Tattva Prabha

The Original Person Supramental (विज्ञानमयो मूलपुरुष)

जगतोऽनुप्रवेशोऽयं निर्देशात्परमेशितुः ।
महर्लोके समारब्धो विज्ञानमयभूमनि ॥४७॥

47) From the enjoyment of the Supreme Lord his gradual entry into the world commences in the world of Mahas, in the Vast of the Vijnana (Supermind).

In the previous sections we have spoken of the seven planes and worlds of which parardha, the triple Sat-Chit-Ananda forms the higher half, and is eternal. Now this verse states that the middle or the fourth plane from either end is the origin of creation. But it is not the result of an impersonal action, not a mechanical movement without a Will behind that springs from the Impersonal Being on the fourth plane, but the product of the workings of a Will-force from the Supreme Lord who presides over the Mahas world, in the vastness of the Supermind. It issues forth from the joy the self-delight of the Lord—and all creation takes place, indeed, from an outflow of Ananda. Nor is this creation a sudden jump from the heights of the Mahas downward here, but a gradual descent and the Lord Himself—for nothing is there apart from Him—enters step by step into the creation as its Soul and substance, in the course of its manifestation from Him. “That itself gradually entered” says the Upanishad, tadeva anupravisat. To show that it is not a sudden jump and entry, anu is used significantly. It is not that the Lord in the Mahas vacates his abode in the Super-mind and makes his entrance into the creation but something of him, a portion, amsa, a certain substantial aspect getting down into the creation is all that is meant here. For in the infinitude of his being, a ray is enough to create, enter, occupy and possess the whole Cosmic existence.

अस्माकं मूलपुरुषो जीवत्वमिह बिभ्रताम् ।
विज्ञानात्मा महर्लोके त्रिलोकी यद्वशे स्थिता ।॥४८॥

48) The original Person of ourselves who sustains the condition of Jiva (a living being) here, is the Supramental Self (Vijnana Atma) in the Mahas world wherein lies the control of this triple world.

The Impersonality of the creative Being and movement is kept in the background and stress is laid on the Creative Person, the original Being and Self from whom all beings and selves here are born. For whatever may be the condition of the Jiva, the living being here, whatever the ignorance, limitations and bounded existence, the ultimate source and support is that One, the Supreme who sustains in his self-limiting power of being the conditions of the Jivas who therefore are the soul-forms of the Supreme Spirit. Even as the Jiva here is a spark or ray of the Supreme in the Mahas and is under his final control, so is the soul's triple instrument of matter, life and mind under the real control of their respective worlds of Matter, Life and Mind. And this triple world is of course subject to the control of the fourth world, Mahas, from which it derives its existence.

एष क्रियाज्ञाननिधिर्महसि प्रतितिष्ठति ।
तुरीये धाम्नि सप्तानां व्याहृतीनां च मध्यमे ॥४९॥

49) He is the treasure of all Knowledge and Action settled in the Mahas, which is the fourth plane, the middle one of the seven Vyahritis (world-terms).

The substance of this verse has been expounded already. It is stated here to show that the Supreme in the Supermind is not aloof from the activities in the lower triple world. For He is the head and at the head of all activity and knowledge. It is His active interest that is to be noted in the world-condition and the soul's movement and progress here. The next verse explicitly states that the many souls here are really the formations of the Supreme Spirit above.

यस्यांशवोऽस्मद्व्यक्तीनां हेतवो मूलधातवः ।
सूत्रात्मरूपनानात्मव्यञ्जका नियतक्रियाः ॥५०॥

50) Whose rays are the radical elements, the causes of our individualities with their activities determined, and it is they that manifest the Many in the form of Sutratman (subtle soul-forms).

