Book Two. The Book of the Traveller of the Worlds
Canto I Canto II Canto III Canto IV
Canto V
Canto VI Canto VII Canto VIII
Canto IX
Canto X Canto XI Canto XII
Canto XIII Canto XIV
Canto XV
Book Two
The Book of the Traveller of the Worlds
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Book Two: Canto 2 The Kingdom of the Subtle Matter
It forms a protective shield to the material world, intercepting the charge of the higher Light and Power and allowing only so much of it as can be borne by it without it breaking under the impact. It functions as a regulating channel to the downflow of the Powers from above. The source of all movements creative of Beauty, Delight and Grace is there in the subtle physical world. But only a fragment of the true inspiration received there is able to get through to this world of gross matter. There is no gulf between Matter and Soul, between Mind and Form. Each truth finds its natural expression without deformation. Form does not conceal but reveals. This subtle world is the first station of the human soul after its exit from the physical world on its way to the higher realms; the subtle physical embodiment is the radiant vehicle of the soul after it has shed the grosser body. With all its glitter, however, this world is not all safe. Attractive and delightful though it is on its summits, it has dangerous gulfs on its lower levels. Peril is clothed in beauty, danger is invested with charm. The beginnings of what ensues in death on earth are here in its nether planes. All on earth is a diminished figure of what obtains in this world of subtle Matter—power, beauty, knowledge. The decadence from its perfect types culminates in the chaotic disintegration on the plane of gross Matter. In spite of this fall, the earth is a nurse of souls. For hidden in its being is a Divinity that presses for manifestation. It becomes articulate as a Force of Consciousness that insists on building on earth all that has been envisaged by the Creative Spirit. This labouring Force becomes self-aware in Man and in him and through him seeks to found Immortality in this field of death. And this is possible because the earth is not alone. There are constant influxes of Light and Powerfrom the Higher Consciousness through the various planes of the graded Existence. The original Idea goes on exerting pressure for realisation and through a series of attempts, some half-lived, some imperfect,—what with its incomplete instruments—evolving Nature moves step by step nearer fulfilment. The Divine Spirit above motivates all upward strivings; it holds all that is manifest in its dynamic Oneness. All creation is one in this Spirit. Each plane in this vast Creation seeks to manifest this Truth in its characteristic way and form. There is a higher Nature at work in the higher planes above this terrestrial universe and it manifests the Godhead in perfect forms and undiminished intensities of Knowledge, Beauty, Love and Bliss. This creative dynamis is there in man too, but it is latent in his depths, throwing up jets of its power occasionally and, even then only briefly. This subtle world immediately above this material world of ours is unique for its beauty, the symmetry of its forms, the perfect layout of its designs. Within its limits it is a perfect world and all in that world is happy to stay in that perfection. There is no effort for progress, for self-exceeding; consequently there is no failure, no pain. There is no room here for the stretchings and variations of the Infinite Spirit, All is fixed in a frame of beauty. The Soul stands almost lost to sight behind this plethora of beauteous forms and riotous hues. Nature is content to luxuriate in the enchanting play of her joyous rhythm and bright felicities. Aswapathy regards this enchanting scene with wonder, tarries there for a while, but his soaring spirit will not rest there. From this brilliant threshold he passes on to the larger spaces of a greater world.
In
the impalpable field of secret self, In the common view of things the physical body with its mind and life constitutes almost the whole of man, with the soul or self within—when it is admitted to be existing—occupying a very small portion of the being. The outer and the visible is the larger; the inner and the invisible is the smaller. But in truth, the position is the other way round—the secret self is greater and vaster than the outer body. Spiritual experience speaks of the soul carrying the body in its hold. This self and the expanse of its direct operation—its field—is not felt or seen by the physical senses which are limited in their range by the materiality of their physical base and form. Nevertheless the secret self exists in its operative power and it supports and makes possible the existence of the outer being of man.
He
came into a magic crystal air This inner domain of the soul is a world in itself. It is differently constituted from the outer world and it is less weighed down by the dense pull of matter. Free from the obscurities of the material world, the breath of this realm is lighter, clearer, more enchanting. Here is a life that is not dependent upon the physical body and its senses. Here also is a light that is other than the physical light in the outer world which shows up only physical objects; this light brings into view what is not material and therefore not visible to the physical eye. It is a subtler light that illumines subtler objects.
A
fine degree in wonder’s hierarchy, In this inner hemisphere there is a hierarchy of worlds, each world more wonderful than the one below it. The first of these worlds that one meets on leaving this material world behind is the world of subtle matter. The substance of this world is subtler than the substance of the world of physical Matter; it is less hard and rigid, more supple and plastic, allowing more scope to the action of the Force operating in it. The formations of this world are more variegated, more changeful of form than those of the material world. There is a spectacular plane of lights, colours, figures, symbols in this Kingdom of subtle Matter which forms the picturesque front, as it were, of the bright, profound, inner universe facing the outer.
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world of lovelier forms lies near to ours, The subtle physical world is a world of Beauty. But there is a good deal of deformation of form, malformation, in the material universe due to interference by the forces of Ignorance, of Inconscience, of Falsehood which prevent the soul of things from acquiring its just and adequate form of expression. There is a gulf between the conception and the execution, with the result that forms do not normally correspond to their ensouling truths, are not their natural figurations, and consequently fall short of their intended beauty. It is not so in the world of subtle Matter where truths spontaneously assume their natural forms and all is genuine, all is beautiful. This world is the origin of all that is beautiful on earth, the source of all movements that aspire for the expression of the Beautiful.
In
that lucent ambiance mystically clear In this bright lit world there are no shades of obscurity and darkness; there is a profound clearness everywhere. The subtler senses awaken and all experience has a heavenly quality. What one hears are notes of harmony, what one touches conveys the feel of charm and beauty and what one breathes is an invigorating air of calm strength.
There
dwell earth-nature’s shining origins: This world of subtle Matter is the immediate origin of all that takes place on the earth, in the physical world. Here are determined all the movements that precipitate themselves in earth-life. What truths are to be manifested and in what form, which possibilities are to be allowed to work themselves out and on what lines, is decided on this plane. Things move and effectuate themselves on earth largely according to the pattern that is set there above. For every form here on earth there is an original counterpart in the subtle physical world. The ends towards which forces on earth are striving are already pre-figured there in the higher world.
Attempted
vainly now or won in vain, Desire is the main motive-force of action in earth-life. Goaded by desire, much effort is thrown in by the energies active in Nature; some of it fails to achieve its purpose or comes to naught, while successes achieved prove to be disappointing in their results. The precise time, the form and the manner in which the victories of the Earth-Nature will be achieved, however, are all prefigured in the subtle physical world. Attempts on the material plane are successful or unsuccessful, now or later, according to the previous determination on the subtle material plane.
The
golden issue of mind’s labyrinth plots, The human mind pursues vague objectives without clearly knowing its way thereto; it improvises, it constructs, it leaves abruptly, takes fresh routes and generally loses itself in a maze of its own making. However, the goal, which it perceives but vaguely and is unable to arrive at here, is there in the higher world patent and bright in its fullness. So also many treasures of the manifesting Spirit either not perceived or not secured though glimpsed by the striving life-energies of man, are found there in their purity, uncontaminated by the ignorance and disabilities of the mind of man.
