233. The Indian Mind

Sri Aurobindo has said that when the Indian Mind takes up a subject it goes to the very end. Philosophers call this analysis understanding an issue from the first principles. We function from the human mind. Above it is the mind of silence of the Muni; it is followed by the mind of illumination of the Rishi. The yogi is the next level. He is of intuition. Beyond that is the world of the Gods, called by Sri Aurobindo the Overmind. Lord Krishna is an avatar from this plane.

 According to Sri Aurobindo, Supermind created the world. The Overmind takes the potentialities of the Supermind and follows them to their uttermost possibility, where it becomes Unique. As Lord Krishna is from this plane, the Indians have the ability to go to the very end of any subject they choose. Winston Churchill, in his History of the English Speaking People said that the enunciation of the first principles has always been an anathema to the English mind.

The material success of the West, particularly the English is largely due to this practical bent of mind of focussing on the practical use of things. It prevents them from inquiring into the fundamental nature of things. Hence the limitation of Science. That way Science will level off into technology. Oddly enough, this great endowment of the Indians, coupled with the poverty of the 19th and 20th centuries, prevented them from exercising their minds on practically usable results.

But the endowment of Indians is a vast foundation of a knowledge that is superior to the analysis from the first principles. That knowledge will enable man to discover practically usable results that are basically sound in theory. Such discoveries cannot produce negative effects of any description. Indians must pay heed to their heritage. They should be ORIGINAL and should not seek secondary inspiration. The nation's soil is saturated with knowledge of the highest description. It is not for them to look for lesser inspiration wherever it comes from.