Sri Aurobindo's Life Divine

Lecture VIII

Chap. 13. The Divine Māyā

The problem is : how can the One, Infinite and Eternal, —free from all limitations, and relativities—create something that is finite,—a world of conflict, suffering, pain and evil? How does the One Being manage to become the world ? To the human mind the difficulty remains because mind is finite and cannot, therefore, follow the infinite, the Absolute, in its process easily.

The explanation of the process may be the three-fold movement of the Absolute,—or, what to the mind appears to be the triple movement. The first process seems to be the involution of the Divine into the Inconscient. That which we see or know as the Infinite and Eternal has involved itself in Something quite opposite of its own Self. Second is the process of Evolution or rather emergence. The One, Infinite that is involved in the inconscient is rising, emerging from there into the triple world of matter, life and mind. That has culminated into the living and thinking being, man. Third is the process which is working out the One at play in the World. It would end by the recovery of Satchidananda here in life.

The next question is : what is or could be, the actual process by which the Reality—the One, infinite Reality turns itself into phenomena, this world.- It must be by some law within itself . It cannot be that something outside itself made it act—as there is nothing outside of it. It must be by a self-determining Power. And in the working of the power of self-determination, there must be a kind of selective power at work. When one takes up a determination it is a selection out of the whole material presented to oneself. When God said : "Let there be light and there was light"—what does

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it mean ? There were any number of things in the Infinite as potentialities,—light as well as not-light were present. After selective self-determination by the Supreme, light was there,—light that was a potentiality became an actuality. So light was selected as against not-light. Not only was it brought into existence, it had also to be protected from all that not-light.

The selective faculty of self-determination in the Infinite is called māy is the power of the infinite consciousness to comprehend, contain and measure out Name and Form out of the vast illimitable Truth of infinite existence. That is to say, out of the Supreme being, in which all is all without barrier of separative consciousness, emerges a phenomenal being in which All is in Each and Each is in All for the play of existence with existence, of consciousness with consciousness.

There are two kinds of māyā the higher and the lower; the one by which the Infinite determines his own self-manifestation by the selecive power, the second is the lower play of the māyā in the mental, in the vital and in the material world. It is the higher māyā that creates the world, the lower māyā cannot create the world. It is lower māyd of mind, life and body which is concerned with intermediate terms. Mind is only an intermediate term—there is no knowledge that governs the working of the mind; it is seeking for knowledge all the time. In the lower māyā the soul of man is imprisoned in works, it is not free to create. That is why mind cannot explain the world and therefore we can say that mind did not create the world. To say that an Infinite Mind created the universe would mean that the mind must be so different as not to be 'mind' in the sense we understand the word. It is not a mental idea that could have created the world. If at

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all it is an Idea—we must call it "Real-Idea" to distinguish it from the mental idea. There are two ways of looking at the problem—from above—a descending point of view, from below, an ascending point of view. One can say it is a double ladder of ascent and descent—of involution and evolution. At one end in Matter the Spirit is involved, at the other end in Spirit, Matter is involved.

All creation is nothing but self-manifestation: Existence acts and creates by its power of pure delight of conscious being. Satchidananda is the cause and object or goal of all becoming all creation. Knowledge in the Infinite means Self-vision and Law there expresses innate knowledge. When a poet creates, it is himself that he creates. The power is a manifestation of Something within him that was unmanifest, a potentiality which he develops and actualises. Even though the poem is the self of the poet, it is possible for him to separate himself from it and look at it as if it was somebody else's. The same is the case with the artist, the musician, mathematician etc. They all bring out something that was in them, lying hidden but is themselves.

Similar is the case with regard to the Infinite and its relation to the world. In the Veda there is a very fine hymn in which the Creator himself says to the Rishi "Look at this poem (the universe) of mine,—it neither dies nor grows old." The universe is the poem of the Supreme, it is immortal and ever fresh. The creation partakes of the nature of the creator.

Sri Aurobindo gives the example of the seed : out of the seed evolves that which was already "pre-existent in the being, predestined in the will to become, prearranged in the delight of becoming." The potentiality in the seed is unlimited, for after the seed has grown into the tree the potentiality again resumes its existence in the form of numerous seeds. So also the whole of the resultant organism is held in infinitesimal plasm.

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The individual being can make distinction between himself and the force that works in him : I and my mind, I and my power etc. But the force is himself, the resultant force is also himself. So, in the creation "One existence, One force, One delight of being, which concentrates itself at various points, says of each : 'this is I,' and works in it by a various play of self-force for the play of self-formation. What it creates is itself only. The goal is complete release of Satchidananda in the world-play.

