s profoundest method and the seal of her completest sanction.’ This is the way Nature works. We call it a miracle. The Nature only smiles and says – this is the way I unfold. She says that it is not only possible, but INEVITABLE, in her scheme of things. The sense of freedom a bird has when it soars in the sky has a direct base in the gravity, tending to pull it down. Without gravity, there is no sense of freedom. This is the key to understanding the quest of humanity and its possibility of satisfaction.

The Knot of Matter... Note 1

Life Divine........................................................Shrikant Soman

Ch 25 - The Knot of Matter

Based on Life Divine by Sri Aurobindo

Note 1

In this note we will explore the aspects of : Relation between Matter and Spirit. Are they eternally irreconcilable ? What is the fundamental reality ? The role of Space and Time. Sense perception.

Our experience in the world points towards the dichotomy between matter and spirit. We are also accustomed to believe in this division. However, it is NOT the fundamental reality. In reality, the matter and spirit are one. There is unity at the core and diversity at the periphery – a ‘differentiated unity’ we can say. Oneness is inherent in the manifold manifestations. This is not a stretched unity as a result of ‘compromise of the opposites’. Neither it is a ‘struggle’ towards unity of these eternal dissonances. It is a basic and fundamental truth at the core of all the existences.

We have a pure unity as the foundation of this manifested world. This unity manifests into variety of the worlds. There is a secret Consciousness and Will behind all this manifold manifestations emerging out of the Unity of the Existences. Consciousness - Will is the Master of these diverse manifestations. This worldly manifestation is having Matter at one end of its reality and the Spirit at the other – while both being One at its Core. Spirit is the Soul of Matter, whereas Matter is the Form of Spirit – it depends which way you look, both are the two sides of the same coin.

We are NOT denying the reality of differentiation of existence which we experience in this world. This differentiation is REAL and not false. On this differentiation is founded the ever ascending degrees of the world existence. Substance is nothing else but the conscious existence presenting itself to the sense as object. It is like the head of the snake catching its own tail ! This creates the ‘sense relation’ to the object – or rather can we say a FEELING of sense relation to the object. In other words, this relation of the sense to the conscious existence gives the ‘SOLIDITY’ to our manifested world – taking it beyond the scope of the ‘dream’ state or just an IDEA. In this sense, this world which we perceive is NOT an illusion. It is REAL within a defined framework of SPACE and TIME. The work of world formation and cosmic progression emanates from this equation. Without this sense relation, there will be no manifested World. We should remember that this substance is of various ‘degrees’ of existence. In our mundane life, we are aware of the ‘material’ substance. There are also the substance of the mind, This substance is far more subtler, more flexible and more plastic beyond our experience which is based on physical sense experience. We can become aware of this substance of the mind when we perceive the forms arising out of this substance and the action taking place in this substance – a world of Thoughts. Similarly, there is a substance of the pure dynamic life-energy – the Vital World. This substance is made of such a subtle stuff, it is way beyond finest possibility that the matter and its physically sensible force-currents can achieve. Even the Spirit is also a substance. Of course with our material sense organs we can not directly perceive the spirit as an ‘object’. Nor can we tangibly perceive it (not the mental imagination) through our mental power. Spirit is perceivable in the ‘light of a pure spiritual perceptive knowledge’. This is concept is a little bit difficult to understand at the level of our material world limited to sense and metal faculty of cognition. At this level, the subject becomes its own object. At this level, the One is beyond the dimension of Time and Space. The awareness is beyond the matrix defined by Time and Space. It is a pure spiritually self-conceptive self-extension as the basis and primal substance of all existence. That is why it is said that at this level the subject becomes its own object. It is ‘self-conceptive’ meaning it is aware of itself in its pure form without the need of the ‘instrumentality’ of the ‘sense relation’ as we have explained above. There is no differentiation of ‘subject’ and ‘object’ and the subject taking the cognizance of the object through the instrumentality of the sense in the matrix of Space and Time. The Spirit is ‘Self Aware’ and therefore it is ‘Self Conceptive’. This is in the realm of ‘consciousness’ equivalent to the Time dimension in the physical world. Similarly, the Spirit is ‘self extensive’, meaning it is beyond the limitation of Space. Actually at this level, Space and Time merge into one. Therefore, both these terms of Self Conceptive and Self Extension connote one and the same thing.

Beyond this level of the Spirit, the concept of Substance vanishes. There is no differentiation between subject and the object. It is pure Unity.