Indeed, the soul is never born, nor does it die. How then can it be said that the souls are formations of the One Spirit? It must be clearly understood that the soul as a spark of the spiritual Fire or a ray of the Sun is certainly unborn. But a spark on Earth growing into a flame heavenwards is certainly a form, rather a formation of the Spirit maintaining its relation with the world and sustaining itself with the experiences of the world-contact, assimilating at every step and turn the essence and meaning of Nature's interaction presented to it for the need of its growth ultimately towards the Supreme Spirit from which it has come down and with which it is essentially one. The term soul, then, is used here not in its essential sense of the pure Spirit, but as a formation here of that Spirit which takes up the essentials of world-contacts and gradually develops in itself, in its being and nature, all the Cosmic principles that go to build a more and more perfected individual Spirit, what we may call the soul-form, that can answer to the universal impacts correctly, discovering its right relation with the Cosmos and the Cosmic Spirit while still moving onward towards the Supreme station of the Spirit. Here what was stated in verse 20 must be noted. “And in His own portions that were previously released and are born, He manifests them as the Many.” Also, therein the explanatory note adds: “The Supreme Lord manifests the sole Self as many selves. And where are they so manifested? In His own portions that were previously released and thrown as seeds in the world-system.” Thus the distinction is clearly drawn between the unborn Spirit and the developing soul. The meaning of the soul's development is the great miracle of the Infinite Spirit revealing gradually in the finite soul-form itself with all that is natural to and inherent in it. Thus alone formation and progress of the soul from here towards the Supreme finds its meaning and fulfilment. Now these souls are originally the Rays of the Supreme. They are said to be, the radical elements that cause the individuation of the Spirit; the cause and meaning of the individuality; it is they from the Supreme that determine all activities of the soul-forms, that retain the thread of the soul-forms that reach down here from the Supreme. Hence they may be termed Sutra-atmans, subtle soul-forms.

एकस्यैवात्मनो नानारूपाण्याविष्कृतान्यतः ।
एकैकमपितद्रूपं जीव इत्युच्यते बुधैः ॥५१॥

51) Of the one Self many forms are manifested; hence each one of these forms is called Jiva by the Wise.

Many selves or many souls are several forms of the Self; and these are the manifestations of that One. Each is called the jiva, the living soul as distinguished from parama, the Supreme.

विचरन्तीह भूतानि रूपाण्येव प्रजापतेः ।
एकैकस्य च भूतस्य मूलांशः स तुरीयगः ॥५२॥

52) Here move about the beings, forms, indeed, of the Lord of creation; the Radical part of every being is He on the fourth plane.

The original and Real centre of every being here is the supreme Lord who retains the thread, as has been mentioned, of these beings in himself, in the fourth world, the Mahas.

अविच्छिन्ना दृष्टिधारा माहसी जगदीशितुः ।
यतो भूतानि जायन्ते तद्रूपाणि पुनः पुनः ॥५३॥

53) Without break is the course of the supramental gaze of the World-Lord, whence are born and born the beings that are his forms.

The remoteness of the fourth Plane from here is no bar to the uninterrupted long glance of the world's Lord that is operative in every being that has come of him and has taken shape here; they are indeed his forms after all, and as such carry with them, something of Him, the essential Spirit round which their formations develop here.

उत्पन्नस्येह भूलोके देहं स्थूलं शरीरिणः ।
अत्र धारयितुं भूमौ यः प्राणः समपेक्षितः ॥५४॥
स भुवर्लोकतो देहमभिमान्य विकारतः ।
बिर्भात व्यापृतस्तत्र समाविष्टो बुभुक्षया ॥५५॥

54-55) That life-force, prana, which is required to sustain the gross body of the embodied being born on earth is active from the Bhuvarloka (Life-world) through the modifications bearing on the body from desire of enjoyment.

When we speak of formation and development, we imply that the spiritual spark or the soul takes in substance from the environment of its habitation and builds subtle sheaths and vehicles by which it can sustain itself here and traverse the planes of being. The soul in its essence is the spirit, and for its pure existence it does not require any support other than its Self, the Supreme, the Divine who is everywhere though his especial abode in relation to this Cosmic Manifestation is the Mahas world. But when that soul gets embodied here, the life-force that is necessary for its living is drawn by it from the life-world. Even as the substance of the material body is provided by the physical world, so the living force by which the body is enabled to be active is drawn from the vital world wherein is dominant the principle of enjoyment and possession of Matter for and over which it is incessantly active. But it must be understood that the life-force from the Life-world does not act on the material body in its purity but it is modified in its workings here on the material plane and body through perverse movements of desire for enjoyment and is certainly a disfiguration of the pure Prana, the Life-force.

