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Master says that there is a difference of levels
attained by several types of souls. He agrees
with the ancients that those who are practising
sinful deeds attain a condition or state of Hell
and those who are ignorant by good deeds most
probably attain the level of Paradise. But to
those who are innocent it is the world of
Brahma. But as for the wise and learned people
they create for themselves an artificial
paradise in which they try to live. Obviously,
the learned and the wise men build their own
castles and dwell in them. It might be very
uncomplimentary to the wise and learned. But, as
I have always held, the process of learning
involves a constant process of unlearning also.
Any wise man going to advanced study in any
subject would be asked to revise his original
premises and rethink them and unlearn the usual
habits of mind. That way leads to, what we may
call, a development of Inner Being, and also it
leads to the ultimate realisation of greater
awareness of Reality. That is why every true
learner is in a constant process of learning
which involves a process of unlearning. That
will also suggest to us the contradiction in
Vidya and Avidya. Today's Vidya may be
tomorrow's Avidya. Therefore, there is a
'relativity' in the very notion of knowledge and
the notion of Ignorance. We have to arrive at a
stage of transcendence over these fixed goals or
limited notions of Vidya and Avidya. So, Master
says that we must come to that condition of
innocence which is Complete Ignorance, as
defined by the Master. So, we have to use
complete Ignorance in order to reach that State
of Complete Ignorance. Is it possible? Master
says that In His own life, He had not read
anything till perhaps He has attained that
state. Afterwards, He began reading the old
literature or learned treatises. That made him
understand the limitations of those learned
works, and also to size up the level of
understanding of each of these learned men. So,
personal anubhava is more important and
ultimately it is the only means by which you can
attain that state of Complete Ignorance which
entitles you to enjoy the Real Realm of Brahma
or Brahma Loka. This leads us further on to,
what is called, the worlds of Infinity in which
the realized souls, who are, as He calls it,
swimming and expanding, so that they are one
with the Ultimate without any kind of
separation.
In the chapter entitled "Man and his nature"
Master tries to clarify the very person who
wants to attain the Ultimate State. A man who
wants to attain the Ultimate State is one who is
continuously in relation to the Ultimate
condition. But he has also developed another end
of pole to him. God has only one pole, but man
has two poles, one pole is in God and the other
pole is at the very end, namely, this world,
external world. That is why, he calls him
'bipolar' - having two poles. Now, the one pole,
namely God, is, as you may say, beyond even the
mind. It is the State of Tam, and this mind is
connected with the First thing that comes out of
the Tam, namely the First Mind. That continues
to be the constant healer and energy and life.
From that point, he goes on developing or
enwrapping himself with the processes which come
in a natural way. There are four processes
taking place at this state. Manas, which is
purely one with the First Mind or Kshob; then,
there is Chit, then there is Buddhi and there is
Ahamkar. So long as these four are concerned,
you might find, Ego also is well developed.
Intellect is there and there is a feeling that
there is ego. These would be in their purest or
subtlest condition in the earlier stages. They
come immediately after the soul is formed. In
fact, the soul is eternal element in God. And
when it comes out into play, the four come in
along with it. They may be said to belong to the
state of God. But, afterwards, grossness
develops and several deeds or several knots
develop. And at every state, there is what we
call grossness, greater and greater grossness.
