Gaia: The Visionland - Visionland

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents III

http://barin.gaia.com — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 04:19:21 GMT

Yes, you are true, CalmEagle.
Humility is the most essential virtue.
Barin
01-09-2006

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents III

http://CalmEagle.gaia.com — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:29:30 GMT

To leap into the new consciousness, the first condition is a mental modesty sufficient to be convinced that all one thinks one knows is nothing in comparison with what remains to be learned.

All that one has learned externally must be only a foothold enabling one to rise towards higher knowledge.

Yes, humility is a small package which must accompany one on the journey.

CalmEagle

Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents III

http://barin.gaia.com — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:01:13 GMT

Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents III

Even there shall come as a high crown of all

The end of Death and the death of Ignorance.

Sri Aurobindo : Savitri

The Mother [Mira Alfassa] said on 30^th January 1972 :

Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to announce the manifestation of the supramental world and not merely did he announce this manifestation but embodied also in part the supramental force and showed by example what one must do to prepare oneself for manifesting it. The best thing we can do is to study all that he has told us and endeavour to follow his example and prepare ourselves for the new manifestation.

This gives life its real sense and will help us to overcome all obstacles.

Let us live for the new creation and we shall grow stronger and stronger by remaining young and progressive.

It has already been stated that Sri Aurobindo has told us about the various planes of mind and about the Supermind and the Descent of Supermind on earth and of the Advent of the Supramental race on earth.

The human race is born into a world of ignorance and inconscience but is also capable of an upward evolution of its consciousness and of an ascent into the light and force and bliss of a spiritual consciousness and spiritual nature. The question now is about the consequence of this descent of Supermind into the earthly existence about for the mankind. The descent into the earthly existence of this supremely creative being and consciousness and power that the Supermind is will not only be a new feature or factor added to the human life and existence, or be put in its front, but it will also have consequences of importance deeply affecting the rest of earth-nature. Though the entire humanity, or even a major portion of the humanity in its present state of existence, may not have a transmutative emergence and rise into the New Race, the Supramental Consciousness and Force will definitely and surely exercise a great influence on mankind as a whole, even a radical change in its existence here on earth. The influence and the change it will bring would be far-reaching and even tremendous. It is not only that the Supermind will be established and a supramental race of beings will be manifested upon the earth, it will also bring about an elevating and transformative change in Mind itself and, inevitably in the consciousness of man, the mental being, and will also equally bring about a radical transformation in the principles and ways of his living, in the ways of his action and in the entire make-up and sense and music of his life and his physique. The access to the supramental consciousness and the supramental life will be open to man, because by such a transformation a race of supramental beings would be created. In the same way, the human race itself has come into being through a considerable elevation and expansion of consciousness and a change in the use of the body and through the evolution of the inherent mental and spiritual abilities and powers out of the animal. The human mind is a principle of an original ignorance that searches for knowledge but arrives only at a partial knowledge. The human mind is the indweller of “a half-way twilight” and it serves and helps of ignorance and it brings for us a combination of truth and error. The effect of the Supramental descent may, even without or before a complete transformation of the mind and the human existence turn the mind into “a power of light, of knowledge finding itself.” As Sri Aurobindo has said, the human mind may even become in man “a subordinate, limited and special action of the Supermind, a sufficiently luminous receptacle of truth”, as it is so in its origin. And all falsity in its action may cease to be.

The descent of Supermind, of the supreme creative Truth-Power, in the earth-nature, may bring a change in the law of evolution, its method and its arrangement: the principle of evolution through knowledge may enter into the forces of the material universe to a large extent

The evolution now is wholly an evolution in Ignorance. It begins from “the complete nescience of the Inconscient” and proceeds towards only a lesser ignorance, even in the highest attainment of knowledge by mind. It is so, because mental knowledge is only a representation, not a direct knowledge.

When there is the descent of the Supermind, man will then begin to develop the powers and means of a higher knowledge. Even the developing animal may open its mentality to “beginnings of conscious thought and even a rudimentary reason,” and even the plant may develop its “first subconscient reactions” and attain some primary nervous sensitiveness. Even Matter, which is but a blind form of the Spirit, may become more alive with its inherent hidden power and may offer more readily to the new human intelligence, influenced by the Supermind, the secret sense of things, the occult realities it covers, for example, “the record of the past” always preserved in its dumb inconscience, or the working of its involved forces and invisible movements which reveal veiled powers in material nature. This would be a great change promising greater changes in the future. And it would mean only an uplifting of the universal order, and not a disturbance. “Evolution would itself evolve,” says Sri Aurobindo, but it would not stumble or be disturbed.

We have experienced the human mentality in a world which starts from inconscience and proceeds through an almost complete nescience and a slowly lessening ignorance towards a high degree of knowledge. But this is still a partially equipped knowledge and has always an incomplete scope and imperfect method, which does not serve fully the needs of a consciousness always pushing towards the goal of its own still distant absolute. This creates our notion about mind.

In the present stage of its evolution on earth, we see the imperfections and limitations of mind and accept them to be the part of its very nature. But in fact its present boundaries are only its temporary limits and measures of its still incomplete evolutionary progress. The shortcomings its of methods and means are there because it is still immature, and they are not there because of its constitution. Mind has definitely evolved much from the state of mind of the cavemen, of the stage of the Homo Sapiens and the Homo Neanderthals. And mind will definitely evolve further in the time to come, even before its being supramentalised.

***

In its evolution, the mental being has chosen to take the burden of the physical body and as well the vital consciousness, which have created conditions of great difficulties for the mind, and when compared to these difficulties, its achievement may seem to be great. But in comparison to its great possibilities, its achievement is far below the expectation. And indeed an illumined future is possible for Mind.

Because mind originally is a principle of light, an instrument put forth from the Supermind and is not “in its very nature an inventor of errors, a father of lies bound down to a capacity of falsehood, wedded to its own mistakes and the leader of a stumbling life”[Sri Aurobindo]. though at present it seems it to be so. Though now it works within limits and even creates limits, these limits are luminous borders for a special work by Nature, voluntary bounds with a special purpose, “a surface of the finite ever extending itself under the eye of infinity”[Sri Aurobindo]. This character of Mind will reveal itself when touched by Supermind and human mind will then grow into some minor instrument of the supramental knowledge. Possibly, the mind will no longer be limited by the intellect and will be capable of a mental gnosis, which will be a luminous but diminished reproduction of the Truth, it will extend the power of the Light not only to its own consciousness but to that of the lower levels, when Man will ascend towards self-transcendence. All the Higher levels of Mind, from Overmind to Higher Mind will be able to reflect some of their powers in the ascending human mind and the purified and exalted feeling and vital force and action and thereby prepare the Ascent.

