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The Triple Status of Supermind

(Book 1, Chapter XVI)

 

Comprehending, Apprehending, Evolutionary Poises of Supermind
In this chapter Sri Aurobindo further explains (?) the three poises of Supermind; that of pure comprehending ideation of unitarian knowledge that emanates from the Supreme, without yet individualization; its apprehending role in the individualization of the Divine consciousness in unique forms in creation, with each a formation becoming a soul form and still retaining its unity with the One; and the support of the evolution of a diversified individual forms back to the spiritual source.

[This is essentially the comprehending and apprehending power of Supermind in the involutionary process of creating the universe from a Divine source; as well the supramental consciousness we can rise to in our evolution back to that source.]

Definition of Supermind
He thus defines Supermind as the Supreme Being moving out into determinative self-knowledge which perceives truths of itself and will to realize them in temporal and spatial extension of it own timeless and spaceless existence.
 

[DETAILS]

Source of, Purpose of Creation and Role of Supermind

-The Ishwara [i.e. the creator aspect of the Infinite] develops the world by His Maya out of the original concentrated Unity of the Being.

-The play of existence and consciousness, and the delight is the soul cause, motive, and object of cosmic existence.

-Supermind is the intermediary link between the unity of Satchitananda and the divided mentality.

-That which develops all things is a play of the Conscious Force, and a Knowledge-Will.

-Consciousness and Force are the essential aspect of the pure Power of existence.

-Knowledge and Will is the form that Power takes in creating a world of relations in the extension of Time and Space.

-Supermind takes form as self-knowledge, which is also self-force.

-The Knowledge and Will holds eternally in itself that which it casts into movement and form.
 

What Supermind Is

Supermind is the being moving out into determinative self-knowledge which perceives truths of itself and will to realize them in temporal and spatial extension of it own timeless and spaceless existence.


Three Poises of Supermind (key to chapter)

-The Supermind has 3 general poises:
1. The inalienable unity of things.
2. A modification of the unity so to support the Many in the One, and the One in the Many
3. Supports the evolution of a diversified individuality back to the spiritual source.

(poise 1) The inalienable unity of things:
-It is not the unitarian consciousness of Satchitananda.
-it is a self-extension of Satchitananda, all comprehending, all possessing, all constituting.
-There is One, not Many; there is no individualization.
-It is a pure divine ideation and formation of the Infinite.
-By the comprehending action of consciousness, it would enjoy its unity with the One.

(poise 2) A modification of the unity so to support the Many in the One, and the One in the Many
-The realization of the distribution of the Divine consciousness in forms.
-There is a varying in soul-form.
-Each form would realize itself as the Stable Conscious Self, supporting the individual play of movement.
-The Jivatman [Soul] is the Soul form in the form. It upholds the form.
-The universal Divine would know all soul forms as itself, and yet establish a different relation with each separately.
-By its apprehending action, it would enjoy its individual movement and free difference in unity with the One and all forms.

-The secondary and tertiary Supermind would develop and apply in the terms o the divine multiplicity what the primary Supermind had held in the terms of the divine unity.

-The divine multiplicity is an eternal fact of the Supreme beyond Time no less than the diving unity.

-The unity is a basis for the manifestation of the multiplicity and the multiplicity is the basis for the return to the oneness [this is essentially poise 3 of Supermind mentioned above] and the enjoyment of unity in the divine consciousness.

Other Points:

-Apprehending Truth Consciousness sees things as would an individual soul freed from mortality.