Transcendental-Universal-Individual

Re: Contesting ontotheologies? - Buddhism & systems theory vs. the 'Vedantic Method', Sri Aurobindo & the Mother and Integral Yoga by RY Deshpande on Fri 17 Nov 2006 01:21 AM PST Profile Permanent Link

In The Life Divine Sri Aurobindo speaks of the three poises of the Non-Manifest Supreme, the Avyakta, the first Nothingness of Savitri. In the Philosophy of the Upanishads he writes about Parabrahman in the course of evolving phenomena as follows: “The first condition is called avyakta, the state previous to manifestation, in which all things are involved, but in which nothing is expressed or imaged, the state of ideality, undifferentiated but pregnant of differentiation…” Beyond them all, beyond Parabrahman is the utter Unknowable about which it is pointless to speak.

But what is profitable to speak of is the Infinite of the Chhandogya Upanishad. Sanatkumar tells Narad that, which is Infinite is the plenum and is alone Happiness, tatsukham. The Rishi calls it Bhuma. The concept of Bhuma is something very rich indeed. In the pure Infinite all aspects such as Existence, Consciousness, Bliss, Knowledge, Power, everything are kind of frozen entities, they do not grow, expand, gather richness, the static Brahman. But that is what Bhuma does, brings in the dynamism of growth. The root meaning of the word is “to grow”; its feminine is Bhumi, who upholds growth. And this Bhumi is our Earth, where alone growth is possible, growth by the process of evolution. That makes earth a “significant centre” of the universe, upholding the spiritual geo-centricity.

No wonder, our central being got attracted by it and opted for the adventure of the Unknown. It wanted to grow and hence it came here. In Savitri Narad explains the mystery of pain and suffering and the choice made by the soul to plunge into the evolutionary process. It was “out of curiosity” that it took the plunge seeing another joy in creation. The triple poise of the Supreme in the language of the Gita is described, I believe, in terms of Kshara-Akshara-Uttama Purushsa. In the metaphysical description these are the triple aspects of the single indivisible Reality as Transcendental-Universal-Individual.