Isha Upanishad - Super school - Auroville - Isha Upanishad 1101

Date - 11.02.2003

Let us now come to the grips with the question as to how there arose ignorance? It is like studying universal history. There is a verse in the Rig Veda, which describes the history of the universe and that gives a clue to what we are looking for. It says, there was first the power of concentration, consciousness has within it always the power of concentration, and consciousness can be widespread but it can also be concentrated. This is the special quality of consciousness, inherent power of consciousness to be concentrated. When consciousness concentrates, − concentrates on what, concentrates on itself, if you want to know yourself, you concentrate on yourself. So. when consciousness concentrates on itself then the contents of consciousness begin to emerge. So first consciousness, its power of largeness, and its power of concentration, and this power of concentration concentrates on itself. When it concentrates on itself and the contents of consciousness begin to unfold.

It is similar to what happens to our own ordinary consciousness, when you want to know yourself, you concentrate on the contents of your mind of what is happening in you, you review as it were, what is in your mind. As you review, the contents begin to unfold. In that supreme consciousness there are innumerable contents. But this consciousness is not like our ordinary consciousness in which we when concentrate upon ourselves then things began to move in us in a pell-mell manner, there is no order but this consciousness is not a disorderly consciousness. It’s the consciousness which is compact, which concentrates upon its contents and from there as it concentrates; its contents begin to come out in an order.

The Veda says that this concentration brought about the unfoldment of Truth, the first emergence. Then it said that after the Truth emerged then came about a night and then came about Inconscience. This is the verse of the Vedic knowledge, it's a very short verse but very significant. The concentration brought about the unfoldment of Truth then the night and then Inconscient, three steps.

In Sanskrit it is “ritam ca satyam, ca abhidat,  tapasjayata,tato ratri jayate ,tato samudra arnava” By concentration there came about first of all the Truth and the Right, ‘ritam ca satyam’,‘tato ratri jayate’, thereafter the night came about, ‘tatah samudro arnavah’, then came about Inconscient, the ocean of inconscience.

The Mother has in some of her talks spoken of the history of universe in the following way, she said: she was telling us a story, as if we were children and she said that in the beginning four Beings came out of the Supreme, this is unfoldment, in the unfoldment four Beings came out.