This is essentially the change which will be the result of the new evolutionary order, consequent of the descent of Supermind on earth, of the advent of Supermind into the earth-nature. We have earlier seen that this Descent has already occurred on earth on the 29^th February 1956, as declared by the Mother.

Mind has its origin in Supermind and is itself a power of Supermind. It is a principle of Light and a power of Light and a force for a Knowledge specially active for a special purpose. But it assumes a different aspect in working out this purpose and separates itself more and more from the supramental light, from the power and illumination of the supramental principle. In this departure of Mind in this direction from its own highest truth, it becomes a creator of ignorance and appears to be the highest power in a world of ignorance. Subjected to ignorance, Mind seems only to arrive at a partial and imperfect knowledge. This decline is there, because Mind is used by the Supermind mainly for bringing the necessary differentiation, so that there is a creation, a universe. In Supermind, in all its creation there is this differentiating power, “the manifestation of the One in the Many and the Many in the One; but the One is never forgotten or lost in its multiplicity” and multiplicity “never takes precedence over the eternal oneness”[Sri Aurobindo]. However, in Mind, the differentiation, the multiplicity does take precedence, and the sense of the universal oneness is lost. The separated unit appears to exist for itself and by itself, and forgets the True Origin.

However, the plane of mind need not be a world of ignorance where falsity, error or nescience must have a place. It may be only a voluntary self-limitation of knowledge.
“It could be a world where all possibilities capable of being determined by mind could manifest themselves in the successions of Time and find a true form and field of their action, the expressive figure of themselves, their capacity of self-development, self-realization of a kind, self-discovery.” [Sri Aurobindo]

In psychic experience the line of descent is found by which the involution takes place and ends in Matter and the creation of the material universe. However, in the psychic experience, what is found is an original inconscience where life and mind and spirit struggle to evolve out of the material inconscience and ignorance to find themselves and grow towards “their full capacity and highest existence”[Sri Aurobindo]. If mind is successful in that endeavour, it can also find back its true character and once more become a principle and power of Light and even help in the working of a true and complete knowledge. At its highest, it may transcend into the supramental truth and become a part and function of the supramental knowledge, and in the lower degree below Supermind it may grow a mental gnosis, a spiritual perception, feeling, activity, sense which serve knowledge and not ignorance. It can be an increasingly luminous way leading from light to light, from truth to truth, no longer circling in “the mazes of half-truth and half-nescience” [Sri Aurobindo]. This is not possible, where mind is not transformed, as it now is, as is still be the leader and the highest achievement of the evolution. But when Supermind descends on earth and is the leading and dominant power here, this will certainly and inevitably happen.

***

In this connection the Mother has further said:

A new consciousness is at work upon earth to prepare the coming of the superhuman being.
Open yourself to this consciousness if you aspire to serve the Divine Work.
To come into contact with this new consciousness, the essential condition is no longer to have any desires and to be wholly sincere.

The Mother has also given us a simple but essential and indispensable advice:

To leap into the new consciousness, the first condition is a mental modesty sufficient to be convinced that all one thinks one knows is nothing in comparison with what remains to be learned.

All that one has learned externally must be only a foothold enabling one to rise towards higher knowledge.

Ref: The Supramental Manifestation on Earth by Sri Aurobindo.

[Continued]

Barin

29-08-2006

Re:concerning involution and evolution

http://catemurray.gaia.com — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:48:52 GMT

The Spiritual texts of many traditions point to the existence of demons, god demi -gods, angel, Archangels, (d)jinn, Buddhas the list is endless.
Seen and unseen dimensions of being inter-fuse and influence life constantly.

A person's actual belief system depends upon many things.....

his or her personal psychology...the background of his/ her life...his her sub conscious..his her history.....

so whether you believe me or not is irrelevant...it is the age old problem of the mystic and the seen and unseen worlds.

It is and has always been the nature of a incorporeal being to influence the life and lives of corporeal beings....the evidence is there if you look. The problem is inherent instabilty of the system....involution...a supression of creative active intelligence occurs during demonic possession...this can manifest on a collective level through collective and organized structures competing.....Indian literature tells many tales...

On a contemporay leve...Tthe idea that the pattern of evolution includes an- involuted state is correct as we look at the pattern and parallels of life on a quantum level or astro physical level .

It is the extent to which involution is consciously unstable and deliberately destructive which is the problem ....and the crux at the current time.

Warfare and   instability

Personal and global are actively pursued thus exaggerating damage at this time.
Consciousness of the need to create inner and outer stability within the whole process of change is the key awareness factor.

We need to be part of a consciously evolving dynamic equilibrium which tends towards a best life supporting system for all beings.The vision must be held in mind.

Which is why critical mass theory, global education , personal and social transformation are essential.

The purpose is not to transcend or avoid dealing with the death destruction and chaos ...but to confront the causal factors  and commit to life in total awareness constantly.

Personal transformation whilst simultaneously acting towards transforming our national and global communities is essential ....it is the same path and
the same  Way....Peace..and "Harmony "

in truth and light and love
from a heart and personal centre

catemurray

Re:concerning involution and evolution

http://catemurray.gaia.com — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:00:36 GMT

Beings of light and consciousness exist as separate entities to human beings .

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://ben-blaze.gaia.com — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 03:42:15 GMT

Dear Barin, thankyou so much for your comprehensive response, it was very enlightening.