मनस्त्रिलोकविषयं स्वर्वेभवविकारजम् ।
पुरुषो भूमिगस्तस्मादिह ज्ञानक्रियाधरः ॥५६॥

56) Mind has for its object the triple world, is born of certain modification of the splendour of Svar-world; therefore earthly being, man, holds in him here the principles of knowledge and action.

Similarly, the luminous principle of mind is active in the thinking life of the human being here; it does not function in its pristine purity, in its native splendour that belongs to the Mind-world, otherwise called Svar, the third term, vyahriti. With all the perverse modifications consequent upon its entry into the embodied life of the soul here, it is still radically a luminous principle that is at work in man and represents the principle of Knowledge struggling in the Ignorance to outreach itself and grow into the heights and wideness of the Spirit of which it is the nearest instrument and vehicle here. Because of this luminous principle, however limited, half-lit and stumbling it may be in its workings here, man on earth is endowed with thought that controls and directs his activities to an appreciable extent.

भुवि सञ्चरतोऽस्येह पुरुषस्याल्पमेधसः ।
प्राणो यथा भुवोंके स्वर्लोके च यथा मनः ॥५७॥

57) Just as the Life of the human being who walks here, with his small powers of intelligence is really of the life-world, even so the Mind in him is of the Svar world.

The verse does not require elucidation. Suffice it to say that the three instruments of the Spirit here, matter, life and mind, really belong to the category of the three different worlds though they are intermingled, and seem to be one in the, embodied being. After mentioning the real nature of the threefold instrument the text goes on to reiterate the fact that the progressive soul does not stop with the mind for its highest instrument.

तथाऽस्य महसि प्रोक्ता विज्ञानमयजीवता ।
यत्रास्ते सर्वजीवात्मभूतोऽसौ पुरुषोत्तमः ॥५८॥

58) Similarly his supramental living is in the Mahas where the Purushottama is,—He, who has become the Atman of all living beings.

The soul developing the powers of the spirit in embodied being here still moves onward to what is above mind, to Vijnana, Supermind. It can and has to manifest and organise that supreme spiritual principle for functioning in the Earth-life. Just, as Life from the life-world entering into Matter makes it living and active, as Mind from the mind-world entering into living matter makes of it the thinking animal, man—the mental being in living matter—even so, the next higher principle vijnana, supermind comes down from the Mahas-world into the embodied soul for organised functioning in life. Hence it is stated that the supramental living of the soul is really rooted in the Supermind. And that is the Abode of the Supreme Spirit, Purushottama, the Self who is the original Soul and Self of all his becomings, all these beings here on Earth.

जीवानामस्मदादीनामादिमूलं परात्परः ।
लोकानामपि तच्छक्तिनेंत्री माता परात्परा ॥५९॥

59) The primal source of us, the Jivas—is the supreme Transcendent; His shakti, the Mother supreme and transcendent, is the leader of the worlds.

Indeed all the living beings, Jivas, have their source and root in the Supreme that transcends the triple world of Ignorance; and it is His power, Shakti that manifests Him and throws out the world-movement and hence She is said to be the Mother, Creatrix and leader of the worlds.

ईशितव्यानुगुण्येन शक्तिमुल्लासयन्त्स्वयम् ।
तपोवैभवसम्पन्नं महोऽध्यास्ते परः पुमान् ॥६०॥

60) The supreme Person presides over the world of Mahas, rich with the Glory of Tapas, himself directing the play of the Shakti suitable to (the condition of) what is to be governed.

While the Supreme Spirit is inalienable from His Power and both are essentially One, the distinction must be made clear that it is He who is the Lord and it is His Glory that is brought out in the manifestation by His Shakti; and here again it is not to be supposed that He is passive and does not actively take part in the Cosmic Movement. For at every step taken forward by the Shakti, He is inseparable from it and closely follows or is behind it. Hence it is to be noted that He directs the whole play of His Power, Shakti. His directing the whole play of the Shakti according to the needs of every detail in the creative movement is the result of His immense capacity to control, limit and condition Himself in the finite, in the minutest detail and observe the Self-made law of the conditioned existence in its infinite variation. This is what is meant by ‘suitable to the condition of what is to be governed’.