February 1970
The Divine gives itself to those who give themselves without reserve and in all their parts to the Divine. For them the calm, the light, the power, the bliss, the freedom, the wideness, the heights of knowledge, the seas of Ananda. - Sri Aurobindo.
THE LABOURS OF THE GODS (THE FIVE PURIFICATIONS)
NOWADAYS we hear much of brain wash. The other day, instead of brain-washing, I spoke of brain-ignition. That is to say, for a total reconstitution of the brain, for a new building of the physique of the new man, one has to transform the cells of grey matter into particles of fire, packets of burning energy. I said, the cranium being the control-room of physical existence and the brain being the controlling agent—the brain extending its range down the spinal column to its end at the last vertebra—this is the element that has to be treated and reorganised first and foremost if a physical reorganisation of human nature and behaviour is to be achieved. I explained— tried to explain—that this being the physical or material field, the first of the elements—ksiti or earth or matter-the God presiding over it, Fire, has to be invoked and its especial working carried out here.
The brain thus is the controller-general of the whole physical system of the human body. In particular, however, it is the controller and regulator of the physical mind and the senses (the six indriyas of Indian psychology). This is the province of the basic earth principle,
Page-5
this range of material matter over which the Fire is the presiding deity. There are, however, other provinces and units, co-lateral to the brain system and having special functions of their own. First of all, at the bottom of the scale, or rather the first step upward in the scale,—that is, after the vertebral pedestal—is the abdominal system which consists as we know, of the main three operations: (i) digestion, (ii) evacuation, and (iii) generation, comprising, in other words, the stomach, the intestines, the liver and the spleen, the kidneys, the bladder, and finally, the sex glands. The glands indeed, here in this domain, are the operative agent: and they have a special way of operation, namely, washing. If fire controls the most material, the earth-principle, it is water, apas, that is the god in this region of the vital functions. The Vedas speak of the purifying streams of the Sindhu and the Srotas; they speak of the underground stream of rasa which Sarama, the Hound of Heaven crossed to come over to our earth. Water, in fact, does the work appropriate to this region. It is the vital region in man and consists of functions attached to the vital activities. The vital in its ordinary and normal functions means desires and attachments, hunger and thirst, ties and bondages, urges and demands-these have to be cleared and washed out if there is to be healthy strength in the system, washed by spraying the pure vital fluid. Physiologically the enzymes and endocrine secretions are the physical formations or outer formulations of the hidden vital fluid. This indeed is the function of the deity, Soma, Paw Amana Soma, the flowing stream of Delight, who in effect is the true presiding godhead here. For it is this section of the body that is the stage for our whole world of enjoyment-for the play of all our physical delights as well as of all our ailments and diseases. Purified, it is the giver of health and happiness leading ultimately to that Supreme Delight which is immortality, Life transfigured.
Above and next to this region of the viscera, on the other side of the diaphragm, is the region of the thorax, the chest cavity. It contains the most important of all human organs, the heart and the lungs, which means the respiratory and the circulatory systems, extending into the solar plexus; and the power that controls it is that of the third element Tejas, the pulsating, radiant energy. It is the energising heat, the warmth of will and aspiration, concentration in the heart; it is also Tapas. It is indeed a form of fire, fire in its essential substance, a
Page-6
quiet white flame against the robust red and crimson and purple fires of earth. It is the mounting urge of consciousness in its rhythmic poise of harmonious strength. And that is the god Aryama of the Vedas, the godhead presiding over the upward surge of evolution. From here comes not merely the drive to go forward, the secret dynamo that moves the being to its goal but also gives the way and the conditions under which the end is achieved or fulfilled. From here too comes rhythm and the balance and the happy harmony of all movements in life. The calm heave of the lungs and the glad beat of the heart are the sign and symbol of a radiant animation.
We now come to the fourth domain, the domain of Marut; in the physical body it is the mouth, the throat, the tongue, the facial front in general. It is the field of expression, of articulation—Vak, the word is the symbol. Here is the alert, the mobile field, also a stage for the play, the outward display of all the significances that life movements carry in them, physical or psychological. Speech or utterance is the epitomised or concretised expression of the sense of life movement.
This region of the Marut can be linked to that where the Vedic Maruts rule and govern. The Maruts are called thought-gods— thought-gods riding on the movements of life. They represent the aerial spirits or energies that lift the human spirit from its purely vital and material coils into the rarer regions of pure thinking and light and consciousness, who spread and move further upward in the still farther and rarer regions of consciousness and energy.
Beyond is the fifth element, Vyom, the sphere overhead, the Vast and the Infinite. That of course is the original source and status of the human being, where he gathers up all the elements in one indivisible perfect consciousness. That is the root of the Divine Tree of Existence which, as the Vedas say, dwells up there, spreading downward all its branches, namely, the other elements of the being.
Such then are the five operations of the divine alchemy with regard to the purification of the human vessel, somewhat in the manner of the ancients while treating the base metal; they are (1) burning, (2) washing, (3) brightening up or warming up or enlivening, (4) articulating i.e. giving an expression or a form of beauty and truth, and (5) setting the whole within or in reference to the frame of the Infinite and the Impersonal.
Page-7
We have said that each element has its special function in relation to the human adhara, the fire burns in the earthly or material sheath, the water flushes and cleans the vitals, the radiant energy activists and regulates the cardiac domain—which in fact is the central knot of life—the air or wind, the breath of consciousness inspires the right expression in thought and speech and act, and finally, the vast limitless beyond is the ultimate reality embracing the rest of the being in its truth and love and delight. In reality, however, the elements in their essence are not exclusive of each other. Indeed they with their respective fields and functions are interchangeable, each one can do the work of any other or of all together. They function severally and collectively, and they intermingle and reciprocate in their functioning even like and following the example of the Vedic gods. Fire can ignite the brain or the vitals or the cardiac and the throat region or even the crown. The water as well can flush likewise the brain, the vitals, the thorax and the throat. The radiant energy of the heart, in its turn, can luminously animate and regulate the same fields and functions. The air or the Marut can sweep through and purify and dynamise each and every one of the rest, give an inspired expression through man's face,—the frontal field and instrument. And it goes without saying that the Infinite, the Vast lies behind and at the heart of all, without it nothing can exist or move. That is the supreme agent for creation and new creation—the Grace Divine.
All the different elements are but varied formulations of one and the same divine Creative Energy. Therefore the Vedic Rishi declares: It is all one single reality, the sages give it different names.