I wanted to respond to a particular part

You said:

"In Man, there is an active part or aspect of the Soul, which is termed by Sri Aurobindo as the Psychic Being, which participates in the Evolution of Man, in the onward journey of the human being on the Path of Evolution into the higher beings, the supramental beings, towards the Manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness, the next phase of the Evolution. The Psychic is not present in any other living beings,as there was no evolutionary necessity, says Sri Aurobindo"

I think this a fascinating aspect of Sri Aurobindo's philosophy, one that I have not found present in Indian Philosophy, at least not articulated quite this way. The Psychic being then is a active aspect of the human soul which does not exist in animals, but allows Humans to evolve into higher and higher 'manifestations of Supramental Consciousness' which you term the next phase of evolution. I think this next phase is vital to comprehend, to envision, even if we could never realistically imagine it, the reality is: we need to create it! What makes it even more compelling is the realization that it is not happening on its own, if we are ultimately - on a fundamental level - that Psychic Being, then it is our duty or dharma to realize that aspect of ourselves and then actualize it, not for personal enlightenment but for the facilitation of a New Phase of Surpamental Consciousness for all humanity. How? and what do you think about putting ultimate responsibility on us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not some cosmic power or godhead that we turn into an Other. I am certain that it won't happen any other way, i.e., unless we do everything in our power to facilitate it. I appreciate your knowledge and passion,

With Recognition,

Ben

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://barin.gaia.com — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 05:00:49 GMT

Hi jabuddha,

Yes, everyone's heart should be in the right place, crystal clear and transparent and full of love and sympathy and benevolence.

Barin

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://barin.gaia.com — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 04:51:45 GMT

Hi Ben,

Sorry for the delay in replying your question.

And you have asked a very good question, which proves that you are thinking and philosophising. It is definitely leading you on the Way.

You have asked :

Could it be possible that the god principle that burst forth into manifestation is evolving into never before seen structures and realities which have nothing to do with preexistent stages. What would Aurobindo say Barin?

Realiy is indeed beyond the principle of Mind and thinking. What seem to be non-existent previously in the worldly plane, in the mental understanding, was definitely there in in the Supreme Consciousness as an Idea, a Real-Idea. There it is both an Idea and a reality.

The Ultimate Reality is the Infinite and One Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, whom we name as the Brahman, the Divine, God etc. He has three aspects, the Transcendental, the Universal and the Individual.
In the Transcendental mode, He is above all maifestation, above all the Universes, all the worlds. He is the Supreme Divine, the One, Indivisible, Infinite, Pure, and bears the eternal consciousness in Him. He is above all Time and Space. He IS. He is Existence, eternal existence, and can even become Non-Existence, beyond the apprehension of any manifested existence.
In the Universal mode, he is one with the Universes, though above them and is their Creator. He is the Manifestation, He is the One who manifests. It is His Will that is manifested. The entire Manifestation is He, and it is His Leela, Play. He is both beyond it, and within it, and in each atom, each living being.
And He is also the Individual, Personal God. All the Avatars are but His Individual Manifestations. The Supreme is with His Creative Force, the Mahashakti, whom we call the Divine Mother. They are One and Indivisible, and yet They are Two in Manifeastation and even above Manifestation.

It is the Will of the Supreme that created the Manifestation. In words, it may be said, to our human understanding, that He thought : "Ekoham, bahu syama," [in Sanskrit]. " I am alone, and shall become many." The Existence-Consciousness became many, countlessly many, and each of the many is a Soul.
A soul, or the atman in Sanskrit, is a part and portion of the Supreme Consciousness, the Divine - a part who is one with the Whole, who can be the Whole also, who can unite with the Whole. In all living beings, there is a soul, who resides in the background, not easily known or realized. The soul presides over the living being, but somewhat inactively, in the background.
The Soul does not generally participate in the Evolution. In the Evolution from the animals to the human beings there has been no active role of the Soul, though the Divine Will was ever active.
In Man, there is an active part or aspect of the Soul, which is termed by Sri Aurobindo as the Psychic Being, which participates in the Evolution of Man, in the onward journey of the human being on the Path of Evolution into the higher beings, the supramental beings, towards the Manifestation of the Supramental Consciousness, the next phase of the Evolution. The Psychic is not present in any other living beings,as there was no evolutionary necessity, says Sri Aurobindo.

The One wanted to become the Many. And what was not there previously, may definitely come into existence, as we cannot limit the Creator within our human ideas and the human sense. He is the Ever-new.

You have told:

And you are right.

Again :

Not to realize pre-existent levels of consciousness and being, but to bloom into never before seen stages which can be strong enough to support humanity as it becomes truly mature and responsible on a cosmic level.

The pre-existent levels of consciousness are there. They are not deleted. They cannot be done away with. But they are expressed in manifold forms and asmanifold beings. The previouslevels of consciousness remains inherent, as they are the bases.

With the best wishes,

Barin

23-07-2006

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://gakkaiguy.gaia.com — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 05:32:45 GMT

Actually Ben, et al, this all is a bit over my ken; sounds good, though. I feel everyone's heart is in the right place. Blessings.....jb

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://ben-blaze.gaia.com — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 16:49:55 GMT

Concerning Involution and Evolution. Many people believe, including myself for sometime, that the Absolute God Principle, when he, she, or it manifested this manifold reality, went through involution (from total unity to modified and conditioned diversity). Then as the universe begins to awaken to itself through the evolving human what we have is a re evolution, or otherwise the emergence of the perfect underlying order which is synonamous with the original absolute. So there is an oscillation, and evolution is in a sense a return to the Divine Source. But I would like to engage this idea and question it with the rest of you guys and girls. Could it be possible that the god principle that burst forth into manifestation is evolving into never before seen structures and realities which have nothing to do with preexistent stages. What would Aurobindo say Barin?

The reason I mention this is because if this is the case then the evolutionary principle which is ecstatic and full as it is, is not manifesting just to realize or return to itself alone, it also is bursting into new levels of wholeness, integration, and fullness ad infinitum (or at least for an unimaginable length of billions of years) That would mean that it is not just about realizing our own supreme nature which is ever free from the process (though that is a vital first step) but also taking responsibility and engaging fully in creating the next evolved moment, and the next, each expression a little higher, fuller, deeper, and with greater levels of participation. Not to realize pre-existent levels of consciousness and being, but to bloom into never before seen stages which can be strong enough to support humanity as it becomes truly mature and responsible on a cosmic level.

thoughts?

Benny

Confusions and an explanation

http://barin.gaia.com — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 16:13:52 GMT

Confusions and an explanation

Words may very often create confusions, mainly for the reason that a word may have various meanings and usages. During a discussion, a particular word may thus create confusion. However confusion cannot be the intention and aim of the discussion.

When I am having a discussion on Sri Aurobindo and am interpreting His teaching, His philosophy and spirituality and yoga, I always, without fail, without any deviation, use the words as per the definitions and meanings given by Him. If other meanings and definitions and senses are intended, obviously there will be confusion.

