CWTVKS Volume 2

4) Sri Aurobindo’s System: A Brief Survey

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In our land, on a holy day once a year, we bow to the Sun, burn incense and place a lamp as part of the religious rite. That is worship and no one thinks of it as an attempt to make clearer to our vision the effulgent solar splendour which is the source of all light. We bow to the luminous teachings of Sri Aurobindo, concentrate on the main theme of his expositions, find our expressions of it as an offering, this too is part of our worship and not the impossible attempt—that will be grotesque enough—to make clearer the clearest, what is stated in unequivocal terms, and still more, what is authentic and source and support of all our lights on subject.

Let us, then, focus our attention on the Yoga and the philosophic principles underlying it and put in a nutshell the result of our attempt. To do this is to take a bird's-eye view of al] the connected questions that matter for the purpose, find their right place in the scheme and thus to appreciate their value for the seekings of the human heart, for the higher teachings of the human mind, for the age-long journeyings of the human soul. Presently we shall proceed with the question of questions, the aim of aims—a question in which all questions converge, an aim in which merge all our aims.

What, then, is the aim towards which we move and what is the main question that is taken up, discussed and answered in this teaching? What is the canon by reference to which the system propounded here can be accepted as valid? Then, what are the features that distinguish it from others? What, again, are the means of realising this end and what is it that makes for competency to undertake this endeavour?

In this system, we accept the material basis of our actual being as a truth, though only a primary and lesser truth of existence; for there are greater as well as lesser truths corresponding to the greater and lesser grades in the ordered movement of the Cosmic manifestation. We recognise the estimable methods of modern Science in the field of Matter and value the knowledge it has brought us. Though we can thus fix the just claims and values of Physical Science, we find its legitimate bounds transgressed when a philosophy is founded upon its conclusions holding that Matter is the sole existence. Again it is nothing short of an aggressive ignorance to base psychology upon physiology and the scrutiny of the brain and the nervous system. It is a grievous error to attempt a study of the Soul and the Mind with the idea that the Ultimate truth of existence is Matter and all phenomena of the subtler and inner existence can be explained by means of data and material available in the world of Matter and external objects. It is unfortunate if modern Science and Philosophy based upon its conclusions persist in an ignorance which refuses to examine what we may call supraphysical truths and denies what it refuses to see.

Nevertheless, we can benefit by the very rigorous method of Science, as Sri Aurobindo puts it, and adhere to it, though not to its physical instrumentation, scrutinising, experimenting, holding nothing as established which cannot be scrupulously and universally verified, and can arrive at supra-physical certitudes. For scientific reasoning has laid out lines of investigation with intellectual courage and rectitude from which it was bound to escape by the widening of the very frame of knowledge it has itself constructed.

Let us then state at the outset what we consider to be the value of a philosophical system and the criterion by which we can test the validity of its conclusion. For it is the philosophy and practice of a divine life for man that is the theme of the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, and philosophy with him, as with the great teachers of ancient India, is an attempt by the reason at an intellectual translation of ultimate truths that are arrived at by a deeper and higher consciousness of man. But a speculative philosophy as a system of thought has little use for us if it is just a metaphysical structure built by the mind in its attempt to arrive at the basic principles of existence. If it does not correspond to facts knowable or known to us, if its concepts cannot be verified by us as facts of experience, then the best of systems is just ‘a flower of reason,’ if not a cobweb of mental constructions in the world of ideas that are divorced from facts and are not valid for acceptance as truths that can be lived. It is for this reason that we attach great importance to those philosophies which are founded upon truths lived—as most of the Indian systems are—and verifiable by those who are competent to take the necessary steps for the task. Also, for this reason we attach less importance to those systems—as are generally the Western systems—which though they may appeal to reason, and in a way satisfy it in the realm of ideas, may have no correspondences in the world of facts, or even those that are based upon some kind of institutional knowledge, if they are ineffective for realisation in life, for assimilation into the body of Truth-knowledge that can be lived.

Sri Aurobindo's philosophy is one that faces the problem of the human being in its relation to the Cosmic existence and to that which transcends it and is the source of both. It is a system that offers solutions capable of verification by some means, by some faculty, which is inherent in man, which may not be active or well-developed in all, but which can be awakened in those who are under the necessity of outreaching themselves, of going beyond what they are at present in their thought and feeling and actual existence. The solution offered is practical and therefore valid; that is because the philosophy itself is not a result of speculative groping against a background of certain hypotheses, but is systematised out of material and data available to a higher consciousness, to a larger vision of truth, to a deeper experience of the fundamental Truth of existence. Poet and patriot, Sri Aurobindo was never before a philosopher, nor did he try to become one. But when, as a result of certain lines of Yoga he investigated and followed in practice, a higher consciousness dawned on him and larger vistas of true Knowledge opened, the scholar found it easy to build a system of thought corresponding to the truth-visions which at the same time corroborated the spiritual wisdom of all ages and countries, though it was well-ordered and systematised in ancient India.

