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Jyotir
20-01-2012, 05:34 PM
Sri Aurobindo, "The Life Divine":


"The Life Divine" has been aptly called Sri Aurobindo's philosophical magnum opus. What it presents is a comprehensive 'metaphysical cosmology', an in-depth outline of both macrocosmic condition - universal and transcendent, and how those self-same general attributes exist as possibilities inherent within Nature, specifically and most significantly within the human microcosm (eg., 'God made man in His own image'. That potential, the spiritual aspiration, takes the form of evolving life experience and realization of consciousness in the physical world. Through the explanation of these universal processes, Sri Aurobindo thoroughly poses, addresses, answers and clarifies all the traditional quandaries, concerns, and questions, including those of the rational skeptic so prevalent in Western culture that usually surround and permeate such discussions.

One of the hallmarks, and arguably the radical departure of Aurobindo's work is a reconciliation by way of cogent synthesis and integration, not only of Eastern and Western approaches to spirituality, but of many other apparently 'irreconcilable' dualities: the seen and unseen, matter and spirit; peace vs dynamism, the same 'God' above/within Omniscient, below/without Ignorant - - as inseparable and mutually necessary as the general purpose of a Transcendent Will/Vision executed by Nature in Life, with human beings part and parcel - simply one phase, free-willed, self-conscious, of an incomprehensibly vast spectrum of evolution of Consciousness.

It is a remarkable work. Although later revised, it was substantially written and published in serial form (accounting for frequent thematic recapitulation) before 1920.

Notes on reading:

Many people (myself included) have found this author's writings to be somewhat 'difficult' reading, although at the same time it might be counterproductive and ultimately frustrating and unfortunate to assume that one might breeze through the entire book as if it were a mystery crime novel, etc. There were and are still many times for me when getting through just one page (even per day) may be a struggle. I encourage those interested in reading this book to employ openness, but especially patience and perseverance in approaching this material as a relatively long-term or ongoing project.

The combination of 'density' (every line seems to offer deep truth and insight), the writer's style, and the unfamiliar abstruse subject matter can make approaching these writings seem like a daunting task. However, if one looks at the table of contents, and realizes that the book represents a systematic unfoldment of life's most pressing, profound and enduring questions about the very nature of reality and our place within it - the effort required seems a small price to pay for a possibly much enhanced or even life-changing understanding. This is a window, and it is as clear as it is deep, into a thoroughly holistic exploration of these realities and perennial perplexities through what I have intuited and imho is the fruit of a truly great spiritual master's direct personal experience of these eternal mysteries presented within the contemporary milieu - and not merely fanciful speculation, literary analysis or interpretation of obscure ancient scriptures.

It has been my intention to present what is (imo) an invaluable resource for spiritual search, one that has been immensely helpful in that regard for myself and others, yet one which is relatively much less known within popular culture (or for that matter 'spiritual popular culture'). As always, whether these explanations or any content are satisfactory or even plausible for provisional/theoretical consideration, or whether they may serve a personal utility for any practical application within one's individual spiritual path/work/search remains dependent on one's subjective determination.

~ J

Jyotir
20-01-2012, 05:46 PM
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Internet Resources

There are 3 websites I know of which give complete and free access to the book.



1) Sri Aurobindo Ashram.Org provides the book as one PDF file, readable or downloadable for free at this link:

The Writings of Sri Aurobindo ( http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/writings.php ) , then scroll down to Volume 21-22.

This is the link I tend to favor as it works most reliably, allows for the download of the entire book (for personal use), and also because of the search function within the PDF format. The search function is good for locating specific occurrences of words/phrases, but through this, also provides another way to access the content of the book, if not in a linear fashion, then perhaps more 'impressionistically' by searching for a key word and reading all the related passages throughout the book in which those terms are located.


