The Ascent of Sight in Sri Aurobindo's Savitri

Eighth Element:

Consciousness the Ultimate Determinant:

Our sustained pursuit of the discovery of the fundamental source of sense perception cannot rest with the action of the

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sense-mind, the Manas of the ancient Indian spiritual psychology: it has to proceed still further. For, as Sri Aurobindo has so trenchantly put it:

"...we have to realise - and this is more difficult to admit for our normal ideas in the matter - that the mind itself is only the characteristic instrument of sense, but the thing itself, sense in its purity, samjnāna, exists behind and beyond the mind it uses, and is a movement of the self, a direct and original activity of the infinite power of consciousness. The pure action of sense is a spiritual action and pure sense is itself a power of the spirit." {The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 833) (italics author's)

Making the point more explicit Sri Aurobindo says elsewhere:

"This essential sense [samjnāna] is the original capacity of consciousness to feel in itself all that consciousness has formed and to feel it in all the essential properties and operations of that which has form, whether represented materially by vibration of sound or images of light or any other physical symbol." (SABCL, Vol. 12, p. 195)

So we see that the deepest and highest consciousness of our inner subliminal being is the primary source of vision and sight: the subtle sense action through the psychical bodies are rather channels for this direct vision than its informants. But while speaking about consciousness we have to mention an important fact: it is that this consciousness itself in its actual functioning in a particular individual is very complex in its character. For just as in the case of

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physical light there are many different "colours", visible or invisible, in the visible spectrum or beyond, so in the case of consciousness there are many levels and ranges accessible to man, extending from the "blind" Inconscient up to the heights of the supreme Superconscient. And what is very pertinent to note is the inestimable privilege of any human being to have in his possession the latent capacity of developing, of being aware of, and finally of actively functioning in any of the levels of this immensely extended field of consciousness.

Thus one need not remain "limited by his outward surface or waking consciousness". Everyone has "a latent capacity [which can be perfected by training and practice] for entering into the experiences of the inner consciousness' '. (Letters on Yoga, p. 932)

The upshot of all this discussion on consciousness is that a particular "seer" focussing his attention on a given object with the employment of a particular level of consciousness different from that of the normal physical mind will have a different kind of sight of the object in view. This vision of the "seer" is bound to vary widely and naturally with the change in the quality and grade of the "seeing" consciousness. Thus there may possibly be a gross physical seeing, a subtle physical seeing, an ordinary vital seeing, an inner subliminal vital seeing, a common mental seeing, an inner mental seeing, a psychic seeing, a spiritual mental seeing with many variations in it, an overmental seeing and so on and so forth. And when we pass on to the Higher Hemisphere of Supermind and the trinity of Sachchidananda (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss), we first develop the exceptional capacity of possessing and exercising a supra-

mental sight, then the sight of the dynamically active Cosmic Divine, and, who knows, finally even the sight of the Supreme.

At this point let us end our short survey of the eight elements involved in any act of "seeing". Now, if we permute and combine all the different possibilities operating in each of these eight factors of vision, and for all the factors in the same way, we can easily imagine that there are bound to be visions and visions of all kinds and of every hue, varrying in the degree of their triviality or profundity, also in their respective value and importance. Indeed, as Sri Aurobindo has pointed out, there are inexhaustible ranges of sensory experience other than those of the outward physical which alone we are normally conscious of. (Letters on Yoga, p. 937)

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