18-10-2016
Life Response
Man civilized himself by overcoming Nature, protecting himself from the wild animals. At the next step his effort of civilising resorted to discovering laws of Nature. He commissioned them to serve him. Powers of Nature like electricity, gravitation, magnetism, etc. are abundantly at his service. Beyond that he fashioned great tools like language, transport, education for his service. He fashioned philosophy and spirituality but these great efforts could only come to his help in a feeble way. Organising a government, he could draw in some measure the vast powers of the society when he settled down to a life of law and order. In practice he is fully aware of the benefits of technology conferred on him by science. Science is the knowledge of Natural forces organised by the Mind. Philosophy is the knowledge of Spirit organised by the Mind. Ours is a vital culture that rules itself by emotions. The West is the Mental culture ruled by Mental values, particularly conscience. Indian culture tried to express spiritual values in life. The West discovered duty as a paramount value. Ours is dharma. Dharma vastly differs from duty. When a Man accepts several high values his best of efforts abridges itself into dharma. Hence the dharma of the King, the Guru, the Sishya, the house holder, the caste. Being a Mental culture, they prospered materially. Our vital culture was once prosperous but Nature chose to sacrifice it in favour of supramental consciousness. Sri Aurobindo views Life as one of Cosmos and His ideal is Divine Life. People who come in contact with the Supramental consciousness by prayer evoke a Life Response which brings down on them the cosmic benefits in the measure he can receive. Thus Mr. Bennet’s values brought the benefits of the force of the French Revolution as an aristocratic elevation to his family. Man has fashioned Money and Education as social tools that can civilize him. Character of life and Life Response exceed them in effectivity and scope. The principle of integral life tells us that the whole cosmic life is an integrated being which can be fully commissioned into action by moving a finite thing or act. Its greatest power is seen by the bodily sensation acts. Much of its power comes out when emotions stir. Life is governed by various rules in its totality as Life is always in an equilibrium. Its minutest acts are equally ruled by minute rules or customs as any small act is best done in the absence of human initiative. Indian tradition is that life is ruled by Time and Fate. The reality is Man can overcome Fate and Time if he chooses. All the rules of Life Response are Time-tested as a token by great souls. There are great times when Men who are not necessarily great evoked Life Response as Darcy. All life is one of Life Response though we are able to identify only a few of them. Indian life under the title of omens know many of them. All great writers all over the world are fully aware of those forces and express them in their fiction. Knowledge of these rules gives Man mastery of life to solve his problems and to avail of opportunities which he normally misses. The opportunities that comes one’s way being cosmic he needs the aid of cosmic forces for them to come to fruition. It is only geniuses in public life who avail of these forces, often subconsciously. India missed the opportunity to have a seat in the security council as this law was unknown. The life of volunteers rising to national level are expressive of these rules. A great number of examples are negative in life. A Law is valid whether its expression is positive or negative. Not knowing these rules Man often acts disturbing them with the result of environmental degradation. The climate change can be entirely rectified if Man’s actions are governed by this knowledge. Natural calamities are known a little earlier. Men who are aware of these laws evoking the equilibrium of life can avert them. Attacks of terrorism can be avoided by eliminating the corresponding elements in us. Some rules of life are:-
Life is in equilibrium.
Man finds the outer life as he is in his inner life.
Work is best planned and executed.
Better work is done by withdrawing human initiative.
One meets with failure when his consciousness is low.
The physical is ignorantly dynamic.
It repeats endlessly its errors.
Partial truth will never succeed.
Ignorant laws become fads if universally accepted.
A work stalled by an error cannot be completed till the error is removed.
Man dreads great good luck outside his context.
Love of partial intensity drives the object towards another.
Charm is never overcome.
Charm is the charm of pleasant falsehood.
All life is a process of transformation.
There is no failure that cannot be reversed by sincerity.
Inner sincerity never fails.
Authority is limited to its own plane.
Strong characters grow stronger by opposition.
Exercise of weakness ensures failure.
The reality of affection is property.
Presence of ruse guarantees failure.
Initiative fails invariably.
Initiative too can succeed in certain atmosphere.
Presence of revolution permits its atmosphere.
All events are true.
There is no waste in life.
