The Ascent towards Supermind, Part II, Chapter XXVI - The Ascent towards Supermind 507
Really speaking nothing in the world is divided. Division really does not exist but things look divided. I see before me a chess board, in which each piece is different from the other, quite far from the other and therefore, there is perception of division. There is multiplicity but also each one is divided from the other. But if I look from below and from above I see that although they look divided but there is an inner underling unity. All the pieces represent some kind of unity, some kind of a game which can be played by all of them. When they can join together there is some kind of unifying purpose or even at a lower level all these pieces of matter are manifestations of one matter. So although here they look divided basically they are manifestation of one single matter but this division that appears here is one of the conclusions of the push of the overmind to allow each element to go its extreme logical conclusion.
In the supermind even when you start with the divisions, they constantly push you towards differentiation and differentiations melting into unity. Oneness is the mantra of the supermind, all multiplicity, all division melt into oneness. Or if multiplicity and divisions are allowed, they are all a play of oneness, where oneness is never, never put at the back. The oneness is in the forefront, everything else is subordinate. As a result of this distinction when the overmind descends it can act very powerfully, luminously.
In fact its light is so powerful that many Rishis when they reached the overmind they felt it was the highest. It is only when some Rishis tried to go beyond it, that they discovered that the overmind was only a golden lid, which had to be broken. In the Isha Upanishad the Rishi says, ‘The face of the truth is hidden by a golden lid, and then says break it.’ The overmind is so powerful, looks like golden and it’s a golden lid but it hides the face of the Truth. Thus the consciousness of unity still lies behind overmind, the supramental and then it says: ‘samuha rashmin’, – you see the multiplicity and samuha, bring them together. All the rays of light are brought together.
So, from this description it is clear that the Rishi broke the barrier of the overmind and entered into the unity of all the lights. In that light he has then described soham ‘I am he’. The real oneness ‘I am he’, the real oneness is experienced in that unity. This is the reason why if overmind descends it can be very luminous, very powerful but when it reaches the inconcient, it cannot transform it.
This is the limitation of the Overmental descent. But the real problem of the world today, we have reached such a stage in a world evolution that the present situation in the world cannot be corrected unless the inconcient is transformed, this is the specialty of the present time. Therefore, without the descent of the Supermind this cannot be transformed, unless Yoga is practiced whereby the Supramental descent is brought out. Unless this is done the problems of the world today cannot be resolved that is why supramental yoga is a yoga relevant to the present day.
This is the new task of which Sri Aurobindo spoke at the very beginning of the chapter. Where Sri Aurobindo has said that if our aim was only to be liberated from the world then that task has already been done for centuries, the roads are built, the high water marks are noted and you can just run on the road which has already been laid down, but that is not the aim. Our aim is much greater to cure the disease of the world, not only our liberation then much has still has not been done.
Sri Aurobindo quotes again from the Rig Veda and says: ‘As you rise from peak to peak then much that has still to be done, remains to be done and that becomes visible to us. So, that is the main substance of this chapter that we were reading. The remaining two chapters in The Life Divine, ‘The Gnostic Being’ and ‘The Divine Life’, they are devoted to the description of a transformed being. How would be the human being when he is transformed by the supermind, what will be the nature of his existence? How he would live, with what consciousness he would act, what would be his relationship with himself and with others, with the society at large, with the world at large and what would be the consequences of all this for the earth life and a detailed examination of the earth life, which can be transformed into the divine life is given in the next chapter.
I think these two chapters don’t require any kind of talking, they are just to be read, even this chapter required no talking, but we gave a concession to ourselves and we talked about it. Although we are unworthy of talking about it, but we talked about it just to play on the shores of this entire ocean of life which is here, so I would only suggest that you can read these two chapters as and when you feel like it and our present series can come to an end now.
We started with The Triple Transformation and came to this, it gives a complete map of what is to be done from where we are, psychic transformation, spiritual transformation and the supramental transformation and how by this supramental descent this transformation can takes place.
If you now want to continue our session then we have to decide as what we should do next.
Question: You have just told us that there are four ways of intuitive mind?
Answer: No, actually the whole chapter is given to this question. This whole chapter called The Ascent towards Supermind is actually devoted to the answer of this question that you gradually move upwards and then these are the steps and then there is a law of evolution where you move upwards then you come downwards again, move upwards, come downwards. We have discussed the question of the law of evolution, ascent and integration. First you arrive at a stability of a given plane where you are now. Fortify your present plane of consciousness, make it subtle, make it complex then you rise higher there is a push upwards, then when you rise higher for the moment you establish yourself for some time on that higher plane. Then you will see that gradually there is downward movement and all that has been crossed previously is again reviewed and transformed by the higher and you go downward, downward, downward. Having reached the downward level again there is a push to the higher level and once again you come down to lower levels by transforming the lower levels again and by this repeated movement of going upward and going downward you stabilize at higher and higher levels of consciousness.
You may be at several levels in regard to different conditions of consciousness. Sri Aurobindo had given an image of an army. An army invades a country for conquest then having invaded it conquers a part of the territory. Having conquered that part of the territory there is an effort to consolidate what is conquered. In the mean time what was conquered earlier may rise in revolt then you may again have to go back to what was conquered earlier, secure your conquest over that. In the mean time something you have conquered here may slip out. So, again you consolidate what you have conquered earlier and now you establish an administration and rule by which revolts will not take place and you establish quite well and having done this having secured this territory. Now you prepare for the further conquest of a new land which has to be conquered. Again when you conquer that you need consolidation. This is the image that Sri Aurobindo has given; this is how our whole movement takes place and gradually you rise higher and higher and higher.