Therefore, the solution to avoid any confusion is to adhere to the meaning and definition given by Sri Aurobindo, when the discussion is about His Teaching. When there will be discussion on the Buddha, we should adhere faithfully to the meaning of the words intended by Him. When we discuss Jesus, we must ad here to His intentions. When we discuss Ken Wilber, we should mean by a particular word what he means.

If during a discussion on Sri Aurobindo, I, or someone else, give another meaning or usage to a particular word, confusion may be created. When an attempt to clear the confusion is made, one should understand this and should NOT continue to hold the different meaning or usage as against the intention in the original discussion. Then only we will understand properly.

Sri Aurobindo has defined every word of importance, including Nature. He has also spoken of Supernature and Higher Nature. About the present state of Nature, which has created Man from Matter and Life, let me quote Sri Aurobindo from the Life Divine :

"The transition to Supermind through Overmind is a passage from Nature as we know it into Supernature. It is by that very fact impossible for any effort of the mere Mind to achieve; our unaided personal aspiration and endeavour cannot reach it: our effort belongs to the inferior power of Nature; a power of the Ignorance cannot achieve by its own strength or characteristic or available methods what is beyond its own domain of Nature. All the previous ascensions have been effectuated by a secret Consciousness-Force operating first in Inconscience and then in 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 organized Overmind nature, no supramental being or organized Supermind 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 Superconscience 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.

It is conceivable indeed that, without the descent, by a secret pressure from above, by a long evolution, our terrestrial Nature might succeed in entering into a close contact with the higher now superconscient planes and a formation of subliminal Overmind might take place behind the veil; as a result a slow emergence of the consciousness proper to these higher planes might awake on our surface. It is conceivable that in this way there might appear a race of mental beings thinking and acting not by the intellect or reasoning and reflecting intelligence, or not mainly by it, but by an intuitive mentality which would be the first step of an ascending change; this might be followed by an overmentalisation which would carry us to the borders beyond which lies the Supermind or divine Gnosis. But this process would inevitably be a long and toilsome endeavour of Nature. There is a possibility too that what would be achieved might only be an imperfect superior metallization; the new higher elements might strongly dominate the consciousness, but they would be still subjected to a modification of their action by the principle of an inferior mentality: there would be a greater expanded and illuminating knowledge, a cognition of a higher order; but it would still undergo a mixture subjecting it to the law of the Ignorance, as Mind undergoes limitation by the law of Life and Matter. For a real transformation there must be a direct and unveiled intervention from above; there would be necessary too a total submission and surrender of the lower consciousness, a cessation of its insistence, a will in it for its separate law of action to be completely annulled by transformation and lose all rights over our being. If these two conditions can be achieved even now by a conscious call and will in the spirit and a participation of our whole manifested and inner being in its change and elevation, the evolution, the transformation can take place by a comparatively swift conscious change; the supramental Consciousness-Force from above and the evolving Consciousness-Force from behind the veil acting on the awakened awareness and will of the mental human being would accomplish by their united power the momentous transition. There would be no farther need of a slow evolution counting many millenniums for each step, the halting and difficult evolution operated by Nature in the past in the unconscious creatures of the Ignorance." [Sri Aurobindo : The Life Divine]

From a perusal of the above passages, it is clear if we go back to Nature, we will then go back to Ignorance : the further progress and evolution from Man to Superman will be halted and thwarted. It is seen that Sri Aurobindo views the evolution from Matter to Animals or Plants (i.e., various life-forms) and from Life to Mind and Man has been a "halting and difficult evolution operated by Nature in the past in the unconscious creatures of the Ignorance." And even now, our effort "belongs to the inferior power of Nature; a power of the Ignorance cannot achieve by its own strength or characteristic or available methods what is beyond its own domain of Nature"

I hope the role of Nature is now clearly understood. It cannot lead us ahead in a proper and swift manner, unless there are the Descents of the Higher Powers and Forces in Nature. And this is possible - but how? Let us see what Sri Aurobindo has said in His book ‘The Mother' :

"There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction, the great and difficult thing that is the aim of our endeavour; a fixed and unfailing aspiration that calls from below and a supreme Grace that from above, that answers.

But the supreme Grace will act only in the conditions of the Light and the Truth; it will not act in conditions laid down upon it by the Falsehood and the Ignorance. For if it were to yield to the demands of the Falsehood, it would defeat its own purpose.

These are the conditions of the Light and the Truth, the sole conditions under which the very highest supramental Force descending from above and opening from below that can victoriously handle the physical Nature and annihilate its difficulties ...

There must be a total and sincere surrender; there must be an exclusive self-opening to the divine Power; there must be a constant and integral choice of the Truth that is descending; a constant and integral rejection of the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the earth-Nature."[Sri Aurobindo :The Mother]

Here, too, we find that Sri Aurobindo has referred to the fact that the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances still rule the earth-Nature.

Can we then go back to the Nature, the earth-Nature, which still ruled by the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances?

***

Then, there is confusion regarding the words Reason and Intuition.

I will give one example. When Sri Aurobindo wrote the book The Life Divine, He had already reached the threshold of the Supramental Consciousness, far above the plane of the Intuitive Mind, far above Intuition. He interpreted rationally in His philosophical treatise The Life Divine all His Wisdom and Knowledge that He reached directly by Identification, not only by Intuition. He did not discard Reason. To discard Reason and accept Intuition would have been against His approach of Integration. Can we and should we discard Reason which had been a help to us for millennia for surpassing the surrounding darkness? Reason may not be the highest means of Knowledge. But till the coming of Intuition, it has to be there. Only, it has to be transformed and widened and illumined as far as possible. It is an instrument, and its proper use is in our hands.

And all that appears to us as Intuition is not intuition. There are many false signals also. And the old earth-Nature, in its animal kingdom, worked with instincts. And often the humans work with impulses. All these have to be searched and scrutinized, for they appear to many people as Intuitions. And there are the Anti-Divine Forces, who intimations and we may often think that they are Intuitions. The Mother has many times cautioned us against all these.

I clarify all these, as I do not want that those who read about Sri Aurobindo in The Visionland or in my Blog or in Arpana's Pod Soul-Study do not be misled by the words for their various meanings and usages. [This is posted simultaneously inall the three places.]

With all the best wishes

for all the Zaadsters who read these lines.

