41 Sri Aurobindo

Introduction

Arabinda Akryod Ghose (1872-1970), later known as Sri Aurobindo, is a one of the gifted philosophers of the Indian sub-continent. Unlike his other compeers, Sri Aurobindo had a thorough western upbringing and education. He simply brushed aside the conception of westerners which dubs Indian culture as a form of occultism or superstition. After his active participation in the freedom struggle for about ten years he moved to Pondicherry, the then French territory, and devoted himself to the study of philosophy, integral yoga, meditation and spiritual experimentation for about forty long years and wrote copiously on these matters until his death in 1950.

During his early days in Pondicherry he was busy with his journal The Arya (1914-20) in which he published extensively on different subjects. His writings are the living testimony to his intellectual acumen. Later on these writings are brought together, partly revised, in the form of books. The notable among them are: Essays on the Gītā, Synthesis of Yoga, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, and his magnum opus The Life Divine. Apart from these, there are also two volumes of Collected Poems, and his great epic Savitri, which is written in about twenty seven thousand lines. His integral yoga presupposes the divine destiny of man. As observed byDasgupta: “A harmonious and integral culture of his physical, vital and mental potentialities alone enables man to rise to a supramental realization of Truth, transforming and divinizing his total being. Man can thus become a superman, thinking, feeling and acting in unison, with the Divine.”

2. Epistemology

The metaphysical presuppositions of any philosopher are justified through his epistemological framework. Sri Aurobindo is not an exception to this rule. He considers experience in its widest sense in order to accommodate knowledge obtained through different sources of experience. Hardcore epistemologists confine their experience to mere sense experience. For them it is something ultimate and no other form of experience is acceptable to them. Thus all knowledge is generated out of sense-object contact. But, for Sri Aurobindo, this ordinary sense-experience is only a middle part of our existence. It is sandwiched between subconscious and super-conscious spheres.

Sri Aurobindo reconstructs the ancient Vedāntic conception of reality in its new light to suit the later mentality. Both in the Upanişads and the Gītā the five organs of sense, lower mind (manas), and higher mind (buddhi) are described as the sources of human knowledge. However, the Self, which is self-luminous, is placed above these three. According to Sri Aurobindo, the senses are only the specializations of the outward mind. It is mind, out of ignorance, divides the Self from the external world. The truth is that the Self and the external world are one and the same. Strictly speaking, for him, the mind is the real sense underlying all other senses. Mind has the capacity to work independently of the senses. The mind is capable of reaching the objects of the external world without the aid of senses. Thus the true character of mind is revealed. In other words, the powers of mind are far superior to those of senses.

Sri Aurobindo is not primarily interested to extend the powers of mind to know the nature of phenomenal world. He is more interested in those truths which are beyond sense perception, but can be captured by the perceptions of reason. An inquiry into the operations of reason reveals that reason has two activities to perform. They are: mixed and pure. In its mixed activity the reason gathers data of the external world from sense experience in order to interpret and interrelate them to arrive at different kinds of inferences. This is typically the way in which the reason operates in the scientific realm. But reason in its pure form tries to transcend these ordinary perceptual experiences and “strives to arrive at general or unalterable concepts which attach themselves not to the appearances of things, but to that which stands behind their appearances.” By going beyond the ordinary level of sense experiences man uses his superior gift of reason which distinguishes man from rest of the living creatures. Thus the “complete use of pure reason brings us finally from physical to metaphysical knowledge.” But these concepts of pure reason may not satisfy the demands of our integral being, for all ideas are mere promises of possible immediate experiences. These promises have to be fulfilled by proper verification mechanism. There must be some immediate non-sensuous experience which verifies all the ideas of pure reason. Is such experience possible? Sri Aurobindo’s reply to this question is positive. Direct or non-sensuous experience of the reality which exists beyond ordinary sense-experience reveals us that this reality is within every one of us in an obscure way. It can be developed through proper culture.

