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Summary and Main
Points of Sri Aurobindo's Teachings
by Roy Posner
The following summary and list of
the main points of Sri Aurobindo's Teachings is by Roy Posner, from Growth
Online - The Future Evolutionary Individual
and Collective Life on Earth
Broad Ideas
Sri
Aurobindo's Vision of Future Existence
Sri Aurobindo said that humans may
not be the final rung on the evolutionary scale. That we might witness the
emergence of a new species, one that is above and beyond the present human race
as we know it. Sri Aurobindo believed that if we could make the ascent to
overcome our limiting nature, if we could further rediscover the hidden spirit
in life, if we could come in contact and open ourselves to supramental truth
Truth Consciousness, then we can change life as we know it. He invited us to
take a journey on a path from our current human functioning to a vastly
different superfunctioning that opens he doors to infinite accomplishment,
success, and happiness in life.
Spirit
in Life, Not Apart From It
The old spiritual teachings ask us
to experience spirit and its delight apart from life. The new spiritual
understanding is to bring spirit into every moment into life, in every act,
releasing its infinite potential, and enabling us to experience the infinite
delight of existence.
Religion
& Science are Failing Us
Though religion has provided a
moral foundation, it has lost touch with its spiritual roots. In the coming age
each individual can experience the spirit directly, not merely worship the
founder. Also, each religion has but one ray of spiritual truth. We need to
experience the vast multiplicity of truths of spirit. Science likewise is
failing us, despite the great benefits it has brought. Like religion, it sees
one truth -- the material -- and misses the vast multiplicity of vital, mental,
and spiritual existence that are also the great determinants of life. Thus for
every benefit it creates, it creates an equal harm. (e.g. nuclear bombs with
nuclear energy.)
Path
to Evolutionary Spiritual Being
For those who wished to undertake
the effort, Sri Aurobindo laid out a path from our current human functioning to
a new evolutionary spiritual-based functioning; rooted in a new supramental
consciousness. One could open to this Force to totally transform our mental,
vital, and physical nature into their higher counterparts.
Delight
of Being
The ultimate purpose of life is to
discover the delight of existence. We reach that delight when we discover our
higher nature. The highest nature we can discover is our spiritual nature. When
we discover our highest spiritual nature we experience delight; the very reason
that the Divine created this universe of forms, for even greater delight.
Going
Beyond Our Ignorance to an Integral Knowledge
We are divided beings, born of an
essential Ignorance due to our exclusionary view that takes the part we know as
the whole. Sri Aurobindo says that as we rise discover our True Self within and
the spirit we rise in in consciousness, where we rise above the ego that
supports the Ignorance. We begin to see the multiplicity of truths, going
beyond our part knowledge. This helps break down our ignorance, and the
falsehood and evil that derives from it. In other words, we move toward an
Integral Knowledge of the whole, including seeing the oneness of the spirit and
matter, and the creator and the creation. I.e.
the vision of Brahman.
Theory of
Creation
The
Involution
The Involution is the process by
which the Omnipresent Spiritual Reality became the cosmos.
The original Omnipresent Reality
(The Absolute in the West, Brahman in the East) in its desire to create a universe
of forms (for the purpose of extending its own Delight into the experience of
delight by those forms in life) extended to the Triune of
Existence/Being/Spirit -- Conscious/Force -- Delight. It then spun off the
Supramental Plane to enable the plane of Mind to divide the Conscious Force,
which provided the energy that is the basis of all forms in creation. When that
energy began to move the universe was born.
The
Evolution
From the point that energy is
created in the involution, the evolution begins .
The universe essentially began as
energy at rest, becomes energy that moves, and eventually coagulates into forms
of matter (plasma, galaxies, etc.), further evolving on earth (and elsewhere)
as vital animus of life, and culminating in humans (and perhaps other
intelligent life forms) as mind. Man continues this evolutionary process by rising to his higher
nature above mind and within through sprit. When he
touches Supermind and the pure spirit above and uses that power to integrate
all aspect of his being, he fulfills his evolutionary purpose.
Utilization
of Truth Consciousness Power
Man utilizes the same spiritual
supramental, truth consciousness power that enables the Reality to manifest the
universe to aid in his own ascent from vital and mental-based humans to
spiritual and supramental truth consciousness evolutionary beings. This is the
culminating of the evolution.
The spiritualized evolutionary
individual and collective existence fulfills the purpose of he universe, which
is delight of being.
Evolution
is Reverse of Involution
The involution, which is from
spirit to matter, is reversed in the evolution; i.e. is a return to spirit from
matter. The involution goes from the Real Idea of the Omnipresent Reality to
manifest a universe for the delight of being, creates the planes of mind, life,
and matter, and then hides them before creation; whereas the evolution is the reverse
process where matter appears, where the plane of life emerges from matter,
where mind emerges from life, and spirit from mind, and in that process enables
man to discover the delight of being, the purpose for which the Divine manifest through
Supermind the universe.
