Metaphysical Stuff 23
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Onto/OntoVern.htm
Aurobindonian Ontology: Salient Peculiarities By Sanjyot D. Pai Vernekar
ABSTRACT: Aurobindo envisages a cosmic salvation via an endlessly
open-ended, eternally optimistic, and forward-looking ontology. The purpose
of humankind is to go beyond its present form of ordinary (mental)
consciousness until it attains the Supermind. Aurobindo says this can be
done by a technique he calls Integral Yoga that enables humankind to
purposefully cooperate with the cosmic evolutionary urge and thereby rise
from the present mental stage to the supramental stage.
Another peculiarity of Aurobindo’s ontology is his concept of Brahman.
It negates illusionism and gives his metaphysical scheme a religious
dimension. There is no room in his system for any adversary, anti-Divine or
Satan as an independent entity. Thus, evil and suffering also stand
accounted for. Peculiarities of this order make him the very first and, so
far, the only ontologist claiming a preordained divination of the universe.
Aurobindo Ghose (1872 - 1950) was extraordinary as a man of learning.
His knowledge of the world was encyclopaedic. The Wisdom he derived from it
was astonishing in being synthesising, comprehensive and interpretative.
Hence his familiarity with the scientific - materialistic nature of the West
as also with the spirituality of the East. From 1901 onwards, especially
from 1908, he turned to the study and practice of yoga after unravelling the
secret of the Veda, the Upanisads, the Bhagavadgita and other sacred
writings of India.
Factors like this account for the distinctive nature of the Integral
philosophy and Yoga and ontology he has propounded. The most outstanding
peculiarity of Aurobindonian ontology is its synthesising integrality
leading to holism. It harmonises the western theories of evolution and life
sciences with the mystica/spiritual theories of the Absolute as revealed in
the Veda. On account of this, "spiritual evolution" or the evolution of
consciousness becomes the anchor of Aurobindo’s ontological argument.
"Consciousness" for Aurobindo, is a rich and complex term. He believes that
consciousness is inherent as much in seemingly inert matter as in plant,
animal, human and suprahuman life. It participates in the various levels of
being in various ways. The Spirit or Sachchidananda which means the highest
level of "being, consciousness, and bliss" is nothing but the Absolute.
Therefore, Aurobindonian ontological argument emerges from his ‘hierarchical
view of consciousness or Spirit’. Accordingly Sachchidananda or the Divine
is at the transcendent summit.
The Supermind mediates Sachchidananda to the multiplicity of the world. The
Overmind serves as delegate of the Supermind. Intuitive Mind, the next lower
level of the descent of Sachchidananda, is a kind of consciousness of the
heart. It discerns the truth in momentary flashes rather than in a
comprehensive grasp. Illumined Mind communicates consciousness by vision and
Higher Mind through conceptual thought. Then enters Mind with its propensity
to integrate reality through cognitive, intellectual and mental perceptions
rather than through direct vision.
Yet mind is open to the higher levels of consciousness, for it is basically
oriented to Supermind in which it participates in a derivative way. In the
course of this hierarchical view, Aurobindo introduces the new concept of
the Psyche, the conscious form of the soul. He maintains that Psyche makes
possible the evolution from Ignorance to light, from the inconscient form of
consciousness with which the creation of the universe commenced to the
superconscient form of consciousness which is destined to emerge.
Aurobindo’s Supermind is supramental in nature.
According to Aurobindo, further, life which is the next form of
consciousness is cosmic energy through which the Divine is received and made
manifest. Matter from which life has evolved is the lowest level in
Aurobindo’s hierarchy of consciousness manifestation. Therefore, matter is
an expression of Sachchidananda in a diminished form. It is not reducible to
mere material substance.
This hierarchical view of Sachchidananda indeed needs to be seen in a
process perspective according to which the Supreme is both "being" and
"becoming" manifest in these many levels of Being. Sachchidananda as
consciousness liberates itself through an inner law that directs evolution,
says Aurobindo. In his view, ‘spiritual’ evolution is a series of ascents
from material, physical existence, to supramental existence in which human
beings are able to reach their true being and fulfillment.
