The Ascent of Sight in Sri Aurobindo's Savitri

First Element:

Object Viewed:

The points to note in this case are:

1.A physical object placed in the physical space is not the only object possible.

2.Apart from the well-known physical world, there are in fact many other supraphysical worlds of reality. Each of them contains its corresponding beings, objects and functioning forces. All these beings, objects and forces can very well present themselves as objects of vision to faculties suited to their reception and, what is more notable, all these different types of faculties of vision are accessible to the consciousness of man if he only cares for their development.

3.Even a physical object does not exhaust the possibility of its reality only with its physical aspect. In the words of Sri Aurobindo, "There is a physical aspect of things and there is an occult supraphysical aspect - one need not get in the way of the other. All physical things are the expression of. the supraphysical." (Letters on Yoga, p. 938)

Thus every physical object has associated with it many other "layers" and "dimensions" of aspects which are not at all purely and solely derivations of the physical. So, the same physical object is apt to reveal different "sights" to the viewer depending on the latter's capacity of how far and to which depth of the object his "eye" can penetrate. Also, the vision will vary depending on which aspect of the object the viewer decides to concentrate upon to the exclusion of other aspects.

4.What is striking to note is the occult fact that not merely sensible physical objects but everything else also in the complex cosmos of manifestation, - thoughts, feelings,

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desires, hopes, fears, ideas, forces, etc., etc., - has a substance of its own, and therefore a corresponding form, and hence can be viewed as an object. In fact, Sri Aurobindo has gone so far as to assert that' 'there is nothing that it [the inner sense] cannot image or visualise or turn into sensory formations." (The Life Divine, p. 536)

Here is an experience of the Mother illustrative of how one can have concurrently two visions of the same object:

"When you look at a person physically, there is the complexion, the features, the expression; at the same moment, if you see this face in the subtle physical, you suddenly notice that one part of the face is one colours, another part another colours; that in the eyes there is an expression and a kind of light which were not at all visible; and that the whole has quite a different appearance and, above all, gives a very different feeling, which to our physical eyes would seem rather extravagant, but which to the subtle vision is very expressive and revealing of the character, or even of. the influences acting on this person. What I say here is the record of an experience that I had again a few days ago." [Collected Works of the Mother (CWM), Vol. 10, pp. 127-28]

The Mother's experience testifies to the fact referred to by Sri Aurobindo in The Life Divine that our consciousness has the power to live in more than one status at a time, one the outer and surface one, the other being an inner status, (p. 659)

Before closing our discussion on the first element, "Object", we may draw the attention of our readers to

another striking fact which is that the things inside can present themselves as suitable objects of vision. Here are two relevant passages from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother:

"Things inside can be seen as distinctly as outward things, whether in an image by the subtle vision or in their essence by a still more subtle and powerful way of seeing..." (Letters on Yoga, p. 944)

"...you have the vision of the truth of things behind their appearances. Instead of seeing things in the usual way, that is, from outside, ...you see things from within outwards, and the outer existence becomes an expression, more or less deformed, of what you see within: you are aware of the inner existence of beings and their form; their outer existence is only a more or less deformed expression of this inner truth. And it is because of this that I say that the basic equilibrium is completely changed. Instead of being outside the world and seeing it as something outside you, you are inside the world and see outer forms expressing in a more or less clumsy fashion what is within, which for you is the Truth." (CWM, Vol. 4, pp. 20-21)

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