Sachchidananda 'The Life Divine' Book I,Ch.9, 10, 11, 12 - Track 303

Since the universe is expanding but expanding in the sense that wherever you see there is a limit, there is a horizon. But horizon itself is expanding, whenever you look at one horizon and you go forward, the horizon itself goes forward. Somehow this universe which is an expanding universe seems to contain all kinds of quantities, plurality of every kind and may be even you may call totality, or you can say that even if totality has not yet come into existence because it is all still expanding and developing. All that can come into existence is contained in this huge vast expanding universe, so in that sense you can conceive of totality. All that was, all that is, all that will be, this is another leap of the reason. Although our senses only perceive what is now, our reason is capable of perceiving the future. It’s a special quality of the reason to perceive the future. To perceive the past which has gone and to perceive the future is the special capacity of the reason, which goes beyond the sense experiences. We have not seen the future but still we can think of the future, it’s a special magic of the reason you might say. 

Since all the plurality of objects, all the totality of objects they are somehow in one huge space you also have the idea of unity. At least they all subsist together, they coexist together. If they were in conflict with each other they would have killed each other. It is only by some kind of unity that they are subsisting together. The idea of unity, the idea of plurality, the idea of totality these three concepts that you get are special contributions of reason. Senses only give you an experience of the present moment and that is all. Those who do not have the developed reason like very small animals or creatures, if you ask them what is the view of the universe, it will be quite different from ours because we have the Reason. The concept of plurality, unity and totality is a very special kind of perception that our Reason possesses. This is one characteristic of quantity. In regard to quantity, you have three concepts of unity, plurality, and totality.

Then you have a second characteristic of all that we have seen. In philosophical language this characteristic is called quality. First was the quantity, now is the question of quality. You find that every object that you perceive has some kind of property. Every object that you see has some kind of property. These properties also are of three kinds – accidental properties, separable properties and inseparable properties. Again, you will see that all these three ideas are brought about by a process of thinking. You have observed so many objects and then you arrive at this conclusion that there are three kinds of properties. If I have to show to you that house among many houses on which the crow is seated and you look at that house and you identify that house. After two minutes the crow has flown away, therefore the kind of description that I gave you was a property which was accidental. It was by accident that the crow was sitting at that time. It is not as if the house depends upon that crow, so it is called an accidental property. An accidental property is a property which belongs to any object you might say by accident it so happens at that time. It is not fundamentally connected with the object. If I say that house which is white then I am describing something which has a kind of a separable quality. It’s not easily separable but it can be separated. You can white-wash it and have another colour − it’s a separable quality. But that house made of stone, bricks etc are inseparable quality of the house. A house which has not been made of some material, some substance either stone, or wood, or cement, or something of that kind it is not a house. The concept of the house is inseparable from the qualities, these properties of made of stone, or wood, or some material and with some cementing force or cementing property. Now all the objects that you see in the world have either of these three properties. Any object that you see in the world has any of these three properties – either accident, or separable quality, or inseparable quality. This is the conclusion of your reason.

I am only giving you the exercises of what reason means, how reason functions so that we may have a concrete experience of reason. Our senses don’t tell you that this called separable quality, this is called inseparable quality, this is called accident. If you only apply your senses, it will only describe what you see now but to say this is separable quality, this is inseparable quality, this is accidental property, it requires a process of thinking. You have arrived at a conclusion. Without the process of reasoning you would not have arrived at that conclusion. Similarly, there is another kind of relationship between substance and the quality. I only gave you first only three kinds of qualities under one category, which is called substance and accident − this is how it is called in philosophical language.

Substance − accident, this is one kind of relationship. There is another; it is cause and effect relationship. The relationship between substance and property is not of cause and effect. You can see the distinction between the two. The whiteness of this is not the cause of that house nor the effect of the house. They have some kind of, what is called relationship of inherence. Here cause and effect is such a relationship that if one comes into existence, the other follows. The seed is a cause and the tree is the effect. Tree is the cause and seed is the effect, it’s a chain of cause-effect relationship.

The third is in the same category is what is called reciprocity, not cause and effect, but reciprocity. Action and reaction, they are reciprocal. If you push an object in one direction then you find that there is a push from the opposite side − the relationship is that of reciprocity. This is the second category of characteristics of the movement. We are still examining the nature of movement; we are analyzing the movement rationally. There is the third characteristic of the movement, an object that you may see in one of the three conditions, in the condition of its presence, or in the condition of its absence, or in the condition of a limitation. A toy may be existing, it is called the affirmation of the toy, the toy can be removed so it is the absence of the toy, the toy may be broken, it is the limitation of the toy. So, negation, affirmation and limitation these three characteristics combined together are called the relationship of relationship. Quantity, quality this is relationship.