Our
vague beginnings are overtaken there, All movements here on earth are present there in the world of the subtle physical. What appear to be inchoate beginnings here are already found there in developed form; all the stages of the developing process there are graphed out significantly and even the results of movements are foreseen and exist vibrant.
This
brilliant roof of our descending plane, In the gradation of planes that are formed in the descent of the Spirit, each plane represents in the downward incline—a growing densification of the Consciousness. Each plane is more gross in its constitution than the one preceding it above but more subtle than the one following it below. The world of subtle Matter immediately above the material universe acts as an intercepting wall between the worlds above it and the earth below; it also acts as a wholesome shield, a shock-absorber, against the open impact of the higher forms on the earth-being. For the earth-nature is not yet evolved enough to bear the full descent of the Powers of the Spirit; it can hold only a diminished charge and the subtle physical layers above act as a diminishing agent and let pass only what the earth can bear. Thus it prevents the direct reception of the workings of the Spirit’s Powers, and canalises down only what the earth can receive without breaking.
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passage for the Powers that move our days, Whatever the appearance, the life of man is largely influenced and shaped by Powers that are occult to the physical sense. Even the element of human will is turned into an instrument of these greater Powers behind the veil. The subtle physical world—behind this physical world—to which man often repairs in his dream state, acts as a passage to these Powers that are stationed in the still higher planes of life, mind and spirit. Here also the ideas and thoughts of the mind plane begin to assume form before they enter into the atmosphere of the physical world in their organised formations.
Heaven’s
meanings steal through it as through a veil, The real significance of what happens here on earth is to be found in spheres that are occult and above the earth-region. There things are planned and originated with an end that is perceived and projected at the same time. Events in the material world are only the workings of processes that have been initiated far above. These truths slowly communicate themselves, as conditions get ready, through the intervening regions of subtle Matter. Their active presence and concentration in the subtle world supports the workings in the grosser world. What takes place on the arena of outer life is based upon this inner dynamic vision.
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finer consciousness with happier lines, Though the Consciousness that pervades the entire Cosmos is essentially one, it formulates itself differently on different planes according to the principles of Being that base them. In this material universe the manifest Consciousness is coloured and weighed down by the density and grossness of physical Matter. This physical world has elements of obscurity that bring in deviation and friction in its workings; its nature is mechanical and it is shot through with the impurities of ignorance and sub-conscience. But this is not so in the world of subtle Matter; there the consciousness is lighter, finer, purer, more vibrant, sensitive, and harmonious in its workings.
Its
intercession with the eternal Ray Most strivings at expression of beauty, symmetry and harmony in forms on earth—however incomplete and failing—are really rooted in impulsions from this finer Consciousness in the world immediately above the physical. That Consciousness is closely linked with the eternal Light of Truth and canalises something of its Perfection for expression upon earth.
In
rooms of the young divinity of power This subtle physical is a region of the dream-world where conceptions, ideations, gatherings of power, brood, as it were, absorbing and forming themselves in its soothing clarifies, invigorated in the intensities of this marvellous world, before they enter into the waking earth-world for expression. It is a world of preparation for the manifestation of the Spirit in the material world.
All that here seems has lovelier semblance there. The forms that things have on earth do not fully answer to the truths they embody. They are not complete, not in the image of the figure cast for them in the original conception of the creative Idea. The true forms in their native beauty and delightful appeal are there in the subtle physical world. Each form here has its fuller counterpart there.
Whatever
our hearts conceive, our heads create, Behind every idea that man conceives in himself and his intellect processes into action, there is a truth-possibility urging for expression from this higher world. But in the process of translation into actuality on earth, it suffers a diminution due to the limiting and deforming elements of Ignorance and Inconscience in the material world. The form achieved fails to correspond to the pattern cast in the higher world.
Whatever
is here of visible charm and grace Beauty is divinity in Form. Each effort at the production of something beautiful represents an urge of the Spirit to manifest in its aspect of Beauty, sundaram. But under the prevailing conditions of imperfection and even perversion in this physical world, no form succeeds in figuring the full and perfect beauty that it is intended to express. That perfect figure in all the lineations of beauty that is divine is found there in the subtle physical world.
Figures
are there undreamed by mortal mind: This subtle world contains not merely the ideal forms of the imperfect ones on earth. There is much else there which has not yet entered into the earth-atmosphere. There are forms and figures in this world which have no correspondence here below. But they can be perceived in their beauteous shapes by the inner sight, experienced in their delightful intensities by the deeper heart. It is a veritable heaven of beauty and marvel.
The
future’s marvels wander in its gulfs; Possibilities yet to enter into the field of realisation, still gestating, are there awaiting their hour. Things that are on the earth already and those that are to come are all first hatched, as it were, in the pro-founds of the subtle physical world. In the higher regions of that world approaching the still higher and greater worlds of Life, the Beauty and Harmony that prevail are festive—a scene of joyous happiness. All is enchanting in this domain of perfect pattern.
In
its antechambers of splendid privacy Unlike as in the material universe where the Soul is lost in self-forgetfulness in its identification with material Nature—thus originating the rule of Inconscience and Ignorance which lead to so much deviation, error and suffering,—in this world of subtle Matter, the Soul retains its full consciousness of the Purusha in its oneness with Nature. The subtle material Nature executes faultlessly the will of the Soul and the Soul takes full joy and delight in her workings. Soul and Nature mingle in a joyous unity which is reflected in the oneness of their creation.
Intruder
from the formless Infinite Something in the formless Infinite conceives the possibility of taking form and this starts a creative movement. The Spirit desires to embody itself in a concrete form and it takes a bold plunge which culminates in the formation of dense Matter grounded on the Inconscient. The beginnings of this Matter are in the world of the subtle material; here the descending Spirit experiences the first touch of Matter and its laws.
As
yet unwrapped in earthly lineaments, Here in the world of subtle Matter, the spirit is not yet enclosed in the mortal form of the physical world. The form it has woven around itself corresponds to its intrinsic nature of immortality. It is capable of undergoing the mutations of the creative process and the procession in Time without cessation. It bears the message of the Immortal Light to the depths of mortal obscurity.
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tissue mixed of the soul’s radiant light This subtle material body is significantly different from the gross physical body on earth. It is lit with the lustre of the soul, not obscure and dense, smothering the soul, like the other. Its element of Matter is more a concretisation of a multi-significant Force than an imprisoning mould. The mind tries to conceive of such a glorious body-vehicle but it ultimately delegates it to the realm of phantasy. This subtle body has its own subtle senses that range far wider and deeper than the physical senses. It is more enduring, and, in a sense, more indestructibly concrete than the gross material body.
After
the falling of mortality’s cloak When, at the moment of death, the physical body is shed, the many-sheathed vehicle of the soul becomes lighter. The weight of gross matter and the downward pull of its basic inconscience are got rid of and the subtle body is freer to ascend to the higher planes of existence in the transition to its destination.