It is observed that such a completeness is not possible in man because Infinite Being, Consciousness and Delight are alien to him, he is a finite being. The remedy is the emergence of the infinite consciousness in the finite. That would be the goal of the world-movement in the individual. It would be the recovery of the Truth of himself by self-knowledge. Man would then attain the truth of infinite being, consciousness, delight repossessed as his own Self. The finite is only a mask of the Reality and an instrument for its various expression.

But apart from man, how does the Satchidananda realise the world-play ? As already suggested, it is done by a triple movement: First of involution,—that is a self-absorption of the conscious being into the density and infinite diversity of the substance; otherwise no finite variation is possible. Second, of Emergence rather than Evolution of the self-imprisoned force into formal beings, living beings and thinking beings. And third, by a release of the formed thinking being into realisation of itself as the One and Infinite at play in the world. By this release the recovery of Satchidananda in the world-play which even now it is secretly, eternally.

And by what process—if any—does the Reality turn itself into the world phenomenon ? At first it looks as if there need be no 'process' or 'law' for the working of the infinite Being-Consciousness-Delight. Can it not work directly, almost

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irresponsibly ? Why should there be a process, a law ? In that case we could have a world of chance, of chaos, a world in which things are in a mess. Instead, we find a world which, in spite of all the elements of disharmony, conflict, pain and evil, is a world in which working of a law is discoverable by our mind. The 'law' that the mind perceives may not be the law accepted by the Infinite in creating the world.

What do we mean by a 'law' ? Sri Aurobindo asks. By law is meant an equilibrium of forces,—it means the powers and energies working in a certain context are balanced; there are fixed lines of working. Very often what we call "laws" are "habits of past realised energies". Now if we accept the law as something unchanging, fixed, then it would mean that there is only inconscient Force at play. But we have seen that the Force is the self-existent; then the line taken by the Force would correspond to some Truth of the same. It must be directed by a self-conscious Power.

But this play of the Higher māyā is concealed from us by the play of the lower māyā,—the mental conciousness, which persuades each to accept that he is in All but not all in him, and he is in all as a separated being, not inseparably one with all existence. In the higher play of the māyā 'each' and 'all' coexist in the unity of the One.

What is the remedy for the lower play of the māyā ? The remedy is to accept and overcome the double aspect of the creative Power. That is to say, to accept its lower play and overcome it: to accept it as God's play with division, darkness and suffering, limitation, desire, strife etc. in which He subjects himself to the Force that has come out of Himself. The other, the Higher, māyā now concealed by the mental māyā, has also to be "overpassed and then embraced". It is God's play of the infinities of existence, the splendours of Knowledge, Love, Power etc., where He emerges out of the hold of the Force, the lower māyā. Then,

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the Higher Power (māyā) lays hold on the lesser Force (Prakriti) and fulfils in her that for which she went out from the Supreme.

A solution that is suggested and practised is to abandon the lower māyā and to rise above even the Higher māyā and merge into the Infinite. Such an acceptance would go against the very spontaneous movement of the Infinite. It is not as if the world is creation of the lower māyā. Mind is only an intermediate term of the Reality. It is there to help the Soul, imprisoned in Nature and its works to free itself in knowledge and the Satchidananda is emerging out of the instruments it has created for its descent and ascent: in the descent mind is an instrument for creating multiple becomings, in the ascent it is a transitional stage.

If the mind is not the creator of the world who is the creator ? And why should man accept the world-play ? In Sri Aurobindo's vision the world is self-determination of the Supreme Knowledge, power and wisdom in the higher Nature. This world is not a creation of the lower māyā working in the opposition to the Higher. Creation is not a "Child of the Void, nor a wearer of fictions"; a conscious Reality is at work throwing itself into mutable forms of its own imperishable and immutable Substance. What is labouring here is That which is beyond mind, the Real-Idea of the Supermind. (as opposed to the mental-idea).

From the point of the ascending curve of consciousness we can say that Real-Idea is behind all that is. To the mind, labouring from below, the Real-Idea of the Supermind appears as an ideal—a Truth to be realised, perfection to be attained. This attraction towards perfection instinctively turns to an aspiration, a steady movement of the whole inner being towards the ideal. But even the ideal envisaged by the mind is not a perfect Reality, it is imperfect and the human being moves from imperfect idealism to a Transcendent

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Reality. Thus we see that the pull of the Higher consciousness is already acting on the mind even when the veil intervens between the two.