Barin

15-07-2006

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://catemurray.gaia.com — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 04:03:33 GMT

Re evolution/ involution of humanity

the nature of humanity is not the nature of man alone

or the nature of God/Creator/Mind in matter

matter life springs from the ONE

DIVINE SOURCE

LIFE ITSELF is divinity

it is the smaller minds of the seen and unseen worlds that are transforming life and lives

Cosmic Healing of Cosmic Minds

requires what?

COMMUNICATION

EDUCATION

and a

A COMMITMENT TO A BEST LIFE AND LIVES FOR ALL BEINGS
YOU AND ME ..seen and unseen

from those-with physical bodies and those present in the physical bodies of others

a honest position

a walking of the TRUE WAY

In Light

In the LOVE

OF THE FATHER AND THE SON

in the name of the WORD

spoken and unspoken

in the name of LIFE

embracing the chaos

stillness and chaos

the true nature

the WAY of aligning with God's will and Good

the return

to power in love and light

and TRUTH in LIFE

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://barin.gaia.com — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 15:58:20 GMT

My thanks to flex22, CalmEagle and Arpana/pj for their good response.

CalmEagle has said:

"I think an aspect of this is that humanity can best survive by returning to our true human nature, namely a pre-separation from GOD identity. It lies within each man and woman to do this, even right now, without further evolution or transformation, should the will simply become engaged and decide to release to the Wild Divine."

CalmEagle has thus raised a deep-rooted and fundamental question of utmost importance. She thinks that by going back to our "true" nature, bereft of the conception of God and stopping further evolution and transformation, humanity can best survive, and this can be attempted by individuals even now.

Let us then go back to the caves! Let us withdraw ourselves from all our scientific, medical, intellectual, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual advancements and turn to our "true" aboriginal nature, as some people may still be doing in Andaman Nicobars, or in Taiwan or somewhere in South Africa, or even South America! Or, if nobody is found now-a-days, let us go back to the era of the Neanderthals! Let us forget God! Let us forget evolution and transformation!

Let me then go back to my cave, where I might be dwelling some fifty thousand years back, or even earlier. Let me then live a wild life, along with my wild animal neighbors, dressed in leaves and eating raw fruits only!

Would I be saved then? Would I no more require any education, any philosophy, any music, any art, any search for beauty, for truth, for goodness? Or do I not need any more any medicine, any books, any food or dress which civilization or culture taught me to use? Would I not then contact CalmEagle or Peggy Joyce or flex22 or Brian or any other friend in Zaadz or anyone else anywhere through internet , or anyone over telephone, or even through post and telegraph, or be informed of the world news or the news of my country?

All right. Let me forget everything for a while. But what shall I do with my inner Fire, my inner Urge, my inner Intensity to surpass all my limitations, all my animal wildness that makes me a slave, my unquenched eagerness to surpass all darkness and ignorance, and my askesis to receive the Help of any higher Power in my difficulties, in my sufferings and in the matters of death and diseases?

Can any man - who is nothing if he is separated from the Infinite Consciousness, who is an insect if he is pre-separated from God, the Eternal and Supreme Consciousness - can any man survive if he is reduced to an wild animal, or to a natural helpless insect, after his Journey towards Fulfilment and Victory for fifty millennia or more?

And if you or I become separated from God, will He separate ourselves from Him? Are we independent enough to do that? In our being and in our composition, is it possible? Is God our imagination or our creation, so that we can stop Him from Being, or do away with Him from our life?

Can we stop Evolution? Can we choose to do away with the necessity of Transformation?

If we stop Evolution, Evolution will stop us, the human beings! If we stop Transformation, we will be discarded by the Force transforming us!

Can we forget the Mother [Mira Alfassa] who gave us the following message on the 1^st January 1967:

Men, countries, continents!

The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss.

Let us always remember that the choice is imperative. And that is the Destiny of this Earth. We have to live for the Future, to reach this Goal. We cannot pre-separate God, for He is in us, and we are in Him. In our true identity, we are one with the Divine, parts of the Divine. We cannot stop Evolution, as we are evolved beings and we are being evolved always. We are never stationary. We have to be transformed or be surpassed and thrown away, like the gigantic dinosaurs!

And what is our true nature?

Is it the Wild Divine? The Wild Divine is the Truth for the wild animal world, it was a temporary phase of the manifestation of Truth in the evolutionary world for a period of time.

Our true nature is leading us from the semi-animal existence to the Divine Becoming. This is the Truth.

And for us: Truth or abyss!

We cannot go back.

We have to march towards the New Horizon, towards the New World!

I again say, as Arpana agrees with me:

Humankind can survive only by a radical transformation of human nature.

Let us march together in Light, towards Light!

Barin

10-07-2006

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://CalmEagle.gaia.com — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 00:15:46 GMT

The present evolutionary crisis is the result of an inequality between the limited faculties of man - physical, vital, mental and spiritual - and the technical and economical means at his disposal. Without a total and all-comprehensive inner change man can no longer manage and control the gigantic development of the outer life. The overwhelming importance of the collectivity, of the State is only a substitution of the collective ego in place of the individual ego. Humankind can survive only by a radical transformation of human nature.

I think an aspect of this is that humanity can best survive by returning to our true human nature, namely a pre-separation from GOD identity. It lies within each man and woman to do this, even right now, without further evolution or transformation, should the will simply become engaged and decide to release to the Wild Divine.

Love, CalmEagle

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://actualize.gaia.com — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 16:21:12 GMT

Interesting. Thanks!

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://barin.gaia.com — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 13:17:04 GMT

Arpana,

Phoenix,

I, too, agree with both of you !!

Let us march together towards the Goal : Transformation !

Barin

08-07-06

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 06:09:48 GMT

Thankyou Barin for that great peice. Like Peggy, I totally agree. I think that there is alot of high energy vibrations hitting our blessed planet, and that the force of these high energies is increasing everyday. There is a principle in healing that say's 'exposure is a neccesary stage in the healing process' "that which was hiden shall be seen". I think it is going to get very caotic in the next few years, as everything is coming to a head. Once there is the approriate amount of pressure applied by the high vibrations (God only gives us what we can handle), i believe those heads will pop. Of course it is a choice each soul will have to make. Do you want to resist the flow and keep on choosing the lower vibrations? or do you want to accept that the world is changing for the Light and that the old ways must pass? I think that those who resist will inturn just choose to give themselves more pain, and anger, untill the pain and anger are just to much that they finally release in acceptance. I believe that those who accept that Love is going to have its day, or that the humans of the Earth are going to go on to the next stage of evolution, will still experience some of the growing pains. We must remember that the humans are one mind, one body, and one soul. This world is our collectivly created reality.

