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06. ஸ்ரீ அரவிந்தம் - லைப் டிவைன்

ஸ்ரீ அரவிந்தம்

லைப் டிவைன்

கர்மயோகி

Chapter XXI. The Ascent of Life

PAGE 198, PARA 1

Mind is divided, mortal. It is the parent of limitation and ignorance and the dualities. It is only a dark figure of the Supermind. Supermind is the self-luminous divine consciousness. Our cosmos commences with the apparent negation of itself. Mind is the result. As we have already seen this, so also Life is only a dark figure of the divine superconscient force. Its highest terms are immortality, satisfied delight and omnipotence. Life emerges in our material universe. It is an energy of the dividing Mind subconscious, submerged, imprisoned in Matter, the parent of death, hunger, incapacity. We are a part of the great cosmic processus. The relation fixes the nature of that processus. It determines the first, the middle and the ultimate terms of our evolution. The first terms of Life are division and an impotence. It is a force-driven subconscious will. It is not apparent as well. It is a dumb urge of physical energy. It is an impotence of an inert subjection to the mechanical forces. They govern interchange. The interchange is between the form and its environment. This is inconscience. This is blind energy. It is potent Energy. They are the type of the material universe. The physical scientist sees it so. And this view of his extends and turns into the whole of basic existence. It is the consciousness of Matter. It is the accomplished type of material living. But there comes a new equipoise. A new set of terms intervenes. It increases in proportion as Life delivers itself out of this form. And it begins to evolve towards conscious Mind. The middle terms of Life are death and mutual devouring, hunger and conscious desire. It is the sense of a limited room. Its capacity and the struggle increase to expand, to conquer and to possess. These three terms are the basis of the status of evolution. It is Darwin’s theory which first made it plain to human knowledge. For the phenomenon of death involves in itself a struggle to survive. Death is only a negative term in which Life hides from itself. It tempts its own positive being to seek for immortality. The phenomenon of hunger and desire involves a struggle towards a status of satisfaction and security. Desire is only a stimulus by which Life tempts its own positive being to rise out of negation. It is one of unfulfilled hunger. It is towards the full possession of the delight of existence. The phenomenon of limited capacity involves a struggle towards expansion. It is a mastery and a possession, a possession of the self. It is the conquest of the environment. Similarly, limitation and defect are only the negation by which Life tempts its own positive being to seek for perfection. It is eternally capable of such perfection. The struggle for life is not only a struggle to survive. It is also a struggle for possession and perfection. Only by taking hold of the environment can survival be secured. It is by self-adaptation or by adapting it to oneself. It is done by accepting or conciliating it. It can also be by conquering and changing it. A continuous permanence, a lasting survival is the goal. It is only by a greater and greater perfection it can be assured. This is the truth of the Darwinian formula of the survival of the fittest.

PAGE 199, PARA 2

The scientific mind sought to extend to Life the mechanical principle. It is proper to the existence and concealed consciousness in Matter. It does not see that a new principle has entered. Its very reason of being is to subject to itself the mechanical. The principle of Life is too largely aggressive. It is the vital selfishness of the individual. It is the instinct and process of self-preservation. It is self-assertion and aggressive living. These two first states of Life contain in themselves the seeds of a new principle. There is another state too. It must increase in proportion as Mind evolves out of Matter. It does so through the vital formula. Thus it evolves into its own law. And further Mind evolves upwards towards Supermind and Spirit. That must change all things when Life evolves upwards towards Mind. The struggle for survival is the impulse towards permanence. It is contradicted by the law of death. The individual life is compelled and used to secure permanence. It is done for the race rather than for itself. But this it cannot do without the cooperation with others. The principle of cooperation and mutual help is the seed out of which flowers the principle of love. The desire for others, the desire of the wife, the child, the friend and helper, the associated group, the practice of association are the aspects of mutual help. At first love may be only an extended selfishness. It may persist and dominate. It still does persist and dominate in higher stages of the evolution. The real truth is the natural individual is a minor term of being. It exists by the universal. The evolving mind finds it more and more. As it has the experience of love and life, it can perceive the truth. This is an important discovery. It determines his destiny. At this stage, Mind can see there is something beyond itself. From that moment the course of his evolution is inevitably predetermined. It is a course towards something superior, towards Spirit, towards Supermind, towards Supermanhood.