NOLINI KANTA GUPTA
Page-8
NATIONALISM AND NATIONALISTS: B. C. PAL
THE Mazzinian Creed, upon which the whole philosophy of nationalism of the Young Italy School was based, may be briefly summed up as faith (1) in God, (2) in Law, (3) in Humanity; and (4) in Association. The French Revolution was essentially lacking in the sense of the Unseen. What is known as the God-idea found no place in the dominant thought of the French Illumination. While it tried in its own way to arrive at some sort of a social synthesis, seeking to discover a new principle of the social life, it almost entirely neglected the religious factor which had hitherto formed the basis of that life. To the authors of the French Revolution, religion meant a supernatural scripture and an infallible Pope, crippling and killing the freedom of thought and speculation of the individual; a priesthood, dominating the social and personal activities of the individual and oftentimes allied to the political autocracy on the one side, which denied the individual his rights of free citizenship, and with the aristocracy on the other, which kept him out of his legitimate share of the fruits of his own labour and his rightful participation in the general economic life of his country and nation. Swayed by the inevitable passions and prejudices of turbulent revolutionary times, they were almost physically incapacitated from differentiating the real from the mere formal elements of the religious life, and thereby discarding the current errors of that life without denying or destroying the eternal verities that underlie it and from association with which alone do even religious errors and superstitions derive their sanction and authority. Indeed, if anything, the authors of the French Revolution themselves, when they realised the need of a religious impulse to awaken and keep up the enthusiasm of the populace in the new order they established in the country,—set up a travesty of the old and discarded religious forms and ceremonies to symbolise the new faith and philosophy which they preached, and called the new cult the religion of humanity. Mazzini saw that neither pure individualism,
Page-9
nor humanitarianism, nor the two combined, one supplementing the other, can supply the basis of a rational synthesis. A synthesis means always the harmony of parts in a perfected whole. The conception of this perfected whole was practically wanting in the philosophy of the French Revolution. This was a fatal weakness, which really foredoomed the whole movement to failure, its lofty idealism notwithstanding. Mazzini fully recognised it. But the recognition of it did not drive him back to Catholicism, nor even to Christianity, as popularly understood; that would have meant a mere reaction. And a reaction is never a real synthesis, though it may help a synthesis by bringing out its need, and, perhaps, even to some extent indicating the fundamental lines along which it must be worked out. Mazzini did not go back to the old formulas and symbols of religion, but simply took up the eternal fact which they all tried to represent. That eternal fact of man's religious experience is expressed universally by the term God. In his conception of the Divine Unity, Mazzini sought and found the key to that higher synthesis which he proclaimed in Europe.
The gospel of the French Revolution had proclaimed one Law for all. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, are meaningless terms if there be no law. Law is the principle of association upon which all these are based. There can be neither liberty nor equality nor fraternity in in real anarchism or a state of absolute lawlessness. But what is law ? Law really means a relation, either actual or ideal. And a relation implies two or more factors of relation and a principle of relation which combines them, and, by so doing, makes the relation possible. This principle of relation must, on the face of it, be such as will include all the different factors of the relation, but which shall not be confined to any of the particular factors, nor shall be exhausted by them all collectively. In other words, the principle of relation must necessarily be a universal principle, on its own plane, in the series of factors which it controls and relates to one another. If this series be an infinite series, then the principle of relation here must be an absolutely universal principle. The universe is infinite. Man stands in this universe in the midst of an infinitude of relations. The principle of relation which makes the Law of the universe and the Law of humanity, must, of necessity, be a Universal Principle. It is this
Page-10
Universal Principle, pervading this "congeries of relations" which we call the universe, holding together the infinite factors of this system of relations, and yet transcending them all, severally and collectively both,—the basis of their existence, the source of their law,—it is this which Mazzini called God. This conception of the Godhead followed, directly and as of necessity, from the idea of Law upon which the gospel of the French Revolution was based. Thus, in reply to the question—Whence come you ? In whose name do you preach! Mazzini said:—
"We come in the name of God and Humanity.
"We believe in one God; the author of all existence; the absolute living Thought, of whom our world is a ray, the universe an incarnation."
And as if to indicate the basis of his theism, he next declared his conception of Law:—
"We believe in a general, immutable law, a law which constitutes our mode of existence; embraces the whole series of possible phenomena; exercises a continuous action upon the universe and all therein comprehended, both in its physical and moral aspect."
But law has no meaning unless there is an aim to be reached. No relation is really stationary. And the perpetually moving nature of phenomena can only be understood and rationally interpreted on the hypothesis of some far-off end towards which they are moving. Mazzini recognizes this end, and his conception of Humanity, as the progressive interpreter of the Law and its necessary end, is based directly upon this recognition.
"As every law assumes an aim to be reached, we believe in the progressive development of the faculties and forces—faculties in action—of all living things towards that unknown aim. Were this not so, the law would be useless, and existence unintelligible."
But is this aim really unknown? There can be no rational assumption of that which is absolutely
unknown. Of the unknown you cannot say that it is, you cannot say that it is
not. To say that the aim which the law assumes, is absolutely unknown, is to
make over the governance of the universe to the hands of blind Fate, in which,
then, man with all his intelligence and conscience, can have possibly no
conscious and rational participation. The aim being absolutely
Page-11
unknown, the value of the law which seeks that aim would also be absolutely undetermined, and as such it would have no rational or ethical claims upon our allegiance. This aim is, therefore, really not unknown but only partially and progressively known; and to the extent it is known, it commands rational and willing acceptance. The fact really is that this "aim" is not absolutely unknown, but only progressively revealed in the course of cosmic evolution. And, though Mazzini here speaks of an "unknown aim" it is only the progressive character of its revelation which he means to indicate by the term unknown. And a Law such as this, continually reaching out to a progressively revealed aim, demands, necessarily, an ever-present and progressive interpreter. Who is to be this Interpreter ? Mazzini says, —Humanity.
"Every law being interpreted and verified by its subject, we believe in Humanity,-the collective Being that sums up and comprehends the ascending series of organic creations; the most perfect manifestation of the thought of God upon our globe-as the sole interpreter of the law."
And like every other interpreter of laws, whether they be Popes interpreting the law of religion to Catholicism, or the Judiciary in our civilisation which interprets the civil Code in different countries, Humanity is also a progressive interpreter of the eternal Law of the universe. And Mazzini distinctly indicated the progressive character of this interpretation. This was, to him, the key of human progress and development.
"We believe that harmony between the subject and the law being the condition of all normal existence, the known and immediate object of all endeavour is the establishment of this harmony in ever-increasing completeness and security, through the gradual discovery and comprehension of the law and identification of its subject with it".
But God, Law, and even Humanity, were not really terms of the new synthesis which Mazzini tried to work out. These are all, in some sense or other, what he would perhaps call "the terms of the anterior synthesis". The specifically new term of his own synthesis was Association. It was by this that he separated himself from the "epoch of exclusive individuality". It was in this that he found "a new basis to the principle of universal suffrage", and was, thus, able
Page-12
to elevate "the political question to the height of a philosophical conception".
Upon this, finally, he based his whole philosophy of Nationalism. In this declaration of faith, from which I have been quoting, he said:
"We believe in association,—which is but the reduction to action of our faith in one sole God, and one sole aim,—as the only means we possess of realising the truth; as the method of progress the path leading towards perfection. The highest possible degree of human progress will correspond to the discovery and application of the vastest possible formula of association."
And in what we would call the universal federation of humanity, but what Mazzini called the Holy Alliance of Peoples, he discovered this highest formula of association, and from this he deduced his creed of nationality. We believe, he declared:
"...in the Holy Alliance of Peoples as being the vastest formula of association possible in our epoch;—in the liberty and equality of the peoples, without which no true association can exist;—in nationality which is the conscience of the peoples, and which by assigning to them their part in the work of association, their mission upon earth, that is to say, their mdividuality, without which neither liberty nor equality are possible;—in the sacred Fatherland, the cradle of nationality; altar and workshop of the individuals of which each people is composed. As liberty and equality are the fundamental principles of association, in the Holy Alliance of Peoples, so they are also in the secondary association of individuals composing the different peoples.
"As we believe in the liberty and equality of the peoples, so do we believe in the liberty and equality of the men [and he must have meant of the women also] of every people, and in the inviolability of the human Ego, which is the conscience of the individual and assigns to him his part in the secondary association; his function in the nation, his special mission of citizenship within the sphere of the Fatherland.