At another point, Master describes the process,
as it were, of the cocoon, the soul weaves
through its mind, within which it is trying to
isolate or individuate itself. At that stage, it
grows even. And there, outer one is being formed
by the mind. So it is the mind which is the
powerful element in evolution. In fact, we have
gone to this condition. But, at this level,
also, we have developed certain other things, we
began to develop pleasure. We began to
discriminate between what is pleasant and what
is painful, not what is right and wrong but what
is pleasant and what is unpleasant. So, there
are, even today, philosophers who consider that
you will have to identify pain and pleasure with
good and evil. The pleasant is good and pain is
evil according to large masses of mankind. Some
people invert it and say that pain is good,
pleasure is evil. Either way, it does not solve
the problem. We are in fact caught up in the
dilemma of pleasure and what is less pleasure,
and this has got wide application. In any case,
man is today caught in this mind of dilemma and
he wants to escape from this particular
situation. But then, man also has, as I have
stated, a peculiar and unique quality, viz., of
having the mind continuous with it from the
original first Mind. This Mind is passing, and
that is why, all our minds behave alike and all
of us have developed also. All of us are
fragments of One Supreme First Mind, and that
First Mind which is really Cosmic in nature has
been individuated, isolated and in some sense,
insulated from other individuals, so that it is
only thinking of itself and not about other
people at all. It is contradictory, in one
sense, it would like to absorb or even
annihilate also. Now, there is mind and the
unique quality of the mind is seen in its
capacity to evolve to its lowest and the
grossest form. Animals also have a mind; because
they are also degradations of the mind, and yet,
that mind is not conscious of its connection
with the Ultimate. It is only at the level of
man that he becomes conscious of its original
connection or force of the First Mind. Our aim
in all literature, in fact of philosophy, is to
get at that Original Mind which is pure, which
is powerful - Omnipotent in one sense. The Mind
does not lose its connection with the other end.
Now, all that energy which we are expending on
creation can be reversed and we might try to
find out and draw more power from that Original
Soul, if we have to escape from the pain,
pleasure - world of vision.
Incidentally, Master says that even God has
no mind and that is correct for the obvious
reason that mind is from the first point which
has been created. So, He Himself is behind that
Mind. There are many people who think, if you
want to become anything, first destroy the mind.
Then, by destroying the mind, you will be one
with God without his mind. Master points out
that this is not the way. The instrument of mind
has been given to you "to explore the ultimate
grossness on one side and regain your subtle
condition again and pick it up". The possibility
for man is that he can have the continuous
experience of the Ultimate First Mind to the
grossest level. But that is possible only when
you attain in full force the First Mind within
you, and since there is a loss of that force,
you find that the lowest levels forget though
they are sustained by the original Force, which
can draw the First Mind. So, Mind has to be used
for this purpose. You cannot involve to your
condition of the Divine and transcend unless you
are able to use the mind that is given to you.
Now, as a matter of fact, this is the struggle.
Some people want you to become Amanaska, go
beyond the Mind and destroy the Mind. If you
destroy the mind, you destroy the instrument by
which you can ascend the ladder. So, there is no
way of attaining that condition except by
utilizing the mind.
You must use your mind. You must use it
yourself. The mind that has come to the lowest
end and is in suffering must turn back to get at
the source or purity itself. Now Master says at
this point, it cannot be done with your own
efforts, but only a Divine personality, can help
you to connect your lower end with your own
higher end, because you have created so many
barriers to your own flexibility to connect
yourself with the original condition. Therefore,
the Supreme personality or the Divine
personality alone can connect you back and also
create that flexibility in you by moulding your
whole being by removing the knots and other
interferences and putting back to the Ultimate.
And that is to be done by that Mind. You are not
able to achieve your goal yourself. The
instruments of knowledge, so called, learned
instruments of Divine or the instruments of
karma are useless, because we have found them to
be of no use. Nor the usual method of Raja Yoga
that is being practised without the help of the
Divine connecting you with the Ultimate is of
any avail. There is no yoga otherwise. Your
evolution, therefore, is almost clearly
dependent upon your getting a Divine personality
to help you reverse back to your Mind and
connect it with the other pole. When these two
poles are connected, there is a Neutral point
and immediately you go to the other higher State
or God. Without this connection of the lower,
the higher is impossible.
That is why, Master says there is great need
for the man to have the Divine personality who
has attained this particular kind of connection
with the Ultimate and has to bring down that
Ultimate to every individual who seeks this
particular condition of transcendence of mind.
If we want to get transcendence over mind, it is
possible not by annihilating the mind but by
connecting its two poles. Then alone you have
access to enter into the Divine. |