Refined
to the touch of finer environments Above the world of dense Matter, open realms of subtle and still subtler orders of existence and the subtle body, as it enters them, absorbs their vibrations, gets nourished in their elements of purity and lightness. It leaves behind the denser legacies of the past, frees itself from the hold and pull of the lower obscurities of the sub-conscience and Inconscience and journeys with its indwelling soul from world to world—from the subtle physical to the worlds of the vital domains, from thence to the worlds of the mental planes and thus on to higher and higher planes of consciousness.
Till
in the naked ether of the peaks The soul that thus travels from plane to higher plane, sheds its sheaths one after the other in their respective worlds: the vital sheath in the vital world, the mental sheath in the mental world and so on. This progressive dispossession of the sheaths or veils continues till, on the summits of the rarefied planes of the Spirit, it leaves the being ultimately in its sheer spirit-form—that original form which veils it not but acts as a robe transparent.
But
when it must come back to its mortal load But the soul which has been launched into manifestation cannot stay for long in its world of rest. After the assimilation of the experiences gathered in the previous embodiment is complete, it is ready for the next round of experiences needed for its further growth, and descends again to the earth-field and assumes the dense, mortal body natural to earth-nature. It is by repeated births and progressive growth in the field of experience and evolution on earth that the being reaches its objective of conscious embodiment and manifestation of the divine Spirit.
For
long before earth’s solid vest was forged The subtle realms from those bright sheaths are made. The material body assembled by the aggregation of atoms by physical Nature is not the sole encasement of the evolving soul. Prior to this encasement, it is provided with a subtler body, lighter and luminous with the stuff of finer substances. But even this subtle body—in spite of its brightness—conceals the true nature of the spirit-being within it. The same holds good for the macrocosm also.
This
wonder-world with all its radiant boon Each world in this graded Creation has its own unique principle of which it is an organised expression. The subtle material world strives for perfection of form; each truth finds its expression in a form of utmost beauty. This world of wonder is filled with bright views and there is happiness there that is unbroken.
Fair
on its peaks, it has dangerous nether planes; However, all is not wholesome and safe in this world. Pleasing and nourishing it is in its upper realms; but in its lower reaches where it is nearing its lapse into the gross material plane of Creation, there are regions that are dangerous. They too have an appearance that is enchanting, but their misleading exterior hides dreadful abysses. Powerful beings abound in these domains casting a spell with their attractiveness, but they are evil and malevolent. Even the obviously harmful formations of greed, passion, violence, desire appear and move in forms of appealing grace and beauty.
Its
trance imposes earth’s inconscience, All that takes place on earth, in this material Universe, has its roots in the subtle physical world. The workings there are transcribed here, some imperfectly, some pervertedly. The self-gathering of the creative Consciousness there results here in an exclusive concentration lapsing into self-forgetfulness. Though Nature in that world is immortal—free from decay and disintegration—it undergoes here the process of mortality for thus alone could the Immortal work out its gradual reign in the terrestrial universe. Under the conditions of Inconscience and Ignorance prevailing here, forms need to undergo change, dissolution and renewal from time to time, otherwise there would be only stagnation and perpetuation of Ignorance. Death ensures a progressive evolution of life.
This
medium serves a greater Consciousness: This plane of subtle Matter, standing between the plane of physical Matter below and the still subtler plane of life, mind etc. above, acts as a transmuting filter to the greater Consciousness from the heights of Existence seeking to manifest on earth. It absorbs its intensities and passes on as much and such of the charge as the earth can bear. It bears within itself the unexpressed intensities of the Consciousness-Force and forms the base for the worlds of physical Matter that issue from it. In all the changing forms of these worlds, the basic unchanging stuff is from the plane of subtle Matter.
In
the folds of its creative memory The permanent archetypes of all forms on physical earth are there in the subtle physical region. Forms on earth are continually striving to shape themselves in the mould of their original perfect types above. The forces and powers that are active on earth are only diminished and imperfect derivations from the Powers that are projected from there with reduced strengths to suit the conditions on earth. The faculties and workings of reason here—operating in the shadow of an overall Ignorance—are the off-shoots of the subtler thought-mind above. Even the movements of the physical body are ultimately derived from and influenced by the subtle sense movements in the higher world.
Our
secret breath of untried mightier force, The force that operates in the life of man is normally limited to meet the needs of his superficial life. But that is only a working arrangement of Nature. Behind that operation, sustaining it, is an untapped reservoir of force from the subtle physical world, almost unlimited in extent, much more intense in quality. Further, though the sight of man As normally turned outward and lost in external phenomena, there are moments when his eye turns within and catches fleeting glimpses of a glory that is supernormal. The Light that reveals this inner splendour, however briefly, comes from the subtle physical plane.
Its
fine suggestions are a covert fount All the bright movements of human imagination that are the beginnings of developments leading to striking progress and advance in the various spheres of life are really prompted from this veiled source of the subtle material. It is due to impulsions from there that movements are set afoot on earth which gradually or rapidly result in common things being uplifted to an uncommon beauty: the poverty of barren Matter transformed into a luxuriant opulence and from the fallen state of the soul the emerging of a Radiance.
Its
knowledge is our error’s starting-point; The source of all that exists in this material world is in the subtle material. Only, things assume a distorted form in the process of transmission from above into this field based upon Inconscience and covered with Ignorance. What is knowledge there becomes error here; what is beautiful there gets deformed into ugliness here; what is good there turns into evil here. The forces of Ignorance and Falsehood twist and pervert movements originating from there into forms that are totally the opposite of their original nature.
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heaven of creative truths above, Out of its fall our denser Matter came. This subtle physical realm is not all of one piece. On its summits, reaching to the still higher regions in creation, it is a play of creative truths that are gathered for manifestation on earth. In its mid-region, it is an ordered harmony of forces and movements preparing behind the veil to precipitate their truths into the field of manifestation below. At the lowest where it touches and fuses into the material domain, the state is one of disintegration, a breaking-up; forms that are precast undergo a disintegrating change and the whole creative movement loses itself in the pro-founds of the Inconscience. From this self-oblivion of the subtle material creation emerges the gross physical Matter of which our earth is formed.
Thus taken was God’s plunge into the Night.
This
fallen world became a nurse of souls It was by a process of increasing densification that the creative Divine Consciousness involved itself into a complete self-oblivion at the lowest end of its devolutionary course. What was a free, self-aware and all-aware Consciousness turned into a Nescience. From the depths of this Nescience, based upon its state of Inconscience this material world has emerged. In this world are born souls that are to evolve and grow to their full stature. This world acts as their field of growth. This it is able to do because, despite all appearances to the contrary, within this material formation and movement which looks mechanical and devoid of consciousness, there is enwombed the Divine Consciousness that not only dwells inside but presses for release and growth in terms of manifestation. It is this factor of the concealed Divine Consciousness that makes the material movement meaningful and productive.