Society, to us, is an organised entity presiding over the more fully organised government. All the power of this government comes from the society, but the government can receive only that much that can be taken by the structure of the constitution and law. Outside the government is the unorganised public life. The power this part receives from the Society is greater and often directs and determines the power exercised by the government. What the government and the public life draw from the society is a small part of its power as power can never be exhausted for two reasons. One it is vast, almost infinite and the other it has the character of increasing when drawn upon. Great Souls, geniuses draw their power not from the government but from the public life. Life Response is capable of receiving from the Society endlessly, the limitation being one’s receptivity. Beyond that society is Life which is the expression of existence. The boy who walks out of school seeks knowledge directly from the books. All geniuses do it. Life Response enables one to walk out of the organised society and draw more fully from what is above it. We see Dantes walking into the very sources of knowledge and equal wealth. Dumas makes us understand that Dantes was richer than anyone in Europe and more powerful. The impossible turn of life of Mary Thorne was repeated again in Dr. Thorne’s life. In such occasion we see a glimpse of this great source. Knowledge and wealth are two forms of power. The power of consciousness and delight are far greater. We hear of universal powers acting to take a fruit on the ground to the tree, a single rice particle quenching the hunger of many. Surely they are great powers and they are not in the summit. There lie great powers that can change Mrs. Bennet. The world has not witnessed them. Darcy’s change from his proposal to Pemberley is not one we have heard of in history or fiction. He gives up selfish conceit, pride, realizes he is mean, petty and can employ a ruse. On his own by her admonition at the proposal, he changes apparently not for any goal or aim but because they are good in themselves. Such a change brings her to Pemberley and makes her long to be its mistress. ICPF was a mere form. There was no content. Nor did all those who agreed to be members come to attend the sessions. No one spoke about the professed aims of ICPF. To crown all no one except Drag read the Report. For the forces in the subtle plane the mere form of an organization was important. They acted on multiple fronts, before the first meeting of ICPF. FDR’s first principles – evoked response. Churchill’s appeal to patriotism unleashed the forces. To those who come to Mother life extends itself considerably. Because an Irish man was in this consciousness Ireland prospered. Unemployment is transformed as scarcity of labour in India where twelve million youth enter the labour market each year. Still Man does not allow this force to change his opinion. It cannot do so by itself. Conditioning is known, not deconditioning. Man has not learnt the process of deconditioning, but the force can do so if he permits it. An infinite power is needed to raise the finite to be the infinite. When the right move is made in Man the Society responds by releasing that power. Life is governed by innumerable roles some of which are cited above. Man’s life is out of the inherent equilibrium of life. Restore the equilibrium the force will release itself. Man is petty mercenary. They certainly create disharmony. Harmony is the principle of Nature as well as Supermind. Wherever we find a problem let us restore harmony and we can see the forces at work. A ruse is negative, when the ruse employed by Darcy was reversed Bingley was engaged. Elizabeth is social in her opinions, personal in her affections, but She has the atmosphere of freedom that invited Darcy. Her own mentality is organised against her personality. After Jane was married she sticks to her on opinions of Darcy that as a Man she could not be accessible to a Man refused. She fears Lady Catherine should strengthen his prejudices of status. She does not know his Mind, nor could she concede possibilities other than her opinion. Nor does he have all the strength to preside over Pemberley. Confrontation with Lady Catherine raised her inherent insufficient strength which brought Darcy. Mark Roberts committed great blunder which anyone is capable of. But how many would accept the responsibility of his action as he did. Only an Englishman can do it. It is remarkable for him not to sign another bill and was ready to face bankruptcy. The response was great and the timing really belongs to Life Response. Darcy’s coming to Pemberley in time to meet her is the characteristic of Life Response. The change in Lady Arabella is mercenary but in Darcy it is a psychological transformation. In her there was no such change. In her intense hatred there was no occasion for her to think what Pemberley was. The actual sight of the magnificent grounds appealed to the woman in her. Reynold’s praise of Darcy and information of Wickham going wild helped her mind to overcome her own prejudices. Her emotions opened to feel the loveliness of the rooms. Electricity is a material force of Nature. But Life Response is the life power of the Society. As it can change the world in a day, certainly it is a prodigious power, we can know it, receive its benefit, use it occasionally for our benefit. Natural calamities are known somewhat earlier. Men who believe in this force can collect and call down this force, the calamities will not occur. Cyclone has responded like that several times. In Mr. Bennet’s family this force has not only solved a problem, but transformed a negative development precipitated into a positive social act. In a way it is a partial transformation. Given the right tool that is the link this force once cured an insane person. To be aware of such a force is to become a better individual capable of drawing the cosmic force in one’s life as the sannyasi who never eats draws the universal energy for him to function in life. Presenting Life Response successfully to the people is to introduce them to Sri Aurobindo’s yogic philosophy.
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