"And as we believe in Humanity as the sole interpreter of the law of God, so do we believe in the people of every state as the sole master, sole sovereign, and sole interpreter of the law of Humanity, which governs every national mission. We believe in the people,
Page-13
one and indivisible; recognising neither castes nor privileges, save those of genius and virtue; neither proletariat nor aristocracy, whether landed or financial; but simply an aggregate of faculties and forces consecrated to the well-being of all, to the administration of the common substance and possession, the terrestrial globe. We believe in the people, one and independent; so organised as to harmonise the individual faculties with the social idea; living by the fruits of its own labour, united in seeking after the greatest possible amount of general well-being, and in respect for the rights of individuals."
This was Mazzini's message to his time. "God and his law; Humanity and its work of interpretation, progress, association, liberty, and equality, these with the dogma of the People"—formed the principal contents of his message. These are essentially the contents of our message also. The terms are practically the same, only they have, perhaps, a deeper meaning to us, especially of India, than what they had even to Mazzini. This does not take away, however, from the greatness of his genius or the grandeur of his vision; but only means that that progressive development of the race which he regarded as the very soul and essence of the Law that governed all living things, has not been arrested during the three quarters of a century which cover the period between 1835 and 1910.
(To be continued)
Page-14
RISHI DIRGHATAMA'S HYMN TO THE SUN
II
(16)
Women are they and they are also men, it is said. He who has eyes is able to see, one blind does not know.
The Son, the seer, is aware of it; and he who knows is the father of the father.
(17)
The mother cow holds the hind legs of her calf by her fore legs and its fore legs with her hind legs and moves upward.
Whither, to which hemisphere, she is stepping across ? Where does she give birth to the child ? Not indeed in the midst of the herds.
(18)
He, indeed, integrally knows the Father who knows the lower by the higher and the higher by the lower.
Who has the poet's vision to tell us where does the Divine Mind take birth?
(19)
They that turn downward are said to turn upward and they that turn upward are said to turn downward.
Indra and thou, O Soma, both together have done deeds that up bear the luminous worlds as though joined to the yoke.
(20)
The birds with wings of beauty united together and as comrades cling to the same tree.
Page-15
One of them eats of the sweet fruit, the other does not eat and looks about.
(21)
There, where the birds with wings of beauty, in perfect knowledge, sing of their share in immortality.
The Lord and Protector of all the worlds, the Supreme Intelligence, enters into one young and ignorant as I am.
(22)
Upon the tree dwell the birds of beautiful wings who eat of honey; from there they made the creation upon earth.
And on its top, there is the sweetest fruit, they say; none can reach it who knows not the father.
(23)
Upon Gayatra is set the Gayatra, the Tristubha is carved upon Tristubha. is carved upon Tristubha.
And that which is called 'jagat', is set upon jagat; they who know this attain immortality.
(24)
The luminous verse is fashioned after the rhythm of Gayatra and with the verse is fashioned the chant of Soma and the Word with the rhythm of Tristubha.
The Word is fashioned with the Word, the Word has a two-fold and a four-fold stepping and the seven vocables are fashioned with the syllable.
(25)
With jagati the Stream was established firm in the Heaven; with Rathantara the Sun is seen all around up above.
Page-16
The rhythm of Gayatra, they say, has a three-fold kindling thence it goes farther beyond in its mighty greatness.
(26)
That giver of milk, her I called here who yields milk readily: she is -milked by a hand skilled in milking.
May the creator create for me the very best creation; the heat blazes; towards that I utter my words.
(27)
Possessor of all wealth, she yearns with her mind and heart after her child: lo, she comes uttering her cry.
Inviolable may she yield the drink for the twin riders. May she grow and increase for the sake of the vast felicity.
(28)
The mother answered back to her child that was gazing at her; she cried aloud, as though to measure its head.
She desires after its foaming mouth; she shapes its form giving it to drink all her milk.
(29)
There he is who cries out encompassing the white mother, he fashions the form seated secure above all disruption.
She builds up the mortal from within with her modes of consciousness. She has become the lightning and has shaken off her covering.
(30)
The living one breathes and moves fast when it lies at rest: when it races along it holds itself firm within its station.
Page-17
The soul in the mortal moves by its self-law; the immortal springs from the same source as the mortals.
Notes
(16)
The masculine and the feminine principles are at bottom the same; they express the same reality in different ways, one is usually taken to be that of knowledge (masculine), the other, that of power (feminine). But they are always united together and often interchangeable. Hara and Gouri, Radha and Krishna, Ishwara and Ishwari are indivisible in their being and action.
The son is the human being as the Purusha in the heart. It is in effect the human soul, the Divine spark in man. The son is the individual Divine, the father is the cosmic Divine and the father of the father is the transcendent Divine,—three aspects of the Divine as the individual, as the universe, and as beyond the universe.
(17)
The child is the human soul imprisoned in the lower sphere. The Divine Consciousness seizes it to take it upward in the higher sphere. The image represents the ascent and the descent of the consciousness and the reversal of consciousness. The movement is towards the higher sphere. The Divine child is born there, not here in the midst of the crowded multiplicity of Ignorance.
The reversal of consciousness means that the higher sphere is reversed into the lower sphere and it is this that brings about the creation of the manifested world. The higher sphere consists of the four fundamental principles of being and consciousness: Sat (Existence), Chit-Tapas (Consciousness-Force), Ananda (Delight), Mahat (the Vast, Above-Mind). They are reversed as they come down to form die universe in the lower sphere. The lower sphere consists of the mind (manas-buddhi), the heart or emotional being (hrit-chakra), the life (prana) and body (anna). The reversal means the higher planes turning into their opposites in the lower plane; not only so,
Page-18
what is curious is that the highest in the highest sphere turns into the lowest in the lower sphere and the lowest in the higher sphere turns into the highest in the lower sphere. That is the image given of the cow and the calf holding each other transversely and mounting up. Thus Sat becomes Matter, Chit-Tapas Vital Energy, Ananda becomes the Delight in the heart, and Above-Mind becomes the mind.
(18)
Here below and up above are terms of the Ignorance; they are, even like the masculine and feminine principles, essentially the same Truth and Reality. That is how the Divine mind, the seer envisages.
(19)
The same image is pursued.
(20)
The two birds: the soul as sāksī, seer, observer, and as bhoktā, enjoyer.
(23-25)
The double movements, one below and another above, one as the normal consciousness, the other as the higher consciousness: the one above is built upon the one below or the lower is lifted into the higher. The movements are of four categories or types: (1) Gayatra, (2) Tristubh, (3) Jagat, (4) Rathantara.
In the external form they represent the four metres or rhythms in Vedic prosody, consisting of 8, 11, or 12 syllables; the fourth is an indeterminate one.
Gayatra seems to mean the luminous music of Truth, therefore associated with Arka and Soma. Tristubh is the three-fold affirmation of Truth in the uttered word. Jagat represents the movement upward, the streaming towards the heaven. Rathantara is the movement leading beyond to die source of Truth, Surya.
Page-19
(26)
The cow is the image of the embodied Light and Consciousness; it is also the concentrated delight. Milking means drawing the flow of pure and concentrated consciousness. The cow feeding the calf with milk is the image of the Divine Mother-Consciousness nourishing the human soul with her light and delight.
