Sachchidananda 'The Life Divine' Book I,Ch.9, 10, 11, 12 - Track 1101

Now we come to the  last lap of the journey of these four chapters that we are dealing with can be seen from many points of view one of them is consider the existence of God does God exist and these three chapters can be regarded as an answer to that question the ninth chapter which we saw first the pure existent was one answer to the question whether God exists or not and if you take the entire chapter and look for the quintessential point for the chapter it is one sentence pure existence without quantity without quality is not only what can be conceived but is the one thing that can be conceived you might say this is the proof of the existence of God if you put the word God in place of pure existence that is to say if you mean by God the pure existent then it's very clear that this pure existent is not only what can be conceived but is the one thing that can be conceived. In the next chapter the question was raised whether this pure existent is conscious or unconscious and we had a debate on materialism on the one hand and the one who holds that consciousness is the ultimate reality. And then we concluded that pure existent is the pure conscious being and the force which is insured from that pure existent is also a conscious force, having reached this point there is a third question and that question arises from the present world experience jesters of unconsciousness was one of the phenomenon of the world we seem to contradict conscious being similarly there is another phenomenon in the world which seems to contradict the pure conscious being and therefore this is a question which is to be answered if you are ready to prove the existence of God. So in the chapter number 11 which is entitled the delight of the existence the problem Shri Aurobindo first to fall enunciates the problem that seems to contradict the phenomena which contradicts the existence of God if you define God as pure existent as conscious being and is a being that is delight if you so conceive God then this is contradicted by certain phenomena unless you satisfactorily answer those phenomena you want be able to able to assert that God is pure existent conscious being and delight. Now First to all before presenting the problem there is one logical argument which we need to state at the very outset. Once you grant that reality of God is pure existent and is conscious being it follows that he must have or he must be pure delight once you grant those two premises that God is pure existent and is conscious being it follows that God must be pure delight. Now let us see how does it follow there is a logical connection between God is pure existent God is conscious being an conclusion that God must be delight what is the logical connection the logical connection is as follows, if God is pure existent it follows that he needs nothing is pure existent anything that is in need of anything is to some extent in want of something but that which is fully existent there is not an even any lacuna of any kind that means that pure existence needs nothing That is why we also say that pure existent is pure silence the highest inactivity in fact one of the definitions of pure being was that it is immobile, the mobile because there was nothing wanted therefore is no need for any activity at all. Now is in addition to that pure conscious being then it is up to him to decide whether he wants to remain immobile or whether he also wants to become mobile, conscious being it follows that he has possibility of deciding if he was unconscious then you cannot say that he is powered of will but if he is  a conscious being then he has a will to choose between immobility and mobility so pure existent which is already in need of nothing he has a choice to remain immobile or to remain mobile or to remain both at the same time and if he chooses to the mobile as we see that he has decided to be mobile because the whole world is mobile therefore we say that he has chosen to be mobile then the question is asked why has he chosen to be mobile he is conscious he could have chosen to remain immobile yet he has become mobile so you have to ask the question why he chose to be mobile many could have remained immobile the only answer that is possible to such a question is that he is not necessitated to become mobile there is no force external to him which obliged God to be mobile it was possible for him to be mobile and immobile at the same time it was possible for him and he chose to do it but no compulsion in it now when there is an activity behind which there is no compulsion then the only answer you can give is that it is for the sake of delight it was delight for him to remain immobile it was delight for him to be mobile in both the cases whether he remains mobile or a mobile remains both at the same time it adds nothing to him since there's no compulsion of any kind at all the only answer that you can give is that also was possible for him to be mobile and he chose to be mobile why there was no compulsion if you says that there was no compulsion and yet he chose it what is the answer that you can give I chose because it was possible for me when you have eight items to eat all are equally good nothing better than the other and yet you take one what is the answer why you take one instead of the other one you took it because you could have taken it there was no compulsion it simply happened you chose because that was also a possibility to choose this kind of a condition is called delight. The light is a condition where out of various possibilities, every possibility is as good as the other and then there is no compulsion and part of that choice to choose one or the other or to choose all at the same time and then something is chosen then the condition in which it is chosen can be only termed as delight that's the definition of delight if you find any reason as to why it should be done then that region compels him to do then therefore that is not delight; delight means absence of compulsion that is why it is said that there are three words which mean the same freedom delight and grace all the three words really mean the same.


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