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The Material Universe, the Causative Plane and the Forces of Manifestation · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  When we look at existence from the individual standpoint, we
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  see a number of solid forms interacting with one another.
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  We do not see how they came into existence other than the
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  physical, material, practical methodology we can observe which
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  fails to give us the causative factors or significance.
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  We do not see the forces that play through each of these
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  forms, and we experience most of our life as originating within
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  each form. Somehow this view is
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  unfortunately so limited and framed as to prevent us from
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  gaining a complete or true understanding of existence.
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  In the Taitarya Upanishad, a young seeker was instructed to
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  practice concentration of thought.
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  He began with the idea of the material physical nature being
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  the basis of things. But as he carried out his
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  concentration, he eventually recognized that matter is
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  dependent on prana, or the life force for its existence, and in
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  turn the life force is dependent on mind.
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  And then, in turn, comes the causal plane of existence, which
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  itself eventuates from the nature of existence.
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  Consciousness, bliss in an ultimate realization.
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  Western science has been following a similar curve of
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  enlightenment. Scientists now recognize that
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  matter is a condensed form of energy.
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  All forms are developed through some intelligence that utilizes
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  certain principles and rules to create and operate the
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  interaction of all physical forms and forces.
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  Now scientists, as they push into the quantum world, are
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  beginning to recognize that there is consciousness that
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  stands behind and acts as the original power that develops all
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  the forces and forms of mind life and the physical reality of
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  the universe. The forms are created through
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  various expressions of what we call radiation, the streaming of
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  energy, which is identified as a wave form until it is actually
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  observed, at which time it is perceived as a point.
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  Thus, everything in the universe is apparently capable of being
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  seen both as a wave and as a particle.
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  While it is easiest for us to observe these things at the
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  physical level, it is also true that a similar process works on
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  the vital mental and spiritual levels of existence.
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  The more subtle levels tend to be closer to the causative
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  plane, while the denser levels are the result of that causative
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  action. Turning then to the individual
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  forms and beings in the world, we begin to appreciate that they
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  are the result, not the cause, and that they are reception and
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  transmission points, a Nexus for the movement and expression of
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  these waves of consciousness and the creative energy that arises
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  from that consciousness to create the universe and its
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  virtually endless forms and interactions, Sri Aurobindo
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  notes, Quote They cosmic forces move in masses, waves, currents
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  constantly constituting and reconstituting beings and
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  objects, movements and happenings entering into them,
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  passing through them, forming themselves in them, throwing
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  themselves out from them on other beings and objects.
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  Each natural individual is a receptacle of these cosmic
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  forces and a Dynamo for their propagation.
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  Their passes from each to each a constant stream of mental and
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  vital energies, and these run too in cosmic waves and currents
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  no less than the forces of physical nature.
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  All this action is veiled from our surface minds, direct sense
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  and knowledge, but it is known and felt by the Inner Being,
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  though only through a direct contact.
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  When the Being enters into the cosmic Consciousness, it is
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  still more widely inclusively intimately aware of this play of
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  cosmic forces. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 4
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  Cosmic and Universal Forces, page 82.