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Being woke and lived in the meaningless void, Out of this barrenness of Non-Being, asat, a Being, sat, has come to be. Where there was nothing and where there was none, the One has taken birth and come to live. Out of an inert, pervading Nescience has emerged a Movement that struggles towards life and Consciousness. Out of a blank trance of Inconscience has sprung the jet of Consciousness. All this has been possible because of the Divinity which is concealed in the womb of things and which is incessantly active, pushing to manifest.
All here is driven by an insentient will. All movement in this universe is directed. Nothing is fortuitous, nothing really mechanical. Behind every movement there is the compulsion of a will which, however, is not articulate sensationally; that is why it is not patent on the surface. All the same the Will exists; the Will acts. It is in truth the projection of the Will in the Idea that has preceded this Creation. Though on the material plane this Will is involved and hence is insentient in its workings, it forms and communicates itself differently on other levels of existence—those of life, mind etc.—as the Consciousness emerges more and more into overt activity.
Thus
fallen, inconscient, frustrate, dense, inert, This earth represents a total oblivion of the Conscious Spirit in inconscience, immobility and dense obscurity All is a dead desert at the beginning. And yet out of its Womb arises a creation that is a wonder: out of nescience emerges consciousness, out of immobility comes movement, out of darkness gleams light. This creative movement is impelled by the involved spirit which retains in its depths the awareness of the truth-idea that is at the source of all becoming and urges its expression, however contrary the conditions be. The active delight of existence inherent in the creative Consciousness lapses into a complete insensibility with the plunge of the Consciousness into Nescience—a state anterior to the appearance of the material Earth in Creation.
This
mire must harbour the orchid and the rose, This earth is constituted of Matter which is insentient, obscure and dense. And yet out of this soil slowly emerges a creation that is developing features of beauty and delight, features that are more natural to domains that are not subject to the rule of inconscience and death as the earth is. This emergence is due to the presence and pressure of a diviner Element within the earth-being seeking to manifest.
This
is the destiny bequeathed to her, The Nature-Force that acts on earth may appear to be blind and mechanical in its workings; the soul of this Nature-Being may be circumscribed by the limiting conditions of ignorance, incapacity and death, but they are charged with a mission—to manifest the Glory that is Divine. The creative Godhead that plunged into this Nescience in the course of its involutive movement has planted this seed out of which the manifestation shall blossom.
An
immortal godhead’s perishable parts The task before Mother-Earth is indeed difficult. Out of total inconscience, she has to build up consciousness; out of insentience, delight; out of death, life. The creative Godhead has in effect lost these potencies in its self-forgetful involution in the culmination of its descent. Evolving Earth has to re-form and rebuild them in the pattern of the Divine Idea that broods at the source of all Creation in the Truth-plane and thus justify her role as the divinely missioned Agent and field of the cosmic manifestation.
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residue her sole inheritance, What the Earth starts with is only a fraction of the Spirit whose infinity has been lost in the fragmentation of form, whose consciousness is all but lost in Nescience. What is left after a series of devolutionary movements is a speck of the Spirit, the soul embodied in Matter of which the Earth is the representative formation. And yet all the possibilities inherent in the Movement of manifestation originating from the Supreme are there embedded in seed form, as it were, in this soul cast in the indeterminacy of Matter.
Her
giant energy tied to petty forms The Earth-Nature is endowed with a mighty Power whose incalculable energies, however, are obliged to work in set, limited grooves, through imperfect and limiting instruments with diminished force to suit the improvised vehicles. Her motions are slow and tentative, but the task set for and accepted by her as imperative to her existence is huge—a task beyond the capacity of the Gods. This she has entrusted to man, the crown of her long labour of evolution. What is not possible for the Gods who are beings of the typal worlds can be possible for man who works in the field of evolution, this world of change and progress.
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life living hardly in a field of death And this is the labour set for man: To win immortality in the domains of mortality. All in this material world is subject to the movement of disintegration, decay and death. The rule of death is so pervasive and incessant that life seems to be an erratic marvel, a transient exception. It is a wonder how life manages to survive, however briefly, in such a hostile environment. It does so because inherent in life-force is a secret immortal element. On its own plane above the physical, life is beyond death, immortal—it is a projection of the supreme cit-Sakti, Consciousness-Force. It is now seeking to affirm its immortal truth in Matter, on Earth. Everywhere the movement of life is to establish itself, energise its material forms and prolong itself as long as possible. Life is steadily asserting itself against the pull of death.
A brute half-conscious body serves as means The means to work out this high objective is the physical body. The body is the base on which man holds himself, organises his evolutionary movement. It supports his life-effort by its solidity of material structure but it also handicaps him by its denseness, its strong element of unconsciousness and sub-consciousness which vitiate and clog much of his effort towards growth in life and consciousness.
A mind that must recover a knowledge lost Man is essentially a mental being. His main instrument for action and progress is the mind. But this mind is imperfect, incomplete. It is not in possession of knowledge. The knowledge of what is and what is to be, the truth-perception inherent in the Real Idea at the origin of Creation has been lost in the culmination of the devolutionary movement of the Spirit. The mind is striving to recover this knowledge; it is still an ignorance groping towards knowledge.
Held in stone-grip by the world’s inconscience, Further, man is weighed down by the hold of the inconscience over his material body and its pull on all that is encased in it. At the base of his physical structure is this hard encrustation of inconscience. And the operations of this inconscience are hard to break. They dim, they limit the movements of everything that evolves from and in Matter: the life, the mind etc. All is held—directly or indirectly—in the vice-like grip of the law of inconscience.
And
wearing still these countless knots of Law Such is man, an evolving spirit in embodiment, subjected to multiple limitations: obscurities of Matter, ceaseless pressures of disintegration and decay on life, blinding shadows of ignorance dogging the mind. On each level of his being he is constricted by different factors. And still it is he whom Earth-Nature is preparing to emerge as the sovereign issue of her aeonic evolutionary labour.
A mighty kinship is this daring’s cause.
All
we attempt in this imperfect world, This bold attempt by Earth-Nature is inspired and supported by a Higher Nature with which she has a constant relationship. Everything that is striven for on earth—however imperfect and incomplete—points to something that has already been conceived and cast in perfect form on the creative plane of Truth above this world of possibilities in the duration of time. The movement of evolution is impelled from within by a memory of this perfect pattern even as it is drawn to it as to a magnet.
To
seize the absolute in shapes that pass, Here on earth there is a continual movement from incompleteness to progressive completeness, from imperfection to growing perfection. All is in incessant change: forms are built, tried, cast away and replaced by others in an attempt to embody the Infinite which is beyond form, to house the Timeless in products of a creation governed by time. In the measure in which this effort is successful, the compulsive law of perfection is fulfilled.
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fragment here is caught of heaven’s design; But for this subtle pressure from the Truth-plane where are the archetypes of all things evolving in manifestation, life on earth could only move in mechanical grooves without any real issue. Fortunately, something of the Truth-pattern above is perceived—however fragmentarily—and evolving Nature strives to render this perception in terms of life here on earth. There is a deliberate effort to uplift and shape the life-movement nearer the intended design and, in the process, all the joy and thrill of that adventure.