(29)
The human soul contains within itself the Divine, its mother. It calls its mother and approaches and embraces her so that she may fashion it anew, for she is the supreme creatrix and beyond all earthly disintegration. She fashions the mortal being with her multiple radiances of knowledge, she makes herself manifest as light-force, the bright hghtning.
(30)
The Upanishad also says: That moves and yet moves not, That is far yet near; it is the Immortal in the mortal.
(33)
The higher consciousness, the heaven, is the father, the lower consciousness, the earth, is the mother. Both look upward to the Supreme Divine, and in their union the Divine Child is born. The earth-consciousness is also the daughter of the higher consciousness, for it is created by that and within this earth-consciousness the Divine Child, the soul, is born.
(35)
The earth is the farthest end, for it is the culmination and fulfilment of the Divine's creative energy. Matter is the other extreme end in reference to the Spirit. Horse is the creative vital energy of Nature. Soma is the delight of creation. Vak or the Divine Word is the articulate expression of the supreme Divine, Brahman.
Page-20
(36)
Each of the seven planes is divided into two halves as Purusha and Prakriti, the male and the female principle. It is this division that produces the infinite diversity in Nature's activity.
The seven are conscious forces in essence and they penetrate and encircle the creation.
The phrase Ardhagarbha, embryo-halves, reminds one of the crucial discoveries in modern genetics—the chromosome-halves that constitute the germ-cells in the male and the female body. Chromosomes are fundamental elements forming the nucleus of the body-cell, they are 46 in number and exist in pairs, they are divided into two series and then they separate, half and half, in the germ-cell, one-half, that is, 23, going to the male and the other half going to the female germ. They recombine and have the normal complete number at the time of fecundation.
NOLINI KANTA GUPTA
Page-21
XXX
The rain-clouds of Grace pour down incessantly
Abohshing all conflict between 'is' and 'is-not';
Lo, in the mid-heaven rises a marvel:
Bhusuka, look at your old intimate being,
The very awareness of which tears up the net of the senses,
And your mind, of its own accord, brings forth
the supreme ecstasy from behind.
The sense-objects are purified and so I know
what joy is:
It is as though the moon has risen in the heavens:
This is the true essence of all the three worlds,
This is how Bhusuka, the yogi, has sundered the darkness.
XXXI
When the mind and the sense-winds die away,
I know not where my self enters and disappears.
The drum of the Grace beats wonderous,
And Ajdeb dwells aloof and lonesome;
Even as the moonbeams are reflections upon the moon,
The mind's reflexes lapse and enter into itself.
I have cast away fear and disgust and rules and customs,
I gaze and gaze upon the Void without a ripple:
Ajdeb has routed everything,
He has driven fear and disgust far away.
NOLINI KANTA GUPTA
Page-22
SOMEONE had asked Mother for the meaning of Her message, "Cling to Truth". What is truth? was the query.
"There is no need to define truth; if one is sincere, one knows what truth is."
"Exactly," said the Mother who was pleased with the straight answer.
That is my man. Straightforward in nature, he always goes straight to the heart of things. He may protest that he is not learned in philosophy and such-like high subjects. But that is his virtue. Give him any piece of writing, make him listen to any discourse; he will immediately react to the right note if there be one.
Raso vai sah. Nothing is too high or too low for him. He will listen to the talk of a child with as much concentration and glow on his face as to a profound conversation by the Mother. Music, painting (classical and futurist), hand-work, manual labour—all claim his impartial and entire attention when they come before him. He exercises no preferences; to him all is samam brahma, the watchword of every yoga.
He will again protest that he does not know yoga and say that he is only a worker whose mantra is Service. True, he is the embodiment of Service and the manner and the extent to which he has been privileged to serve both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for over five decades has no parallel. Neither food nor sleep have claims over his time. But the quantum of service has no value for him. Did he not one day say to the Mother in the anguish of his soul: "Mother, all these years, I have served as I wanted to serve; now I want to serve as you would want me to do." Hanuman could have hardly bettered this.
And why has he chosen to serve ? Because it is his spiritual Dharma. In his very childhood he perceived that Service to the Divine was the mould of his soul. He serves the Divine in and as the
Page-23
Guru, the Mother Supreme; but he also serves the Divine in the endless humanity that comes to the Mother's Feet. Yes, he serves you and me also. He will never allow any one to be denied unjustly; he will never allow a wrong to pass unrighted, however humble be the victim involved. I have always held that he is the one man in our world here who stands for principles and who will fight for them, no matter what the consequences.
No doubt certain elements tend to exploit his nature and at times do succeed. But that is not because he is really deceived. He deliberately allows the benefit of the doubt to others, sees some good or deliverance coming to them through whatever apparent evils.
All of us know he will not suffer fools and knaves for a moment; they call out his wrath in an ample measure. But Rudra soon yields to Shiva. He feels immediately sorry for his temper and makes up for it abundantly and gracefully. Like a child, bālavat, he will tell you how anger has been his curse, how he cannot help it and you begin to feel sorry for creating a situation that caused the flare-up.
Can you help loving such a man? So evolved, so privileged, and yet so transparent, so humble!
I have watched him from a distance, come into closer contact with him for some time, and what I have seen, felt and experienced made me exclaim one day, in his presence, to a friend: "He is the one man who can be an ātmaratih (on e whose delight and contentment is in the Self) of the Upanishad. He is so impersonal in attitude, he is attached to nothing".' He, however, came down on me. He started cataloguing all hi s supposed defects, and vehemently disclaimed what I said. I was moved by his humility and strengthen ed in my conviction.
Why don't you tell us his name, you might ask. Is it really necessary to do so? Is there any other like him?
M. P. PANDIT
1 Not even the standards by which he lays great store normally. In moments of crises, I have seen him overpass them, in deference to the Divine Will, without the least regret. He has not studied Sri Aurobindo's Essays on the Gita, to be sure, but he acts spontaneously in the spirit of the Master's Call,
Page-24
WHAT is the true calling of man? Is it not to be a full man, to be the best and the highest to which human nature can rise? That is almost an obvious answer and a convincing answer too.
But what is a full man and what is the excellence to which human nature can rise, are not so easy to answer. And yet not very difficult too. We are aware, more or less, of our imperfections, our inadequacies, our fears, our incapacities. To eliminate them progressively and build up in their place strength and confidence and capability would clearly be the way to build up fullness and excellence in life.
However, ordinarily we look upon the form of the external work, engineering or business or teaching or any other as the calling and the work. And the perfection in that work as such as the perfection of the man. But very often we find that the work kills the man, it causes a deterioration in the quality of living and the enjoyment of life.
Evidently, in that case, a misconception is at work. And the basic error to which human nature is prone is to regard the external things as more real than the inner consciousness. Hence we regard the external doing as more important than the becoming or the growth in the personal quality of man. Virtually the doing is the expression, the manifestation of what the man is in himself, by himself. But when we attach more importance to doing and begin to seek it by itself, then we neglect the man and the work becomes oppressive and injurious.
But if we remember that the true calling of life is to grow in the quality of life, to become a better and a fuller man, then external work becomes a most appropriate field for the exercise, development and concrete expression of the varied perfections of life.
But man is a part of this wide world and the world is writ large with graded forms of existences, a stone, a plant, an animal and a man. And there is a clear evidence of change, of progress, of evolution. The question, therefore, arises, what is the world tending towards ? Man as part of the world shares in and contributes to the development of the world. The human race has a closer unity and its civilization
Page-25
and culture show change and admit of growth and development. The question arises, what is the human race tending to grow into ? And in this progression of man, the outstanding personalities like Rama and Krishna and Buddha and Christ and others seem to have played a striking role.
