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Growth Online > Knowledge Base > Personal/Spiritual Growth > Connecting to Spirit > Spiritual Evolution for the Individual
On Growing through Nature or Soul
The more we learn from the negative
(instead of merely experiencing it), the
more conscious we become. Then from this
higher consciousness, we want to grow
more through positive means, which is
preferable since it is a proactive
approach to life that avoids pain.
We thus can grow progressively in a
scale from negative and difficulty
(Nature/Prakriti) to true Positive
(Soul/Purusha); with the acceleration
between the poles depending on the
Person.
Sri Aurobindo says we could not get to
Integral Knowledge without making our
way through and negotiating Ignorance,
nor to Delight without first
experiencing lower forms of happiness,
or even pain. This is the way of Life.
Yoga accelerates us in the true positive
direction, avoiding Nature.
Opening to the Force of the Divine Mother is our
central means; as is proactively
overcoming limits in our nature,
adopting higher values, striving for
perfection, etc. Also, an inner
orientation (culminating in the psychic
being) that looks out on the world as
Silent Witness makes any negative that
comes seem just a necessary part of
Brahman; of the unfolding of the All.
So if we are serious about Yoga
(conscious evolution), then we can
follow this approach, which is what Sri
Aurobindo, the Mother, and Karmayogi
wish for us all.
Aim for the Individual: An Evolution of
Consciousness through the Emergence of
the Psychic Being
Sri Aurobindo holds that the aim [of
individual existence] an evolution of
consciousness in the universe. This is
commonly understood to mean the
evolution of the evolving soul in nature
through many lives from a tiny spark
into an entity and eventually into a
Psychic Being that is mature and
powerful enough to come to the surface
to influence, express through and direct
our outer personalities and actions. He
says that the realization of the psychic
is the first step in the process
of spiritual evolution, but actually it
is only one aspect of the process. (MSS,
slightly modified)
Spiritual Evolution -- from Ego to Psychic, Cosmic
to Supramental Nature, Purusha to
Ishwara (as portrayed in Pride and
Prejudice)
Spiritual Evolution involves a progressive
development of all three aspects -
individual, universal and transcendent -
and their gradual unification into a
single embodied Supramental Being which
is at once individual, universal and
transcendent. By this process the
spiritual individual is transformed into
the Supramental Iswara. Psychic-Shakti-Iswara
is the formula of Integral Yoga.
This wider view of Spiritual Evolution can be
described as the transformation of ego
into psychic, the transformation of
cosmic nature into supramental nature,
and the transformation of the Purusha
into the Iswara.
Example: Mr. Bennet residing in the library
represents the Purusha or transcending
witness poise of the Divine. He is
withdrawn and aloof, allowing freedom
for the play of nature, Prakriti,
represented by Mrs. Bennet, who
ignorantly pursues her every whim. Their
children are the souls lost in nature,
acting out the impulses of the surface
ego. Elizabeth takes after the false
Wickham, then Lydia elopes with him. Mr.
Bennet feels and acts as if he were
powerless. The family is completely out
of control. Events in the story compel
Mr. Bennet to discover and exercise his
true power over the family and his wife.
When he asserts himself, he reveals
himself as the creator, the Iswara. His
wife, Prakriti, readily submits to his
will and comes under control. The
psychic emerges in Elizabeth and becomes
an evolutionary instrument, leading to
the elevation of the entire family.
Lizzy becomes Mistress of Pemberley. Mr.
Bennet establishes himself as not only
Lord of Longbourn but esteemed guest at
Pemberley. Three daughters are married
and the family prospers.
By this process the witness Purusha evolves into
the Supramental Iswara, Lord of All
Creation. Cosmic Nature evolves into the
Iswara's Consciousness Force, the
Supramental Shakti. The Psychic Being is
transformed by the descent into the
Supramental Being in the physical body.
That Individual Being is a meeting point
and center for the Shakti of the Iswara
which stands behind it. At a still
further evolutionary stage, the force or
power of consciousness (Shakti) is
reunited with the force or power of
being to become the Supreme Iswara in
which all distinction of Being,
Consciousness and Force disappear. This
highest status is not a return to
undifferentiated oneness, for the
Supreme Iswara embodies both the
unmanifest One and the manifest Many. It
is the conscious creative Being of the
Infinite Absolute manifesting infinitely
from its infinite storehouse of
potential in the Non-Being. Thus the
final separation is removed between the
Manifest and the unmanifest; the One and
the many; the Infinite and the finite;
Being and Consciousness-force;
individual, universal and transcendent;
Superconscient, inconscient and
subliminal; God and universe. All are
unified yet all continue to exist in the
Infinity of the Omnipresent Reality.
(MSS)
The Pettinesses No Longer Tolerable in
the "Decisive Hour"
"We are at a decisive hour in the
history of the earth. The earth is
preparing for the advent of the
supramental being, and because of this
the old way of living loses its value.
One must launch oneself consciously on
the path of the future in spite of the
new exigencies. The pettinesses
tolerable at one time are no more so;
one must widen oneself to receive that
which shall be born." (The Mother)
A reader asks: "what is the pettiness
that she speaks of?"
I suppose she is referring to the
ordinary activities of life that are not
critical, and the petty travails and
conflicts people have. E.g. wasting time
with friends gossiping, watching
television to no end, mindless shopping
and material acquisition, focusing on
starlets and celebrities, taking deep
enjoyment in eating, getting caught up
in religious and marriage rituals, the
petty squabbles amongst friends and
relatives, the ill-will between peoples
and nations, the obsession with finance,
possession and property, the joy of
material and secure comfort, private and
public petty debates that stimulate the
vital, joy in the latest fad, taken by
the latest technologies, fixed in our
old habits, our wanting, negative
attitudes, the questionable motives we
subscribe to, the stultifying values we
adhere to, our attachment to the old way
of doings things, our obsession with
tradition, our inability to embrace the
new, our outworn and anachronistic
tendencies, the complete wasting of time
and resources, our obsession with the
trivial, our lack of focus on anything
higher, our living animal-like lives,
and so forth, and so on ad infinitum.
Divine Instead of Self Guidance
"His failure is not failure whom God
leads;
And how shall the end be vain when God
is guide?" (Sri Aurobindo from Savitri)
Divine guidance is deep with meaning and
purpose, leading to outcomes of great
success and truth. On the other hand,
self-driven life devoid of spirit is
rife with failure to match every
success, with ignorance and falsehood to
match any knowledge.
The Sunlit Path
The "Sunlit Path" of progress is to
place all matters in the hands of the
Divine, the Divine Mother and Her Force
-- whether to fulfill an aspiration,
overcome a problem, change a wanting
part of our nature, or to engage in the
daily activities of life. She then
quickly responds miraculous-like with
astonishing results, lifting us to the
stars.
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