The Gradient of Enlightenment

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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November 12, 2025 – 6:23 AM Categories: Postulate Mechanics | Post a comment

The Ultimate Reality

We  find a beautiful description of the ultimate reality in the Nasadiya Sukta, which is the 129th hymn (sukta) of the 10th Mandala of the Rig Veda. Here is a translation of this sukta: The Creation Hymn of Rig Veda.

We discover that

  1. The ultimate reality is UNKNOWABLE. 
  2. The ultimate goal is TO KNOW.

But, this is an anomaly. How was this anomaly resolved way back in the beginning?

The UNKNOWABLE has to be beyond knowable. The ancient theories based on Vedas called it “Nirākār Brahman”. In the modern times, Kant philosophized it as the “thing-in-itself”.

What this basically means is that, in the beginning, we felt that something could be there but we had no idea what it was. What followed then?

Vedas say that the Nirākār Brahman manifested itself through Māyā. This is like saying that Kant’s thing-in-itself somehow became known.

More scientifically, we may say that we “perceived” the unknowable by making a postulate about what could be there. The funny thing is that we then knew only our postulate and not the unknowable. The Unknowable simply triggered a postulate in us. Let’s look at what a postulate is.

POSTULATE
We sense this universe because it is substantial. It forms our entire consciousness. We are conscious of it because it has acquired a meaning. This meaning is provided by POSTULATES. Dictionaries define ‘postulate’ as a creative thought that is claimed to be true. It is then used as a basis for reasoning. For example, Einstein’s theory of relativity is based on the postulate, “The speed of light in a vacuum is constant for all observers, regardless of their motion.” This postulate has profound implications for our understanding of space and time. In general, a postulate brings clarity to what we sense. All scientific theories, philosophic rumination and religious faiths have begun with postulates. 

We are now saying that postulates also underlie our reality, which we call the knowable universe. 

Our ultimate goal then becomes to discover and know the postulates, from which we reason our reality.

But, ultimately, there has to be that first postulate followed by subsequent postulates. This means that there must be continuity, consistency and harmony among the postulates that determine our reality.

And, we arrive at those postulates by resolving all the violations of continuity, consistency and harmony in our reality. These violations are called anomalies.

ANOMALY
An ANOMALY is something that doesn’t make sense. Actually, an anomaly is a violation of ONENESS, in the form of discontinuity (missing data), inconsistency (contradictory data), or disharmony (arbitrary data). An anomaly is basically a misalignment among concepts. As you look closely at an anomaly, it resolves into concepts. The concepts arrange themselves into a consistent order. This allows missing, contradictory and arbitrary data to be straightened out. The anomaly then blows.

This is a new look at how to discover the ultimate reality.

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November 8, 2025 – 7:07 AM Categories: Subject Clearing | Comments (4)

Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo

According to Sri Aurobindo, the ascending levels of awareness are as above. I have decoded these levels with the help of Subject Clearing as follows.

INCONSCIENT
The state of Total Unawareness associated with inert matter. It is the ultimate condensed knowledge.

SUBCONSCIENT
The state of awareness in terms of impressions only. Knowledge appears as automatic replay of impressions.

PHYSICAL
The state of awareness of the body. Knowledge appears as complex activity with automatic programming.

VITAL
The state of awareness which is expressed as a spectrum of emotions.

MIND
The state of awareness expressed as a spectrum of reflection, imagination, conceptualization and reasoning.

HIGHER MIND
This is the state of awareness of oneness and anomalies accompanied by thinking.

ILLUMINED MIND
At this level a person is advancing into looking instead of thinking. The anomalies resolve with flashes of realizations.

INTUITIVE MIND
At this level a person is becoming aware of the postulates, principles and laws underlying reality.

OVERMIND
At this level a person is becoming aware of oneness among the postulates in different areas of activity.

SUPERMIND
At this level all awareness is completely continuous, consistent and harmonious. There is total oneness of knowledge.

SAT-CHIT-ANANDA
Sat is the all knowing state. Chit is total awareness in this state. Anand is the bliss of total oneness of awareness.

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Seven Quartets

(From Perplexity AI)

Aurobindo suggests a grand program called Sapta Chatushtaya (seven quartets) to aid this evolution. It is a structured, comprehensive program for yogic and spiritual development revealed to Sri Aurobindo. This system organizes the aspirant’s sadhana (spiritual practice) into seven key areas, each with four elements or goals. The scheme forms a core basis of his early yogic diaries and much of his synthesis of Yoga.

Overview of the Seven Quartets

1. Shanti Chatushtaya (Peace Quartet):

  • Focused on equanimity, inner peace, spiritual happiness, and joyful acceptance (equality, peace, inner happiness, soul’s laughter).
  • The goal is total freedom from disturbance, sorrow, and dissatisfaction, and the cultivation of unwavering gladness and contentment.

2. Shakti Chatushtaya (Power Quartet):

  • Cultivation of forces and capacities—physical, emotional, mental, spiritual—so the divine Shakti (power) can work in all parts.
  • Involves development of strength, energy, faith, and dynamism in body, feelings, and mind, transforming weaknesses into strengths.

3. Vijnana Chatushtaya (Knowledge Quartet):

  • Realization and application of true knowledge.
  • Cultivates the higher intuitive and supramental faculties to perceive truth directly and act from spiritual wisdom, surpassing the ordinary operations of mind.