The question of the true calling of man is connected with all this and we need to understand it in order to know what is happening in the world, what is being attempted and what it really is that we are called to?
If we survey nature and carefully consider the inanimate existence, the plant life, the animal life, and the human life, is it not possible to see that the movement in all this seems to be the preparation, the growth and progressive development of consciousness ? And in the best of men we see the greatest, the most harmonious and powerful forms of mind and consciousness. And the most outstanding personalities seem to initiate new growths, adding abiding new values to life.
If we can once get it firmly in us that the growth of consciousness, in the fields of thought, of feeling and of will, seems to be the business of the world, of the evolutionary process, of civilization and culture, it would be a wonderful clarity. It is a clarity which can help solve the most difficult issues of life and existence. It can save one from the worst mistakes of life and keep him rightly oriented towards the future, the further development of life and the goal. And it is a goal that does not disappoint. All gain in the inner quality of life, in integration, in strength, in awareness, in joy and hope, is a substantial gain, which increases the sense of worthwhile ness of living and the joy of doing so.
One also needs to be clear about the manner and the technique of growth of consciousness in the world as well as the individual.
What is the nature of evolution as a cosmic process ? Apparently seen it is a succession of forms of existences, the stone, the plant, the animal and the man; alternatively, the unconscious, the sub-conscious, the incipiently conscious and the rationally conscious. It appears as though consciousness emerges out of unconsciousness and develops more and more.
But if we consider existence as a whole as it might be by itself, the best thought and experience of the world seems to affirm that it
Page-26
must be a vast universal intelligence, consciousness or spirit. The spiritual experience of the world affirms with certitude that it is a marvellous spiritual fact and reality. The apparent evolutionary process in this setting of thought and experience will tend to acquire a new meaning. The inanimate, from which consciousness seems to emerge, could then no more be conceived as being absolutely unconscious-or devoid of consciousness. Rather it will have to be imagined as a form of existence in which consciousness is possibly 'as in a man in deep slumber'. This slumbering consciousness becomes a little vibrant and dynamic in the plant and achieves the quality of growth. A little later it becomes incipiently conscious and develops the capacity of rational thought. But it is yet largely unconscious and lacks inner integration and unity.
Now, if a universal spirit is at the base, then its play and action in the evolutionary process must be of a basic significance. Its involved presence in the inanimate is obviously the basic determining fact. But the integral self-conscious spirit is yet logically prior to the involved condition. It is the waking man that goes into slumber, to recall our analogy. Evidently the self-conscious integral form of the spirit must be a prior determining fact. In the evolutionary process, it must, therefore, have a part to play. The direction of the evolutionary process, as even apparently indicated, is towards a fuller and an integral consciousness, which is the character and the quality of this Highest Spirit.
The evolutionary process will, therefore, have to be conceived as an interplay of the lower and higher, of the forces of the involved spirit in matter and those of the free and full self-conscious Spirit presiding over all existence. This interplay would imply a progressive ascension from the lower to the higher and a progressive descent of the higher into the lower. The relation between the two must be extremely intimate. An attempt at an ascension will evoke a descent and a descent will facilitate and seal an ascension.
Sri Aurobindo's treatment of this issue is philosophical and spiritual and not limited to an outward observation of the process of change in nature. A few sentences from him will further clarify and strengthen this thought. He says:
"All evolution is in essence a heightening of consciousness in the
Page-27
manifest being so that it may be raised into the greater intensity of what is still unmanifest from matter into life, from life into mind, from the mind into the spirit."1
"A change into a higher consciousness or state of being is not only the whole aim and process of religion, of all higher askesis, of Yoga, but it is also the very trend of our life itself, the secret purpose found in the sum of its labour."2
"All the previous ascensions have been effectuated by a secret Consciousness-Force operating first in Inconscience and then in the the Ignorance: it has worked by an emergence of its involved powers to the surface, powers concealed behind the veil and superior to the past formulations of Nature, but even so there is needed a pressure of the same superior powers already formulated in their full natural force on their own planes; these superior planes create their own foundation in our subliminal parts and from there are able to influence the evolutionary process on the surface. Overmind and Supermind are also involved and occult in earth Nature, but they have no formations on the accessible levels of our subliminal inner consciousness; there is as yet no overmind being or organised overmind nature, no supramental being or organised overmind nature acting either on our surface or in our normal subliminal parts: for these greater powers of consciousness are superconscient to the level of our ignorance. In order that the involved principles of Overmind and Supermind should emerge from their veiled secrecy, the being and powers of the super-conscience must descend into us and uplift us and formulate themselves in our being and powers; this descent is a sine qua non of the transition and transformation."3
We need thus to appreciate heartily the mutual relationship of ascensions and of descents in the course of evolution. The emergences of life and mind are matched by the descents of life and mind. For an ascension to supramental levels of consciousness, yet higher descents are needed. Hence it is that the descent of the Supermind, the full integral consciousness, as a cosmic principle, was from an
1 The Life Divine, I955, p. 866.
2 ib., p. 866.
3 ib., pp. 1096-7.
Page-28
early stage of the spiritual work of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, their most cherished objective. This was needed as the foundational cosmic condition for the pursuit and realisation of supermind as an aim of human living for the individual as for the society.
Great was, indeed, the occasion, the epoch, when mind became available to earth as a general possibility of life. Of course, it took a long time to develop this marvellous power. But the long previous history of the earth was a poor thing in comparison with that since mind has been in action and growth.
Today we feel more acutely than ever before, because of the persistent crisis in life, because of the prevailing spirit of conflict, division and insecurity, because of the split personality and its unhappiness and because of the relative hopelessness of the situation, that mind and its greatest achievements in science and otherwise are not enough. We yearn for a wholeness in personal living and a wholeness and unity in the life of the human race.
Sri Aurobindo and the Mother have been long affirming the change called for in human affairs and preparing for it for decades. Their efforts have met on the spiritual plane successes, which open out a great prospect for the effectuation of the needed change. It is to this work that they call all humanity for a higher destiny and a truer fulfilment. And those of us who have learned to know of their persistent efforts and achievements, it is, indeed, a high privilege to respond to their call and share in the marvellous evolutional work of the contemporary times for the great good of all and the highest personal fulfilment.
INDRA SEN
Page-29
Kashmir Saivism By J. Rudrappa. Pub. Prasaranga, University of Mysore, Mysore. Pp. 187, Price Rs. 7.00 (Calico Rs. 10).
DRAWING upon the original sources of Vasugupta, Utpaladeva, Abhinava Gupta and other authorities on the subject, Sri Rudrappa presents in these lectures a lucid and cogent account of the basic tenets of Kashmir Saivism. He underlines the positive character of this system and points out how, in this vision, contrary to the Darshanas of Shankara Advaita, the universe is looked upon as a real manifestation of the Supreme Reality, the Para shiva. The manifestation is effected by the Shakti who is not a different entity but the inherent Power of Shiva. He traces the evolution of the world from the highest Reality and gives a survey of the emanation of the different tattvas (36) that go to constitute this Creation.
In this philosophy the crux of the human problem is to recollect one's own true nature. That nature is veiled by Ignorance of many kinds. By whatever means this veil is to be removed and one's own intrinsic nature which is divine flashes forth. One recollects; there is nothing to be attained. The jiva realises he is none other than Shiva.
