Vinaire's Blog

The gradient of enlightnemnt appears to be as follows. As one progresses along this gradient the postulates become finer and finer and so does the ego formation. Ego represents the agency of assimilation. There are finer postulates and a finer ego mechanism at each stage of this sequence.

For various definitions, please see Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and PM: Glossary.

The Gradient

1. Unknowable
   1. The ultimate goal is to know
   2. Knowing is postulating
   3. Perfect knowledge is Oneness (CCH*)
2. Postulate
   1. There is substance with inherent motion
   2. All motions have a tendency towards Oneness (CCH*)
   3. The substance requires unpacking and assimilation
   4. Any lack of assimilation appears as force
3. Ego formation
   1. Basic ego is a point of coordination
   2. Its purpose is to unpack and assimilate
   3. It does that by resolving anomalies
   4. The anomalies are violations of Oneness (CCH*)
4. The elements
   1. Substance (inertia)
      1. Matter
      2. Radiation
      3. Thought
   2. Space (extent of substance)
   3. Time (duration of substance)
   4. Motion (opposite of inertia)
   5. Natural laws (patterns of solutions)
   6. The spectrum of substance provides the expansion of oneness in time and space.
5. Material forms and motion
   1. The Inconscient (Objects)
      1. Matter has inherent motion
      2. Motions interact to generate actions
      3. Such actions are unconscious and automatic
      4. These actions follow simply laws.
   2. The Subconscient (subconscious mind)
      1. DNA—molecular level computer
      2. The motions become increasingly complex
      3. The resulting actions become regulated patterns
      4. Subconscious is composed of programmed complex motion
   3. The Subliminal
      1. Physical (cell body)
         • The body anchors the life of the individual.
         • Individual life is perishable; but life continues through reproduction.
         • The ultimate desire of life is to know.
         • Knowledge appears as genetic programming of complex activity.
      2. Vital (cell being)
         • The awareness such as that expressed by plants and animals.
         • There are reactions but the being has no consciousness of them.
6. Mind (mental being with many dimensions of assimilation)
   1. Higher Mind
      • This is the state of awareness of oneness and anomalies accompanied by thinking.
   2. Illumined Mind
      • At this level a person is advancing into looking instead of thinking. The anomalies resolve with flashes of realizations.
   3. Intuitive Mind 
      • At this level a person is becoming aware of the postulates, principles and laws underlying reality.
   4. Overmind
      • At this level a person is becoming aware of oneness among the postulates in different areas of activity.
   5. Supermind
      • At this level all awareness is completely continuous, consistent and harmonious. There is total oneness of knowledge.
7. Sachchidananda (Spirit)
   1. Delight of existence comes from the resolving of anomalies.
   2. In the state of Satchidananda, one is always resolving anomalies.
   3. The ultimate delight is contained in Oneness (CCH*)
8. Maya
   1. Maya consists of postulates.
   2. When a postulate is unpacked it generates dimensions.
   3. The dimensions provide appearance to existence.
9. Oneness
   1. Force is present where oneness is missing.
   2. Liberation lies in the achievement of Oneness.
10. Unknowable
    1. The Ultimate Reality is Unknowable.

Notes

1. The universe started with the postulate of unknown sensations.
2. Unpacking this postulate led to the five major physical sensations and the sensation of mental thought.
3. Assimilation of these sensations led to perceptions. Further assimilations led to memories, experiences, knowledge and wisdom.
4. It is to be noted that this unpacking and assimilation required many secondary postulates.
5. The basic postulates have become so solid that they appear as the material body. This material body houses the mechanisms of sensing. These mechanisms are the sense organs and the brain. Together they form the mind.
6. The first function of the mind is to assimilate sensations into perceptions. This level of the mind may be described as genetic programming.
7. The self-aware mind starts with perceptions. It is much less solid than the material body.
8. The consciousness of individuality (ego) comes about when bodily senses start to get coordinated and assimilated from a point sensed as “I” or self.
9. Sensations get assimilated into perception, perceptions into memory, memories into experience, experiences into knowledge and knowledge into higher wisdom.
10. Such assimilation follows the natural principle of Continuity, Consistency and Harmony (CCH*). This principle gives rise to natural laws.
11. The individuality (ego) assimilates in the background with just a sense of self but without further attention on it. This a natural consequence of having a body that is sensing the environment.
12. A baby’s self is based on the ego that is coordinating and assimilating body sensations. But, as the baby grows, the sense of self becomes larger as ego also starts assimilating the growing experience and knowledge. Over time, this sense of self starts to include the family, the society, the mankind, the life, and the universe.
13. Maturity comes about with the assimilation of experience and knowledge through various levels of mind into the wisdom of Sachchidananda. Thus, as the mind is purified, it slowly turns into pure spirit.
14. When a grown up person is acting in an immature, egoistic manner, he has confusions due to unassimilated perceptions, memories, experiences and knowledge. He then lacks wisdom.
15. One cannot get rid of the ego because ego will always be there as long as there is a body assimilating sensations. The unwanted influence of the ego can be eliminated only through proper assimilation.
16. The assimilated wisdom of spirit is way beyond the primitive sensations of the body.

*CCH = Continuity, Consistency and Harmony

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