Even
in the littleness of our mortal state, Man is extremely limited in the range of his faculties; his life-force and life-span are conditioned by many forces of decay and disintegration. His material body instead of being a sound vehicle for the radiations and workings of his soul acts as a confining enclosure. Still, in spite of all these adverse factors, the Consciousness-Force of the Spirit is active, cuts across the thick barriers of density and obscurity of Matter and vitalised Matter, and forges for itself a luminous channel for its action.
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Splendour presses or a Power breaks through, Through the passage so effected a Higher Light moves in, a greater Power descends and the obstinate barriers of the material formations recede, with the result that man’s vision is freed—for the time—from the opacities of inconscience and he receives and embodies greater charges of power for creation. Man begins to see clearly and act effectively as a result of an ingression of Higher Light and a descent of a mightier Power.
The
enthusiasm of a divine surprise When such a descent of Power or revelation of Splendour takes place from on high, one is filled with elation and the thrill of the unexpected. One feels within a throb of something that defies mental understanding. There courses through the body an intense joy that almost borders on pain. A new state of being comes into existence.
A
dream of beauty dances through the heart, In this state of upliftment, intimations from above, from the planes of truths that are preparing to manifest out of the bosom of the Infinite, come down in the form of revelation, in the form of inspiration. The heart receives an image that trails waves of delight in its wake; the mind opens to a new thought from the eternal Idea. They are the pointers, the first indications of fresh truths from the Reality emerging into creation.
But
soon the inert flesh responds no more, Mortal nature, however, cannot bear this pressure from the supernal planes for long. Pulled down by inertia and the weight of the inconscient below, it tires and its energies flag. It can no more support the action of the higher Power and Bliss; their waves recede, leaving behind merely some characteristic remnants of their workings. Though what thus remains is new to earth, a gift wonderful and striking in appearance, it is only a skeletal figure of what had been vouchsafed but could not be held.
Earth’s
eyes half see, her forces half create; Blinded by ignorance, limited in the range of their faculties, men see but imperfectly. They get only partial glimpses of truths and even what they so see, they lack the necessary power to render faithfully. With their limited capacities they succeed in creating only partially what is seeking expression. That is why even the best that is created on earth is a pale imitation of the original in its own place above. All that is created here in the physical world derives from its archetype in the supra-physical planes. The origin is there above. But the true pattern of things as determined there fails to get through due to several vitiating and distorting factors in its transmission into the terrestrial world and what is reproduced here—even at its best—is a lifeless figure, however exact in formal execution.
A
radiance of a golden artifice, Thus it is that creation on earth, however skilful in technique, splendid in form, fails to manifest truths as they are. Here in the terrestrial world form conceals, it does not reveal the ensouling truth. Things only imitate but do not recapture on earth the perfect forms that inhere in the creative Idea of the Supreme. All forms on earth are distant, transient, approximations of the original self-projection of the Reality cast and held for ever in the Real-Idea at the head of Creation.
Here
in a difficult half-finished world This world of our earth is not a typal world, complete in itself, like those in the planes above it. It is an evolving world, still incomplete, forging its way across the opposition of the downward pull of the Inconscience in Matter, the resistance of the ubiquitous Ignorance that envelopes it. The Powers that exert themselves to effect this onward march on the path of evolution are themselves not fully conscious; their energies are mechanical in their execution and their speed is necessarily slow under the adverse conditions obtaining. Man is the highest product of this evolutionary movement and is its leader. But the mind which is his main instrument is ignorant; it does not know; it makes guesses at truth. Even his special capacities are rooted in the material base of Inconscience and carry the legacy of that infirmity in their very constitution.
To copy on earth’s copies is his art. With all these imperfections besetting his faculties, with the narrow vision of his ignorant mind, man achieves little on his own. As a rule he repeats what Earth-Nature has already done. He follows in the grooves already made by Nature and consequently he registers little advance. He studies the processes of material Nature and adopts them for his own progress; he does not go beyond them.
For
when he strives for things surpassing earth, And when he does try to exceed the formulations of Earth-Nature he finds how inadequate are his instruments of action, his faculties, internal and external, how insensate and resistant the material out of which he is to create. He pours his best energies into the effort but all that he is able to achieve is pitifully wanting; the forms he builds for embodying the truths that seek to manifest are too inadequate and perishable to serve the purpose. He is unable to provide a permanent and lasting edifice for the Eternal to dwell on earth; what he erects are structures that change and need to be changed with the flow of time.
Our
being thrills with high far memories All the same man goes on attempting to create what is beyond the extant formulations of Nature. That is because something in him—his inmost being, his soul—remembers, however faintly, things as they are on the highest planes of its own existence and this memory urges him to work for their projection here on earth. But conditions in this world of Ignorance are not yet ready to allow their manifestation without diminution and vitiation; they remain intact in their own home of Glory.
Absolute
they dwell, unborn, immutable, Thus do the marvels of Truth-creation remain beyond this manifestation in the terrestrial world, pure, unchanging, undying, in their own realm where Time is not of the earthly kind—not durational but still—and Space is not earthly either—not an extension but a sheer existence of the Self. Time and Space are of several kinds, each plane having its own time and its own space, e.g. the time and space experienced in dream are totally different from those experienced in the waking state.
Only
when we have climbed above ourselves, As long as man accepts and is content to work within the limitations of his mortal nature in ignorance, his life cannot expand beyond the terrestrial formula; he is bound to remain imperfect, incomplete. But if by effort of conscious evolution he exceeds the formulation of his limited human nature, it is possible for him to go beyond this creation in Ignorance. His consciousness is taken up by a greater and freer Consciousness that links him to the highest existence, the perfect and eternal truth.
It
brings to us the inevitable word, And from the plane of Truth descend in the being of man Truth-Knowledge, Truth-Power. His consciousness receives the right Knowledge, the living Idea-form, the exact expression for it, and the indispensable Power to effectuate the Truth as transmitted from above. The Knowledge that comes is not the tentative seizure of the mind groping in ignorance; it is a direct perception of the truth. The thought that clothes it is not an unsure product of the fallible thinking faculty; it is the real idea form of the truth. The word that comes to express it is not a diminishing vehicle of the human type; it is the pure, transparent sound-body of the truth. The power to dynamise the truth is not the inadequate and obscure labouring force of mortal man that fails or only half-succeeds in its purpose; it is a luminous and self-effective power that fulfils itself.
A
ripple of light and glory wraps the brain, At such moments of revelation and inspiration the brain channel gets lit up and charged with an intensity that lasts till the transmission is effected. But no sooner is that done than the characteristic workings of nature in ignorance reassert themselves, cover up the higher passage and begin to dilute the contents of the intimations.
As
the mind’s visitors or the heart’s guests These illuminations from the higher spheres may appear on the horizon of the mind or rise from the depths of the heart. They hold themselves in the human receptacles as long as their charge can be borne—which is not very long—and work as best they can under the limiting and interfering conditions of this material world. Occasionally the human consciousness itself catches, in its high leaps, some glimpses of these intimations. And these glimpses, however fleeting and incomplete they may be, are truly liberative.