There are four upāyas, means of this realisation. Anupaya or Atmopaya
which is meant for men of advanced consciousness: a word of initiation from the
Guru is enough for them to find their true consciousness. Shambhavopaya or
Icchopaya calls for an exercise of will-power: one concentrates upon the highest
principle and identifies oneself with that tattva. The exercise leads to a
gradual realisation of that truth. Shaktopaya or Jnanopaya requires
psychological practices with the aid of mantras: duality is slowly replaced by
unity. Anavopaya or Kriyopaya consists in the practice of dhyana, pranayama,
dharana, pratyahara and samadhi in order to isolate and transcend each of the
groups of tattvas that form the veils . (p. 92)
It is an achievement to have compressed so much profound matter is so brief a presentation.
Page-30
Sri Ramanuja On The Gita : by S. S. Raghavachar. Publishers Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mangalore. Pp. 213. Price: Rs. 5/-
In his scholarly introduction, the author classifies modern writers on the Gita in three categories. The Indologists who discuss "the age of the present text, and its homogenous or heterogeneous character, tackling the question whether it is a composite product brought into its present shape by successive additions to a primitive and simple core," etc; the faithful who approach "the Gita as the supreme Gospel of spiritual wisdom"; those like Anne Besant, Radhakrishnan and Huxley who seek to interpret the Gita by way of comparative study with a view to finding elements for a spiritual reconstruction of the world. The writer puts the work of Vivekananda, Tilak, Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo in a separate class by itself. He observes : "Sri Aurobindo was an immense power in politics, was an intellectual of soaring genius and later on devoted himself and his unique talents to a life of complete and integral Yoga. He evolved out of his reflections and the life of Yoga, a metaphysics and a system of spirituality, deep-rooted in the ancient tradition but striking and original in its new form, at once profound and comprehensive."
Speaking of the traditional commentaries of the Acharyas, Prof. Raghavachar laments that no modern exposition has taken adequate notice of these commentaries. He seeks to rectify the position, with considerable success, as far as the commentary by Ramanuja is concerned. All may not agree with the reasons he advances for the superior claims of Ramanuja's Bhashya on modern scholardhip vis-a-vis the commentaries of Shankara and Madhva. All the same it is good to read this lucid exposition of Ramanuja's interpretation of the Gita.
"The fundamental factor in the situation is God. He is the Supreme Reality and attaining Him is the supreme goal. The nature of the Supreme Reality is brought out in a systematic array of significant adjectives. That the infinite Reality is the object of all spiritual aspiration and endeavour is brought out in the very statement of the nature of God. God in His fundamental nature is beyond the reach of souls caught up in the meshes of Maya. This theory of Maya is to be elucidated in the Gita
itself in the sequel. To resolve this crisis,
Page-31
God descends to the realm of mortals out of His compassion by His own initiative and reveals Himself in numberless incarnations. The motive behind such self-disclosures is to sustain the souls in the agony of search for Him by furnishing them with the object of their adoration. The unknown and inaccessible Deity presents itself before its seekers and nourishes their devotion by setting before them the object of their devotion. It is a self-gift on God's part and He is the active principle in the resulting communion and worship. This conception of Avatar is also to be elucidated in the sequel. God in His particular incarnation as Krishna is the teacher of the Gita. While imparting his message to Arjuna, he is addressing the whole world of creatures struggling for liberation. The theme of the message is Bhakti directed towards Him and Bhakti that has been enunciated in Vedanta as the supreme pathway to God-realisation. This Bhakti is to be developed through Jnana and Karma. While the general purpose of incarnation is to make Himself accessible to devotion, the special function discharged by Krishna as the teacher of the Gita is an additional one of imparting wisdom concerning devotion. God is indeed the central fact of the situation. He is the supreme Being, the supreme goal. He is the compassionately active object of devotion descending to the vision of the mortals to sustain their devotion by self-revelation and the teacher of the pathway of devotion to be directed to Him. Thus does God in his descent as Krishna effectuate the descent of the Yoga of Bhakti to our world."
In an excellent note on the light shed by Ramanuja on Sadhana, the writer underlines the liberating role of Bhakti in the growth of which Karma and Jnana play a contributory part. Bhakti should lead to prapatti; mukti is incidental.
The author brings out the contribution of the Acharya on the Gita, chapter by chapter, and holds the interest of the reader without going into too many technicalities. A very welcome book on the Visistadvaita approach to the Gita.
Manishi Ki Lokayatra by Bhagavati Prasad Sinha. Pub. Vishwa Vidyalaya Prakashan, Varanasi. Pp. 551, Price Rs. 25.00
A profound work on a profound subject. This is a remarkable
Page-32
study (in Hindi) of the life and labour of Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj by an unusually perceptive mind open to the realm of the Spirit beyond mind.
Pt. Gopinath Kaviraj has become a legend in his own lifetime. The author narrates the external life story of the savant in the first fifty pages covering his education, career and work in various capasities in different universities. There are chapters on the writings of the Pandit in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and English, his correspondence with eminent persons on diverse topics of literary and spiritual interest. The most interesting pages, however, are those that dwell on the yogic and mystic side of his life. The writer records in detail the large number of contacts that Gopinathji has had with saints, yogis, mystics and seers over a long stretch of five decades. It is a world of Light and Glory of the Divine Puissance to which the reader is admitted.
The author records the circumstances under which Gopinathji came under the influence of Paramahamsa Vishuddhananda at a young age and was initiated by that illustrious personality in the yogic path. This Guru had received special knowledge of creation by means of the Cosmic Rays of the Sun while in Tibet, and many incidents are described detailing the demonstrations of this method. Pandit Gopinath came into close touch with many yogis practising different disciplines of Yoga and some of the best portions of this book are those that are devoted to his accounts of the lives and teachings of these adepts. To note only a few of these important contents is all that we can do at the moment:
Swami Vishuddhananda : Karma, action, is the crucible. Knowledge arises from this action. From knowledge in the form of consciousness sprouts bhakti, devotion, from bhakti comes Love and from Love the Realisation. To this truth all yoga stands testimony. Action is the foundation, the first step of Yoga. Love can be attained only by treading the path of Yoga. Ordinary love among humans is only a deformation of the mind. Only a yogi can love truly.
Bejoy Krishna Goswami : Moksha, liberation, is not the final step of
yoga-sadhana. There is an end greater than Moksha, and that is Divine Love, the
Love for which even liberated beings strive.
Page-33
Naga Baba: The debt to the Mother must be paid. Prakriti, Nature, is the Mother. It is not enough that the Purusha attains freedom. The attainment must be shared with the Prakriti. Prakriti, Nature, must be uplifted and transformed into the very state that is claimed by the Purusha. The Purusha uses Prakriti for his growth and liberation; he owes it to her to elevate her to his station above Ignorance.
Navinananda: Yoga is really the esoteric side of Yajna. The awakening of the Kundalini is the gomedha yajńa; to direct it into the navel centre is the aśvamedha yajńa; to lead it into the heart centre is the śyena or oajapeya yajńa; to reach it to the crown centre, the sahasrāra, is the soma yajńa whereby there is the flow of universal delight and the complete eradication of the Ego.