Subprocesses
in Involution and Evolution
In the involution a process of self
conception is used by the Divine to conceptualize the universe as a Real Idea,
and through supermind converts that Real Idea into the planes of matter, life,
and mind. Then thorough a process of self-absorption the Divine hides those
planes just as the universe begins so that through the evolution man can
discover the hidden spirit, Godhead in objects and experience the delight of
existence.
In the evolution matter emerges,
and from matter life, and from life mind, and from mind, spirit. In that way
Nature reverses the self-absorption of these planes as they emerge as
realities. Also man similarly self-conceptualizes what he would like his own
life to be to enable his own evolution, experiencing the delight of being for
which the universe was created, culminating in his spiritual nature and the
evolutionary spiritual being and divine collective life.
Makeup of the
Individual
Makeup
of the Individual
Life in the universe began as
physical matter, evolved to the vital animus of life, and evolved further to
mind. The individual human embodies the matter of the universe as his physical
body, experiences the vital animus of life as his vital life force, energy,
emotions, and feelings, and he is the highest embodiment of the plane of mind.
He can also enable spirit in his life
Subdivisions
of Physical, Vital, and Mental
The individual consists of physical, vital, mental, and spiritual planes. Each of
these can be subdivided into at least three more levels. E.g. three planes of
mind--
Levels of Mind Proper The mind of man
consists of a first level where thoughts are processed into ideas, a still
higher level where thoughts are turned into sentiments, values, and ideals, and
higher still where he engages in reason, pure thought, and can conceptualize
new ideas and that which he wishes to be.
Levels of Spiritual Mind There are level of spiritual mind beyond our
normal minds; beyond mind proper. There is an ascending scale of mentality that
starts with the lower fact-gathering and sense-based mind, that rises higher to
that part of mind that expresses sentiments and values, rises higher still to
the rational, objective pure mind, and then finally breaks through to spiritual
mind. It is in spiritual mind that we have experiences of knowledge through
silence, light and illumination and vision, and intuition. It is in those
realms that the object of knowledge that we pursue simply drops into our minds
without the hard thought-churning processes of mind proper. From these levels
of mind we simply know that which we want to know. When we have the intuition,
then the information, the object of knowledge we wish to know, enters our mind
in full, with all of its details.
Vertical
and Horizontal Scales of Consciousness
The planes of man that go from
matter to vital to mind to spiritual mind to supermind can be thought of as
vertical scale of consciousness. The movement from the surface of life to the
depths of life within culminating in connection to the psychic being, the
personal evolving soul can be thought of as the horizontal scale of
consciousness. When we evolve, move deeper within on the horizontal scale, and
we move up among the planes in the vertical scale. The evolutionary spiritual
being has reached and embodied the greatest depths of the horizontal -- the
True Self, the personal evolving soul, the Psychic Being (these three are the
same), and the heights of the vertical, the supramental consciousness.
Details
of the Consciousness Within on the Horizontal Scale
Overview This horizontal scale of
human consciousness ranges from our outer surface consciousness to an inner
consciousness in the depths of our being. One way to imagine this is a series
of concentric circles expanding out from the center of our being to the outer
surface. The outer circle would be the surface of life we experience at the
most material level, the inner circle would be our deepest parts within. We can
choose to live on the surface of life or be centered in the depths of our
being. The more we are influenced by the positive elements of the depths (there
are also negative elements there), the higher our consciousness. The more we
live on he surface, i.e. the outer rings, the less conscious we are of the
world. As we bring the higher consciousness of the depths (which are influenced
by the spirit) to our surface life -- replacing the current surface occupations
of the outer material world experienced through our sense -- the more we
evolve. This movement is a key to our future growth and development as a
species.
Details of Inner Positive The inner consciousness
(or being) consists of unconscious parts and very conscious parts. The
unconscious parts include the inconscient and the subconscient (subconscious),
while the conscious parts consist of the the subliminal, or subtle physical,
vital, and mental parts, and more conscious still, the personal evolving soul,
the True Self, the Psychic Being behind the subliminal being.
As we move our consciousness away
from the surface of life and more towards the inner positive Subliminal being
and even greater still to the Personal Evolving Soul (the Psychic Being) we break the bonds of our
limited nature. We begin to come in contact with greater forces and powers
within, which enable us to have greater control of the outer live; which breaks
down our limiting, separative ego-sense, which overcomes our fundamental
Ignorance which prevents us from having true, integral Knowledge, open us up to
universal forces and powers, and enables us to experience the greatest Delight
of existence.
Details of Inner Negative Let's consider the
limited and greater parts of our inner being. The bedrock of all matter in the
universe is unconsciousness, which we can call the Inconscient realm. That
unconsciousness, inconscience of matter lives inside the human in the mostly
negative Subconscient realm within. It is the cause of difficult dreams,
pessimism and negative outlook of life born of millennia of human misery and
difficulty. It is the foundation for our physical existence.