Although
beginnings only and first attempts, These intimations from above that drop into the world of man are in the nature of first essayings of the higher Consciousness to enter and organise itself in humanity. They come repeatedly and establish links for a passage. They serve to remind man of the truth that this mortal world of his present existence is not all, to point out that the secret of his life is elsewhere in a vaster, immortal existence and that his high destiny—though veiled to his normal vision—prospects a transforming change in him.
What
we are there and here on earth shall be Man is not a static being, fixed in a type given by Nature. He is an entity in a constant becoming, developing today into what he was not yesterday and moving into a state tomorrow that is not his today. This becoming is determined by his essential being. Being determines the Becoming. And this truth of the being of man is on the heights of his self; what he is there governs what he shall be here. This potentiality and the possibility of realising it is revealed to man again and again by the higher intimations that at once show him the goal and summon him to strive to that end.
As
yet earth’s imperfection is our sphere, Both man’s instrumental nature and the field of his operations are imperfect, limited in capacity and range. The encasement of body-life-mind of the real being of man,—his soul is opaque, dense with obscurities and the inner greatness is unable to get through. The light and power of the divinity seated within lies latent.
Earth’s
doubting future hides our heritage: In the context of the chequered history of the Earth, the constant rise and fall of the curve of life of her peoples, it may appear doubtful if she has any worthwhile future at all. But behind the conflicting appearances there is an unmistakable line of development which points to the destiny reserved for man. The Light from above whose rays touch man in moments of upliftment, the Might that flows down into him on occasions of real need, are on the way to establishing themselves permanently here. So too the Reality that has remained inexpressible hitherto will create its own means of expression; and the Immortal shall radiate in Matter making of this material body a glowing Form of Divinity. The mind, the life-force, the physical body shall turn into embodiments of supreme Knowledge, Power, Immortality; man shall become God.
The
Spirit’s greatness is our timeless source This material world is not an independent, self-sufficient creation "dl here is rooted in the Above, ūrdhvamūlam, in the vasts of the Spirit Eternal. From there originate all movements of consequence here. And this Glory of the Spirit is not only the real source but also the ultimate goal of all movements on earth. Everything evolves in this direction. Matter, Life, Mind, Soul are in a process of development that is leading to a culmination in which each shall find its perfection in the unveiled Spirit beyond the flux of time.
A vast Unknown is round us and within; Man knows but little of himself. He is aware of only a fragment of his being, the little that constitutes the surface complex of his body, life, mind. He is hardly conscious of his greater subtle physical being, the inner physical, the inner and truer life-being, the inner and larger mind, much less of his deepest soul. There are ranges of the subliminal and there are belts of the subconscient most of which he does not know. If he is thus unaware of most of his own being, he is still less aware of the great forces and movements that course behind the external surfaces in the universe around him. The vaster planes of existence that overtop and surround this physical universe and the workings therein are unknown to him. Both within and without what he knows is insignificant compared to the much that still remains to be known.
All
things are wrapped in the dynamic One: The universe is a creation of an innumerable multiplicity of forms and names, forces and movements. But this multiplicity is not a disparate collection. All that is in the creation is enclosed in a unity. The Many comprise the One. This One, however, is not a static Unity, forming a kind of background to the Many. It is a dynamic Reality that manifests out of its Oneness the Many. The One throws up the Many of which it is the origin, the constituent and the goal. It is thus an active Oneness that bases and governs the Many. This Oneness, though veiled by divisive appearance, is nevertheless a fact on a subtler level of existence and holds all together.
Thus
all creation is a single chain: This earth-world would appear to a material intelligence to be a creation sole and entire, with a mechanical material energy acting from below and an Above that is beyond the earth-experience. But in truth it is not so. This physical world is a part of a gradation of worlds that constitute a manifestation of the One Divine. This cosmos is not only created, but maintained, guided and led to its goal by the Divine Intelligence that dwells in it, individually and collectively. It is not left to itself. Nor does it live by itself; there is a constant communication and interchange with the other worlds that overtop it. All together interdependent, interpenetrating, constitute one creation.
Our
life is a spur in a sublime soul-range, The real life of man is not confined to the range of the physical senses nor to the roof of the mind encased in living matter. Behind the surface open larger ranges, profound depths and unbounded heights: the domains of the inner being opening on the inmost soul. There life is not bound to its physical frame, but is a freer driving force; the being is not confined to the boundaries of the sense and thought mind but extends its faculties to farther ranges of consciousness. There goes on a constant interchange between the inner being and the worlds beyond the physical. For this physical world is not the only one in the creation. There are other worlds with larger and greater intensities of light and joy than this one.
There
are realms where Being broods in its own depths; Even these many worlds of manifestation are not all. Above and behind are realms of the Unmanifest. There are states of Consciousness in which the creative Being concentrates in itself, feels within its vastness those truths that press for expression and prepares them in its heat of incubation, tapas, for their transition from the state of boundless indeterminacy to that of determination by form, designation by name. What is thus manifested comes from the own Being of the Supreme, brought out by his own creative dynamism, Shakti, after a state of gestation.
Ineffable
beyond Ignorance and death, The creative Being is lost, as it were, in its self-communion. In this state of self-awareness, some of the truth-contents of its immortal Existence come up from their profounds and gaze at the possibilities opening before them to manifest. But they are still in an unformulated condition far above the touch of mortality.
As if
to its own inner witness gaze The Self, in this movement, regards in a concentrated gaze the various possibilities of the play of its eternal Consciousness, its splendorous Power, its ineffable Bliss that it is preparing to release into manifestation. Before the Many issue from the One, they are perceived, dwelt upon and charged with their mission by the brooding Spirit, sa tapo tapyata.
Thence
comes the mystic substance of our souls There in the creative trance of the Spirit is determined the line of manifestation each of its emanations is to follow, the precise truth to be worked out. And when the soul—a spark of the Spirit—takes birth in the form provided by Nature, it is instinct with this truth-seed. It is never cut off from its origin in the Supreme Spirit; on the summits of its being it shares in the glory of the creative Spirit and the source of all its aspiration and higher movements is there above constantly pulling it upwards.
On
every plane the hieratic Power, The Shakti, the Consciousness-Force of the Supreme in manifestation, builds the Creation on each of the graded planes of Existence. It formulates things on each plane in terms of the particular Principle that governs that plane with the result that the type of each graded world is different, distinctive. The Verities of the Divine in Becoming, born from its Being, cast and organised in seed form in its creative trance, are sought to be variously expressed on the various planes of this multiform Cosmos. The stress in manifestation differs from plane to plane though the Reality that so formulates itself is One.
Worlds
are there nearer to those absolute realms, All the planes in the Creation are not of the same kind. The formulated consciousness on each plane is of a different nature, and the working relation between the Truth-Existence above and these several worlds differs in accordance with their stage in the descent of the manifesting Consciousness which takes place through a series of increasing densifications of itself. In the higher domains, the consciousness is not so obscured as in our material world, for instance; forms are not so rigid as to act as imprisoning frames of the soul within, not so fragmented and separative as to divide each from the others. There, in planes which are nearer the highest Truth-creations, is a spontaneous working of the Truth-laws and an effortless manifestation of the Divine Verities of Love, Beauty, Bliss. These are natural in those realms.
