May 9, 2002
J
Written
by a Nobel Prize winner, this is his own mental realisation of the Buddhist
doctrine of Nirvana to which they give the analogy of the ever-living river and
flame.
J
The
mental comprehension can be severely mental and therefore a concept. It can
ripen into a comprehension of consciousness, which is a non-existing phenomenon
but can be intelligible to mental people. It is not comprehension. It is
really to be conscious, rather mentally conscious. It can be of the surface
consciousness or the depth of the surface. What No. 1 does is concept
formation, pure speculative thinking detaching itself from the sentiment of No.
2 and the organisation of thought of No. 3. Below the depth of consciousness
lies the substance of the mental plane in the brain. When it touches its own
depth, the centre of action moves from that of the brain to the substance of
the body whose original substance is inconscience. Its surface is the
subconscient and depth is inconscient.
J
Siddhartha
or Hermann Hesse realised the doctrine of Nirvana of Buddha in the
surface consciousness of his mind and put it in the form of a spiritual
autobiography. Such a realisation has its limits, as it is mental, though
the limits of mind are exhausted. It cannot move further to the vital,
never to the physical. That is why Buddha’s followers started worshipping his
idol, an idea he was against. It is said Buddhism took root in the population
only when this worship began. This book has a picture of Buddha’s statue on its
cover.
J
The
central idea of this narrative is instructive to me in that Man, Western man,
cannot accept the Truth even from the Buddha. He must discover it for himself. That
is the mental stage of the West in its progress.
J
Here
is a simple fact or a simply folly. It is the ego of the mind refusing to learn
form others, scarcely seeing a wider truth behind that when the ego thus
realises itself, it will be an egoistic realisation, not a spiritual one.
J
Sri
Aurobindo says all yogic realisations until now have been realisations of the
surface mind and egoistic realisations.
J
A
pickpocket realising his profession is not very laudable, but continuing it in
spite of that realisation, is the pickpocket’s realisation. His giving up the
profession is human realisation.
J
Mind
begins with comprehension and when it moves to the negative side it becomes
mean, perverse, evil and depraved. When the mid seeks negative fulfillment, it
is mean, etc. Siddhartha is one who cannot accept any teaching from anyone,
even from the Perfect One. The Perfect One warns him against cleverness.
J
Is
there an alternative to this perversity?
J
If
the Indian says it is against all his basic faith to accept technology
developed elsewhere and what he has not developed he will not accept, it is a
laudable attitude. But that way, humanity will remain where it is. No education
is possible.
J
As
we are all humble before the wisdom of the ages in accepting education,
Siddhartha could have accepted the teachings of the Perfect One and discovered
it originally for himself, when it would have resulted in the same mental
realisation in a short time, instead of a lifetime. Govinda followed the
words, Siddhartha the Spirit, through an arduous route. Had he put forward the
attitude of humility – the comprehension of the Infinite – not only would he
have learnt it quickly, but he could have overcome mind to go beyond.
J
Siddhartha
starts as a rebel through silent disobedience. His father yields. It shows the
atmosphere is not inimical to change but is not ripe enough to initiate change,
i.e. the physical is not rigid.
J
At
this point, there was a choice open to Siddhartha who declined it, whereas his
father had reluctantly exercised in the non-negative direction.
J
The
choice was between submission and defiance. His defiance arose from a mental
conviction for which his other parts were not ready.
J
The
rule of evolution is not to exclude what you have exceeded which eliminates
totality.
J
Suppose
Siddhartha submitted to his father and the father put him through the ritual,
his father would have outgrown the ritual in the measure his own readiness
permitted.
§
The
father gave him permission to leave the house.
§
Siddhartha
was haunted by the father in him when his son deserted him. Had he submitted
himself to his father, at least, he would have fully outgrown his father then,
instead of later, after 20 or 30 years.
§
What
was not available to Siddhartha 2000 years ago is now available to Hermann
Hesse when he wrote the book.
§
The
theory holds good for both.
§
Had
Siddhartha submitted to his father, not with an ignorant physical submission
but with the knowledge that doctrines were of no value and his own conviction
was not ripe to be acted upon, whatever he had realised in 40 years would have
been abridged into four years and his own realisation would have been greater.
J
Hesse’s
comprehension is slightly more comprehensive than the Buddha’s in that he does
not exclude Sansara – life – from spiritual realisation. Hesse speaks the
language of Sri Aurobindo.
J
I
say slightly more, because the same theme in the shallow surface of mental
consciousness is different from the depth of physical substance of the
inconscient.
J
As
his own father had to yield to Siddhartha, he had to give way to his son.
J
Among
the Samanas, he learnt austerities which according to Mother are meant for the
child soul.
J
From
there he landed in life with Kamala, to exhaust the life of desires. Desires
can be lived and exhausted or given up as austerities. The desires of the vital
and physical can be overcome by mental understanding. Siddhartha chose the
second one.
J
Kamala
represented his desires, but she also represented his detachment. That helped
him to give up twenty years later. But the physical is more truly real. She
conceives and the final discipline for Siddhartha came from the physical
through his son.
J
When
Siddhartha was finally detached form his son, it was worked out in his mind’s
consciousness. Neither he nor his son was transformed. There was no question of
transformation in those days. When Hesse wrote, we know Sri Aurobindo was
living and his knowledge was in the atmosphere. Hesse opened to Nirvana and
bettered it to include life – sansara – mentally. Had Hesse not insisted on his
own individuality to learn as the Westerners do, there would have been a chance
of him responding to the idea of transformation. We, the devotees, will be
unfortunate to insist on our individuality as Hesse did. It is reasonable
or wise to avail of the best knowledge around without wanting to discover it
oneself. As said earlier, the originality should lie in learning it ORIGINALLY so that what is learnt is
the essence and not the form of words. Siddhartha can be pardoned, not Hesse or
the devotees.
J
Vasudeva
listening to the river is seeing the Becoming as Force and absorbing its wisdom
in the subtle plane.
J
Sri Aurobindo speaks of the Being of the Becoming which is in the
fourth dimension where life reveals itself as a Marvel.
J
Human
existence on earth can be traced according to the planes, dimensions, time,
sense, etc. Each perception admits of a scale to be constructed. No scale is
linear, as at the point of changing planes, there is a reversal of
consciousness, subtlety emerges, occult things are unseen. Should one be
enamoured of such a work, he would start with an Act and
§
Make
it a success at a hundred-fold level and study the process, neglecting the
results.
§
When
the process is clear, he can evaluate the universally accepted ideas of Life,
Science, Education, Politics, etc. in its light. At least he can review his own
convictions in these affairs.
§
This,
done well, must make the occult perceptible.
§
At
this stage, The Life Divine will read like a novel or poetry.
§
Marvel
will reveal as more than conception, perhaps as perception.
§
He
may at this point try to explain mentally, not intellectually, subtle, causal
planes or explain the process to others successfully.
§
His
own inner experience will be reflected in the life of the world.
Beyond this, there is no
territory left for the mind.
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