Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Triple Transformation - Track 702

Purusha and Prakriti

Just as in the process of evolution first there was only matter, then small organisms began to develop, life organisms, amoeba and others at that point of time there was body and life but no mind at all. In the process of evolution came mind.

How the, human mind developed and enlarged its sweep in a large, human population is a long story. Similarly there has to be developed a new instrumentation and a new power which has to perfect itself and establish itself; as an instrument of the race, not only for one individual or two individuals. Sri Aurobindo had said that, this is the thing that has to be done; the spiritual man has come but not the supramental being. That was the end of the first chapter, first paragraph, and this is elucidated in the next paragraph. We shall dwell upon this second paragraph in a little detail.

What is the difference between moksha and this aim of the supramental transformation?  This is very important because it is normally believed that moksha is the end of all our endeavour and we are all here on this earth only to attain to moksha. This has become such a wide spread belief all over that if you want to say that there is a still higher aim, then we must first know what exactly is moksha and what is this higher aim which is being proposed. First of all you have to ask two questions. In this process of liberation, or moksha, one acute experience that one has is of one's bondage, bandhan. An acute experience of bondage is the starting point of looking for moksha. As it is said in all our great books, mumkshatva or the desire for liberation is the starting point of all your spiritual endeavour and this desire for liberation is acutely felt when you feel yourself really bound. Many human beings do not feel themselves bound at all. The sense of bondage is not present for them. They feel quite normal and go on doing their work in the world. It is only at a certain point of life that one really begins to feel a sense of bondage. In fact this is what we have spoken of last time when we said that every human being at a certain stage of life is confronted with a situation and begins to feel that he and the situation are at two poles, and at a given time he feels that he should deal with the situation. Either he should expand the field of the situation, make it more rich, more luxurious, or he should alter the situation, he should change the circumstances, he should modify the situation, or totally give up the situation and take another situation altogether and at a rare point, one feels that one should come out of all situations whatsoever. The situation in which we find ourselves at any time is in technical terms called the product of Prakriti. It is only a technical term. Any situation in which we find ourselves can be termed as a product of Prakriti – Kri means to work, to act, pra means forth. Prakriti means to act forth – that which has the tendency to act forth and produces so many products. There is one universal energy, which is constantly at work and produces all the products that you find in the world. The general term that is given for the whole universal movement is Prakriti, and the situation in which each individual finds himself is the product of this vast universal action that is going on.