This perspective, however, provides only one side of Aurobindonian
ontology, only one of its two poles, as it were. The other pole is the
cosmic salvation he envisages in which humankind and the universe become
divine as decreed by the law of evolution. This bipolarity is the second
outstanding peculiarity of Aurobindonian ontology. Creation is nothing but
the descent of the Absolute Spirit into Supermind, mind and matter as
indicated in its hierarchical perspective of Sachchidananda’s involution in
the Inconscient. But involution leads to evolution. And evolution is the
ascent of matter to life, mind and supermind and finally to Sachchidananda.
After establishing this bipolarity of his ontology, Aurobindo points out
that so far only the first three stages of evolution have emerged. But the
time has come now for evolution to take the remaining ascent-oriented steps
that will carry it to the Supermind and thereby to change the nature of the
universe from death to deathlessness, from finite to infinite, and from
imperfection to perfection and, ultimately, from gross matter to Supreme
Spirit, Sachchidananda.
Aurobindonian ontology is thus purposive, affirmative and forward-looking.
It invalidates the view that "becoming" is the degradation of "Being." It
proclaims that "Being" undertakes the process of "becoming" solely for the
purpose of re-acquiring its original status. Equating "becoming" with
evolution, Aurobindo redefines "becoming" as a predetermined, inevitable,
redemption-oriented divinization of the involved Absolute, its homeward
journey as it were.
The Absolute, for its delight initially effects its own complete involution
in Inconscience. Next it goes on retracing its steps back to its primordial
plenitude through the process of evolution. Its return is from inconscient
to subconscient, to matter, to life, to mind, to Higher Mind, Illumined
Mind, Intuition, Overmind, Supermind, Psyche and Sachchidananda. This makes
Aurobindonian ontology "endlessly open - ended" since no one can tell
exactly when the destined divinization of the cosmos takes place.
Meanwhile, Aurobindonian ontology argues in favour of human aspiration for
a Kingdom of heaven on earth and proceeds to give a theoretical framework in
which such an aspiration would be not a figment of imagination but a drive
in Nature working through humankind to a higher stage of perfection. The
gulf between unconscious matter and fully self-conscious Spirit is sought to
be bridged by exhibiting them as two poles of a series in which spirit
continuously manifests itself. The Vedantic concept of a transcendent, all -
inclusive Brahman is sought to be harmonised with a theory of emergent
evolution.
Illusionism is totally rejected. The purpose of humankind is to go beyond
its present form of consciousness until it attains to the Supermind.
Aurobindo says that humankind can do it by Yoga which is a technique not for
personal liberation but for co-operating with the cosmic evolutionary urge
that is carrying humankind ahead from the present mental stage to a higher,
supramental stage.
According to Aurobindo’s theory of cosmic salvation, thus, the paths of
humankind’s union with the Absolute are two way streets : Enlightenment
comes to humankind from above, while the supermind of humankind strives
through yogic illumination to reach upward from below. When these two forces
blend in an individual, a gnostic human being is created. This Yogic
illumination eventually leads to the freeing of the individual from the
bonds of individuality and, by expansion, all humankind will eventually
achieve mukti (liberation). Obviously, this means that Aurobindo’s ontology
has created a dialectic mode of salvation not only for the individual and
all humankind but also for the whole cosmos.
‘Energy or Sachchidananda ("existence, thought, joy") comes down from
Brahman (thesis) to meet energy from the supermind of man striving upward
towards spirituality (antithesis) and melts in man to create a new spiritual
superman (synthesis). From these evolved divine beings, a divine universe is
also evolved’. Incidentally, Aurobindo’s superman is the God-man, the
gnostic being. He excels humankind not in physical power but in things of
the Spirit. He is not to be confused with the superman of Nietzsche.
