A divine life which implies the physical immortality

Re: Philosophy of Aurobindo [Re: patanjali_20] #60788 - 01/09/06 11:46 AM Philippe* stranger Reged: 01/09/06 Posts: 2 Loc: France

I think it is possible to grasp the basics of his philosophy though it can be a bit hard. But to really understand what he meant, one must experience what he told, it is my own opinion but I know that I share it with some people and many sadhakas of this path. It is complex but shortly, a few points and maybe some differences with the Advaita Vedanta as far as I know :

• Sri Aurobindo gives maya its original vedic meaning according to him in the sense of wisdom, a power of creation. The Divine is projected and forms a phenomenal world which is not illusion (in the western sense of the word) but a relative reality though it can be experienced as an illusion. The maya has a goal, it is the phenomenal expression of the Divine, which is involved in the universe, towards a greater manifestation of Sat-Chit-Ananda.
• He speaks of Atman as the transcendant essence of the being, and psychic being/chaitya purusha/antaratman/soul as the being in the becoming, it has a divine essence but it grows and is built through the existence. It puts the linkage between the ineffable Brahman or Absolute and the world of multiplicity by positing a transitional hypostasis between the two, which he called The Supermind/Supramental.
• The universe is matter-energy-consciousness. On Earth, it has expressed the matter, then the life, then the mental and the next step of the evolution of the consciousness is what he calls the supramental. The man is seen as a being of transition. And the next step of evolution will be the supramental being. The process of the universe emerging from the Absolute is referred in The Life Divine as involution.
• The subsequent process of life emerging from matter and mind from life is evolution. Each level that emerges in the evolution (matter, then the vital, then the mind) is already involved in the previous level, including the spirit in the deepest part of each. (The planes of Spirit/Supermind, Mind, and Life emerged in the descent of the Involution from out of the Conscious-Force, and then were involved, i.e. hidden in the evolution, where they reemerge in the universe after matter is created, through the emergence of animus of life and then mind and then spirit/supermind.)
• The process of the evolution is to unfold in the universe the involved planes, and do so at levels of perfection and ultimate possibility, culminating in the supramentalization, spiritualization of everything in creation. It is also to reunite the Consciousness (lost in the Involution) with the (unconscious) Force (which is there in creation) by bringing the Spiritual Being into the Becomings of life, enabling a Divine life on earth, at each point aided by the supramental unifying action.
• Moksha is seen as necessary but not as a final goal, more like the beginning of a new spiritual journey for those who want to collaborate to the divine plan. In the Gita, we find the ideal of action under the divine guidance in the world.
• The goal of this Yoga is to realize a divine life which implies the physical immortality, an ideal that dates back at least to the vedic rishis according to him.

It is hard to summarize shortly, so I give a few points. More about Integral Yoga: Here is a good summarize from himself: miraura.org en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo I hope that it helps a bit. Om Namo Bhagavate Philippe

Atanu Banerjee initiate Reged: 05/30/04 Posts: 120 Re: Philosophy of Aurobindo [Re: Philippe*] #61002 - 01/16/06 02:39 PM

The goal of this Yoga is to realize a divine life which implies the physical immortality, an ideal that dates back at least to the vedic rishis according to him. A goal which He himself failed to attain, i believe. So? Neither any scripture nor experience suggests physical immortality. What is manifest at a point of time vanishes at another point of time. Only, the akala is the eternal. With all regards to the great sage, I personally feel, that desire for immortality of the physical self, was due to inabilty to attain yuktatma state -- which is probably also true for many other gurus who only preach the saguna Brahman.