In this teaching, then, we start with the affirmation of the ancient truth that all creation is a manifestation of Something that is eternal, infinite, the One that is expressed in the triple formula of Sat-Chit-Ananda—Existence which is at once Consciousness and Delight. Indivisible, it becomes, by the inherent Force of the Consciousness, graded in its being in the process of the manifestation, conditioned in the states of Consciousness, divided and covert in varying degrees of the Bliss that is inalienable from the essential unity of Existence. Again, we accept and recognise the truth that all manifestation, whatever its volume or quality, put together does not exhaust the Infinite, the One and the Eternal; outside of It there is nothing existent or conceivable, but within It all manifestation takes place, bringing into bold relief the infinitude of the Infinite, the immensity of the Vast, the opulence and plenitude and sameness of One that is Many.

We start with the position that this creation of which we are a part, is imperfect, progressive, not yet what it is intended to become; for this manifestation is not a chance appearance in the form of the universe, somehow come out of the Supreme Conscious Existence or against it, but it is a creation that has meaning, a willed movement with a purpose, a process working for a perfection in which the Infinite discovers itself under the conditions of the finite. Here on earth man also with all his imperfections is progressive, his appearance has a meaning, it is purposive. If to our understanding there is anywhere retrogression, it is not the rule, but the exception; or, even then it has a set purpose, an aim at a rapid progress with a redoubled force of endeavour. The urge for progress is universal in character; it is difficult, if not impossible, for man to refuse to undergo the drive of a cosmic impulsion to move onward and grow into something higher than what he is at present.

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To understand the nature of the goal towards which the journey of the human being is directed, it is necessary to bear in mind the principle underlying the process of creation—a principle upon which hinges all the other principles of human progress towards a higher, freer and larger existence. This creation is not a sudden jump from Brahman, Sachchidananda, but a graded manifestation of it by the working out of a dynamic principle, by a Force in the Supreme Consciousness, by an incalculable Power of the Supreme Spirit which we may call the Creative urge native to the Omnipotent Self-Being. Thus there are many steps in the order of creation, proceeding from the higher realms of the Absolute, of the Supra-cosmic Divine Existence through various stages to the comparatively lower regions of the world of Mind, Life and Matter. Here on earth where Matter is the predominant principle and seems to be the sole existence, and where life appears in matter, it looks as if life were an exception to the general rule of inanimate existence; and where mind appears in living matter, there too it is an equally good exception, for it seems to share the fate of life that disappears as a bubble in the oceanic immensity of Matter.

But man is not a mere mind in living matter, but a spirit, a soul encased in mind, with a life and body for whatever use he chooses to make of them during his appearance on earth.

Is he free to choose? Where is freedom of choice to make? Is not this free choice a chimera, in the face of obvious facts that stare at us at every turn pointing to the laws that determine our physical existence, our life-movements and our very mental activities? True, there is no real freedom when you are just a living matter and your mind and its movements are absorbed in the world of material and external life. But beyond the mind and supporting it from above as well as from behind there is the Spirit which is not bound to the laws of these lower forms of existence, which is really free, to which you belong, which indeed you are at the core of your being, at the summit of your existence. The Spirit is eternally free, its Will is free, in fact there is One Free-Will which has created conditions of manifestation to which all creatures are subject. So then, lower down in the physical, vital and mental grades of the individual or Cosmic scale of existence—for the individual is part and product of the Universal being—everything is conditioned, obeys the laws that are determined; but higher and higher this determinism loosens and loses its rigidity gradually merges into the Free-Will of the Spirit. It is certainly true that man has no real free-will here, but still he is impelled by a sense of freedom to choose at every step. This sense of free-will is really a reflection, a representation of the Spirit's Free-Will high on, that has determined the conditions here under which man has to work out his possibilities and grow from a life of Necessity to a supreme Liberty of the Spirit. Free-Will here may be a delusion, but not the actual sense of it; for it is this sense of freedom to do or not to do a thing, to make a choice one way or the other that is the fulcrum, the device by which Nature helps the human being to progress towards the destined goal. In other words, even when there is no real free-will here, the practical sense of freedom forms part of the very determinism to which man is subject and this leaves a field of choice, scope for progress, which means that he is impelled to move towards a higher level, more and more towards that status of the Supreme Spirit in whose Free-Will and fullness of Knowledge the purpose of conditioned existence in the manifestation is justified and fulfilled.

Therefore we can choose our line of progress in the spiritual life, fix our aim, find the means and follow the path we have adopted; for there is not a single line of spiritual life, there are many ways of progressing towards the Ideal. The Ultimate Truth is many-faceted, global, presenting many aspects and varied in the expression of its potentialities of Consciousness and Force and Delight, Knowledge and Will and Joy of Self-Existence. If you look at the world as an evil that has somehow come to be or that has been persistently recurring across eternity or as some appearance that has no substance but name and form, or as an illusion brought about by an inexplicable distorting influence at work in the observing consciousness, then, the best and certainly the right way is to shun it and turn away from it in thought and action and seek refuge in the Truth beyond or, to discover It in yourself when that is possible, but always to take care to be more and more exclusively absorbed in it and not to fall into the snare of the world-evil, or the world-illusion.