Sri Aurobindo reminds us that:” Ancient Vedanta seized this message of the intuition and formulated it in the three great declarations of the Upanişads, ‘I am He’, ‘Thou art That’, O Swetaketu’, ‘All this is the Brahman; this self is the Brahman’. Intuition is not a process, and it cannot be articulated. It is only reason which organises, analyses and interprets the message of intuition. Reason also interprets the phenomena and our surface being in relation to intuitive, noumenal truths to construct systems of metaphysics as per the demands of our rational nature. Of course, Sri Aurobindo does not deny the fact that intuitions too vary with each other in terms of their content, depth and fullness. But each one of them possesses a self-corrective mechanism within itself. Reason can never replace intuition. It can only interpret the content of an intuition to enlighten the surface mind.

Sri Aurobindo puts forward a fourfold order of knowledge. There is a gradual transformation of intuition which results in separative knowledge. First, there is knowledge by identity which results from our immediate awareness of our self-luminous self. One does not find any sense of separation in this form of knowledge for one is completely engrossed in emotion or thought. Then there is knowledge by intimate direct contact when we partly disengage ourselves from the states and observe them while they are continuing. The third type is knowledge by separative direct contact in which the observer separates himself from the stream of mental states and assume the role of a witness. Finally, we observe external objects through senses. Here the knower and the known are completely separated from each other. Here we need the mediation of senses to obtain the knowledge of the objects of the external world. If we can descend from the highest level of knowledge to the lowest level, then it is also possible to ascend from the lower level to the higher.

By overcoming these polarities we arrive at the unity of total being with the total reality. Such knowledge alone is integral, according to Sri Aurobindo. Integral knowledge leads to integral transformation of the human personality. In order to understand this there is a need to understand his metaphysics which takes into account the theory of evolution.

3. Metaphysics

Sri Aurobindo’s metaphysics views God, nature and man, and man’s social duties as a synthetic whole. His Essays on the Gītā, and The Life Divine discuss these aspects. For Sri Aurobindo, philosophy is to discover that being by knowing which everything else is known. The supreme reality of Sri Aurobindo is sat-cit ānanda. But this absolute is not an isolated entity in the sense that we must rationally understand and explain its relation to the ordinary world of experiences (the finite world). The advaitic conception of the absolute, which is indeterminate, is beset with some contradictions, according to Sri Aurobindo. How does a pure unity devoid of all attributes give rise to the world of appearances or multiplicity? The advaitins put forward the argument that the absolute reality being pure is the only reality. The world of empirical existence is only an illusion. This explanation of advaitins is not satisfactory for it ignores the world of empirical existence instead of explaining it. Even an illusion must have some reality for its ground and this ground must have some characteristics.

Although the absolute is indeterminate and transcendent, holds Sri Aurobindo, it is capable of gradual creative self-expression and self-determination. To put it in the words of Sri Aurobindo: “It is perfectly understandable that the absolute is and must be indeterminable in the sense that it cannot be limited by any determination, or any sum of possible determinations, but not in the sense that it is incapable of self-determination.” The absolute cannot be described in terms of any quality or property or power for they cannot fully explain its nature. Advaitins described the absolute negatively. But, argues Sri Aurobindo, such negation in another way limits the absolute by denying it even the freedom of self-expression and self-determination.

Sri Aurobindo argues that both negative and positive attributes cannot be ascribed to the absolute. The absolute is a positive entity and has its own transcendental logic. There is “a greater reason in all the operations of the Infinite, but it is not a mental or intellectual, it is spiritual or supramental reason: there is logic in it because there are relations and connections infallibly seen and executed; what is the magic to our finite reason is the logic of the Infinite.” The Infinite is ineffable for it is a harmonious unity of indeterminate, immutable, infinite aspects and is immanent, determinate, and dynamic in its finite aspects. The true nature of the absolute is constituted by pure existence (sat), pure consciousness (cit) and pure bliss (ānanda). The individual soul, its mind, life and body evolve out of the absolute by a process of self-manifestation through multiple self-limitation and self-differentiation. This process of self-limitation is what is called ‘māyā’ by the early Vedānta. One of the most interesting features of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy is his analysis of the notion of evolution which explicates this process of the self-manifestation of the absolute.