Besides reinterpreting the Vedic concept of the Divine Being in the light
of his own Western education, Aurobindo modifies traditional accounts of the
relation between the world and Brahman, again by introducing the concept of
evolution. Note that he rejects the doctrine that the cosmos is illusory,
Brahman being the sole reality. Despite that, his ontological doctrines
retain the contemplative ideal and reject the world negation. They delineate
the evolutionary process as centering on the progressive manifestation of
the Spirit. Aurobindo avers that the emergence of consciousness is not
satisfactorily explained either as the consequence of the increased
complexity of material organisms, or as the work of an extracosmic deity.
Secondly, his own spiritual realisations, contemplative intuition and study
of the Indian religious traditions impelled him to believe in a Divine Being.
Invoking the Vedantic explication, he defines the Being as a Triune of
External existence, External consciousness and External bliss. Since he is
All-benevolent in addition to being Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent,
the Supreme Spirit involved himself into Inconscience for the sheer delight
of retracing his steps back to his Triune supremacy employing the
consciousness aspect of his Being as an ever evolving modality in his slow
but inevitably certain return to his native divinity by rendering all
earthly life into the life divine, by bestowing emancipation (Mukti) to the
cosmos at large. In view of this, in Aurobindo’s belief, consciousness is
somehow already concealed in living matter before its evolutionary
emergence, and the Divine Being is immanent in the process.
Accordingly, he argues that Brahman by a transmutation in the form of
"involution" manifests itself as matter and then progressively brings about
an unfolding of its powers through the evolution. Here, too, there is a
hierarchy of substances appearing successively but in such a way that each
higher stage includes its predecessor. For instance, rational beings are
also material organisms but the animal characteristics of humankind are
transformed because of the presence of his mental powers. Humankind should
now consciously choose to collaborate with Nature (read as evolution) in her
task of divinizing all existence by preparing the necessary circumstances
for the arrival of "superman" and for the evolutionary purpose of changing
the character of social, cultural and individual life.
Aurobindo’s ontology is peculiar in yet another respect too. His concept of
Brahman and associated ideas gives his metaphysical scheme a religious
dimension. For, in one respect the Divine Being, he maintains, is in repose
as the Absolute, it is a timeless and nonspatial being. But in its creative
energy the Absolute manifests itself as the Supermind which is an
intermediary between the world and the Absolute.
Thus, the next stage of spiritual progress for human beings is to attain
Godhood or the life divine through "Integral Yoga". It will enable them to
acquire a spiritual insight which should permeate their physical, social and
cultural life. Besides, God must "descend" into human experience. This is
indicated in the following words of Aurobindo’s yogic collaborator, The
Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, addressed to the Divine: ‘In all the states,
in all the modes, in all things, all worlds, all the elements we must
discover Thee and unite with Thee and if one element is left aside, however
small it may be, the communion cannot be perfect, the realisation cannot be
accomplished.’
This holistic illumination of individuals will lead to the emergence of a
divinized community. In this way, Aurobindo’s ontology produces a synthesis
between older Indian religious ideals and the world-affirming attitudes of
Christian theism. According to him, religious mysticism should give a new
character to ordinary life, not negate it. Significantly all this process is
divine. All the human possibilities, postulated by Aurobindo, are released
by the descent of God, the Absolute, the Spirit, into the world. There is no
room in his system for any Adversary, Anti-Divine , or Satan as a separate,
independent entity determined to work against the Divine. Everything that
appears to be evil, suffering, pain or catastrophe is merely a process or
part thereof.
Aurobindonian ontology is original and extraordinary in yet another respect
: its propounder is the first, and so far the only, ontologist unequivocally
claiming an inevitable divinization (and therefore "emancipation" or
"mukti") for the universe at large. What is predestined and inevitable is
the cosmic emancipation through the process of a divine
"involution-evolution." No doubt, evolution by itself is sure to carry on
its onward march through a natural process until its predestined purpose is
fulfilled. But it proceeds slowly and indirectly. In contrast, Integral Yoga
functions more quickly and directly. ‘Evolution seeks the divine through
nature, while yoga reaches out for the divine as transcendent to nature.’
