The Conquest

The S p irit’s tops an d nature's base shall draw N ear to the se cre t o f th e ir separate truth A nd know each o th e r as one deity,

the S p irit shall look o u t through M atter's gaze A n d M a tte r s h a ll reveal the Spirit's face

Then m an a n d superm an s h a ll be a t one A nd a ll the earth becom e a single life.

(Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Book XI, Canto I, p. 709z) A m anifestation o f the S uperm ind and its truth-conscious- ness is...inevitable; it m ust happen in this world so o n e r o r later. But it has two aspects, a descent from above, an ascent from below, a self-revelation o f the Spirit, an evolution in N ature

(Sri Aurobindo, The S upram ental M anifestation, p. 80) A s the p sych ic change has to ca ll in the sp iritu a l to com ­ plete it, so the first spiritual change has to call in the supram ental transform ation to com plete it...T his then m ust be the nature o f the third a n d final transform ation which finishes the passage o f the soul through the Ignorance an d bases its consciousness, its life, its p o w e r a n d form o f m anifestation on a com plete and com pletely effective self-know ledge..S o m ust be created the supram ental an d s p iritu a l being as the first unveiled m anifesta­ tion o f the truth o f the S e lf a n d S pirit in the m aterial universe.

(Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, pp. 917-18) V V e have alm ost come to the end of our long dissertation on how to rem edy the spiritual penury of our w aking physical existence. Not an escape or at the least a quientistic w ithdraw al from the world-consciousness, but rather the integral and victori­ ous em bracing of the life of action and creation a and the divine transfiguration of the whole of our existence, is what we have

place before us as our goal.

But a further point remains to be elucidate here. A well estab­ lished line of spiritual experience shows th a t whenever our soul gets involved in action,it loses hold and becom es nescient of its imm obile, passive and so-called true status, w hereas a w ith ­ drawal from dynam ism and an involution into passivity makes it totally oblivious of it is active status w hich thus appears to be ju st a false superim position upon the freedom and bliss of the soul. Now, if this experience is the only o r the ultimate experi­ ence possible, then we have perforce to adm it that an active life cannot be com patible with the conscious experience and e njoy­ ment of the soul-status. But fortunately this is not so. This alterna­ tion in the nescience of the active and the passive statuses occurs because it is only apart of our being na dot the totality of it that shifts it centre and makes the alternative m ovem ents. But in reality there are not two distinct and separate statuses: there is instead only a unique dual status, a status em braces at the same tim e both the aspects, the static one and the dynam ic one.

We have already spoken of the active Brahman and the pas­ sive Brahman, but there are not two independent realities, one immobile, the other mobile. “The Reality is neither an eternal passivity of immobile Being nor an eternal activity of Being in movement, nor is it an alternation in Tim e between these two things. N either in fact is the sole absolute truth of Brahm an’s reality...There is not a passive Brahman and an active Bahman, but one Brahman, an Existence which reserves Its Tapes in what we call passivity and gives itself in w hat we call its activity. Fort he purposes of action, there are two poles o f one .being o r a double po w e r necessary for creation...Brahm an does not pass alternately from passivity to activity and back to passivity by cessation of its dynam ic force of being....Integral Brahman pos­ sess both the passivity and the activity sim ultaneously and does not pass alternately from one to the other as from a sleep to a waking.”

The analogy of sleep and w aking is a very apt one here. For, w hat we norm ally find is that in our waking state we forget about our steep status and while in the sleep-state we become oblivi­ ous of our w aking existence. But this is so only because a small part of our being makes the transition and oscillates between the two states of awareness. And since this part cannot em ­ brace the totality of our existence, it becomes nescient of one or the other of the two statuses, depending on its p articular station at the tim e. But through a proper self-discipline on can so w iden the scope of one’s conscious discernm ent that one has no more to make this abrupt and all-forgetting change-over, but can in­ stead hold both the states in a single uninterrupted gaze.

It is the same thing with the experience of Brahman. Action and creation need not and should not externalise the conscious­ ness and make one lose the silent freedom of the passive Brah­ man nor should the experience of the immobile Brahman be in­ com patible with the free possession of its mobile status. The apparent incapability arises from the fact that ordinarily we iden­ tify ourselves with only apart of the totality of our conscious­ ness- the m ental or at its highest the spiritual-m ental part of it - and seek to realise the Divine through this limited part alone.

And since this just apart and not the integral conscious­ ness, it cannot sim ultaneously em brace both the aspects. Thus dynam is obliterates the self of status from its aw areness and passivity loosens its hold on the self of action. W hen this pas­ sivity becom es entire, our m ind-consciousness falls asleep, so to say, enters into the trance-state of Samadhi or else is liber­ ated into a spiritual silence. But evidently this is not the line which we would like to follow. For "though it is a liberation from the ignorance of the partial being in its flux of action, it is earned by putting on a lum inous nescience of the dynam ic R eality oraluminous separation from it: the spiritual mental being remains self-absorbed in a silent essential status of existence an be­ comes is the incapable of active consciousness or repugnant to all activity."

