Note 3 …… contd from Note 2
The ignorance of inner things hides the real soul and self of us from our intelligence[1]. It is caused by a false identification and by an absorption in our outward mechanism of mind, life and body. When the active soul of man draws back from this identification with its natural instruments, then all is changed to it. He needs to see and live in the entire faith of its inner reality. Then life and existence take on another appearance. The action takes a different meaning and character. Our being then becomes no longer this little egoistic creation of Nature. It becomes the largeness of a divine, immortal and spiritual Power. [2]Our consciousness no longer remains limited and struggling mental and vital creature. It becomes an infinite, divine and spiritual consciousness. Similarly, our will and action exceed the limitations of this bounded personality and its ego. It then becomes a divine and spiritual will and action. It is the will and power of the Universal, the Supreme, the All-Self and Spirit acting freely through the human figure.
The message of the Godhead in man, the Avatar, the divine Teacher is as follows :
“This is the great change and transfiguration. Only the select few are called for this venture by me. These men are those who can turn their will away from the ignorance of the natural instruments. They need to focus it on the soul’s deepest experience, its knowledge of the inner self and spirit. They need to dwell on its contact with the Godhead and its power to enter into the Divine. The elect are all who can accept this faith and this greater law.
For a human being whose intellect is always attached to its own cloud-forms and half-lights of ignorance, this Path is extremely difficult. They get lost in the obscurer habits of man’s mental, nervous and physical parts. On the other hand, once a man is able to turn his gaze inwards and be in constant contact with his true soul, the Path becomes easy and sure. This is because then it gets identical with the true truth of man’s being. It is the authentic movement of his inmost and supreme nature.
“ This change is a very great one. It is an enormous transformation. It cannot be done without an entire turning and conversion of your whole being and nature. For this to happen, it is necessary to have a complete consecration of your self, nature and life to the Highest and to nothing else but the Highest. All life and activity must be held only for the sake of the Highest. Nothing should be accepted except as it is in god and a form of God. It should be done only for the sake of the Divine. There will be needed an admission of a new truth. There has to be an entire turn and giving of your mind to a new knowledge of self and others. There will be a new vision of the world and God and soul and Nature. It is a knowledge of oneness and of universal Divinity. It will at first be an acceptance by the understanding mind. Thereafter it becomes in the end a vision, a consciousness, a permanent state of the soul and a frame of its movements.
“There will be needed a will that shall turn this new knowledge, vision and consciousness into a motive of action. It will surely be its sole motive. It must not be a grudging action which is limited and confined to a few necessary operations of Nature. It should also not be limited to the few things that seem helpful to a formal perfection, pertinent to a religious turn or to an individual salvation. [3]It must be an all encompassing action of human life which is taken up by the spirit based in equality. It need to be done for the sake of God and the good of all creatures. There will be needed an uplifting of the heart in a single aspiration to the Highest. It should be single love of the Divine Being, a single God-adoration. And there must be a widening too of the calmed and enlightened heart to embrace God in all beings. There will be needed a change from his present state of the habitual and normal nature to a supreme and divine spiritual nature. There will be needed in a word a Yoga. It shall be at once a Yoga of integral knowledge, integral will and its works, integral love, adoration and devotion. It will be a Yoga of an integral spiritual perfection of the whole being as well as of all its parts, states, powers and motions.
………… to continue
………. Based on Essays on the Gita by Sri Aurobindo
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