The Ascent towards Supermind, Part II, Chapter XXVI - The Ascent towards Supermind 206

The great capacity of human being is that ideas can be related in large numbers. Things can be connected with each other in large numbers. But large numbers does not mean all. Whereas the Shakti relates all ideas, all things are related to each other, in their distinctions, in their relationships of various kinds. And it is automatic in the human consciousness to relate one idea with the other takes a lot of time of training. All mental education is nothing but to tell children, how one idea is related to another idea, how one thing is related to another thing, this is all that mental education consists of. But Shakti of which we speak is a power in which all ideas are automatically related to each other. It doesn’t make any effort at all, it’s automatic, just as you open your eyes and you see the world. Similarly that consciousness is such that the moment that faculty operates, you see all ideas related to each other. You suddenly hear that Korea is invaded, you hear news in 1950, a big news flashed on a certain day that Korea was invaded. What does it mean, immediately the idea is what is the motive, what will happen, these questions immediately come to the mind.

How to relate this event, invasion of Korea, how to see this event and relate it with the whole world movement? Those who are students of politics, of diplomacy, of history they might be able to relate to some extent this event with certain other things because of historical knowledge or whatever it is. Truman, at that time immediately went into aid of defense of Korea, this is one other simultaneous event that took place. And the question arose in the minds of many people why, how, what is the connection of America with invasion of Korea and why America should rush over there, what is the relationship? Now this question for us normally would be quite difficult and we have only put question marks. Even students of politics may find many explanations as to why it happens. Just at that time Sri Aurobindo was asked the question: ‘what does it all mean?’ Sri Aurobindo said, ‘It is as plain as anything. It is the first move of China to expand communism and therefore, the intervention of America is perfectly understandable because it does not want the spread of communism in the world.’ It’s a very simple kind of connection, why should America intervene because it has something to do with anti-communism. This attack is the movement of the spread of communism, therefore immediately this action has taken place. Now this is only a small example of how ideas can be related with each other and if you have that vision of Shakti, you can immediately see what all these things mean.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan has been dismissed. It’s an event and we have many questions as to how, why, what, what will happen now? And we are groping because we do not see many things in that inter-relationships. What is happing, why it is happening? Now, if you have that vision of Shakti, it would be very plain as to why this is happening. Similarly, about the whole world at one time it seemed that communism will spread over the whole world. It seemed, and yet it collapsed in the very center of communism, in Russia. A seer who has this vision could have seen even earlier that this movement is related to that movement and that with that movement and after some time it will collapse.

As Sri Aurobindo once wrote long ago that Russian mind is basically a mystic mind, quite opposite of communistic mind. It’s basically a mystical mind and therefore, communism cannot survive in that consciousness. It’s a perception of two ideas of mysticism and communism and their relationship. That is why the Rishi of the Veda was considered to be trikala drishta, who could see past, future and present in one vision. The conclusion of all this is that because some of the elements are present in our ordinary consciousness we can imagine, what is revelation, what is inspiration, what is intuition, and what is discrimination, but to some extent. When it really acts and how it acts is for us actually impossible to imagine.

Once an engineer was talking to The Mother and was complaining that in Pondicherry it is very difficult to find water. He said that I am trying to find water, so that I can dig a tube well or something of that kind. So, Mother went on hearing and then he asked the question, ‘can you tell me where is water?’ She said: ‘Here, where I am standing.’ He dug a little and there was water, this is the perception of the Rishi, on the spot, there is no groping. And this is an important element in the superconcient, there is no groping. There is as Sri Aurobindo says, ‘knowledge from knowledge’ not from ignorance to knowledge, it’s a movement from knowledge to knowledge. The human consciousness and the mental consciousness is a groping consciousness. There is darkness all around and with a little light, with little hint and with little sign, we go on moving here and there largely failing in our attempts. This is the first point that I wanted to make in that paragraph.

Sri Aurobindo says in the 2nd paragraph that we can understand a little bit of this superconcient because some of the elements are reflected in our ordinary consciousness. Therefore, although this subject is very difficult, we cannot say to people that now don’t proceed at all to consider that subject close the book and do nothing at all. But we can strive, we can give some kind of expression and something of it can be hinted, can be given to the groping consciousness. And this entire chapter is therefore, a chapter in which everything is impossible to understand.