Who is the Boss of our Llife ?
Based on Chapter 21, Determinism of Nature, pages 202 204, Sri Aurobindo - Essays on the Gita
When we are able to unify our understanding of ‘Works’ and ‘Self Knowledge’ our consciousness is stationed in the ‘Higher Self’. At this point, we become superior to the workings of Prakriti at lower level. We get FREE of our Bondage to Nature and her 3 Gunas – Sat, Rajas and Tamas. We then become ONE with Ishwara, who is the Master of our Nature. At this stage, Nature becomes our instrument without getting entangled in the chain of Karma. The Divine Will in us is the controlling entity of this instrument of Nature. He is the Lord of the works of Nature and is unaffected by the troubled stress of her reactions.
On the other hand a soul which is ignorant in Nature becomes a SLAVE to her. This is because in such a case, the soul ignorantly IDENTIFIES with nature. Instead of identifying with its true self, the Divine in us, it stupidly gets mixed with the Ego Mind. Our Ego Mind is a subordinate factor in the operations of nature. This is notwithstanding the fact the Ego Mind generally projects a very much exaggerated figure to us. In reality it is only a mental knot, a point of reference for the play of the natural workings – nothing more. The solution to this problem lies in making the divine Supersoul at the centre of our workings. By this way, we can break this knot. We then no longer make the ego the centre and beneficiary of our works. This way of Supersoul is to live in the supreme consciousness. Our ego mind is only a degradation of this consciousness. We need to act in an equal and unified Will and Force above the play of Gunas. We should not be subjected to the unequal play of Gunas. When we are subject to Gunas at our lower consciousness, we follow the path of broken seeking and striving causing a disturbance in our life. It is in the regime of an inferior Maya.
It is true that in some passages, the Gita lays stress on the subjection of the ego-soul to Nature. This is misunderstood as supporting an absolute and a mechanical determinism which leaves no room for any freedom within the cosmic existence – just like making us a puppet in the hands of nature. Yes, it is also true that the language used here is very much forceful, emphatic and seems very absolute – thereby giving rise to such a misconception. Now here we should remember a cardinal principle – a framework for understanding Gita in its true spirit. This rule applies to other passages in Gita also. This cardinal principle is this : We must take the thought of Gita as a WHOLE – in its entirety. We should not make the mistake of forcing its affirmation in their solitary isolated sense which is quite detached from each other. For that matter, every truth, howsoever it may be true in itself can become a snare to bind the intellect and also become a misleading dogma. This happens when this truth is taken apart from others which at once limit and complete it. To put it in other words, the truth is like one thread of a complex weft. We can not take apart any one thread from the weft. In a similar manner, we need to understand Gita. The messages of Gita are interwoven with each other. They must be understood in its relation to the whole. In Gita itself we find an elaboration of this principle. It makes a distinction between akrtsnavidah अक्र्त्सनविदः and krtsmavit क्र्त्सनवित – between those who have only a disintegrated and partial knowledge of the whole truth and the Yogin who has the synthetic all embracing integrated knowledge of the totality. Yogin is called upon to rise to the calm and complete wisdom. The first necessity for this state is to see all existence steadily, to see it as a whole and not get misled by its apparently conflicting truths.
Our being is very complex indeed. At the extreme end of its one pole is absolute freedom in soul’s relations with Nature. On the opposite extreme end of the pole is an absolute determinism by Nature. Both these extreme aspects of the truth are true .. they constitute a part of the whole truth. There is also a partial and apparent sense of liberty caused by the contorted reflection of these two opposite truths to the developing mentality. We are generally tempted to give the label of Free Will to this contorted reflection of these two opposite truths. We should remember here that Gita regards nothing as freedom if it is not a COMPLETE liberation and mastery.
Behind all the teachings about soul and Nature of the Gita stand two great doctrines. We should always remember this. These two doctrines are : the Sankhya and the Vedanta. In Sankhya philosophy the stress is given to the truth of the Purusha and Prakriti. In Vedantic philosophy the truth of the threefold Purusha and the double principle of Prakriti is propogated. The lower form of Prakriti is Maya of the three Gunas. The higher form is the Divine Nature. Gita beautifully ‘corrects and completes’ the Sankhya philosophy with that of Vedanta. If we apply this Master Key to the philosophy of Gita, we will be able to reconcile and explain these apparent aspects of contradictions and inconsistencies.
We should also note that there are different planes of our conscious existence. What is considered as a practical truth on a lower plane may not hold good when we ascend to a higher plane of our consciousness. This is because then it assumes a quite different appearance. From the higher plane we are able to see the things more as a whole – just like we are able to see the scene below from high up in the mountain.
Indeed, science has shown that all the creatures including man .. animal, plant .. even metal have essentially same vital reactions or impulses. All of these creatures would possess the same basis of mechanical psychology. Interestingly, if a creature in each of these categories were able to give us their mental account of what it is experiencing, then instead of having the same description, we would have four quite different and largely contradictory statements of the same reactions and the same natural principles. This is because they get a different meaning and value as we rise in the evolutionary scale of being. Therefore they have to be judged by a different outlook. In the similar way, human soul experiences the reality. We assume in our ordinary mentality that we have a free will. We have certain limited justification for so calling it. However for a Yogin, it may not be a free will at all. Such a Yogin has climbed beyond our normal level of consciousness and for him our night is a day and our day is a night. He will consider our mentality as subject to the modes of Nature .. a slave of Nature. The facts in both cases are the SAME. However, they are viewed from different Levels of Consciousness. Yoging regards these facts from the higher outlook of the whole-knower – krtsnavit क्र्त्सनवित. On the other hand, we view it altogether from the more limited mentality of our partial knowledge - akrtsnavidah अक्र्त्सनविदः This is ignorance. In other words, what we flaunt of as our freedom is to a Yogin a bondage.