PAGE 200, PARA 3

Life is predestined by its own nature, to a third status. It is a third set of terms of its self-expression. Let us examine this ascent of life. Here we shall see the last terms of its actual evolution. We have called its terms its third status. It must necessarily be in appearance the very contradiction of its first conditions. It is also its opposite. In fact, it is the very fulfillment of it. Also it is its transfiguration. Life starts with the extreme divisions. They are the rigid forms of Matter. The atom is the very type of this rigid division. It is the basis of all material form. The atom stands apart from all others. It does so even in its union with them. The atom rejects death and dissolution under any ordinary force. It is the physical type of the separate ego. Thus it defines its existence against the principle of fusion in Nature. But unity is as strong a principle in Nature as division. It is indeed the master principle. Division is only a subordinate term of unity. Every divided form must therefore subordinate itself in one fashion or another. It is by mechanical necessity, by compulsion, by assent or inducement. Nature has her own ends. Nature principally wants to have a firm basis for her combinations. It needs a fixed seed of forms. Therefore nature allows the atom to resist the process of fusion by dissolution. Nature compels the atom to subserve the process of fusion by aggregation. The atom is its first aggregate. It is also the first basis of aggregate unities.

PAGE 201, PARA 4

The second status of Life is vitality. Life soon reaches there. The contrary phenomenon takes the lead here. Therefore the physical basis of the vital ego dissolves. It is obliged to consent to dissolution. Its constituents are broken up. The elements of one life are used to enter the elements of other lives. Now we have the science of physical life. It is also the science of existence of Matter. It is sound. We can, in future, have a science of mental life. It is also the science of spiritual existence. The above law reigns to a great extent in Nature. That can be recognized only when the higher science is born. Man enters into the existence of others. Our elements of the physical body do so. Even those of the subtler vital being do so. It is true of our life-energy, desire-energy, our powers, strivings, and passions. They do so during our life and after life. We can see it broadly. An ancient knowledge knows this and tells it to us. We have a vital and physical frame. After death these too dissolve. They lend themselves to the constitution of other vital bodies. During our life, our life energies enter others. They do so constantly. They continually mix with the energies of others. We have a mental life. Other thinking creatures too have mental lives. A similar law governs them too. The shock of mind upon mind is constant. It leads to constant dissolution and dispersion. They at once reconstruct themselves. It results in constant interchange and fusion of elements. Interchange, intermixture and fusion are there at all times. It is the process of life, a law of existence.

PAGE 202, PARA 5

We have then two principles of Life. One is the necessity or the will of the separative ego to survive. It must survive distinctly and guard its identity. The other principle is the compulsion imposed upon it by Nature. It is a compulsion to fuse with others. In the physical world she lays stress on the former impulse. For she needs to create stable separate forms. Nature is an incessant flux and motion of Energy. Also it is of unity of the infinite. It is a problem here to create a separate entity and maintain it. In the atomic life the individual form persists. It is the basis. It secures by aggregation with others. It is more or less a prolonged existence of aggregate forms. It shall be the basis of mental and vital individualizations. Soon Nature acquires sufficient firmness in this respect. It is for safe conduct of her ulterior operations. At once she reverses the process. The individual form perishes. The aggregate life profits by the elements of the dissolved form. This is not the last stage. It can only be reached when the two are harmonized. It occurs when the individual persists in his consciousness and yet fuses himself with others. He does so without disturbing the preservative equilibrium. Nor does he interrupt the survival.

