The Ascent towards Supermind, Part II, Chapter XXVI - The Ascent towards Supermind 208

As you rise in the scale of existence you find this individuation being accentuated. All cows are alike and they are different from buffaloes. So all cows are individuated from buffaloes, which are individuated from the cows on the other hand, but the faces of all the cows, each one of them has difference. Unless you minutely examine, you may not be able to distinguish one from the other. The distinction is very slight and when you come to human faces the individuation is very great. The difference in one face of the cow and other face of the cow is not much, there is a difference, there is an individuation. But when you come to human faces the difference is tremendous the individuation is very great.

In other words in all progressive movement of evolution, there is a greater and greater stress on individuation. The more you develop, the more individual you become, this is one specialty of development. So when we rise from lower level of the consciousness to the other – now we are coming to the main theme. We have reached where we are now up to the mental level. And if you want to move upwards that everybody who develops upwards has a necessary tendency to concentrate upon his individual development. Sometimes, we may even be reproached that we become too selfish, too self-centered but the truth behind it is that if you really want to move forward, this tendency will become inevitable. You become more and more individuated and the aberration of it is that one can become very egoistic, highly egoistic. Where one wants to be so different from the others that if an egoistic man finds that somebody else has become like him, he doesn’t like it, he still wants to become something quite different from the others. The whole search for originality, novelty, in all egoistic individuals is because of this. In the rajasic consciousness it becomes a kind of an aberration. A desire to become quite different from the others like a mania in fact, but the truth behind it is that there is something to be discovered as you rise in higher consciousness. The discovery of the true individuality of which we spoke earlier in the beginning because every individual has Jivatman and Jivatman is specifically related to Shakti. Since both Shakti and individual Jivatman are not known in our normal consciousness. This action of Shakti and the individual is secret, action, is there, because they exist, but because of this knot the flow of this knowledge is not straight. Therefore, it works secretly and as you rise, there is a greater and greater pressure of the Shakti and of this Jivatman. This search of this Jivatman is a very important element of ascent from our present level of consciousness to the supermind and emphasis on individuation. But if you want to make the best use of this sense of individuation then we have to distinguish clearly in our mind that this Jivatman is different from egoistic consciousness. If you really go on developing your egoism then the knot of egoism will become so powerful that the light which is coming from above will be still obstructed, therefore, the said passage from below to higher, is to reduce egoism and yet to discover your true individuality, the non-egoistic, unegoistic individuality.

One of the elements which plays a great role in the discovery of the true individual as distinguished from the egoistic consciousness is the experience of choice. Every one of us has an experience of choice; choice implies presentation before our consciousness of alternatives. There is no choice where there are no alternatives. So experience of the presentation of alternatives and our experience of choosing one of them, − this experience is of great importance. Normally we feel that when alternatives are presented to you and you chose one of them, you really feel that you have tried your best to make the best choice and a real choice, meaning thereby that it is your free choice, not compelled by anybody. You have made a real, your free, your choice and you call it a free will. You experience that you have had a free will by exercise of which you have chosen.

If you concentrate upon this experience of free will then a certain knot will be loosened by which we can make a distinction between egoism and the true individual. If you really want to understand what is Jivatman as distinguished from egoistic consciousness then let us concentrate upon the experience of free will. This is a very important element by which we can rise from our present level of consciousness to the superconcient. You had many questions already but I did not allow you to put any question at all, I went on speaking.