God Bless

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:52:50 GMT

Also, I see strong creative forces at work that are absolutely upsetting people's 'resonable minds.' :):):)

Re: Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:50:08 GMT

Barin,

I printed out this beautiful piece you have posted here and I am just saying yes yes yes all the way through:

Some take home thoughts are:

“The central and most important fact of the next step in evolution will be a change of consciousness and a subsequent transformation of the whole being.” YES!

“Many assert that reason is the highest faculty of man, and that by reason, man has been able to master himself and nature. But is reason really successful? In its application to life and action, reason has been partial and a slave rather than a master, and it has served forces other than the pure truth.” Another YES. A huge YES.

This is the jewel:

“The consciousness itself, by its own transmutation, will impose and effect any necessary change and transformation of the mental, vital and physical aspects of a human being. Ordinary human consciousness may think and suppose that this transformation is impossible on earth. But it is not so.”

And so much more.

Hummmmmmmm. Thank you for posting our New Horizon.

Blessings,

Arpana/pj

Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

http://barin.gaia.com — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:31:12 GMT

Sri Aurobindo ~ What Sri Aurobindo represents II

O strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry.

One shall descend and break the iron law,

Change Nature's doom by the lone Spirit's power…

A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour,

A branch heaven transplant to human soil;

Nature shall overleap her mortal step;

Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will.

Savitri : Sri Aurobindo

This earth is a field of Evolution, and from the scientific viewpoint, man is at the apex of Evolution. But we also know he is not a perfect being. He lives with ignorance, incapacity, imbalance, disharmony, chaos, disorder, aimlessness, unhappiness and sufferings. However, that is only an aspect of the Truth. Inborn with him is a longing for happiness, joy. And always with him there is Hope. Without hope, he cannot be. Hope is an eternal companion of man. The humanity has to evolve into a race of supramental beings, or else he will be replaced by a race of higher beings, in order to give effect to the evolutionary progress: this is the necessity of the evolutionary principle, and this is what the Mother [Mira Alfassa] has said :

Men, countries, continents!

The choice is imperative:

Truth or the abyss.

A beautiful, joyous, harmonious and luminous Future of divine perfection is waiting for man as his evolutionary possibility and goal. That is his evolutionary Future. He cannot continue for ever as he is and has been now. He has to proceed ahead from the present square. Or else, the evolutionary forces of Nature - Supernature -will surpass him and choose some other means for fulfilment of the goal : ever-progressive manifestation of Consciousness.

That is your Future, preordained. You shall have to ascend, integrally.

Should you have to forsake your normal life for this journey to the Future? Should you have to discard the society and the family and the social and material responsibilities, for achieving this Goal, this Future? No. You can start the journey from where you are now, simply by changing your inner attitude and inner aspiration and your approach and activities.

Tena tyaktena bhunjeetha [Ishopanishad].

By that renounced, thou shouldst enjoy. [Sri Aurobindo].

***

Sri Aurobindo has said that human beings, imperfect and incomplete as they are, are not in the final stage of Evolution. A new species shall emerge, one that will be above and beyond the human species. It can be said that perhaps the same human species - or a part thereof that will be ready and prepared - will be further evolving itself to a new and higher level of existence and consciousness which will be quite different in its functions, internally and externally, from the present humanity - different, because transformed, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and ultimately even physically.

Man's highest aspiration is his seeking for perfection, for freedom and mastery, his search for pure truth and unmixed joy and bliss, but that is in glaring and conspicuous contradiction with his present and normal existence and experience.

But this contradiction is part of Nature's method and strategy. It indicates that she is working for a greater harmony, which is reached through an evolutionary progress.

Life evolves out of Matter, and Mind out of Life, because they are already involved there. Matter involves Life in a veiled way. Life involves Mind in a veiled way. Similarly, Mind also involves the higher powers of the Spirit in a veiled way. One of the higher powers, that exists and prevails beyond the highest range of Mind, is termed by Sri Aurobindo as Supermind or the Supramental. Supermind will now evolve out of Mind. That is the next evolution, which will be more internal and less external, in comparison with the evolution that led up to Man. Man's highest aspiration is then for the gradual unveiling of the powers of the Spirit within and the Spirit beyond, aiming the preparation of a higher life upon earth, the supramental life.

The fundamental and central purpose of earthly existence is an evolution of consciousness. The evolutionary working of Nature has a twofold process, evolving forms as well as consciousness.

Now, Man occupies the crest of the evolutionary wave. Evolution which was unconscious till Man's appearance on earth became conscious along with his appearance. At each step one receives an indication of what the next step will be. The nature of our next step is indicated by the deep aspirations in the human race.

The central and most important fact of the next step of evolution will be a change of consciousness and a consequent transformation of the whole being. The consciousness itself, by its own transmutation, will impose and effect any necessary change and transformation of the mental, vital and physical aspects of a human being. Ordinary human consciousness may think and suppose that this transformation is impossible on earth. But it is not so. The Advent of the Supramental Consciousness only can give the truest meaning and fulfilment to this our dear earth.

The spiritual urge in human beings is an undeniable indication that the Divine inherent and involved in the human race, individually and collectively, is causing an inner drive towards emergence of a new species, towards the next step of the manifestation on earth of a newer race.

Many assert that reason is the highest faculty of man, and that by reason, man has been able to master himself and Nature. But is reason really successful? In its application to life and action, reason has been partial and a slave rather than a master, and it has served forces other than the pure truth.

Why should man have faith in reason? Of course, reason has a legitimate function to in human existence. Reason has helped man to surpass his ignorance and darkness to a great extent. Reason has helped man to justify and illumine his various experiences and to widen and enlarge his consciousness.

But reason cannot give him a total deliverance from ignorance and darkness, nor can it arrive at any final truth, because it can neither reach the root of things nor comprehend their totality. It comprehends whatever is finite and separate and has no capacity to ascertain the dimensions of the All and the Infinite and the Eternal.

The limitations of reason become very conspicuous and prominent when it confronts the spiritual life.

***

By spirituality, no particular religion is meant, no religion at all.

Can religion give any proper guidance to the human life? Of course, in older times the human society had given a very important place to religion.