3.1. Evolution

Sri Aurobindo discussed his views on evolution very systematically in his The Life Divine. In fact, his integral philosophy rests on his spiritual theory of evolution. He started his discussion on evolution with an important note that “ there seems to be no reason why Life should not evolve out of material elements or Mind out of living forms, unless we accept the Vedāntic solution that life is already involved in matter and mind in life…” The principle of evolution towards Spirit, Light and Knowledge loses all its significance unless it is assumed that the Spirit itself has involved in matter, darkness and ignorance. This amounts to saying that evolution necessarily involves involution, the ascent by descent. This is one of the most unique features of Sri Aurobindo’s theory of evolution. Sri Aurobindo’s theory of evolution is a balanced approach based on spiritual and humanistic principles. For him, the Spirit, which is supreme Reality, is the source of creation and evolution, and also the end of realization. The Spirit evolves out of matter since it is already implicit in it.

The supreme Reality, according to Sri Aurobindo, is sat-cit-ānanda. It is both stable and dynamic. In other words, it is an integration of Being and becoming. The reality of the world is due to the manifestation of the Divine Unity in the world. The higher ‘involves’ itself in the lower and inconsistent so as to evolve out of it in a double line process. Sri Aurobindo’s theory of evolution centres around his concept of ‘Conscious-Force’. According to him, creation is due to this force which is active. He calls it Life-Force or Divine Śakti. It is the power behind all creation. The supreme Reality is one without the second. Both spirit and matter are real as there is Brahman in them. Brahman is both transcendent and immanent. Brahman,the absolute being, cannot be described.

There are several stages through which Reality gradually veils itself. The decent starts from Truth or Spirit and reaches matter through Conscious-Force, bliss, supermind, mind, psyche, and life. Sri Aurobindo talks of certain minor links that connect mind and supermind. They are higher mind, illumined mind, intuitive mind and overmind. This is the order in which the progressive manifestation of the Reality takes place in the Universe. Similarly, there is a progressive development in the ascending journey. The revelation or the unveiling of the Reality has to cross many steps leading to total realization. So far we have noticed the three important stages in the process of evolution. They are the stages of matter, of life and of mind. At present we are living in the mental plane. The process of evolution, according to Sri Aurobindo, is a triple “process of heightening, widening and integration.” This is the most original contribution of Sri Aurobindo to evolution. It is a heightening process as it rises onwards to higher and higher levels. Matter rises to life, and life to mind and so on. Along with the process of heightening, the process of evolution widens also. As soon as a new principle emerges within the old ones it is given accommodation for its subsistence. For instance, when the principle of life emerges, matter sufficiently widens itself to accommodate life in it. The third process in evolution is integration. With the process of heightening, and widening, the lower principles are not neglected; instead the higher ones get integrated with the lower ones.

Thus evolution is never an isolated rising into higher principle, but it is also a total transformation of all the lower principles. The movement of evolution is the progressive self-manifestation of the Spirit in the material universe.

4. Social Philosophy

Sri Aurobindo is one who strikes a proper balance between the spiritual and material pursuits and urges. For instance, blind adherence to materialism leads to fetishism at the cost of human values, and the rigid pursuit of spiritualism may end up in abstract and empty transcendentalism. It is in the social philosophy of Sri Aurobindo we come across a harmonious blend of these two dichotomous ways.

Sri Aurobindo is one the gifted philosopher-saints of our Indian tradition. He is more known for his radical interpretation of the Upanişads and for his literary works like Savitri, which bare a lasting testimony to his intellectual acumen and perspicuity. His originality lies in his novel interpretation of the various traditional concepts of philosophy, which are aimed at providing a spiritual base to his philosophy of humanism. His social philosophy is an outcome of his metaphysics. Although Sri Aurobindo emphasizes the role of individual in society he rejects extreme form of individualism which regards individual(s) as the highest or prior to reality, and society as an artificial or convenient aggression of individuals. Sri Aurobindo firmly believes that there is no historical evidence to show that man existed without any society. At the same time he rejects the extreme form of collectivism which regards society as a primary and fundamental reality, and individuals as only its parts or cells. According to him, both man and society have equal status in the scheme of evolution for they are the expressions of the supreme Reality (sat-cit-ānanda). Entire universe, humanity, society, and individuals are all the manifestations of the supreme Reality. An individual loses his/her identity in isolation from the society in which he/she is born, for the individual needs the support of the society for the expansion of his/her physical, vital and mental being. As a matter of fact, state, society or any other social or political organization, according to Sri Aurobindo, are only instruments through which an individual realizes the ultimate Reality. Also, it is only through the individual development the progress of any society or humankind in general is visualized. The ultimate objective of all social, political, and human organizations is to help each other to evolve to the level of supra-mental consciousness. Such an experience turns each individual into a universal spiritual individual.