But if you accept that this creation is a manifestation of the Divine Being, that it is not an evil in itself but has a meaning and that it unfolds itself to the human consciousness as man in his upward march develops the capacity to look at it as it is and not as it appears to his surface intelligence, then, there is a way to overcome what is now evil in the world and accept it and realise the Divine in it, in you and in others and thereby fulfil the supreme purpose of life and not renounce it as an illusion, a snare or an unnameable evil in itself.

Accepting this position as we do, we realise that what we call usually as ourselves is a composite of material elements constituting the physical body which is a portion and product of the physical universe, with life and its activities as well as mind moving round the ego-centric individual existence. Just as the gross body derives its existence from the physical universe, so also individual life in the body belongs to the world of Life and is a canalised unit flowing from it; the same is true of the individual mind also as that is but a portion of the universal Mind. If, then, we look at our bodily existence along with the activities of life and mind in this larger manner it will be easy to find that we wrongly identify ourselves with what are not ourselves but what really are part and parcel of universal Matter, universal Life and universal Mind. This wrong feeling and thought and outlook and the activities based upon them are due to the formation of ego which has been a necessary evil in the course of evolution of the individual spirit; and this can either be dissolved as all formations in the Ignorance are, or can be purified, transformed, sublimated to the Spirit, to the true Individual; for real individuality does not require the perpetual presence of the ego which really deforms the true expressions of the Individual. In fact, individuality is a facet of the Universal Being and as such the individual who has outgrown the necessity of ego for formation and expression of his true individuality universalises himself even on the lower levels, realises his mind to be one with the Universal Mind, his life to be one with the Universal Life, even his body to be a concentrated expression of the physical essence in the universe of Matter. This is perfectly possible when, in the place of the ego-centric and amorphous formation of the individual soul, the Divine Individual has manifestly founded His lodging and habitation with all the glory inherent in His Knowledge and Light, radiating rays of Strength and rapturous joy of life and Self-delight in individual existence.

This then is the justification of surrender, that you are offering to the Divine what really belongs to Him and you do this not by renouncing what does not belong to you, but by renouncing the ego,—that by which you claim what was not, cannot be yours. All that you renounce is ignorance and the ego and with it all the assets of egoistic clingings, petty desires, wrong and darkened movements of life, distorted vision of mind and narrow outlook. What you gain in return is the Divine in the place of the ego, a divine Strength and Will for the expression and harmonisation of the Universal forces at the disposal of the Divine Individual, a Divine Consciousness and Knowledge that comprehends the Cosmos as a manifestation of your own Supreme Substance, as an embodiment of your own Ultimate Truth and sees and realises that other beings are your own other selves, and that what you call yourself on the surface is one centre, one face, one aspect, one presentation of your own Supreme Being in His manifestation of the Inexhaustible Eternal Presence.

And when you are no longer the little egoistic being with its bounded existence, but taken up, transmuted into your Divine being, it is then that the Divine Individual in you takes charge of the entire being and its activities; what were once your personal movements and dealings in the world-existence assume a cosmic character and it is the Gods, the cosmic Powers, who bring about that change and directly without hindrance enter upon their functionings unobstructed by the forces of Ignorance and thus serve the Divine in you.

Now it will be clear that whatever path one may follow to realise the spiritual Ideal of one's conception, to achieve the end as we have envisaged it here, the direct means does not lie in the human hand, since the problem with us assumes a character quite different from the usual way in which man turns towards God and lives a godly life. Since it is the Divine in His omnipotence that has created this world and along with it what we called our problem, it is for the Divine to give us the solution too. Certainly He gives us the means, works out our salvation, that is to say, liberates us from the prison-house of a narrow existence in the Ignorance and carries us safe across the Darkness to the sunlit realm of the Supreme Truth in all its magnificance. Thus He may fill our being with His Light, with His Knowledge, with His Power, with His Delight of Being and all this for the fulfilment of a Cosmic Purpose to which our own freedom and winning back our right in the Truth-Consciousness is incidental, nay, inevitable. He can take up any part in us that is more developed than the rest, or take up some or all at once and show us the way in His own way and not necessarily in the way we choose. But whatever the means be that the Divine uses to build the inner life, to initiate the human being into the mysteries of the Cosmic manifestation, to unfold the Great Plan and the Supreme Purpose, there is ordinarily a preliminary condition to be present on the human side. That is usually a readiness to give up the human for the Divine, which appears as a flaming force of aspiration for the Most High, or a firm will to unite with the Divine Will and the Divine Consciousness, or a life devoted exclusively to the Divine in a spirit of surrender. Through the instrumentation of any or some or all of these at once, though that is rare, the Divine assumes direct control of the Sadhana for the achievement of His purpose in human existence.