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2) Sri Aurobindo Ashram, provides "The Life Divine", in 2 linked volumes (#18 & 19 in the 'SABCL' - Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library) here:

The Life Divine Book I & Book II, Part 1 ( http://sriaurobindoashram.info/Contents.aspx?ParentCategoryName=_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/-01%20Works%20of%20Sri%20Aurobindo/-01%20English/-01_SABCL/-18_The%20Life%20Divine_Volume-18 )

The Life Divine Book II, Part 2 ( http://sriaurobindoashram.info/Contents.aspx?ParentCategoryName=_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/-01%20Works%20of%20Sri%20Aurobindo/-01%20English/-01_SABCL/-19_The%20Life%20Divine_Volume-19)


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3) Google Books The Life Divine ( http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Life_Divine.html?id=R_lQVrZyf7gC[/url)



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Jyotir
20-01-2012, 05:52 PM
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Summary of the book

Sri Aurobindo has designed The Life Divine in two books. The first book contains 28 chapters, and the second book consists of two parts, each containing 14 chapters, for a total of 56 chapters.

Book I is entitled The Omnipresent Reality and The Universe. Here Sri Aurobindo describes how the Infinite Consciousness, the omnipresent Reality (Brahman, the Absolute) extended Itself through the power of Truth Consciousness (Supermind) to become this universe of forms. He also explains the origin and underlying nature of the planes of creation, from matter to vital life to mind, and on back to Spirit.

Sri Aurobindo tells us that Man has emerged as a divided being, unable to fulfill his deepest human aspiration for God, Light, Peace, Joy, Love, and Immortality. And yet if we move to a deeper consciousness within, and open to the descending Supramental power above, we will overcome our divided nature, develop a new consciousness that will be the basis of a divine existence on earth.

Book II is entitled The Knowledge and The Ignorance: The Spiritual Evolution. Here, Sri Aurobindo delves deeper into the nature of our essential Ignorance, born of creation. He tells what in the involution, cosmos, life, and our being creates and perpetuates this Ignorance, and the way out of it, which is to arrive at true, Integral Knowledge. He goes further and indicates that as we overcome our Ignorance, we can also embark on the yogic effort to that will bring about our psychic, spiritual, and supramental transformation, leading to a spirit-based humanity, culminating in a Divine life on Earth. (from Wikipedia)

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Jyotir
20-01-2012, 05:58 PM
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Table of Contents

Note: Direct links to some key chapters (in bold) for quick reference have been provided where available from sites which do not have the entire book. In particular, many commentators have indicated that the last four chapters comprise a general summation/encapsulation of the entire book. Also of interest: Chapter 2 which explores and discusses the common 'rational materialist' arguments 'against' spirituality; Chapter 14 in Part 1 of Book 2 contains a discussion on the origin and meaning of evil.


Book 1: Omnipresent Reality and the Universe

01 - The Human Aspiration
02 - The Two Negations: The Materialist Denial ( http://sriaurobindoashram.info/Content.aspx?ContentURL=/_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/-01%20Works%20of%20Sri%20Aurobindo/-01%20English/-01_SABCL/-18_The%20Life%20Divine_Volume-18/-03_The%20Two%20Negations%20Ch_02%20.htm)
03 - The Two Negations: The Refusal of the Ascetic
04 - Reality Omnipresent
05 - The Destiny of the Individual
06 - Man in the Universe
07 - The Ego and the Dualities
08 - The Methods of Vedantic Knowledge
09 - The Pure Existent
10 - Conscious Force
11 - Delight of Existence: The Problem
12 - Delight of Existence: The Solution
13 - The Divine Maya
14 - The Supermind as Creator
15 - The Supreme Truth-Consciousness
16 - The Triple Status of the Supermind
17 - The Divine Soul
18 - Mind and Supermind
19 - Life
20 - Death, Desire and Incapacity
21 - The Ascent of Life
22 - The Problem of Life
23 - The Double Soul in Man
24 - Matter
25 - The Knot of Matter
26 - The Ascending Series of Substance
27 - The Sevenfold Chord of Being
28 - Supermind, Mind and the Overmind Maya


Book 2: The Knowledge and the Ignorance - The Spiritual Evolution
Part 1: The Infinite Consciousness and the Ignorance

