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If the constructing Mind or Consciousness is alone real then the material world is a subjective-structural existence but even it is ephemeral, it must have been constructed from the very substance of consciousness. In that case, consciousness must be a Being or Existence out of whose substance everything is created.
Apropos the plurality of beings
If we accept the dual reality of Being and Consciousness, we can use the Vedantic formula of one original Being or the Sankhya position of a plurality of beings. If the plurality of beings is considered to be real then the problem arises how do we relate them to a single universe? Sankhya solves this problem by balancing multiple Purushas or Beings with one single Prakriti as the field of experience. "But if we can suppose a One Consciousness, or a One Energy, creating a multitude of figures of itself and accommodating in its world a plurality of beings, there is no difficulty in supposing a one original Being who supports or expresses himself in a plurality of beings". (SABCL 19, pg.644)
The question arises if this plurality represent realities of one Existence or are values created by the Mind. If these are values created solely by the Mind then they have only a subjective reality. But if they are realities of one Existence then Mind becomes an interpreter between the universal Reality and its manifestations.
Truth of Objectivity
Our surface mind suffers from incapacity and ignorance. Perhaps there is an universal Mind which is more wholistic in nature. But if the universal Mind is a magnification of the individual Mind, then it too lacks the essential and integral knowledge. "A consciousness possessing the essential and integral knowledge, proceeding from the essence to the whole and from the whole to the parts, would be no longer Mind, but a perfect Truth-Consciousness automatically possessed of inherent self-knowledge and world-knowledge." (Ibid, pg.645) Seen from this perspective, there can be no objective reality independent of consciousness. Yet there is a truth in objectivity as it establishes the reality of things independent of the structures subjectivity builds. Structures built by the subjective mind are images or figures of the universe but the objective reality cannot be solely represented by them. The objective reality is also a creation of consciousness, created out of the substance of consciousness. The "world cannot be a purely subjective creation of Consciousness; the subjective and the objective truth of things are both real, they are two sides of the same Reality". (Ibid)
Apropos Symbols
Of course, the subjective mind understands everything by constructing symbols. The infinity of unity and the infinity of multiplicity are symbols as well as the infinity of existence and infinity of non-existence. We have created symbols of the Inconscience and Superconscience and our life is a journey from one extreme to the other extreme. In this journey there is a constant unfolding of our self-existence to manifest the Unmanifest, an unveiling of the symbolic truth of the ineffable Presence and of ourselves and the world.
These symbols are not abstract symbols like mathematical formulae but are actually forms which are self-expressions of Reality. Each form is an expression of the power which inhabits it and this gives validity to the mind's interpretive knowledge. Our mind which makes subjective constructions "is primarily a percipient and interpreter, secondarily and derivatively a creator." (Ibid, pg.646) Mind is thus not the original constructor of the universe, "the real creatrix is a Consciousness, an Energy inherent in the transcendent and cosmic Spirit". (Ibid, pg.647)
Subjective and Objective are valid poises
There is an opposite view of reality and knowledge which recognizes only the objective Reality as solely reliable knowledge. All that is not physical, not discernible to the usual senses, all that has no objectivity including the soul has no value. It can give "to a stone or a plum-pudding a greater reality" than to "thought, love, courage, genius, greatness, the human soul and mind". (Ibid) The soul if it at all exists is considered to be "a circumstance of an objectively real world-Nature." (Ibid)
"But it could be held...that the objective assumes value only as it has a relation to the soul; it is a field, an occasion, a means for the soul's progression in Time: the objective is created as a ground of manifestation for the subjective". (Ibid) The subjective and objective are two equally valid poises of the same Reality and the a priori rejection of the supraphysical planes of consciousness by the votaries of physical objectivity does not stand ground.
The objective view of reality depends on our sensory feedback which unfortunately is very often erroneous. Actually, we know the objective universe only by our subjective consciousness of which the physical senses are instruments. In fact, the subjective and supraphysical cannot be assessed by our physical senses, they need other methods of verification which can be applicable to their own reality.
Experiential Knowledge
Our subjective and inner experiences are real as any outward physical happenings. We cannot know them by our physical senses but we can know them by "direct experience". (Ibid, pg.649) But we are ignorant of what happens to others except by analogy with our own signs and inferences. This is the limitation of our physical mind. It does not accept anything that clashes with its own experiences.
