The Life Divine Chapter XVII The Progress to Knowledge God, Man and Nature Garry Jacobs 28 th June 2015

What is Reality? An eternal Existence, Consciousness, Delight An involution of spirit and a progressive evolution of consciousness

Stages of Involution & Evolution Spirit becomes Inconscient energy of Matter Consciousness evolves as vibrations of Life Contact with other life and matter awakens consciousness Self-awareness of Mind emerges in material life

The Destiny of Man The object of creation is man’s self-enlargement, self- fulfillment, self-evolution The outer apparent man must become the real inner Person The natural man has to evolve himself into a divine man The sons of death have to know themselves as the children of immortality The human birth is the turning point in evolution

What is Knowledge? Of the people, things, the world we live in and Life itself? Of ourselves? our character? our destiny? Of the Right, Truth, Delight and Reality? Of the relationship between ourselves, the world and God?

The Knowledge We Seek Not merely a partial, mental, intellectual knowledge Truth is holistic, universal and integral Knowledge is consciousness which possesses the highest truth in a direct perception and self experience. (Vedas) To become, to be the highest that we know is the sign that we really have the knowledge.

3 Aspects of Partial Knowledge in Ignorance Knowledge of the self - Egoistic Knowledge of life and nature - Scientific Knowledge of God - Religious

Goal of Evolution Man’s aim is to grow into our true being, being of Spirit – Sachchidananda To discover our divine universality and supreme infinity and express it in all his being, consciousness and delight of being This Immortality is man’s divine consummation. For this we need integration of knowledge Emergence of an integral consciousness that unites the individual, the world and God We become ourselves by exceeding ourselves

Steps in our Progress to Knowledge Affirmation of self as a separate Individual Discovery of individual’s relationship with the world, cosmos, Nature by indirect, separative knowledge Intuitive aspiration for the Divine, Unknown, the Cause, the Supreme, the all Perfection, the Absolute None of the three are sufficient in themselves True knowledge is possible only when we realize the unity of the three aspects

Affirmation of the Individual

Two Forces for Evolution A secret cosmic consciousness An individual consciousness manifest on the surface The subliminal cosmic consciousness organizes itself as - separate individual objects and beings - collective powers of consciousness which are the large subjective formations of cosmic Nature

Mass Collective Consciousness It is near to Inconscient It is moved by subconscious impulses, half blind It is guided by slogan, tradition, rule of pack Very effective when a leader organizes it Power of crowd is irresistible power like cyclone

Individual Transcending Ego Only as the individual becomes more conscious can the group being become more conscious Growth of the individual is indispensable for the inner growth of the collective being (as distinct from its outer growth and expansion). Through him the cosmic spirit organizes its collective units and makes them self-expressive and progressive Through him it raises Nature from Inconscience to Superconscience and meets the Transcendent

Emergence of True Individuality Progress of mind and soul – individually and collectively – depend on progressive freedom, separation and independence of the individual. Individual is part of the cosmic being, but also he is a soul descended from the Transcendence. Individual has to emerge from the common mentality, life- uniformity and physicality. Only then he can become spiritually one with all. We will never be fully and lastingly satisfied by any partial knowledge, power or realization

Spiritual Realization of the Individual Man has to find himself as mental and vital ego before he can find himself as soul or spirit. Perfection, liberation has to be individual, not collective, because of the spiritual Person, the Divinity in the individual. Perfection of the collective can only come through perfection of individuals. The individual finds his perfect self-finding in a complete self-giving and surrender. It is imperative to get beyond the ego, but one cannot get beyond the Self. Self is one with the All and the One.

Realization of the Seven-fold Knowledge Temporal – the soul’s immortality, other lives Psychological – Inconscient, subconscient, subliminal and superconscient Constitutional – our eternal soul, self and spirit beyond the instrumental mind, life, body Egoistic – our universal being one with all others Cosmic – our transcendental being beyond cosmos Original – the Absolute which unites all aspects Practical – lord of creation of our live and all we do

Unity of God, Man & Nature The individual discovers his being is one with cosmos and Nature – mind, life, body, soul, conscient, subconscient, and superconscient The individual discovers his being is one with God. He is the Absolute, Spirit, timeless and spaceless Self, Self cosmos, Lord of Nature. He finds his unity with all other souls and beings Knowledge of the universe leads to the same large revelation. He knows Nature as Knowledge-Will of the Divine Lord The unity of God and Nature manifests itself in him

Unity of the Absolute He discovers it is the Absolute who is all these relativities The Self has become all these becomings Nature is the Shakti or Power of being and consciousness of the Lord of all being He discovers that by which all is known as one with our self and possession of which all is possessed and enjoyed in our own self-existence.

Man’s Quest for Knowledge Man’s quest for God is the most ardent & enthralling of all quests It starts as a vague questioning of Nature and sense of something unseen in himself and in Nature Early religions deification of natural and invisible forces is a veiled intuition All seeking, even Science, starts in ignorance and proceeds toward a veiled Truth Humanity in its incompleteness is the most complete manifestation yet achieved here Divinity is the perfection of what in man is imperfect

Unity of all Knowledge A unity behind diversity and discord is the secret of the variety of religions and philosophies. The truth behind is always the same because All is the one Divine Infinite whom all are seeking. Because everything is that One, there must be endless variety in the human approach Man must find God variously in order to come to know Him entirely. Then all knowledge is unified in one comprehensive meaning.

Conscious Unity of God, Soul, Nature The unity of God, Man and Nature is the source of the most integral knowledge and foundation of all perfection and harmonies. The Brahman, the Absolute is the Spirit, the timeless Self, the Self possessing Time, Lord of Nature, creator and continent of the cosmos and immanent in all existences, the Soul from whom all souls derive and to whom they are drawn The same Absolute reveals in all relativities That is the truth of Being as man’s highest God- conception sees it.

Delight of Existence “To relate to another so that delight issues in both is a yogic aim in life.”