Mind cannot explain the universe. The Infinite Consciousness must become an infinite faculty of knowledge to create this world. An infinite power of knowledge and action is Omniscience and Omnipotence. Mind is not the faculty of perfect knowledge, it is neither Omniscient, nor a direct instrument of Omniscience. Mind is "ignorance seeking for knowledge." Mind can attain a truth, but it does not possess it—it does not know but is constantly trying to know. Mind never knows completely but always sees as "in a glass darkly". Mind is only a reflective mirror which receives impressions, or representations of Something that already exists, mind does not create anything. What it finds is something that was already there. When it formulates the law of gravitation, the working of gravitation was already there. Mind lives from moment to moment and therefore is not in possession of the whole Truth, Truth to it is gradual unfoldment. Mind is the "law of the immediate appearance of the universe", it has nothing directly to do with the original Truth, the essential Truth at work in the universe. Mind is not the power that could create the world. It is sometimes said : Infinite Mind —meaning God's mind—created the world. But then infinite mind is not mind at all. An infinite human mind would only create infinite chaos. An infinite, Omnipotent mind would not be mind. What seems to be at work in the universe is Something more than mind and life. "The world expresses a foreseen Truth, obeys a predeterminnd will, realises an original formative self-vision"; World is the "growing image of a divine creation".

Is this only an inference ? One has to accept that man's reasoning power is only a messenger, a representative of a greater consciousness. We have seen that infinite Being is

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infinite Consciousness; infinite Consciousness and Power is Omnipotent Force. And when it makes the world the object of its consciousness then it becomes seizable by our thought. The Higher Consciousness has no need to reason because it knows.

Questions and Answers

Q : How does one enter the life of yoga ? because, ordinarily man has many motives that satisfy him in life.

A: Ordinary motives—like satisfaction of desires and impulses or higher motives like acquiring wealth or making a success, or ambition for fame or having a place in public life etc., etc.—do contribute to man's inner and outer progress. Only, that path is a very wasteful path. Besides, all these motives do not satisfy man when he succeeds in realising them. Whatever life can give is inadequate—there is badge of imperfection on life.

It is then that man realises the Truth of what Sri Aurobindo writes in Savitri :

All is too little that the world can give;

And cannot fill the Spirit's sacred thirst.

Then one begins to seek the Reality, seek the Truth, the Purpose in life. When this seeking becomes steady it becomes an aspiration, a flame of inner life rising up to meet the Truth, to know and surrender to a Power that is felt, and a contact is established. For those who know and have some understanding of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, it is easier to establish the contact because they have, by their long practice of yoga, channelised the Power for humanity.

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The two processes are called "opening" and "receptivity". When you expect somebody you keep your doors open and you are in the mood of receiving the guest. One adopts the same attitude in the inner life keeping open to the Divine and receptive to Him. The results of these may not be noticeable at first—they depend upon sincerity of the aspiration— but some working may begin even unconsciously in the aspirant. Difficulties of inner life may tend to become less, what one thought impossible may become possible, one may begin to know oneself better than before etc.

Q: Sometimes an athlete may overstrain and may have to stop training for a while to get back to the right condition. Can this apply to yoga ?

A : Yes, partly, depending upon the case. The overstrain in yoga may come by a defect in the attitude—by haste spurred by ambition, or ego. But one who is sincere is generally protected.

Periods of fatigue are probable in yoga because the changes required in nature are radical and time is required for assimilating the new experience and in adjusting the whole of one's nature to it.

One has also to bear in mind that in this yoga which accepts life and nature, ignorance has to be eliminated. And that cannot be done completely by the effort and will of the aspirant. In this yoga one has to have the help of the Divine in the work of transforming one's nature. One has only to give the necessary consent, the rest of the work is done by the Higher Power. Permanent ascent—not merely an occasional glimpse—to the Higher Consciousness or a steady status in the inner soul is needed to carry out thoroughly the process of change. It is so because when one begins yoga the problem seems individual—in a certain sense it is even personal but when one begins to work it out, one finds,

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at a certain point, that the probem is universal; it is not A or B or C who has the imperfection—it is universal imperfection one is up against.

And to succeed in one's efforts the help of the Divine is indispensable. That is why 'surrender' to the Divine is an indispensable part of Sri Aurobindo's Yoga.

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