Modern psychology eulogizes the ego and refers everything for verification to the ego-centric individual and his objective methods of enquiry. But this is "a false standard of reality". (Ibid) True, each individual has the right to know oneself but this is valid on condition that one is open to a larger knowledge. Scientific knowledge is assessed according to the rubric of experiment, observation and universal verification but a real supraphysical knowledge transcends this formula. Sri Aurobindo asserts that a subjective knowledge must be pursued by a "subjective method of enquiry, observation and verification". (Ibid, pg.650)
The a priori rejection of the subjective methods of enquiry and experiential knowledge by science is as fallacious as the opposition of religious fanaticism to the methods of scientific enquiry that had happened once in Europe. (Ibid) The experiences of the self, the cosmic consciousness, the inner calm of liberation, the direct effect of mind over mind cannot be brought under universal scrutiny by people who have no experience of such things. Only those who have undergone the inner methods can understand these things. The human spirit has to be free to assess the subliminal or inner reality and remain no longer tied to the physical mind.
The Occult
An integral knowledge includes both the physical and the supraphysical domains. The supraphysical has been branded as mysticism and occultism but occultism is part of reality and need not be despised; "a true occultism means no more than a research into supraphysical realities and an unveiling of the hidden laws of being and Nature, of all that is not obvious on the surface". (Ibid, pg.651) In fact, Science itself has an occult perspective as it discovers the hidden secrets of Nature and unleashes its hidden forces. Sri Aurobindo opines that a supraphysical knowledge is needed to complete physical knowledge because a supraphysical factor resides behind the processes of physical Nature.
Matter cannot be the sole reality
The fundamental objective view of reality depends on the basic reality of Matter. But Matter has been shown to be not merely Matter but a structure of Energy. Therefore Matter cannot be the sole reality. There is also life and mind and spirit and soul behind them and we must know all their processes for an integral knowledge. An exclusive concentration on Matter of Life or Mind may reveal much of their characteristics but does not qualify to be an integral knowledge. So also an exclusive concentration on the subliminal may lead us to a more detailed knowledge of the subliminal but would fall short of an integral knowledge. The Spirit, the Self is the fundamental reality but an exclusive concentration on it minus the Mind, Life and Matter does not lead to an integral solution of "the truth of cosmic and individual existence". (Ibid, pg.653)
Planes of Ignorance
"Our present state is an Ignorance and many-sided seeking". (Ibid) It seeks for a fundamental truth of things which once discovered must explain all, "for That being known all will be known". (Ibid) That enquiry needs a proceeding of the Mind based on a true intuition towards the ultimate levels of experience.
We are enmeshed in different levels of Ignorance. Sri Aurobindo describes seven levels of Ignorance (Ibid, pg.654-655):
1. Original Ignorance: We are ignorant of the Absolute that is the source of all being and becoming. We take partial facts of being and temporal relations of the becoming as the whole Truth of existence.
2. Cosmic Ignorance: We are ignorant of the spaceless and timeless Self. We take the constant mobility and mutation of the cosmic becoming in Time and pace for the whole Truth of existence.
3. Egoistic Ignorance: We are ignorant of our universal self, the cosmic consciousness and our infinite unity with all being and becoming. We regard the egoistic being as the only true self and regard everything other than that as not-self.
4. Temporal Ignorance: We are ignorant of our eternal becoming in Time. We take this little life in restricted span of Time and a petty field of Space for our beginning, middle and end.
5. Psychological Ignorance: We are ignorant of our large and complex being. We are ignorant of what is superconscient, subconscient, intraconscient, circumconscient to our surface becoming. Indeed, we take the surface becoming with its mentalised experiences for our whole existence.
6. Constitutional Ignorance: We are ignorant of the true constitution of our becoming. We take the mind, life and body or any two of these or all three for our true principle. We are ignorant of what constitutes them and determines by its occult presence that is meant to emerge and rule sovereignly.
7. Practical Ignorance: Due to all these ignorances, we miss the true knowledge, government and enjoyment of life. We move in a maze of errors and desires, strivings and failures, pain and pleasure, sin and stumbling and follow a blind path for a changing goal.
Integral knowledge means the cancelling of the sevenfold Ignorance, "a sevenfold self-revelation within our consciousness." (Ibid, pg.655) It will mean the Knowledge of the Absolute as the origin of all things; Knowledge of the Self and the cosmos as Self's becoming; the knowledge of the world as one with us overriding the ego; the knowledge of the psychic being and its immortal persistence in Time beyond death; the knowledge of our greater and inner beings behind the surface; the knowledge of our mind, life and body in true relation to the inner self and the superconscient planes above them; and finally, the knowledge of the true harmony of our nature as a conscious expression of the truth of the Spirit.
Conscious Evolution
This is not an intellectual pursuit but proceeds through experiential growth and a change of consciousness. This makes the evolution of Becoming important. Our mental Ignorance is only a step in evolution. This evolution has become now conscious and will therefore be not as slow as had happened before in the case of other evolutionary transformations. The integral knowledge will grow through a conscious self-transformation. It would be interesting to study the nature of consciousness "that must be the base of the life divine". (Ibid, pg.656)
Date of Update:
30-Jun-25
- By Dr. Soumitra Basu
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