PAGE 202, PARA 6

The above are the terms of the problem. They presuppose the full emergence of Mind. Vitality can be without conscious Mind. At such a state there can be no equation. There can only be a temporary equilibrium. It will be unstable. It will end in the death of the body. The individual will then dissolve. The elements will be dispersed into universality. Physical Life has a nature. It forbids the formation of individuality. Individuality can persist only when it has the same power of persistence as conscious Mind. Individuality is composed of atoms that persist. The mental being has the psychic in it. It is the supporting nodus. It expresses or begins to express the secret soul. It has the power of linking the past to the future. The past, present and future are in a stream of continuity. This capacity to link has the power of persistence. When a man dies, the form breaks. So the memory is lost. But the mental being is not destroyed. The mental being may be a bridge over the gap created by the break of memory. It occurs by death and rebirth. Even now the mental being is endowed with the mass of the past as well as that of the future. Still it is imperfect. It is not mind pure, but embodied mind. It is an awareness beyond the life of the body. He becomes aware of an individual past. He remembers the individual lives that have created his. He is a development of those lives. He is a modified reproduction of future individual life. His own life is creating it out of itself. He is also conscious of an aggregate past life and future. His own continuity runs through them all as one of its fibres. This is evident to physical Science. They call it heredity. It becomes evident to the developing soul behind the mental being. It is understood as the persistent personality. The mental being expresses the soul-consciousness, is the nodus of the persistent individual. It is also the nodus of the persistent aggregate life. In him the harmony and union are possible.

PAGE 203, PARA 7

This new relation has a power. It then becomes a governing principle of the development. It is into the third status of life. This has a secret principle. It is the emerging summit of this type. It comes out of association with love. The individuality is to be consciously preserved. Necessity and interchange are to be consciously accepted. It leads to self-giving and fusion with other individuals. It is necessary for the working of the principle of love. In case either is abolished, the working of love ceases. This is true whatever may take place. The mental being has an impulse. It is indeed an idea. It is a development beyond the third status of Life. Fulfilment of love is possible by entire self-immolation. It may have an illusion of self-annihilation. Of course it is an idea of the mental being. Life is a struggle. It is a condition in which we rise progressively. It takes us beyond the struggle for life. It is by mutual devouring. The aim is the struggle for the fittest by the struggle. The third status is such a condition. There is more and more a struggle by mutual help. It is a self-perfectioning by mutual adaptation. It uses interchange and fusion. Life is a self-affirmation of the being. It is a development and survival of the ego. But it is a being that has need of the other beings. It is an ego that seeks to meet other egos. They are to be included in their life. The law of association is developed by individuals. It is done by the aggregates too. It is the Law of love of common help. It is the law of kindliness, affection, comradeship, unity. They harmonise most successfully survival and mutual self-giving. The aggregate increasing the individual and the individual aggregate is a phenomenon. Also it is the increasing of the individual by the individual and the aggregate by the aggregate. It is by mutual self-giving of interchange. This is the tertiary status of evolution. They will be the fittest here.

PAGE 204, PARA 8

The predominance of Mind is progressively increasing. The above development is significant of this predominance. Mind imposes its own law on existence. Mind does so more and more on the material existence. Mind has a greater subtlety. It need not devour in order to assimilate. Nor does it need it to progress or grow. Rather, the more it gives, the more it receives and grows. The more it fuses itself into others, the more it fuses others into itself. Thus it increases the scope of its being. Physical life exhausts itself by too much giving. It ruins physical life to devour too much. Mind suffers the same limitation if it leans too much towards the law of Matter. The suffering is in proportion. Mind can grow into its own law. In that proportion, it tends to overcome this limitation. In proportion to Mind’s overcoming the material limitation, giving and receiving become one. Manifest Sachchidananda has a divine law. It is the law of unity in differentiation. It is a conscious unity. Mind grows towards this rule in its upward ascent.