But our goal is the integral fulfillm ent of our integral exist* ence, the integral and simultaneous possession of both the static and d y n a m ic a s p e c ts o f th e D iv in e , as is th e ca se w ith S achchidananda Him self. But this is possible only if we p o s ­ sess the integral consciousness. And this integral conscious­ ness com es only with the attainm ent of the supram ental G no­ sis. For, as we have m entioned before, this G nosis is twofold Truth-Consciousness, an inherent and integral self-knowledge and at the sam e tim e an intimate and integral consciousness of the m anifestation. As a m atter of fact, Suferm ind is none other than Sachchidananda s power of self awareness and world-awareness, and thus the dynam ically integral liberation and fulfillm ent that we are seeking after can be achieved only in and through this supram ental Vijnanna,

We have seen how to retain the consciousness of the pas­ sive Brahm an w hile at the sam e tim e p a rtic ip a tio n gin the consciousness of the active aspect of it. But that does not auto­ m atically signify that ou r nature-part as distinct from our inner soul*existence will also get transform ed and be moulded in the image of the Divine. But this is what we precisely need for the fulfillm ent of our goal. For it isn ’t m erely the liberation of our soul, but the liberation and the divine transfiguration of the whole of our Nature, prakrti-m ukti, prakrit-rupantara, enabling the es­ tablishm ent of a Life Divine upon earth, that is the total content of our aim. Let us now proceed to show how this Prakriti Mukti and P rakriti-R upantara can be integrally achieved through the Supermind.

But what is meant by soul or by Nature, by Purusha and his Prakriti? Any relatively profound psycho-spiritual inquiry makes us aware of two elem ents of our being, a soul and a Nature. Purusha or soul, individual or universal, is the observing and experiencing conscious existence seem ingly inactive but in re­ lation with its becoming, while Prakriti or Nature, again individual or universal, s the principle and the powers f the becom ing, ap­ pearing as an executive Force or an energy of Process which is

seen to constitute, drive and guide all conceivable activities and to create a myriad forms visible to us and invisible and use them as stable supports fo r to incessant flux of action and creation."

Apparently, Purusha and Prakriti seem to be two different and distinct Principles. Not only that: in the ordinary status of conscious existence, the action and influence of Prakriti seem to be deleterious to the progress of the soul. As a m atter of fact, as Sri Aurobindo has so beautifully put it, the whole problem of life resolves itself into this one question:

"W hat are we to do with this soul and nature set face to face with each other, this Nature, this personal and cosm ic activity, which tries to im press itself upon the soul, to possess, control, determ ine it, and this oul which feels that In some m ysterious way it has freedom , a control over itself, a responsibility fo r what it is and does, and tries therefore to turn upon Nature, its own and the w orld's and to control, possess, enjoy, or even, it may be, reject and escape from her?

It is because of this apparent tendency of the Purusha to et involved and self-lost in the obscuring action of Prakriti that the self-recovering soul feels a sort of aloof detachm ent if not total repugnance for the play of Nature and seeks to stand back from it and destroy all earthward tendencies so that it may securely possess its static infinity.

But this antagonism between Soul and Nature is more appar­ ent than real, for in reality, they are not distinct and different Principles; t;he trenchant duality is fictitious, they represent in fact, the Two-in-O ne o r rather the One-in-Two, thus,

“There are two show are Once and play in m any worlds: In Knowledge and Ignorance they have spoken and met And light and darkness are th e ir eye's interchange. Thus have they made th e ir play with us fo r roles: Author and actor with him self as scene,

He moves there as the Soul, a Nature she. This whole wide world is only he and s h e "

Thus, the P urusha-Prakriti duality, although separate in a p ­ pearance, is in fact inseparable. W herever there is Prakriti, there is Purusha; w herever there is Purusha, there is Prakriti. Even in his inactivity he holds in him self all her force and energies ready for projection; even in the drive of her action she carries with her all his observing and m andatory consciousness as TO w hole support and sense of her creative purpose."

But why is this so? Because, in th e ir essential nature and original aspect, Purusha and Prakriti arise from the being of d i­ vine Sachchidananda. As a matter affect, "Self-conscious ex­ istence is the essential nature of the Being; that is Sat or Purusha: the Power of self-aw are existence, w hether drawn into itself or acting in the w orks of its consciousness and force, its know l­ edge and its will, Chit and Tapas, Chit and its Shakti,-that is Prakriti. Delight of being, Ananda, is the eternal truth of the un­ ion of this conscious being and its conscious force w nether ab­ sorbed in itself or else deployed in the inseparable duality of its two aspects, unrolling the worlds and viewing them, acting in them and upholding the action, execution works and giving the sanction without which the force of Nature cannot act, executing and controlling the know ledge and the will and knowing and c o n tro llin g the d e te rm in a tio n s o f the kn o w le d g e -fo rc e and welfares, m inistering to the enjoym ent and enjoying,-the Sou! possessor, observer, knower, lord of Nature, Nature expressing the being, executing the will, satisfying the self-knowledge, m in­ istering to the delight of being of the soul.There we have, founded on the very nature of being, the suprem e a n d the unive rsa l re/a- tion o f P rakriti with Purusha. The absolute jo y o f the so u l in itse lf and based upon that, the absolute jo y o f the so u l in Nature are divine fulfillm ent of the relation,”

veals H im self o r Herself in the divine Sachchidananda, the Sat- C hitananda, fo r Sat is the Being, the Purusha, Chit is the con­ scious executive force or Prakriti and Ananda is the halo and aroma of th e ir indissoluble union,

But this essential unity and union of Purusha andprakriti are not overly realised on the low er planes of existence, the lower planes of m anifestation of the Spirit. The true intrinsic relation ha been perverted there and a pram atic division and separation with all th e ir undesirable consequences have developed along­ side.

