by R.T.Hansen
vocabulary to speak about the movement of consciousness in matter,
mind, will, nature and so forth contrary to the narrow conception of
e.g. "cosmic consciousness".
From Aurobindo's
Isha
Upanishad
Brahman as
the Absolute or the Universal. Brahman is beyond our mental
distinctions and is a fact not of Thought that discriminates, but of
Being which is absolute, infinite and escapes discrimination. Our
consciousness is representative and symbolic; it cannot conceive the
thing-in-itself, the Absolute, except by negation, in a sort of void,
by emptying it of all that it seems in the universe to contain. But the
Absolute is not a void or negation. It is all that is here in Time and
beyond Time
Brahman representing Itself in
the universe as
the Stable, by Its immutable existence (sat),
is Purusha, God, Spirit; representing Itself as the Motional, by Its
power of active Consciousness (Chit), is Nature, Force or
World-Principle (
Prakriti, Shakti,
Maya)
Atman,
our true self, is Brahman; it is pure indivisible Being, selfluminous,
self-concentrated in consciousness, self-concentrated in force,
self-delighted. Its existence is light and bliss. It is timeless,
spaceless and free.
Atman represents itself to the
consciousness of the creature in three states, dependent on the
relations between Purusha and Prakriti, the Soul and Nature. These
three states are Akshara, unmoving or immutable; Kshara, moving or
mutable; and Para or Uttama, Supreme or Highest.
Atman Purusha
In
the physical consciousness Atman becomes the material being, annamaya
purusha. In the vital or nervous consciousness Atman becomes the vital
or dynamic being, pr¯an.amaya purusha.
Prakriti
Purusha (lower Purusha)
In
the mental consciousness Atman becomes the mental being, manomaya
purusha. In the supra-intellectual consciousness, dominated by the
Truth or causal Idea (called in Veda Satyam, Ritam, Brihat, the True,
the Right, the Vast), Atman becomes the ideal being or great Soul,
vijn˜a¯namaya purus.a or mahat a¯tman.
In the consciousness
proper to the universal Beatitude,Atman becomes the all-blissful being
or all-enjoying and allproductive Soul, ¯anandamaya purusha. In
the
consciousness proper to the infinite divine selfawareness which is also
the infinite all-effective Will (Chit-Tapas), Atman is the
all-conscious Soul that is source and lord of the universe, caitanya
purusha.
In the consciousness proper to the
state of pure divine existence Atman is
sat
purusha, the pure divine Self.
Prakriti,
executive Nature as opposed to Purusha, which is the Soul governing,
taking cognizance of and enjoying the works of Prakriti. Shakti, the
self-existent, self-cognitive, self-effective Power of the Lord
(Ishwara, Deva or Purusha), which expresses itself in the workings of
Prakriti. Maya, signifying originally in the Veda comprehensive and
creative knowledge, Wisdom that is from of old; afterwards taken in its
second and derivative sense, cunning, magic, Illusion.
Matarishwan
Brahman in Matter or physical being
represents Itself as the universal Life-Power, Matarishwan, which moves
there as a
dynamic energy, Prana, and presides
effectively over all arrangement and formation.
Vidya and
Avidya are equally eternal powers
of the
supreme Chit. Neither Vidya nor Avidya by itself is the absolute
knowledge
Chit
is a power not only of knowledge, but of expressive will, not only of
receptive vision, but of formative representation; the two are indeed
one power. For Chit is an action of Being, not of the Void. What it
sees, that becomes. It sees itself beyond Space Time; that becomes in
the conditions of Space and Time.
There are, then, seven
constituents of Chit active in the universe. We are habitually aware of
three elements in our being, Mind, Life and Body. These constitute for
us a divided and mutable existence which is in a condition of unstable
harmony and works by a strife of positive and negative forces between
the two poles of Birth and Death. For all life is a constant birth or
becoming. All birth entails a constant death or dissolution of that
which becomes, in order that it may change into a new becoming.
Therefore this state of existence is calledMrityu, Death, and described
as a stage which has to be passed through and transcended. For this is
not the whole of our being and, therefore, not our pure being. We have,
behind, a superconscious existence which has also three constituents,
Sat,
Chit-Tapas and Ananda.
Sat
is essence of our being, pure, infinite
and undivided, as opposed to this divisible being which founds itself
on the
constant changeableness of physical
substance.
Sat is
the divine counterpart of physical
substance. Spirit is
Sat
or pure existence, pure in self-awareness (Chit), pure in self-delight
(Ananda). Therefore Spirit can be regarded as a triune basis of all
conscious being. There are three terms, but they are really one. For
all pure existence is in its essence pure self-conscience and all pure
self-conscience is in its essence pure self-delight
Chit-Tapas is pure energy of
Consciousness, free
in its rest or its action, sovereign in its will, as opposed to the
hampered
dynamic
energies of Prana which, feeding upon physical substances, are
dependent on and limited by their sustenance.5 Tapas is the divine
counterpart of this lower nervous or vital energy.
Ananda is
Beatitude, the bliss of pure conscious existence and energy, as opposed
to the life of the sensations and emotions which are at the mercy of
the outward touches of Life and Matter and their positive and negative
reactions, joy and grief, pleasure and pain. Ananda is the divine
counterpart of the lower emotional and sensational being.
Vijnana,
as the Truth, leads the divided consciousness back to the One. It also
sees the truth of things in the multiplicity. Vijnana is the divine
counterpart of the lower divided intelligence.
Amritam
This
higher existence, proper to the divine Sachchidananda, is unified,
self-existent, not confused by the figures of Birth and Death. It is
called, therefore,
Amritam,
Immortality, and offered to us as the goal to be aimed at and the
felicity to be enjoyed when we have transcended the state of death
Sachchidananda
is the manifestation of the higher Purusha; its nature of infinite
being, consciousness, power and bliss is the higher Nature, par¯a
prakr. ti. Mind, life and body are the lower nature, apar¯a
prakrti.
Sachchidananda is always the pure state of Atman; it may either remain
self-contained as if apart from the universe or overlook, embrace and
possess it as the Lord.
Tapas
The
agent of this becoming is always the self-conscience of the Being. The
power by which the self-conscience brings out of itself its potential
complexities is termed Tapas, Force or Energy, and, being
self-conscious, is obviously of the nature of Will