Kishori Bhagavan: How to get the Guru? The way to get the Guru is by preparing to be a fit disciple. He who is ready to be a disciple gets the Guru without difficulty. To become a disciple is more difficult than to attain a Guru. First comes the disciple, then the Guru. How then to become a disciple? To learn to have complete trust and faith, to cultivate implicit obedience to the Guru, is the way. When one is ready this wise, the Guru appears.
What about the philosophy and yoga-sadhana of the Kaviraj himself? In two illuminating chapters on the Thought and Sadhana of Gopinathji, the author presents the outlines of the Akhanda Mahāyoga to which he has dedicated himself. In brief, this system regards the Infinite Brahman as the Integral Reality. All is a manifestation of this Reality that is entire. To realise it one has to transcend in one's consciousness the belt of Time. It is difficult but possible to enter into the Being of this Reality. What is distinctive of this Path is that after effecting this ascent, one must establish complete self-identification with the Cosmic Puissance, the Mahashakti, become one with her in consciousness and being, and then descend into the world for the manifestation of the great Divine Love. This sadhana of Divine Love is possible on earth alone, not in other worlds.
The technique of this mahāyoga is in the harmonisation of various states of being and activity in the one truth of the Divine. Harmonisation of Shiva and Shakti, Atman and Paramatman, self and self, cosmic Power and Self, plane and plane of exist ence, the
Page-34
worlds and what is beyond the worlds—all these are implied in the mahāyoga. All are induced to find their unity in the One Reality that is realised in one's deepest consciousness.
A chapter on communications from the supraphysical worlds records some of the messages received at the sittings in which the Pandit was present. Claiming to be communications from particular departed persons, these describe the constitution and movement of the worlds to which the dead arrive on the shedding of the physical body. Not all of it can be taken to be genuine, to be sure. For in these matters are many cases of impersonation by entities and beings that amuse themselves by misleading the humans below.
There is a specially valuable appendix giving explanations of some of the technical terms and concepts that are used in this Thought and Philosophy. For instance: Nityasiddha: The sidd has are of three kinds. He who becomes a siddha by doing sadhana is a sādhanāsiddha. He who attains siddhi by Divine Grace is krpā-siddha. He who is a siddha from the time without beginning is .a nitya-siddha; he does not have to be a sadhaka.
ākāsa: The material sky in which all is seen by the physical eye is seen by the physical eye is bhūta-ākāsa; the elemental. Beyond the elements is the subtle extension of citta in which lies the world of states of thought and feeling, bhāva; this is citta-ākāśa. Beyond both is the pure extension of Consciousness, free from the waves of elements, free from the movements of mentality, vibrating with pure consciousness; this is the cid-ākāśa .
Hrdaya ākāśa: When the inner sight is open one perceives a skylike extension in the heart. This is called extension in the heart. This is called dahara-ākāśa in the Sruti. Each heart is in truth in the form of a sky. The Cosmic Heart is indeed one, but it manifests itself in the form of each individual heart.
Read also: Four states or stages in sadhana:
(I) When the sadhaka does not perceive the Deity and the Deity does not regard
the sadhaka; this is the common worldly state sarnsāra-auasthā. (2) When the
sadhaka does not look at the Deity but the Deity looks at the sadhaka; this is
the state of sadhaka, sādhaka-avasthā brought about by Initiation, diksā. (3)
When the sadhaka sees the Diety and the Deity sees the sadhaka; this is the
state of attainment, siddha
Page-35
avasthā. (4) When the sadhaka looks at the Deity but the Deity does not look at the sadhaka. The sadhaka is, at this stage, in the realm of Ishvara; the Deity too is there but the sadhaka is awake and sees, while the Deity is involved in delusion.
Finally, about the Shaktis. The Supreme Parameshwara is sat-chit-ananda and hence his innate Shakti also is of the nature of sat-chit-ananda. She who is of sat is the sandhinī śakti, she who-is of cit is the samvit śakti and she who is of ānanda is the ālhādinī śakti,
An authentic presentation of living spiritual thought and yoga as exemplified in the person of Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj and the tradition on which he draws.
Nidra Ya Sushupti By Dr. Ramashankar Bhattacharya. Pub. Astrological Research Hall, Houz Kathara, Varanasi 1. Pp. 67. Re. 1.00
This is a study of the phenomena of ordinary sleep and the dreamless sleep which opens the door to samśdhi. The learned author draws upon many of the ancient texts like the Upanishads, Yoga Sutras, Epics etc. in his exposition of the nature of sleep, the conditions of sleep, the disease of sleeplessness, control over sleep, the precise distinction between sleep and conditions of samadhi etc. He is abreast with the findings of modern psychology on the subject and relates his conclusions to them by way of confirmation or contradiction.
His main conclusions are: Sleep and susupti, dreamless sleep, are states of consciousness; ordinary sleep is dominated by tamas; sleep occurs wherever there is physical body and life-force; the nature of sleep is determined largely by the quality, guna, that is predominant in the system; the active mind is dormant in sleep giving room to the manifestation of the subliminal; when the restless surface consciousness falls silent, there is room for knowledge to manifest; the similarity of sleep to samādhi is only apparent in as much as in the state of samādhi there is no play of the three gunas, sattva, rajas, tamas, as is the case in sleep.
Dr. Bhattacharya makes several useful and apposite remarks in the course of his discussion: the less the dependence on the physical
Page-36
body, the less the need of sleep; gentle repetition of OM to the accompaniment of deep breathing induces good sleep; undue sleep during daytime is ruinous; natural control over sleep is preferable to artificial obstruction to sleep.
A thought-provoking book which deserves to be translated into several languages.
M. P. PANDIT
Page-37
Vol. II No I.
February 1945
HERE OR OTHERWHERE
A QUESTION is often asked of us whether it is possible to do Yoga while remaining in the world. Some declared outright that it is not possible: world and Yoga are, like oil and water, absolutely different things, they do not go together. World means, to put it plainly, earning money and raising a family. Well, these two are the very opposite of Yoga, for they involve, at their best, desire and attachment and at their worst, dishonesty and deceit, lust and libertinage. There is the other school, on the contrary, who pronounce that a Yogic life must be lived in the world if it is not our intention to leave the world altogether and seek and merge in the Beyond, the other where, the immutable transcendent Brahman. It is quite possible for one to be in the very midst of the worldly forces and yet remain unshaken by them. Therefore it has been said:
When the causes of disturbances are there and still the mind is not disturbed—that indeed is the sign of a wise steadiness.
It can however be asked, what then is meant by being in the world? If it means merely sitting quiet, suffering and observing nonchalantly the impacts of the world—something in the manner described by Mathew Arnold in his famous lines on the East—well, that stoic way, the way of indifference is a way of being in the world which is not very much unlike not being in the world; for it means simply erecting a wall of separation or isolation within one's consciousness without moving away physically. It is a psychological escapism. But if by living in the world we should mean participating in the movements of the world—not only being but becoming, not merely standing as a witness but moving out as a doer—then the problem becomes different. For the question we have to ask in that case is what happens to our duties—life in the world being a series of duties, duty to oneself (self-preservation), duty to the family (race preservation), duty to the
Page-38
country, to humanity and, finally, duty to God (which last belongs properly to the life in Yoga). Now, can all these duties dwell and flourish together ? The Christ is categorical on the point. He says, in effect: "Leave aside all else and follow Me and look not back." Christ's God seems to be a jealous God who does not tolerate any other god to share in his sovereign exclusiveness. You have to give up, rf you wish to gain. They who lose life shall find it and they who stick to life shall as surely lose it.