PAGE 204, PARA 9

Hunger and desire are the first seeds of conscious mind. This is the secondary status. It is the second term of the original status of life. It is subconscious will. This grows into the third status of life. It is by the principle of association. It is by the growth of love. It does not abolish the law of desire. Rather, it is transformed into love and thus fulfilled by it. Love has a nature. It is the desire to give oneself to others. Also it desires to receive others in exchange. It is a commerce between being and being. Physical life does not desire to give itself. It only desires to receive. It is true it is compelled to give itself. It is a life which only receives. It does not give. Therefore it must become barren, wither and perish. Is it possible for such a life in its entirety. Is it possible here, in this world? Really it is compelled, not willing. It obeys the subconscious impulse of Nature. It does not consciously share in it. Love then intervenes. Its self-giving at first is mechanical. It preserves that character. This is the subconscious will in the atom. Love itself at first obeys the law of hunger. It enjoys receiving. It exacts from others. It does not surrender and give to others. This it admits chiefly as a price for getting. It is a price for the thing it desires. Here it has not yet attained its true nature. Its true law is to establish an equal commerce. In it, joy of giving equals the joy of receiving. In the end the joy of giving tends to become greater. Then it shoots beyond itself. It is under the pressure of the psychic flame. It is to attain the utter unity and its fulfillment. Then it realises a greater truth. What was till then not-self is now the greater, dearer self. It is greater than its individuality. The law of love has its life-origin. There it is an impulse. It is an impulse to realize and fulfil oneself in others. It is fulfilled by others. It is enriched by enriching. It possesses and allows itself to be possessed. One does not possess without being possessed utterly.

PAGE 205, PARA 10

Life has a first status. Its capacity is inert atomic existence. It possesses itself. It is subjection to the material individual to the not-self. Then comes the secondary status. It is conscious of its limitation. It struggles to possess both self and not-self. It tries to master them. This is the second status. The development of the third status begins here. It brings a transformation of the original terms. It is a fulfillment and a harmony. They repeat the terms but appear to contradict them. A recognition of the not-self as a greater self arises. It comes through association and a love of recognition. It consciously accepts a submission to its law. It is a need. It fulfils the increasing impulse of aggregate life. The impulse is to absorb the individual. There is another possession. It is by the individual of the life of others as his own. It covers all that it has to give him as his own. It fulfills the opposite impulse of individual possession. This is a relation of mutuality. It is between the individual and the world he lives in. It is established between individual and individual. It is also between aggregates and aggregates. It cannot be expressed or complete. Nor it can be secure unless the same relation is established between the individual and the aggregate. The basic problem lies in the opposition of Life to Matter. Man tries for harmonisation. He loves self-affirmation and freedom. By these he possesses himself. He creates a balance of the opposites – individual and aggregate – by association with love. It goes with fraternity and comradeship. Thus he gives himself to others in the aggregate. These are the lines predetermined. It is inevitable. It issues out of the original problem of Nature. It is the very problem of Life. The resolution is attempted by a higher principle of Mind. It alone can find the road to harmony. Really the harmony itself lies in a Power beyond.

PAGE 206, PARA 11

Mind is only an inferior term of That. First it is an instrument for descent into form. It also descends into individuality. Secondly Mind is an instrument for reascension into reality. The form embodies the reality and the individuality represents. So, the goal lies beyond Mind in That. That is the end of the road. The data we started with tells us that much. There is the association with love. Interchange and accommodation are there. The laws of life and Mind are there. The perfect solution is not to be reached by any of these methods. Nor will the law of the heart help. It must come from the fourth status of life. Here the eternal unity of the many is realized by the spirit. Here the conscious foundation of all the operations of life is laid. They are not in the divisions of the body. Nor are they in the passions and hunger of the vitality. Even the groupings of the imperfect harmonies of the mind do not have it. We do not find it in the combinations of all these. It is there in the unity and freedom of the Spirit.

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book | by Dr. Radut