However, sitting atop the
Subconscient is the very positive Subliminal, which throws up positive
influences to our surface being. Within the Subliminal is the Personal Evolving
Soul (the Psychic Being), which is the great aspect of our being that enables
us to discover our true evolutionary nature. As we make contact with the
Subliminal and Psychic Being, we evolve. We begin to do this in life by moving
from living on the surface of life to moving into these depths. Ultimately we
must also evolve the unevolved subconscient realms within, which we do by
opening to the Superconscient realm, which is essentially the spiritual domain.
When the spiritual domain evolves the subconscient, and we are firmly living in
the depths of our being in the Subliminal and Personal Evolving Soul, the human
individual will have begun the process of being transformed into his ultimate
evolutionary possibility.
Individual's
Each individual lives at all of
these levels simultaneously, though he tends to be centered at one; e.g. some
people are more physical (e.g. rigid and of one mind), vital (emotional,
passionate, energetic), or mental (cerebral, logical, etc.). Most people are
centered in the vital of their needs and desires. Fewer are centered in the
mind, though more and more are centered there. Fewer still are centered in the
highest part of mind proper focused on reason, logic, and conception. A very
few are centered in spirit, including spiritual mind.
Transformation
of the Individual
Consecration
and Surrender
The relatively simple method of
human growth and development is to open to the Force before an activity. This
is to open to the Power of the Divine Mother. The Divine Mother is the feminine
personification of the Divine, God. In that way the individual
suffuses all actions taken with this power, releasing its infinite potential.
At a further stage man surrenders to the Force, and makes the Divine the whole
reason for his existence, carrying out the Divine Will in the details of his
life. Sri Aurobindo also explains an ultimate process of yoga to enable his
ultimate human evolution. This he calls the triple transformation (explained
below).
The one thing demanded of those
serious in following Sri Aurobindo's path is a sincerity in its pursuit, and an
intense aspiration for the descent of the Power and the transformation of one's
nature.
Triple
Transformation
For those who undertake the path of
personal transformation (i.e. yoga), Sri Aurobindo describes three successive
phases of this transformation -- the psychic, the spiritual, and the
supramental.
In the first phase of the Triple Transformation one moves from the outer surface
consciousness to the inner consciousness; the inner mind, the subliminal
within, until one reaches the personal soul, i.e. inner psychic consciousness. At the psychic one has
withdrawn from the ego consciousness, one is able to understand and control the
limitations of one's physical, vital, and mental being, and one is put in touch
with the cosmic, universal forces and truths. This is the Psychic transformation.
At a further phase one rises higher
in one's being toward higher planes of mind, including Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, and Intuitive Mind. It is an opening to the
presence above, an elevation of one's lower consciousness to the higher, and
the descent of the higher into the lower. This is the Spiritual transformation, beyond the Psychic
transformation.
Beyond that still is the Supramental transformation, where one rises to the
level of Supermind, for a radical transformation of the being out of the
ignorance that is the foundation of our nature, and into a new functioning that
transcends beyond the mental, vital, and physical. One can become the
Supramental being. The Triple Transformation are three stages that would happen
in succession. (There is of course room for
endless variety.)
Evolution of
Society
Stages
of Social Evolution
Just as the universe evolved from
matter to life to mind; and the individual parallels that development in his
body, his vital, and his mind, so too the society has evolved from a physical
state of survival beginning say 100,000 years ago, to a vital stage during the
middle of the last millennium, focused on trade, and interaction with others;
to a mental stage that he is now currently emerging in which we see the
emergence of freedom, democracy, higher organization, education, and individual
self-fulfillment.
There is now the possibility of the
mergence of the spiritual individual and the the spiritualized society.
Spiritualized
Collective Existence
When a number of spiritualized
evolutionary individuals appear they can come together and form a collative
existence, the beginnings of what Sri Aurobindo calls a divine life on earth.
Nature
of Spiritualized Collective Existence
-In this collective divine life,
based on the principles of harmony and integrality, he would feel a complete
oneness between his individuality and the collective purpose. For example, he
would know how and when to lead or rule; or, as necessary, how and when to
subordinate himself to the needs of the group. This will be a creative,
spontaneous action because he is centered in this truth consciousness that
knows the true Truths and experiences the oneness of all at any moment.
-He feels the essential unity and
connection with all; because he feels the commonality of spirit, even of
substance between himself and others. He is, in one sense, an extended being.
Perhaps we can call him a universalized individual.
-What connects such supramentalized
individuals into a bond of essential harmony, unit, and oneness is that each
individual feels all selves to be an embodiment of a single self. This single
self is the physical and soul experience that we are all in essence of the same
spiritual Reality, each playing a role in a symphony of Divine unfolding. We
feel that same spiritual essence within ourselves, with the environment, and
with others. It is a spiritual bond that translates not only as a spiritual
connection but as a deep emotional bond; perhaps even a physically sensational
bond.
World Unity
Like individuals, nations are
evolving. So is the world collective. There is an ever accelerating movement
towards world unity. The emergence of the European Union (which he called for
75 years ago.) is an example. There is a movement from the ego of individual
nation to collective association. Unity in multiplicity explains it.
Sri Aurobindo explains his vast
philosophy in this area in such books as the The Human Cycle, and The Ideal of
Human Unity.