However, on the other hand, the section of humanity, which had been the standard-bearer of all progressive movements, has often revolted against the predominance of religion. Very often some religions have opposed progress and sided with the forces of obscurity, ignorance and oppression. Consequently, we find in history that the oppressed human mind and heart revolted to correct these errors and set religions right. We find then that religion, in place of being a guide, needed guidance and correction from the humanity itself.

Religion has failed, because it has confused the essential with the inessential and extraneous, because it has added to itself dogmas, cults, codes which are only aids and props, but should not have been imposed on man. Time has already arrived when religion has to be substituted by spirituality. It is a seeking after Truth, a seeking for the Supreme, the Divine, whatever name we may give to Him. It is the opening of the deepest inner consciousness of the being to the Divine, Who is eternally Present everywhere, even within each of us. Religion often considered that spiritual life requires renunciation and self-denial and mortification, and turned into a force that discouraged life, and it cannot, therefore, give a true and purposeful progress to the humanity.

Spirituality should be restored to its true sense: it should understand the true meaning and purpose of human existence on earth and should try to guide the society and the individual towards fulfillment of the purpose.

***

In this connection, it is also essential that the problem of the relation of the individual to the society should be solved, so that the humankind may attain a harmonious progress towards the goal.

It is wrong to ask the individual to subordinate himself to the collectivity or merge in it, because it is by its most advanced individuals that the collectivity progresses and they can really advance only if they are free. But it is true that as the individual advances spiritually, he finds himself more and more united with the collectivity and the All.

The present evolutionary crisis is the result of an inequality between the limited faculties of man - physical, vital, mental and spiritual - and the technical and economical means at his disposal. Without a total and all-comprehensive inner change man can no longer manage and control the gigantic development of the outer life. The overwhelming importance of the collectivity, of the State is only a substitution of the collective ego in place of the individual ego. Humankind can survive only by a radical transformation of human nature.

Sri Aurobindo has told us about the future society. If we transcend all the mistakes and superstitions and defects and limitations of the old thinking and practices, even of the religions throughout the World, throughout the West and the East, all the grossness and blindness and limitations of materialism, the limitations and narrowness of the scientific method and rationalism that do not include the realm of spirit and consciousness, we will be transforming our society in a New Society. He has showed us the Way to the New Society, opening the doors to all higher and diviner possibilities.

***

According to Sri Aurobindo, all human activities, situations, circumstances can be transformed and uplifted with the help of spiritual consciousness and force. Whatever is your field of action, you can come within the purview and compass of the new Spiritual force that transforms. Indeed, the spiritual consciousness and force always transforms, but we the human beings did not come near the transforming horizon and were not prepared. The Time was not also ripe - we did not evolve to be ready for the new attempt. The new possibilities can touch everyone and everything. All existence can be infused with the Divine inspiration and infusion. And infinite possibilities and forces and capacities hidden in human beings can be released by the New Force of the Divine, the Supramental Consciousness and Force, which Sri Aurobindo discovered and tried to bring down on earth, and which descended on earth, as declared by the Mother on the 29th February 1956.

Perfection is progressive. Hence, good and evil are continuously changing from time to time in their meaning and value. Personal need and the good of the collectivity govern human conduct. Sometimes, conflict is born of the opposition of the two tendencies, which govern human action: the individual and the collective. To solve this problem, a new principle is arrived at, aiming to surpass, control and reconcile them. This is the ethical or moral ideal.

However, conflicts are not resolved; they appear rather to increase. When applied to life, moral laws, which are often arbitrary and rigid, are obliged to end in compromises with life, which deprive them of all meaning and purpose.

The ethical law, a creation of the limited Mind, is a false image. Behind it, there is a greater truth of a vast limitless consciousness, the supreme law of our divine nature. It decides perfectly our relations with each being and with the universe in totality, and it also expresses of the Divine in us. It is the supreme principle of action, which is simultaneously an imperative law, with an absolute freedom.

***

Spirituality is other than and different from intellectuality. It indicates that a Power greater than mind is striving to come into existence and be revealed in Man. Spirituality is a progressive awakening to the truth of our inner being, to a spirit, self, soul, a psychic being, which is other than our mind, life and body. It is an aspiration to know, to come into contact and interaction and relationship with the greater Reality beyond, which pervades the universe and also is present within us. As a consequence of that aspiration, that contact and relationship, we find within us, individually, a turning, a conversion, a new birth into a new being.

In their endeavors to unfold the inner being, human beings have pursued and followed religion, occultism, spiritual thought and philosophy, and a course of inner action for spiritual realization and experience. Only spiritual realization and experience can transform the mental being into a spiritual being.

Had the final task and aim of the earthly evolution been only to awaken man to the Supreme Truth and Reality and to liberate him from ignorance and bondage, then the liberated soul could find somewhere else, in some other plane, a higher state of being or would have merged into this supreme Reality, and the task would be achieved with the advent of the spiritual man. But we also have in us an aspiration for the mastery over Nature and for her transformation, for a greater perfection in the earthly existence itself. And if a Return to the Source, the Supreme Being, would been the goal of the Creation, then perhaps there should not have been any Creation at all. Hence the Return is not the final task.

But for a greater perfection in the earthly existence, with an attainment of a complete mastery over Nature, it is essential that there should be a radical change and transformation of the entire human nature.

***

We thus find that Man has to transform himself. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have spoken of the Triple Transformation: psychic, spiritual, and then supramental.

The first phase of this transformation, the psychic being, has to come forward and take the lead of the whole being and its transformation. The psychic is the active aspect of the soul. The soul is generally inactive in the animals, who do not have the psychic beings. It is a privilege of the human beings that they have the psychic beings, says Sri Aurobindo.

For explaining why He adopted the term “psychic being” Sri Aurobindo has stated as follows:

“The word soul is very vaguely used in English- as it often refers to the whole non-physical consciousness including even the vital with all its desires and passions. That is why the word psychic being has to be used so as to distinguish this divine portion from the instrumental parts of the nature.”

In the course of evolution, for the unveiling of the psychic being and for turning towards the supreme Reality, Man has to follow any or all the three ways of the intellect or of knowledge, of the heart or of emotion, and of the will or of action, seeking Truth, Beauty and Goodness [in Sanskrit satyam, sundaram and shivam].

These three ways of Knowledge, Love and Action, followed concurrently and in a combined manner, have a most powerful effect.

