THREE STATUSES OF LIFE

This is the origin of Ignorance, falsehood and evil. Sri Aurobindo says that this life which has been emerging from the stone has three statuses. The first status is the life of divided individuality, the life in matter which is unconscious in the form. This status gives expression to a great truth of existence, the truth of individuality. When we inquire why the Divine has gone to all the trouble of fashioning the creation in this manner, we discover that one of the divine goals of the creation is to affirm the truth of individuality. The entire creation is a manifestation of the Divine which is Truth. Therefore, everything the Divine creates or manifests has a truth behind it or expressing through it. Individuality is the affirmation of the truth of the Many, the truth of each individual form.

The divine has created permanent forms in matter so that those individual forms can become divine or evolve to reveal their inherent divinity. Forms become divine by becoming more perfect. What makes a form beautiful? The higher the quality of the consciousness and the force that can express through a form, the more beautiful and perfect it becomes. Because of this, perfection has enormous power to release the Infinite in the finite. For example, if a business establishment makes its internal organization perfect, that perfect internal organization has the power to attract the market, leading to an incredible expansion. If a company’s records are perfect, its accounts are perfect, its physical cleanliness is perfect, the harmony of its interactions is perfect, life will move towards the company and bring unimaginable prosperity. Systematic organization of the work makes the form perfect and when that is perfect, the consciousness hidden within it comes to the surface. The market responds, people respond, money responds. We can now understand why the evolution begins with divided individuality. Sachchidananda has gone to all this trouble so that separate forms can emerge and become perfect, become divine in life.

The second status of life is the status that we see in the animal kingdom and in the human realm of society: the status of mutual devouring. This is where we clash and mix with each other. One company grows by swallowing up another company. In any event, one person acts more important and other people submit to his importance. Among the scientists, they debate and one proves himself more clever than the rest. There is a marvelous story about a very arrogant sannyasi 500 years ago who was a great philosopher. He knew all the Vedas and Upanishads, and he toured the country in order to humiliate all the local pundits with his erudition. Everywhere he went, he annihilated and humiliated everyone else by his wisdom. The local kings proclaimed him the wisest man and he felt very proud. Finally, he came to a South Indian kingdom and the king summoned his wise men and asked them what to do. They told the king that there was no one in the kingdom who was a match for this man. The king thought for a while and then said, “Call the cook.” The king’s cook was a man with only one eye. The king spoke to the cook and whispered some instructions to him. The sannyasi came and addressed the king: “Your majesty, I have come here in all humility to learn and to seek the wisdom of your wise men. I would like to debate with the wisest of the wise in your kingdom.” The king said, “Very well,” and called the cook to step forward. They spread the mats and the cook, now dressed up in robes, sat silently opposite to the sannyasi. The sannyasi started the debate by raising his hand and showing one finger. The cook, without any hesitation, immediately raised two fingers. The sannyasi was shocked, not only by the answer but by the speed of the other man’s response. The sannyasi pondered very carefully and after some hesitation, he raised three fingers. Immediately the cook raised his fist and shook it at the sannyasi. The sannyasi threw down his scriptures, made pranams at the feet of the cook, made pranams to the king, and exclaimed, “Your Majesty, today is a great day. I have really met my match.” The king asked the sannyasi, “What happened?” The sannyasi replied, “I raised one finger to express the ultimate truth of life that all is One. Your wise man responded with two fingers to remind me that the One is really two, the Purusha and the Prakriti, the Siva and Shakti. Then I thought, finally I would outsmart him. I showed three fingers to indicate that the Two is really Three, the Transcendent, the Universal and the Individual. But your wise man responded with the closed fist signifying that all division is really an illusion, because the One can never be divided.” The wise man went away defeated and humbled. Then the king called the cook and asked “What happened?” The cook said, “That man raised one finger to say that I have only one eye. I raised two to tell him that my one eye is better than his two! Then he raised three to say that my one eye and his two eyes makes three. By then I was really angry. So I shook my fist at him, meaning that if he makes one more gesture, I am going to punch you in the nose!” That is mutual devouring!

We are now entering the third status of life. The third status becomes possible only when mind decides to outgrow the animal vitality and elevate itself. It begins at the point when we discover that cooperation and harmony are more powerful and valuable than competition. It matures when we become aware of some deeper truth in our souls behind. Sri Aurobindo calls this third status of life, which we as Mother’s devotees can enter today, the status of self-giving and love. This is not supramentalization. This is not the final fulfillment on earth. This is possible for every sincere devotee today, if we follow the methods we have been talking about, if we see and offer up in consecration our falsehood, ignorance and wrong will.

Three Statuses of Life

What happens then? We have been saying that the process of life is a pretty tough thing in which we learn something only when we get knocked on the head or thrown into prison for 14 years or thrown into a court case. When we decide to live according to this higher status of life, Mother’s life, we find that all the lessons come to us without the need for those negative experiences. We do not need the threat of death to discover the value of life. We do not need to have a strong negative force challenge us in order to make a progress. We discover all the areas for progress and willingly take steps to evolve. We make far more progress than the soul ever set out to make in a single lifetime. Mother says that the experience of the soul in a lifetime is to make one progress, to change one attitude or one motive. The parents of Romeo and Juliet learned only one experience in their lifetime and they had to pay a heavy price for it. Mother says you can make this progress of a lifetime at EVERY moment. Normally, when the soul makes the progress it came to make, it leaves. Usually the character is so limited that it permits only this one experience, so after learning it the soul leaves. But in Mother, if you change one attitude, She brings you the opportunity to make the next progress and the next. The progress of hundreds of births can be made in one lifetime. Mother also says that whatever progress we do not make now, we will never have a better opportunity to make in future. If we do not do it now in the circumstances we are in, it means we will not do it unless there is a greater pressure. And therefore, the experience will come back next time with a greater pressure to compel us to make the progress that we are not making now. We will never have a better opportunity to grow and make the progress than we do now. Knowing about Mother in this life gives us a great opportunity that we should take full advantage of.