4. Sharira Chatushtaya (Body Quartet):

  • Perfection of the physical body, its purification, transformation, and harmonization.
  • Aims for health, endurance, purity, and the ability to hold spiritual forces within matter.

5. Karma Chatushtaya (Divine Work Quartet):

  • Action and will become divinized, with work done in the world as an expression of divine realization.
  • Focuses on aligning will, reception, effectivity, and success to become a true instrument for divine action.

6. Brahma Chatushtaya (Being Quartet):

  • Realization of four aspects of the Divine (Brahman): pure existence (sat), pure consciousness (chit), pure bliss (ananda), and infinite nature (anantam).
  • The sadhak realizes unity with all existence and abides in the divine poise.

7. Siddhi Chatushtaya (Perfection Quartet):

  • Concerns the complete integration and perfection of the whole being.
  • Encompasses all other quartets and perfects purification, liberation, realization, and enjoyment (shuddhi, mukti, siddhi, bhukti).

Purpose and Process

  • Each quartet contains four elements, totaling 28 yogic objectives guiding seekers systematically toward integral transformation.
  • Sri Aurobindo received this as a detailed inner revelation and saw its fulfillment not just as personal progress, but as a model for the Yoga of the future, suitable for integrating all aspects of spiritual life with the world.
  • The sapta chatushtaya’s structure represents a uniquely comprehensive, experimental approach, reflecting Aurobindo’s synthesis of traditional Indian yogas with a forward-looking, evolutionary vision.

Context in Sri Aurobindo’s Writings

  • The sapta chatushtaya forms the backbone of his private “Record of Yoga,” predating and informing his later major works like “The Synthesis of Yoga.”
  • The “Quartets” scheme illuminates his broader yogic psychology, which aspires to balance and perfect all dimensions of being, from inner peace to outer action and the transformation of nature.

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November 7, 2025 – 8:48 PM Categories: Hinduism | Post a comment

Space, Mathematics and Einstein

Einstein, in his general relativity, gives pure space a structure. This structure is influenced by the presence of physical mass. Where does this structure of space come from?

Space can curve. If this is an analogy, then the only description of space curving is through mathematics. Mathematics is based on postulates that are in coherence with each other. These postulates, axioms, or rules are all pure thought

So, a structure for pure space is being postulated in GR. Light is shown to follow this structure. Gravity of planets is also explained when planets are seen to follow this structure of pure space.

Basically, GR is postulating a coherence between physical structure of matter and radiation on one hand and the structure of pure space on the other. Matter, radiation and “space” are shown to be in some kind of coherence, or equilibrium, with each other.

We can sense the physical structures of matter and radiation through our physical senses. But we can sense the structure of pure space only through the thought put in mathematics. We can sense thought through our mental sense. And this makes thought a substance on its own right.

This is because SUBSTANCE can be defined as “anything substantial enough to be sensed.” We sense thought differently from radiation and matter; but thought, radiation and matter can all be sensed.

We may, therefore, say that pure space is made of thought.

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November 4, 2025 – 5:23 AM Categories: Einstein | Comments (4)

Clearing Subjects

Reference: The Book of Subject Clearing

The first action of Subject Clearing is to choose the right subject to clear. This would be the most relevant subject at the top of list of Exercise 2 in Listing Subjects.

If this item pertains to personal life then go to Handling Personal Life and do the exercises there until your attention is no longer on personal life. Then do Exercise 2 again.

When the top item of Exercise 2 no longer pertains to personal life, then continue with the exercise below. This exercise requires the discipline of The 12 Aspects of Mindfulness for maximum positive results.

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Exercise 3: Clearing Subjects

  1. Select the most relevant subject at the top of list. See the exercise in Listing Subjects.
  2. Make a list of all the key words related to that subject.
  3. Start clearing the meanings of these key words. Please see Word Meanings.
  4. Use AI and mindfulness meditation to fully understand the concepts underlying the key words in the context of the subject.
  5. As you become aware of more key words of the subject, add them to the list.
  6. Arrange all key words, starting from the purpose of the subject, from broad to narrow concepts on a gradient. 
  7. Please note that such an arrangement may branch out in various directions.
  8. Notice the missing, contradictory and arbitrary concepts that now become visible. Please see Resolving Anomalies.
  9. The missing concepts may be hidden under not so developed or overlapping concepts.
  10. Add the key words related to such concepts in the right sequence on the list.
  11. The contradictions may be resolved by looking more closely at the related definitions and fine tuning them. 
  12. The arbitrary, redundant or overlapping concepts may be given due consideration before getting rid of them.
  13. Develop comprehensive definitions for the key words as you resolve anomalies.
  14. Develop a glossary in which the key words and their definitions are presented alphabetically.
  15. Focus on working out the fundamentals of that subject, down to the postulates. 
  16. Come forward defining the subsequent concepts until there is continuity, consistency and harmony among them.
  17. Do this until your attention is no longer fixated on the subject, and it is free to consider other subjects.
  18. Go back to the exercise of Listing Subjects, and rearrange the subjects again that are crowding your mind.
  19. Go back to step 1 above.

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November 2, 2025 – 5:17 AM Categories: Subject Clearing | Comments (4)