5. Spiritual humanism

Sri Aurobindo’s social philosophy is an offshoot of his spiritual humanism or integral philosophy, which is also characterized as socio-spiritualism that provides a synthetic view of life as such. While giving a detailed account of the assent of consciousness from its base level to the supra-mental level, he questioned the very foundations of the scientific theories of evolution to propose an alternative theory that not only explains the process of human evolution in terms of the gradations of mind, the involution of the pure self or consciousness (sat-cit-ānanda). According to him, the process of evolution appears to be meaningless unless we take into account the process of involution. In a way, evolution necessarily involves involution. This background would help us in understanding Sri Aurobindo’s views on individual, society, and state.

Sri Aurobindo’s spiritualism is not narrow in the sense that it is neither creedal nor sectarian. His spiritualism not only takes into account the life of the senses, but also rejects the escapist tendencies. It rather affirms life and is equally sensitive to beauty and joy. The spiritualism of Sri Aurobindo is not different from his socio-political activities and is not bereft of the sense of history. His spiritualism is also conscious of our inescapable involvement in socio-political, economic and cultural life of the society in which we live. It only helps us transcending the triviality of this day-to-day life pattern in order to make our life more meaningful, authentic, purposeful and perfect. The salient feature of such a kind of spiritualism is that it does not overlook natural and material base of life and society. All these aspects are integrated into one single unit to arrive at an ideal human society.

According to him, both materialism and spiritualism are complementary to each other. A perfect blend of these two would certainly enhance the quality of human life. A genuine philosophical pursuit is one that aims at discovering the spiritual reality by means of which human existence can learn its own law of development and aim at perfection. However, Sri Aurobindo reiterates that perfection and completeness cannot be achieved from mere passive or negative attitude towards world and life. A true realization of the synthesis of the outer and the inner, the matter and the spirit would provide vivid picture of the world and life. In the integral philosophy of Sri Aurobindo the social takes the clue from the spiritual. In fact they constitute the concrete man. The spiritual progress in man contributes to social progress. Similarly, the social progress shows the spiritual heights achieved by man. The vertical progress of man is reflected in the horizontal progress of society. This is true of all societies and nations. Genuine social order is possible through the transformation of total human nature by being moral and spiritual, active and co-operative. The integral philosophy of Sri Aurobindo is a perfect combination of pragmatic and spiritual aspirations of humankind. To put it in the language of modern human rights doctrine, the divine society envisaged by Sri Aurobindo is one such society that guarantees and upholds human dignity by treating human rights as universal obligations or responsibilities or commitments. His spiritual philosophy is truly a social philosophy of action.

Summary

As discussed above Sri Aurobindo showed keen interest in the study of Indian culture in its entirety, and interpreted it with a view to provide a new orientation to Indian culture. Sri Aurobindo reconstructs the ancient Vedāntic conception of reality in its new light to suit the later mentality. According to him, Integral knowledge leads to integral transformation of the human personality. Sri Aurobindo’s metaphysical views on God, nature and man, and man’s social duties as a synthetic whole. And his philosophy is to discover that being by knowing which everything else is known. The supreme reality of Sri Aurobindo is sat-cit ānanda. His analysis of the notion of evolution which explicates this process of the self-manifestation of the absolute. The movement of evolution is the progressive self-manifestation of the Spirit in the material universe. Sri Aurobindo’s spiritualism provides a synthetic view of life. His spiritual philosophy is truly a social philosophy of action. The spiritual progress in man contributes to social progress. Similarly, the social progress shows the spiritual heights achieved by man.

Web links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo
• http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/life_sketch.php
• http://www.miraura.org/

 Bibliography

• Heehs, Peter, The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2008.
• Lal, Basant Kumar. Contemporary Indian Philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass, 1978.
• McDermott, Robert. A. Essential Aurobindo, Great Barrington: Steiner Books, 1994.
• Nirodbaran. Twelve years with Sri Aurobindo, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication, 1973.
• Purani, A.B. The Life of Sri Aurobindo, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication, 1987.