01 - Indeterminates, Cosmic Determinations and the Indeterminable
02 - Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara - Maya, Prakritit, Shakti
03 - The Eternal and the Individual
04 - The Divine and the Undivine
05 The Cosmic Illusion; Mind, Dream and Hallucination ( http://intyoga.online.fr/ld2_05.htm )
06 - Reality and the Cosmic Illusion
07 - The Knowledge and the Ignorance
08 - Memory, Self-Consciousness and the Ignorance
09 - Memory, Ego and Self-Experience
10 - Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge
11 - The Boundaries of the Ignorance
12 - The Origin of the Ignorance
13 - Exclusive Concentration of Consciousness-Force and Ignorance
14 The Origin and Remedy of Falsehood, Error, Wrong and Evil ( http://intyoga.online.fr/ld2_14.htm )


Part 2: The Knowledge and the Spiritual Evolution

15 - Reality and the Integral Knoweldge
16 - The Integral Knowledge and the Aim of Life; Four Theories of Existence
17 - The Progress to Knowledge - God, Man and Nature
18 - The Evolutionary Process - Ascent and Integration
19 - Out of the Sevenfold Ignorance Towards the Sevenfold Knowledge
20 - The Philosophy of Rebirth
21 - The Order of the Worlds
22 Rebirth and Other Worlds; Karma, the Soul and Immortality ( http://intyoga.online.fr/ld2_22.htm )


The Spiritual Evolution

23 - Man and the Evolution
24 - The Evolution of the Spiritual Man
25 The Triple Transformation ( http://intyoga.online.fr/ld2_25.htm )
26 The Ascent Towards Supermind ( http://intyoga.online.fr/ld2_26.htm )
27 The Gnostic Being ( http://intyoga.online.fr/ld2_27.htm )
28 The Divine Life ( http://intyoga.online.fr/ld2_28.htm )


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Jyotir
20-01-2012, 06:07 PM
Outline of the book
In 56 chapters and 2 books, Sri Aurobindo covers a vast array of subjects.
In general, though, the book can be summarized as follows - - -
(note: the below points do not necessarily coincide strictly with chapter order but are general):


Man aspires for God, immortality, truth, delight, and perfection.

That aspiration remains unfulfilled because Man's nature is divided.

He can come to fulfill his aspiration when he discovers his higher nature, i.e. his higher consciousness.

The division and dualities in Man's nature -- i.e. his essential Ignorance -- has its origins in the creation of material life in the cosmos.

The most predominant form of that Ignorance is that Spirit and Matter seem at opposite poles.

However, when we develop the higher consciousness we see that they, like all other divisions and contradictions are not so, but are complementary and One.

The reality, Brahman is in fact that Oneness, and includes all planes from spirit to Matter. In fact, all planes are simply different forms of the One

Reality, Brahman, the Absolute.
To see everything, and all planes as One is essence is to have the Vision of Brahman.

To show how Brahman gave birth to, includes both Spirit and the Universe, he explains the emergence of Sat-Chit-Ananda. It will also serve to explain why

Man is born a divided, Ignorant Being.

Out of the Conscious Force of the Infinite Divine emerged a universe of forms. He explains how:

The process of the cosmos emerging from a Divine Source to cosmic mind to energy to matter is the Involution. The emergence of matter to life to mind and to spirit is the Evolution.

The first step that the Absolute takes out of Itself towards creation is Existence (Sat), Consciousness-Force (Chit), and Delight (Ananda).
Supermind, i.e. Truth Consciousness is a fourth stage.

Acting to fulfill Real Ideas of the Infinite, Conscious Being, Supermind enables a universe in space and time.

Supermind created out of the Conscious Force of Being, the cosmic Mind and Energy that would be the basis of forms of life in creation.

Supermind using the dividing power of cosmic Mind divides the Energy of the Force down to the atomic level, enabling Matter and a universe of unique, individualized forms to emerge.

The Spirit (as Existence, Consciousness-force, and Delight) that was the source of creation is involved in, embedded and hidden in matter.

The forms in creation emerge in contradiction and Ignorance, which was the Divine intent.

The Conscious Being intended the forms to be ignorant to allow for the greatest multiplicity and diversity of possibility in creation.

Because the forms in the cosmos originate in nescience and unconsciousness, man shares that quality. It reflects in his divided and Ignorant nature. It is the reason for suffering, pain, and death.

Through Man's evolution of consciousness, he overcomes his limited nature, bringing the spirit to the surface of life.

As a result, the involved Being, Consciousness, and Delight come out.