The spiritual transformation is the second phase. It is an opening to an Eternity above us, an eternal Presence, a boundless Self, an infinite Existence, Consciousness and Bliss, an Infinite Conscious-Force.

The spiritual change culminates in a permanent Ascent from the lower consciousness to the higher consciousness, followed by a permanent Descent of the higher consciousness and nature into the lower.

The third phase of the supramental transformation begins thereafter, with a view to make the Next Evolution a real possibility To make this next evolution possible, the very foundation of our nature of ignorance must be transfigured and a greater power, a supramental Force must intervene to accomplish that transfiguration.

Regarding the psychic transformation and the first stages of the spiritual transformation, Sri Aurobindo has said that they are “well within our conception” ; the perfection attained in the psychic transformation and the early stages of the spiritual transformation would be ” the perfection, wholeness, consummated unity of a knowledge and experience which is already part of things realised, though only by a small number of human beings”. But about the supramental transformation, he states that it ” carries us into less explored regions”. It ” initiates a vision of heights of consciousness which have indeed been glimpsed and visited, but have yet to be discovered and mapped in their completeness”. He further states : “The highest of these peaks or elevated plateaus of consciousness, the supramental, lies far beyond the possibility of any satisfying mental scheme or map of it or any grasp of mental seeing and description.” [Relevant portions are quoted from the writings of Sri Aurobindo.]

***

The passage from Mind to Supermind is a passage from Nature to Supernature. Thus, it cannot be reached by a mere effort of our mind or our unaided aspiration. The powers of the Superconscience must descend into us and uplift us and transform our being. .

There are four steps of Ascent that lead from Mind to the Supermind: the Higher Mind, the Illumined Mind, the Intuitive Mind and the Overmind.

Let us take the word Mind. Our ordinary mind is a “half-lit and diminished principle of Mind”. Generally, we use the word Mind for the general and ordinary mental consciousness, including the vital and emotional aspects. The vital and emotional aspects of our consciousness, all our passions, cravings, hungers, sentiments etc belong to the vital being or the plane of Life in us, as defined by Sri Aurobindo.
And the vital being or Life is different from Mind, in the definitions of Sri Aurobindo. Even our higher emotions, love, sympathy, patriotism, and all our higher emotions belong to the vital being -but the higher vital being. When we speak of the heart (not the physical one), the emotional center, we refer to the inner higher vital.
Similarly, the Mind ordinarily refers to the principle of reason and logic, intelligence, memory, will, thinking, understanding etc. This is our half-lit and diminished principle of mind. But Mind is also used in a higher and wider sense. In the wider sense of Mind, we will find higher ranges of the Mind starting from the Higher Mind to the Overmind. Of course these ranges exclude the Supermind.
Supermind is not a higher mind. It is a Higher Consciousness, surpassing all the stages and planes of Mind. In between our ordinary Mind and the Supermind, Sri Aurobindo speaks of four stages of Mind: the Higher Mind, the Illumined Mind, the Intuitive Mind, and then, the Overmind.
To begin with, Overmind is the highest stage where the mental consciousness could reach, till the Advent of the Supermind. It is the Plane of the gods and goddesses. It is the plane, which the several Avatars of the Supreme manifested and represented on earth.
These planes need be defined and described further in details.
In the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, the Higher Mind is the first of the supra-rational levels or planes or grades of existence and consciousness, the first level of “Spiritual Mind”. It is an evolutionary stage beyond the rational mind. It is an ascent to plane above the level of pure thinking mind, and there can be a descent also from this plane.
Above the Higher Mind is a further and even more powerful and revelatory supra-rational level or plane of existence and consciousness, which he calls the Illumined Mind. The power of the Higher Mind prepares an integration of the being in a greater Force of consciousness and knowledge. This greater Force is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here, in place of the clarity of the spiritual intelligence and the tranquil daylight of the Higher Mind, one finds “an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit.” A play of lightnings of spiritual truth and power breaks from above into the consciousness. And the characteristic action of ‘the larger conceptual-spiritual principle' adds a fiery ardour of realization and a rapturous ecstasy of knowledge to the calm and wide enlightenment and the vast descent of peace of the Higher Mind.
About the Intuitive Mind, Sri Aurobindo says:
Intuition is above the illumined Mind which is simply the higher Mind raised to a great luminosity and more open to modified forms of intuition and inspiration. … The Intuition is the first plane in which there is a real opening to the full possibility of realization - it is through it that one goes farther - first to Overmind and then to Supermind.

There are mental, vital, subtle physical intuitions as well as intuitions from the higher and the illumined Mind, and even from the Overmind.

Although Sri Aurobindo speaks of seven major planes of existence, he also suggests that between Mind and Supermind, or lower (finite, limited, ignorant) and higher (infinite, divine, perfect) creation, there is an important transitional or intermediate reality, which He calls the Overmind.
“At the source of …Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the Supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies, - not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality. This then is the occult link we were looking for; this is the Power that at once connects and divides the supreme Knowledge and the cosmic Ignorance.”
[The Life Divine, p.278]

The Overmind is the region of the great Gods, the individualized expression of the unitary Supramental Truth. These are the powers that oversee the phenomenal world. It is the level where multiplicity first appears, and indeed is the principle that originally causes multiplicity.
“Overmind Energy (has the)…capacity of separation and combination of the powers and aspects of the integral…all-comprehending Unity (of the Supermind). It takes each aspect or power and gives it an independent action in which it acquires a full separate importance…” [The Life Divine, p.279]

***

From Overmind, the Ascension is to Supermind.
It is the Ascent to the Supermind and the Descent of the Supramental principle on earth makes the Next Evolution
Sri Aurobindo has stated:

The supramental change is the thing decreed and inevitable in the evolution of the earth-consciousness; for its upward ascent is not ended and mind is not its last summit. But the change may arrive, take form and endure, there is needed the call from below with a will to recognise and not deny the Light when it comes, and there is needed the sanction of the Supreme from above.

The Mother has also stated:

The Manifestation of the Supramental upon earth is no more a promise but a living fact, a reality. It is at work here, and one day will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obliged to recognise it.

Thus, we can see that Mind has reached the its last ranges and is on the process of handing over the task of the Evolution to the supramental consciousness. This is the Truth. We should no longer remain limited within the ranges of our ordinary small ranges of the Mind, but should endeavor to transcend our mental selves and begin our inner journey to the New Creation taken up by the supramental consciousness.

[Continued]

Barin

06-07-2006