A
finer substance in a subtler mould The Spirit in manifestation formulates itself in varying grades of substance on various planes, the densest being in physical Matter. The obscurities and opacities of this Matter-substance imposes severe limitations of form and movement. But these are less and less insistent as one moves upward in the scale of manifestation where the substance gets progressively subtler and finer. There on the higher planes, the divinity that ensouls form is palpable, not beyond grasp as on earth; its form is not gross and opaque but subtle and transparent. The movements of this embodied divinity are not cramped, missing their objectives. They are sure, rapid and self-fulfilling. There is an unfailing intuition guiding them; there is an unimpeded power carrying them to secure the lasting joy of life that eludes on earth.
A
Nature lifted by a larger breath, Unlike the material Nature on earth, subject to the incessant downward pull of inertia and inconscience, the higher Nature on the subtler planes is freed to function, capable of freely responding to whatever calls are made upon it by the manifesting Spirit. More supple, it does not resist the pressure of the reigning Consciousness-Force but readily receives and assimilates its workings. Even casual touches of that Force evoke immediate responses from that Nature which is both wider and higher in its reach than the terrestrial Nature.
It
hears the word to which our hearts are deaf, The capacities and the ranges of the faculties of this higher Nature are immensely superior to those of mortal nature. What the physical ears cannot hear, the higher hearing receives; higher sound-values of the Truth that the human audition cannot grasp are within the reach of that Nature. So too with sight; vision extends far beyond the human range. This progressing Nature perceives and follows the Vision of the Divine as the Beautiful, sundaram, that meets it in the vistas extending before it.
Thus
we draw near to the All-Wonderful Delight is the origin of this manifestation. Out of the Bliss of Brahman issues this creation, on an underlying Bliss it is sustained and towards an increasing unfoldment of Bliss it moves. Wherever there is this stamp of Bliss there is found a greater stress of the Creative Spirit: Bliss is the savour of fulfilment, raso vai sah. And this deep Bliss expresses itself in form as harmonious Beauty, in feeling as sheer Love, in natural formulation as a Happiness without any outward cause. In recognising these Verities in creation, wherever they are found, as concrete impressions of the especial pressure of the Divine Spirit and by pursuing them and letting them grow in one’s own consciousness, one grows nearer to the Marvel that is in manifestation, adbhuta.
A
communion of spiritual entities, This creation may appear to the outer eye as characterised by division all over; each in the universe is separate from all the others and the only contact between the disparate units is one of conflict. But that is only an appearance. Behind each external form there is a spiritual entity and all these entities are really one in consciousness; they commune in the oneness of their Self. Within all there pulsates One Consciousness which is active in its Force. This fact of an underlying Oneness active at a deeper level keeps the creation together as one Whole.
A
fourth dimension of aesthetic sense It is only as long as one is confined to the three dimensions—height, length, breadth—of the physical world that one feels separate from others. The individual pits himself against all the rest—the universe around. But there is another dimension—in consciousness—where one meets all and feels all as one, an area of beauty and bliss. There one’s heart throbs in unity with all on the bosom of the waves of delight: on this ground of the Self as bliss, all are felt within oneself and oneself as in all, sarvāni bhūtāni ātmani, sarvabhūteșu ca ātmānam. The original unity of the souls in the one Spirit is restored in this union of the individual with the universal.
A
kindling rapture joins the seer and seen; The division caused by Ignorance between form and form, between subject and object is healed by the thrill of delight which erupts from within. He who sees and that which is seen get identified in the flow of this delight. So also he who works in concentration and the technique he follows become one on some deeper level and in the heat of their joy of union produce perfect results. It is the manifestation of the underlying bliss that brings about the completing oneness and achieves perfection.
All
that we slowly piece from gathered parts, In the sphere where the joy of existence, the bliss of harmony, is dominant there is a natural perception and experience of Verities as they are. Here in the ways of Ignorance, the human mind works from without by assembling part after part to arrive at some whole, labours with chequered steps to produce some results; but where and when this deeper bliss of existence is active, there is no need of struggling labour. Things are naturally revealed in their true, native, perfect form.
In us
too the intuitive Fire can burn; This revelation of truths, the direct perception of them, so natural on the higher, subtler planes of existence, can be made possible here in the consciousness of man. For the Ray of Intuition, the flash of the Sun of Truth-Knowledge, has its station of radiation in the heart of man, however entangled and covered up it might be by layers of emotions, desires and the like which act like a cloud. The "own Home" of this Flame of Intuition is indeed high above on the Truth-planes, but in the process of the manifestation, it can and does descend here, first occasionally, then at intervals and then consistently as the human consciousness is more and more uplifted, purified and receptive. It descends and as its operations get organised in the human consciousness, the glories of its Home of Truth follow in their wake.
But rarely burns the flame nor burns for long, But the conditions here are not conducive to the play of intuition. The mind of man is still steeped in a many-sided ignorance and even its most cultivated thought-movements share its nature of segmentation and separative analytical operation. The result is that a ray of intuition, as soon as it touches the mental level, is seized, coated, cut up and swallowed by the activity of mental intelligence. Even if it can shine by its own splendour, it is not allowed to do so for long. The smoke of the habitual operations of the thinking mind quickly covers it up.
The
joy it calls from those diviner heights And yet, in spite of all the inevitable interference by the activity of the thought-mind, the scintillating play of intuition brings with it a kind of joy of certitude, intimations of truth or truths that strike a level somewhere in the being where the seed-memory of the originative status is held and significant revelations on the crest of mounting thought-movements affording quick and bright glimpses into higher truths. But the vision is not yet full, the joy it brings is not the utmost possible.
A
veil is kept, something is still held back, There is indeed a purpose in not revealing the full, the entire body of truth to man even in his states of high upliftment. If that were done, he would remain content in his usual condition of ignorance, happy with the felicities coming from on high. There would be no sense of incompleteness, no want, no discontent, no spur to progress and move towards greater and larger heights of being in order to reach and possess the further truth on the summits.
In
that fair subtle realm behind our own This creation consists of a number of planes of existence and a world r worlds on each plane. These worlds are all interpenetrating and interdependent. This physical world of man is supported by a subtle physical world behind it. Not governed by the rigidities and densities of the material world, not vitiated by its obscurities, the subtle world is a realm of lightness and beauty of form. Each form is perfect. This world is ruled by the gods of the physical sphere. Each world is dominated by the gods of its kind—the vital gods in the vital worlds, the mental gods in the mental and so on. Those that rule in the subtle physical are the gods who share the characteristics of the typal physical, embodying the highest perfection possible on that plane.
The
inspiring Light plays in fine boundaries; The Light that radiates in the subtle world is not obscured by the shadow of Ignorance as in the material world, nor is it inadequate and largely ineffective as there. It is a Light that illumines and inspires, spreading all over. There are no fixed limits to the expanse of this realm; above, it merges into still subtler regions, below, it plunges into the gross physical—the borders are fluid. Further there is no necessity of special effort to create beauty of form. Perfect forms of beauty come by spontaneously and naturally.