But is not the Gita's solution somewhat different ? Sri Krishna urges Arjuna to be in the very thick of a deadly fight, not a theoretical or abstract combat, but take a hand in the direst manslaughter, to "do the deed", (even like Macbeth) but Yogic ally. Yes, the Gita's position seems to be that—to accept all life integrally, to undertake all necessary work (kartavyam karma) and turn them God ward. The Gita seeks to do it in its own way which consists of two major principles: (i) to do the work, whatever it may be, unattached— without any desire for the fruit, simply as a thing that has to be done, and (2) to do it as a sacrifice, as an offering to the supreme Master of works.
The question naturally turns upon the nature and the kind of work, whether there is a choice and selection in it. The Gita speaks indeed of all works, krtsna-karmakrt,
but does that really mean any and every work that an ignorant man, an ordinary
man steeped in the three Gunas does or can do? It cannot be so. For, although
all activity, all energy has its source and impetus in the higher consciousness
of the Divine, it assumes on the lower ranges indirect, diverted or even
perverted formulations and expressions, not because, indeed, of the inherent
falsity of these so-called inferior strata, the instruments, but because of.
their temporary impurity and obscurity. There are evidently activities and
impulsions born exclusively of desire, of attachment and egoism. There are
habits of the body, urges of the vital, notions of the mind, there are
individual and social functions that have no place in the spiritual scheme, they
have to be rigorously eschewed and eliminated. Has not the Gita said, this is
desire, this is passion born of the quality of Rajas ... ? There is not much
meaning in trying to do these works unattached or to turn them towards the
Divine, when you are unattached, when you turn to the Divine, these
Page-39
simply drop away of themselves. Yes, there are social duties and activities and relations that inevitably dissolve and disappear as you move into the life divine. Some are perhaps tolerated for a period, some are occasions for the consciousness to battle and surmount, grow strong and pass beyond. You have to learn to go beyond and new create your environment.
It was Danton who said, one carries not his country with him on the sole of his shoe. Even so you cannot hope to shift bodily your present social ensemble, place it wholesale in the divine life on the plea that it will be purified and transformed in the process. Purification is there indeed, but one must remember purification literally means burning and not a little of the past and present has to be burnt down to ashes.
THE SUNLIT PATH
Sri Aurobindo speaks of the sunlit path in Yoga. It is the path of happy progress where dangers and difficulties, violent ups and downs are reduced to a minimum, if not altogether obviated. In ideal conditions it is as it were a smooth and fair-weather sailing, as much of course as it is humanly possible. What are then these conditions? It is when the sadhaka keeps touch with his inmost being, his psychic consciousness, when this inner Guide and Helmsman is given the charge; for then he will be able to pass sovereignly by all shoals and rocks and storm-racks, through all vicissitudes gliding on—slow or swift as needed:—inevitably towards the goal. A doubting mind, an impetuous vital urge, an inert physical consciousness, though they may be there in any strength, cannot disturb or upset the even tenor of the forward march. Even outward circumstances bow down to the pressure of the psychic temperament and bring to' it their happy collaboration.
This may not always mean that all is easy and difficulty is simply not, once the psychic is there. It becomes so when the psychic is there fully in front, even otherwise when the inner being is in the background, still sensed and, on the whole, obeyed, although there are battles, hard battles to be fought and won, then even a little of this Consciousness saves from a great fear. For then, in all circumstances,
Page-40
you will have found a secret joy and cheer and strength that buoy you up and carry you through.
Like the individual, nations too have their sunlit path and the path of the doldrum as well. So long as a nation keeps to the truth of its inner being, follows its natural line of development, remains faithful to its secret godhead, it will have chosen that good part which will bring it divine blessings and fulfilment. But sometimes a nation has the stupidity to deny its self, to run after a ignis fatuus, a māyāmrga, then grief and sorrow and frustration lie ahead. We are afraid India did take such a wrong step when she refused to see the great purpose behind the present war and tried to avoid contributing her mite to the evolutionary Force at work. On the other hand, Britain, in a moment of supreme crisis, that meant literally life or death, not only to herself or to other nations, but to humanity itself, had the good fortune to be Jed by the right Inspiration, the whole nation rose as one man and swore allegiance to the cause of humanity and the gods. That was how she was saved and that was how she aquired a new merit and a fresh lease of life. Unlike Britain, France bowed down and accepted what should not have been accepted and cut herself adrift from its inner life and truth, the result was five years of hell. Fortunately, the hell, in the end, proved to be a purgatory, but what a purgatory! For there were souls who were willing to pay the price and did pay it to the full cash and net. So France has been given the chance again to turn round and take up the thread of its life where it snapped.
Once more another crisis seems to be looming before the nations, once more the choice has to be made and acted upon. In our weakness it is natural and easy to invoke God, to feel the presence of a higher Guidance, to trust in a heavenly light, but it is in our strength that we must know whose strength it is, and in whose strength it is that we conquer.
If the present war has any meaning, as we all declare it has, then we must never lose sight of that meaning. And our true victory will come only in the process of the realisation of that meaning. That is the sunlit path we refer to here which the nations have to follow in their mutual dealings. It is the path of the evolutionary call to which we say we have responded and to which we must remain loyal and faithful in thought, in speech and in deed. If we
Page-41
see dark and ominous clouds gathering round us, dangers and difficulties suddenly raising their heads, then we must look about and try honestly to find out whether we have not strayed away from the sunlit.
THE WAR-PEOPLES' 'OR IMPERIALISTS' ?
The familiar catch phrase in India is even now often repeated, this is not a peoples' war, it is an imperialistic war. But one would like to fling back the question, what if? Even supposing it is a war between two camps of blood-thirsty Imperialists, does it not affect us in any way? Should we sit idle with folded arms and simply look at the fun? Well, that is a counsel of perfection a la ostrich.
The problem, however, is so simple, and perhaps because of the very simplicity,
it did not present itself as such to the complicated brains of our leaders. We
have only to ask if Imperialist Britain lost the war, if Imperialist Japan or
Germany won the war, what would have happened to India. Some bluntly answer, in
a spirit of pique and bravado, that it did not matter in the least who won, for
instead of one master we would have another, a slave need not be too squeamish
about the kind of master he has. Yes, it is a slave mentality, a mentality
steeped in ignorance and despair that can have this outlook and this accent,
although it may sound cogent and plausible-prjnavadanscha bhashase, as
the Gita says. But this piece of specious reasoning is simple in its absurdity.
Even if we consent to be a slave, there is and can be a choice of masters. Well,
the frogs of Ćsop's Fables wanted a change of masters and instead of King Log
they gave themselves up to King Stork (-the old fabulist
is such a storehouse of wisdom and wordly wisdom!). The choice, as we all know,
was not happy. Even so Imperialist' Japan or Germany (or for the matter of that
perhaps Communist Russia too) would make a master that would mean the end of
India. Imperialist Britain leaves some loophole, some breathing space in and
through its imprisoning meshes, but the other type is a horror chamber of the
kind depicted by Edgar Allan Poe in his famous story. That is why Sri Aurobindo
says-and it bears repetition a hundred times:
Page-42
"Even if I knew that the Allies would misuse their victory or bungle the peace or partially at least spoil the opportunities open to the human world by that victory, I would still put my force behind them. At any rate things could not be one-hundredth part as bad as they would be under Hitler. The ways of the Lord would still be open to keep them open is what matters."
Page-43