X MYSTIQUE OF AN EVOLVING UNIVERSE Creation implies the perpetual transformation of the potential into the actual, which means that it is a continuous process of the self-unfoldment of a secret Truth in accordance with an innate rhythm. Devānām yuge prathame'sataḥ sad ajayata tad āṣā anv ajāyanta tad uttanapadas pari.1 In the beginning, the manifest comes out of the Unmanifest; thence are born all the regions and after that follow the further evolved creation. The universe is a progressive becoming of Being embracing many yugas or cycles of Truth-action. Suryd candramdsau dhdta yathdpi

III THE VISION OF REALITY The Veda is a timeless revelation. The great spiritual tradition of India looks to its origin as apauruṣeya, non-human. And the mantras are encompassed as the sound-formulations of the seer-visions of the Supreme as also profound expressions of the revelations granted to the Rishis. They are assumed to be the many manifestations of the Word that embody the supreme vision of Oneness and incarnate the secret interconnectedness of gods and men and incorporate in a harmonious manner their mutuality and integral solidarity. The Transcendent One, tad ekam, is the supreme source and support of all Multiplicity. Suparnaṁ viprāḥ

IV THE INTEGRAL THEOPHANY An integral vision of the integral Divine and an integral Yoga to realise it is the most self-fulfilling and self-effectuating gift of Sri Aurobindo to the human race. All spiritual visions have a significance and a power of their own, and the vision of the Divine has a cosmic and supracosmic significance as well as an unrestricted power of its own. It is an experience, mi generis, of the Divine Himself, an experience of the Self everywhere, in everything and as everything. It helps the seeker to cater a larger, freer Self as well as the worlds behind and beyond the physical universe. It opens the 'third eye' as it were

XV OM ŚĀNTIḤ ŚĀNTḤ ŚĀNTIḤ 'Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ is the hymn of infinite gratitude to the Divine for manifesting himself in the seeker in the measure of the latter's receptivity as well as the mantra of invocation to secure and establish a luminous ambience upon earth for the increasing descent of Peace. The Rishi offers his salutations to the bounties of Nature, the leaders and regulators of the cosmic order that they may make him pure and competent of cosmic worship. Creation itself is the result of sacrifice; it is sustained and supported by increasing sacrifice. And the gods too were created by the sacrifice of Aditi. It is by sacrif

VIII THE ASCENT TO THE TRUTH An involution of the Supreme in the apparent inconscient Matter is the cause and the starting-point of evolution. But that supreme Reality is infinite Existence, Consciousness and Bliss; evolution must as such be an emergence of this embodied Existence, Consciousness, Bliss. It is therefore the prerogative and mission of man not only to predicate and profess himself in the universe but also to evolve and to perpetually transcend himself. He has not only to realise his individuality but also to expand it into a cosmic self. This implies self-evolution and self-exceeding from his present actual limited nature t

THE VEDIC EPIPHANY Contents Pre-Content Author's Note Acknowledgements The Vedic Fulfilment I. The Word of Affirmation II. The Mounting Flame of Faith III. The Vision of Reality IV. The Integral Theophany V. Experiential Epistemology VI. Man: Pilgrim of the Soul VII. The Increasing Epiphany VIII. The Ascent to the Truth LX. Vision of Ṛta X. Mystique of an Evolving Universe XI. Inscrutable Ambivalence XII. Martanda XIII. From the Succession of Dawns to the Procession of Dawns XIV

VII THE INCREASING EPIPHANY A Divine Reality that is involved in Matter is essentially an infinite and eternal Existence, Consciousness, Bliss. Evolution then is an imperative emergence in forms that progressively express the manifold felicity of the concealed Sachchidananda. a)Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mettaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate iti matvā bhājante māṁ budhā bhāvasamanvitāḥ.1 I am the origin of everything and from Me the whole creation proceeds. Knowing this, the wise, full of enlightened thoughts, love and worship Me. b)Ahaṁ kṛtsnasya jagataḥ prabhavaḥ pralayas tathā.1 I am the sou

XI INSCRUTABLE AMBIVALENCE There is an inscrutable ambivalence in creation, an inbuilt tension that spells out the secret of the evolutionary process. Good and Evil, gods and the demons - the constructive and destructive forces, the expansive and restrictive energies in Nature - motion and stability, Immanence and Transcendence are constitutionally correlated and held together by a divine harmony for a divine purpose. Thus are cosmic order and a cosmic purpose sustained, promoted and fulfilled by the presence of a dynamic dichotomy. The antinomies are by nature impelled to 'work together in concerted action' towards the fulfilment of a common animus. Co

XIII FROM THE SUCCESSION OF DAWNS TO THE PROCESSION OF DAWNS Sri Aurobindo has the Word - the transforming Word of all creation, the supreme secret of human destiny as well as of the earth's destiny. He has the Word and the Wisdom that "...watches us from on high".1 and shows humanity the Way to a greater Future: "To be His arms whom I have sought; I saw How earth was made Out of His being; I perceived the Law, The Truth, the Vast, From which we came and which we are; I heard The ages past Whisper their history, and I know the Word That forth was ca

Volume Three THE VEDIC FULFILMENT It has been rightly observed that if one leg of the arch of human destiny is in the Veda the other is in 'The Life Divine'. For what has been envisioned and announced by the ancient Rishis finds its victorious consummation and fulfilment in Sri Aurobindo. The Author