After ail, w hat is a plane of consciousness, a plane of e xist­ ence? A plane is nothing else than 'a general settled poise or world of relations’ between Purusha and Prakriti, between the Soul and Nature. Now with the progressive involution or se lf­ concealm ent of Sachchidananda, has ensued the progressive self-hiding of Soul and Nature, one from he other, the result be­ ing that the self-possession and the w orld-possession, svarajya and sam rajya, have become difficult to achieve at the same time. Now, depending on the nature of the dom inant cosm ic Principle and power of being around which the Soul and the Nature decide to weave th e ir game of hide and seek, we have different planes of consciousness and existence. Thus we have, in ascending order, a m aterial plane, alife-plane and the ptanes of mind.

But even on the highest rang of spiritual-m ind planes, the absolute harm ony of the union of P urusha-Prakriti is not fully recovered. Thus even though the separate liberation and static release of the soul become feasible there, the latter cannot freely possess Nature, becom e its conscious Lord and transform it into an effective and flaw less instrum ent of divine m anifesta­ tion.

For that we have to reach the plane of supermind, the vij±and or gnosis of Sachchidananda, which is not only the concentrated consciousness of the infinite Essence, [but] also and at the same time and infinite knowledge of the m yriad play of the Infinite.

In the gnosis the dualism of Purusha and Prakriti, Soul and Nature, disappears in th e ir biune unity, the dynam ic m ystery of the occult S uprem e.The Truth-being is the Hara-G auri of the In­ dian iconological sym bol {the biune body of the Lord and his Spouse, Ishwara and Shakti, the right half male, the left half fem ale); it is the double Power m asculine born from and sup­ ported by the suprem e Shakti of the Supreme."

But eventhen a last point remains. For, we do not w ant to withdraw from the material plane of existence into the Superm ind’s self-existent realm: we want instead the supram ental union of Soul and Nature in the very bosom of the physically em bodied e xiste n ce here upon e a rth . Thus, w hat is e s s e n tia l fo r the fu lfillm e n t of our objective is not m erely the ascent into the supram ental Gnosis but the eventual transform ing descent of its Consciousness Force into our entire being and nature and a con­ com itant or subsequent em ergence of the concealed Supermind at present involved here below. This influx from above and the unveiling from below will between them remove w hat is left of the nature of the Ignorance. The rule of the inconscient will d isap­ pear: fo r the e the In conscience will be changed by the outburst of the greater secret C onsciousness within it, the hidden Light, in to w h a t it a lw a y s w as in re a lity , a re a s of th e s e c re t Superconscience".

The supram ental being, the gnostic soul, the Vijnanamaya Purusa, thus appearing in earth-existence will be the fist un­ veiled m anifestation of Sachchidananda in the material universe. Not a self-oblivion in the infinite, but an integral self-possession and world-plssession in the Infinite will be its characteristic m ove­ ment. It will be the first to participate in w orld-action not only in the freedom , but in the power and sovereignty of the Ternal. For it recives the fullness, it has the sense of plenitude of the God head in its action it shares the force, splendid and royal march of the Infinite, is a vessel of the original knowledge, the im m acu­ late power, the inviolable bliss, transm utes all life into the e te r­

nal Light and the eternal Fire and the eternal W inds of the nectare. It possesses the infinite of the Self and it possesses the infinite of Nature... The gnostic soul is the child, but the King-child; here is the royal and eternal childhood whose toys ark the worlds and all universal Nature is the m iraculous garden of the play that tires never....This biune being of P urusha-Prakriti is as if a flam ­ ing Sun anybody of Divine Lights self-carried in its orbit by its own inner consciousness and power at one with the universe, atone with a suprem eTranscendent. Its madness consciousness and pow er vibrating with an infinite sense of freedom and inten­ sity in its divine life-m ovem ent....-a dance this also, a whir! of mighty energies, but the M aster of the dance holds the hands of His energies and keeps them to the rhythmic order, the se lf­ traced harm onic circles of His Rasa-Lila.”

Thus, with the supram ental transform ation of our being and nature, this earthly life will flow er into the Life divine and our waking physical existence w ill be adivinised existence of inte­ gral consciousness and dynam is. N either will one then have to plunge into the superconscient trance-state in order to experi­ ence the Absolute Existence o r non -Existence, nor to content oneself with the Jivanm ukti-status w aiting all the while fo r the