There
liberty is perfection’s guarantee: In this world, unlike the material world, each potentiaIIty has full freedom to work itself out while in the material world it has to reckon with several extraneous factors like the pulls of the Inconscient, the deformations of Ignorance etc. Given free scope, each formation follows the line of its conception in the seed-truth and achieves a marvellous effectuation in the harmony and beauty of form. The highest fulfilment in perfect form—of line and of sound—however, is not yet. Also the utter bliss of the Spirit still is not.
There
all feel satisfied in themselves and whole, In this world of perfect form, beautiful and delightful, all is replete with a sense of completeness; there is contentment everywhere, individually and mutually. But things are limited in their scope, however wondrous they may be within their bounds.
Each
rhythm is kin to its environment, There is a wonderful harmony in this world: every individual movement is spontaneously related to the general life-movement; each form is an object of beauty and joy, just in its proportions, fitting in exactly with the scheme. There is no note of disharmony, of imbalance, of imperfection anywhere.
All is enamoured of its own delight.
Intact
it lives of its perfection sure Each is self-content in its own perfection, happy in its innate joy, without friction with others equally self-contented. Consequently there is no urge to move further, no need felt for progress. It remains a typal world set within its own limited perfection of rhythm and of form.
Here
was not futile effort’s broken heart: This world, unlike the earth, is not a field of struggle and evolution. It is a world fixed in its type. There is no effort by any to transcend its formulation. There is no opposition, no clash of possibilities struggling for supremacy; nothing has to guard itself—as in the world of ignorance below—from others: each luxuriates in its own perfection. So there is no friction, no combat, no pain, but also no progress.
It
had no grace of error or defeat, Error is a wrong or false step taken by the seeking mind—half-lit by some knowledge—which leads to a result that compels the mind to retrace and reform itself. Thus it is ultimately a factor for progress. Similarly is defeat a spur to learn and progress better and quicker. Both are bricks in the edifice of progress. Neither of these is in operation in this subtle world. All being set to typal completeness, there is no lack, no diminution, no scope to be found wanting and therefore bettered.
Out
of some packed self-bliss it drew at once The workings of Nature in this subtle world are not laboured, tentative and slow as in the earth-world. To each Idea that seeks for expression, Nature finds the right form in a spontaneous ebullition of its own bliss; so does it set into movement, effortlessly, a harmonious rhythm of life and thought activity, a play of sustained order and symmetry, and a luxuriance of beauty of forms and splendour of life.
Amazed,
his senses ravished with delight, Such is the world in which Aswapathy finds himself—so near to the earth-world left behind and yet so different. Though it is other than human, a kind of divine world, he does not feel a total stranger here; he feels some relation, some affinity He is overcome with wonder, with joy while moving in this world, looking at forms that resemble those on earth—though with a different intensity—but are cast in moulds of some heavenly perfection, not subject to decay and disintegration as in the mortal world below. Forms here do not die, though they may change.Each form in the material world has its archetype in the subtle material.
In
their narrow and exclusive absolutes Here in the subtle material world, each form though finite is absolute in its own type. Each type represents a perfection that is different from that of others and it remains so, unmodified by any interchange. The entire world exists unchanging in its typal limits. There is here no movement to exceed its extant formulation, no visioning of other possibilities. All stays as it is, content in its own perfection, because nothing goes beyond the determined type.
In a
supremeness bound to its own plan All in this world moves in certain fixed grooves. There is no scope here for the free variations of the becomings of the Infinite, for the adventures of the creative Force in adaptation and experimentation. Everything is cast in unique moulds of beauty and joy, everything stays satisfied in its own state. It is one scheme everywhere and always.
The spirit stood back effaced behind its frame.
Admired
for the bright finality of its lines The Spirit that ensouls this creation holds back its dynamis and remains behind this facade of symmetry, perfection, beauty. It restricts itself to the point of effacement. The self-extension of the Soul here has limits, however enchanting the figuration.
Thought
moved in luminous facilities, The thought-mind has a brighter horizon here than on the earth-plane. It is lit with the delightful glow of a freer consciousness. But there is a limit beyond which it cannot venture. The utmost is its ideations that take the form of ideals—not the deeper truth-formulations, but their clothings on the outer fringe as mental ideals. Similarly, the life-force here has a larger sweep, less of a struggle to effectuate itself. But it stays confined to the limits set to it, content with whatever joys it can derive through the subtle physical body in which it is encased. And these joys are indeed paltry when compared to what is possible under different conditions.
Assigned
as Force to a bound corner Mind, The Nature-Force active in this realm of the subtle physical has to work under the rule of limited mind, regulate her movements in accord with the scope of this intelligence, with the consequence that the process and the field of her workings are ever within set confines. They never aim beyond, never attempt anything outside their habitual rounds.
Forgetful
of her violent vast desires, In staying confined to the fixed grooves of this world, however glowing in its brilliance, the Nature Force forgets for the time all the deep impulsions that have actuated her large movements, forgets also the capacities with which she is instinct and which have brought her to the present heights from humbler beginnings below.
The
beautiful body of a soul at ease, Such is Nature in this world of the subtle physical. Like the world in which she works, she is beautiful and she embodies a being that is content. She luxuriates in the rhythmic play of delight in this realm of beautiful forms and bewitching hues. Both the Purusha and the Prakriti here are satisfied with themselves and make no exertion to exceed their existing formulations.
The
spaces’ call reached not her charmed abode, Nature here does not venture. In her enchanted existence in this subtle world of charm, colour and joy, the call of the Infinite does not reach her ears. Her potential force lies latent and she is reluctant to aspire for the heights that exceed her present status. She does not leave her safe and comforting limits to regain the freedom of infinity that is hers on the original summits of her being but which she has forfeited in her plunge into the Ignorance. She neither seeks nor works to go beyond the formula of the subtle material existence.
A
perfect picture in a perfect frame, This scene of marvellous design, of perfect symmetry in form and rich pleasing hues, fails, however, to satisfy Aswapathy. It affords him a happy relaxation for a moment; he enjoys its beauty and delight for a while but would not rest there. He chooses to go ahead. It is only lesser spirits that stay content with a modicum of joy and glory.
Our
spirit tires of being’s surfaces, The questing spirit in man cannot long be held by appearances however glittering they may be. The pleasures and excitements of surface life pall after sometime and the being turns elsewhere for a more lasting sustenance. It begins to look beyond and behind the web of apparent life: it feels within itself for richer states of consciousness, scans the depths of life for latent powers that can make for greater fulfilment. For powers and forces there are behind the surfaces, waiting to be tapped and mobilised for the fuller development of man and his world.
So now he looked beyond for greater light.
His
soul’s peak-climb abandoning in its rear His destiny lay beyond in larger Space. Beautiful, ravishingly delightful, though it was, the subtle material realm fails to detain Aswapathy on his upward climb. He sees that with all its brilliant glow this world is limited on all sides and it is only a vestibule to the great Mansion of Light ahead. His being turns to realms of still greater light, to yet larger vistas of Infinity. He crosses beyond.
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