Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 4

The Sunlit Path

THE modern, particularly the western mind captured by the rational or scientific spirit cannot but pursue the same line even in the domain of other and higher realities. The father and the great representative of the movement was Descartes, the very famous French thinker. To find the pure and unalloyed truth, he taught, one must keep away all possibility of error: so to dispel all doubt one must begin by doubting everything, to avoid being the dupe of imagination, delusion or hallucina­tion it is always safe to doubt everything. A second reflection, however, raises the question, but who doubts: it is I who doubt, the one who doubts is I; the doubter cannot be doubted, so he exists. Thus we arrive at the first undoubtable reality. But the irony of the argument is that even the doubter came to be doubted in the end: there is no guarantee that even the doubter is not an illusion. Thus we wander into a blind lane, a cul de sac: we knock our head against a dead wall.

Modern scientific agnosticism or scepticism has been thus compelled to modify a little the Cartesian way: not to doubt outright, but to accept a probability, a working hypothesis as it is called: to see how it works provisionally, whether it is or it is not contradicted by other elements. If it gives a cogent and consistent and unchallenged view of things then it can be with the largest amount of certainty accepted as true. Even then we are in a world of suppositions and relativities, only approximations and nowhere near the absolute truth. The hope of finding the pure absolute truth is deferred indefinitely and "hope deferred sickeneth the heart."

Absolute Truth, the spiritual reality cannot be attained in this way, the way of experimenting and questioning. The path of self-questioning, self-analysis, debate and discussion

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which is the inevitable outcome of rationalism and scientism leads, in the field of spiritual realities, only to self-torture. It drives you in a vicious circle through ceaseless struggle and unrest.

This is, we may say, the left-handed path towards the spirit, the path of the bar-sinister, that leads into, at least, through the dark night: this is usually, as I have said, the western, the rational mind's way, the way of scientism; but there is also the very ancient eastern or the Indian way, the way of the bar-dexter, the right-hand path. Sri Aurobindo often spoke of the sunlit path – the Upanishadic surya yana – or the golden path – hiranmaya vartma. Here the very first thing needed – the first and the must – is Faith; here you start by faith and not doubt, doubt inevitably heads towards perdition – samsayatma vinasyati, as the Gita says: it disperses and dissipates the con­sciousness, dissolves it like scattered clouds. Indeed you are not to try to prove the existence of God and reality; the kind of proofs collected by the theologians of Europe and which to them appear to be final and definitive – the fivefold proofs, scholastically named ontological, teleological etc., etc. – do not carry conviction to any sane and sincere inquirer. On the contrary, one should go the other way – the boot is on the other leg: it is the ultimate truth and reality that proves all other proofs and realities, we recall the famous Upanishadic phrase: "all other lights shine by that light" – tasya bhasa sarvamidam vibhati. You cannot by your own will and strength and endeavour attain the spiritual reality. When that chooses to unveil itself, then only your eyes have the vision of its own body.

The rational mind scoffs at faith and calls it blind. Yes, blind to the unrealities, open to the reality. In fact faith can be called blind only when the faith is in darkness and ignorance, faith is open-eyed when the faith is in the light.

To understand a little closely we have to distinguish things. The mind has a higher status: the higher mind is naturally receptive to the light and sufficiently aloof from a lower region of the mind itself which is not only limited but subject to up rushes from a still lower region, the vital, the source of passions and prejudices. It is the lower mind, the physical mind as it is called, which is the one obstacle that shuts out the light

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of true consciousness. The source of all doubt is here. The physical mind has its own role, a truer role; for it is the instru­mental consciousness that formulates things, gives a form – a name and local habitation to things. so that they possess a material existence but it transgresses its bounds when it chooses by itself the things to formulate, instead it should formulate only things presented to it, presented by a higher consciousness, presented, in other words, by faith.

The physical mind doubts, because it has not the criterion by which it can find and judge the reality, it must perforce seek the support of a higher faculty that can furnish or reveal the object to which it should give a form. By itself it moves bewildered in a tortuous never-ending maya, leading nowhere – if anywhere to regions still darker and dangerous – andham tamah pravisanti.. tato bhuya eva te.

God, truth, reality are not things to be proved or demons­trated. They are to be found, realised. They are accepted things, they have to be accepted. Only you are to find the means to approach them, know them, rea1ise them. Young Nachiketas spontaneously found the way, for the Grace descended and Faith entered into his pure heart and possessed him.

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