Integral Yoga, besides, ‘seeks an integral and total change of consciousness
and nature,’ not for the individual alone, but for humankind as a whole, for
the entire cosmos. Unlike some yogas of the past, Integral Yoga does not
seek release from the cycle of birth and death. It ‘seeks a transformation
of life and existence, by, for, and through the divine. In most yogas,
ascent to the divine is emphasized as the sole objective. In Integral Yoga,
this ascent is but the first step. The real goal is the descent of the new
consciousness that has been attained in the ascent. Humankind has to consent
to collaborate with Nature in this process of ascent-descent by resorting to
Integral Yoga.
When this predetermined goal is consciously reached by humankind, the
intended divine transformation commences. ‘ . . . the hour of the Divine
draws near.’ Some human beings shall be made ‘the glory’s receptacles/And
vehicles of the Eternal’s luminous power.’ ‘The first born of a new supernal
race.’ Then, ‘Eternal supermind’ shall ‘touch earthly Time / The Superman
shall wake in mortal man / And manifest the hidden demi-god.’ ‘Then shall
the earth be touched by the Supreme’. ‘The superman shall reign as King of
Life’. ‘And lead towards God and truth man’s ignorant earth / And lift
towards Godhead his mortality’. ‘Thus shall the earth open to divinity’ and
‘This earthly life’ shall ‘become the Life Divine.’
All this is foreshadowed in a letter Aurobindo wrote to a disciple in 1934.
The letter states ‘that behind the appearances of the universe there is the
Reality of a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and eternal.
All beings are united in that One Self and Spirit but divided by a certain
separativity of consciousness, an ignorance of their true Self and Reality
in the mind, life and body. It is possible … to remove this veil of
separative consciousness and become aware of the true Self, the Divinity
within us and all.’ ‘This One Being and Consciousness is involved here in
Matter.
Evolution is the method by which it liberates itself; consciousness appears
in what seems to be inconscient and once having appeared is self-impelled to
grow higher and higher and at the same time to enlarge and develop towards a
greater and greater perfection. Life is the first step of this release of
consciousness; mind is the second; but the evolution does not finish with
mind, it awaits a release into something greater , a consciousness which is
spiritual and supramental. The next step of the evolution must be towards
the development of Supermind and Spirit.’ ‘Only then will the involved
Divinity in things release itself entirely and it becomes possible for life
to manifest perfection.’ ‘The former steps in evolution were taken by Nature
without a conscious will.’
But ‘in man Nature becomes able to evolve by a conscious will.’ ‘It is not,
however, by the mental will in man that this can be wholly done.’ ‘A
conversion has to be made, a turning of the consciousness by which mind has
to change into the higher principle. This method is to be found through the
Integral Yoga.’ Thus, Aurobindo teaches that ‘a descent of the higher
principle is possible which will not merely release the spiritual Self out
of the world, but release it in the world, replace the mind’s ignorance or
its very limited knowledge by a supramental Truth - Consciousness which will
be the sufficient instrument of the inner Self and make it possible for the
human being to find himself dynamically as well as inwardly and grow out of
his still animal humanity into a diviner race.’
‘Yoga can be used to that end by opening all the parts of the being to a
conversion or transformation through the descent and working of the higher,
still concealed supramental principle. This, however, cannot be done ... by
any rapid or miraculous transformation. Many steps have to be taken by the
seeker before the supramental descent is possible. Man lives mostly in his
surface mind, life and body, but there is an inner being within him with
greater possibilities to which he has to awake ... and that pushes him to a
constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge.’ ‘He has
to learn to live in his soul and purify and orientate by its drive towards
the Truth the rest of the nature.
There can follow afterwards an opening upward and descent of a higher
principle of the Being. But even then it is not at once the full supramental
Light and Force. For there are several ranges of consciousness between the
ordinary human mind and supramental Truth - Consciousness. These intervening
ranges have to be opened up and their power brought down into the mind, life
and body. ... The process of this self - discipline or Sadhana is therefore
long and difficult ... . For the whole being has to be trained so that it
can respond and be transformed when it is possible for that greater Light
and Force to work in the nature.’ ‘The one aim of Aurobindo’s teaching and
Yoga is an inner self - development by which each one who follows it can, in
time, discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than
the mental, a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform
and divinize human nature.
|