Thoughts and Aphorisms 18

18. Chance is not in this universe; the idea of illusion is itself an illusion. There was never illusion yet in the human mind that was not the concealing and disfigurement of a truth. [Sri Aurobindo: Thoughts and Aphorisms] There is nothing in this Universe which may be described as a "Chance". And this Universe also is not a Chance There is no illusion — the idea of illusion is itself an illusion. According to Sri Aurobindo, this is the Truth. In the Truth and Reality of Things, there is no Chance, no Illusion. Whatever we, the humans, regard to be an illusion, that has concealed and disfigured some Truth. Behind every "illusion" we have some Truth and we have to find it. Truth is covered to us — the humans — as our consciousness is limited, as our capacity to know things or Truth of things is quite limited. We know through the senses or through mental groping or through reason. Senses are quite limited and they cover Truth, they give us a limited representation of Truth. The senses constitute a distorted medium of knowledge. Mental groping very often limit us, mislead us, for the light of Truth is often away from the mental ideas or mental groping. In this regard The Mother says: "We know that it [mind] is always groping, seeking to know, erring, returning upon its previous attempts and trying again… … … Its progress is very, very halting." Reason also is never direct. In inductive reason, we try to reach a Truth by generalization, which may often side-track a difference. We may reach a generalization, after an incomplete survey. For example, we generalize that all crows are black, but our generalization may be after an incomplete survey: the possibility of there being some white crows may be there! And this possibility is always there, till we have direct Knowledge: Knowledge by Identification, Knowledge by an intuitive means, when Truth is revealed like a Sunrise in the darkness! All this is because the human mind, along with the general human consciousness, as it is now, is very much limited and is in Ignorance and Darkness. The life we are born with, the life we live and lead, the circumstances we are in and we create around us, the collectivity we live with and we live in, the way we grow and the way we accept the physical end — everything is covered with illusion and ignorance, and everything seems to us to be a matter of chance. The things and circumstances we rejoice at, the happenings and the matters for which we dance with joy and in enjoyment, are all covered with ignorance and darkness and inertia. And we seem to be happy with our unhappiness. But there is truly a rosy Hope with every human being, with all of us, each of us — we can cross the limitations, tear the bondage of ignorance, dispel the darkness shadowing our mind and consciousness. We have nourished, since the beginning of the human race, a Hope. We seek Knowledge and Wisdom, we seek Joy and Bliss, we create things, conquer our difficulties and diseases and try to conquer even 'death'. In the darkest darkness, we cherish a Hope in us. We cherish the Hope of conquering darkness and ignorance, of conquering the limits and limitations. It has compelled us to move onwards through all the impediments on the Way. In each of us, there is a Divine spark! The Upanishadic Truth is : "EkoΣham bahu syāma." I am alone, I will be many — so said the Supreme. The Divine seed is there in each of us — the psychic. So, we shall have to become the Many — not the many animals, not the many human beings who are covered by Ignorance and Darkness and are also limited — but the many Divine Beings! And we shall become so — that is the Hope! That is the Divine Will, the Will of the Supreme which is being realized from the moment of the Big Bang! The way the ordinary human being sees and knows things, everything appears to be "illusions" — for, we do not see the Reality, the Truth, which remains covered and limited. Once the consciousness rises and expands beyond the limits, we find Truth, become Truth, we live in Truth. There is no illusion, then. In the Truth of the absolute Reality, there is no illusion, for, when we ascend the state of a higher mind, Truth is revealed, and we find that actually there is no illusion. And then we fins also find that this creation, this Universe is not a mere chance, it is the Will of the Supreme, of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. As we have a limited and covered consciousness, in the level of the ordinary human consciousness, the Reality appears to us to be something what it is not really. It appears to be something else, something other than what it truly is. But the appearance is only a cover; behind it, there is the Reality, Truth, the Divine. This we can realize and understand, once we march ahead beyond the limit. This Real Truth is behind all the appearance that the Universe seems to be. Sri Aurobindo says that the World is not an Illusion, not a Falsehood, it is a Reality; only, our perception of it is covered, and therefore, wrong and false. Out of the inconscient and subliminal Arisen, we live in mind's uncertain light And strive to know and master a dubious world Whose purpose and meaning are hidden from our sight. Above us dwells a superconscient God Hidden in the mystery of his own light: Around us is a vast of ignorance Lit by the uncertain ray of human mind, Below us sleeps the Inconscient dark and mute. [Sri Aurobindo: Savitri : Bk VII, Co II] This is the state of consciousness of an ordinary human being — "we live in mind's uncertain light." But as we have seen earlier, there is a Hope for us all This is not all we are or all our world. Our greater self of knowledge waits for us, A supreme light in the truth-conscious Vast: It sees from summits beyond thinking mind, It moves in a splendid air transcending life. It shall descend and make earth's life divine. Truth made the world, not a blind Nature-Force. For here are not our large diviner heights; Our summits in the superconscient's blaze Are glorious with the very face of God: There is our aspect of eternity, There is the figure of the god we are, His young unaging look on deathless things, His joy in our escape from death and Time, His immortality and light and bliss. Our larger being sits behind cryptic walls: There are greatnesses hidden in our unseen parts That wait their hour to step into life's front: We feel an aid from deep indwelling Gods; One speaks within, Light comes to us from above. Our soul from its mysterious chamber acts; Its influence pressing on our heart and mind Pushes them to exceed their mortal selves. [Sri Aurobindo: Savitri : Bk VII, Co II] To exceed our mortal selves is our Hope and our Future and possibility and also our Task ahead. That is the Truth of our being : to become the Divine selves. We must realize that our true selves are beyond death and Time. Anything else or anything less is truly an illusion, a falsehood. Barindranath Chaki 21-09-2009 [Simultaneously published in Sulekha, All choice and ASPIRATION Barindranath Chaki 21-09-2009