As he experiences his higher nature, he has the wonder of Discovery, which brings infinitely variable delight, which is beyond the status Delight of Ananda.

Man can follow a process to raise his consciousness.

When Man moves his attention away from the sense inputs of the surface, and discovers his inner being – down to the depths of Soul within – he begins a vast ascent in consciousness.

In the depths, he begins to move out of his ego and become more connected with, sensitive to, and unified with the world around him, including others. He loses that sense of division and duality in life.

As Man perceives the world from this deeper perspective, he perceives a vast array of truth, which enables him to come out of his fundamental Ignorance.

He begins to develop an Integral Knowledge that is in identity with all aspects of the object under consideration or that he pursues.

As he moves within, his minds opens to light and intuitions and revelations of knowledge.

He also begins to perceive all parts of a subject or object of knowledge, including its whole and essence, instead of the part he sees through ordinary sense and rational mind.

He develops a super-rationality, which he experiences as Integral Knowledge, the opposite of his original Ignorance.

He then sees beyond duality and contradiction in life, such as pleasure and pain, good and evil, positive and negative, two sides of a dispute, etc., perceiving them as necessary, complementary, and One.

He also comes to see the Oneness of Spirit and Matter. That matter is a form of spirit, and that spirit expresses itself in creation through matter (and all other planes).

As a result, he perceives the dual pairs of the Unmanifest and the Manifest, the Creator and Creation, the original Being and the Becomings of life as integrally One. It is the Vision of the Reality, Brahman.

As man discovers his true self and highest consciousness, he experiences ultimate Delight of being, which is far beyond the transient happiness of the normal human.

Delight of being is in fact the very reason that the Infinite set in motion the process that enabled a universe to emerge from a Divine Source.

When man discovers his higher nature, he feels the delight for which a universe of forms was created.

The static Delight of the conscious Being is then extended to the dynamic delight experienced by individual humans in creation.

Through man's evolution and transformation of consciousness, the Divine Intent is fulfilled.

When Man becomes fully spiritual in nature, he completes the circle from whose Source he and the cosmos originally emerged.

As he develops his consciousness to the full, he becomes the fully transformed Gnostic being; the supramentalized Individual.

As a certain number of gnostic individuals raise to the fore, a collective Divine Life becomes a real possibility, fulfilling the Divine Intent in enabling a universe of forms, while also fulfilling man's deepest aspirations for Truth, Light, Love, God, and Immortality.
(from Wikipedia)

Jyotir
20-01-2012, 06:10 PM
Other subjects addressed
In presenting his arguments Sri Aurobindo delves into a number of related subjects in great detail. They include:


the nature of space and time,

good and evil,

determinism and free-will;

the process of creation in the cosmos and in our own lives;

how Supermind through the intention of an ultimate reality created the universe;

the limitations of both the materialistic and scientific approach to life;

the limits of approaching spirit apart from life;

the nature of the ultimate Reality (the Absolute, Brahman), how we can come to realize it;

the parts of our being (mental, vital, physical, spiritual);

the parts of our inner being (the subconscient, subliminal, and evolving Soul (Psychic being);

the gross, subtle, and causal planes through which life operates;

a new future view of time experience (simultaneous time vision);

the nature of the supramental Force descending into life;

the evolutionary process of the involved spirit moving in matter to the surface;

the limits of religion;

the limits of the mind of the West;

the nature of the human mind and its many planes;

the nature of intellectuality vs higher thought processes;

how we can know truths and knowledge directly (i.e. identity) through spiritualized mind;

the planes of spiritual mind (silent, illumined, intuitive, overmental, and supramental);

how energy emerged from the original Spirit;

how invisible energy is the source of all forms;

how that energy emerged from an Original Conscious Force;

how the Conscious Force is part of the original Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence, conscious-force, delight), how Satchitananda moved to render the universe through Supermind,

the cause of the Ignorance in Man;

the 7 essential forms of his Ignorance;

how moving to the depths overcomes the Ignorance;

the many details of how the future Gnostic, supramental being will operate in life;

the nature of the Divine social existence;

and many others.
(from Wikipedia)

Jyotir
20-01-2012, 06:13 PM
This is a link to some additional information in case it may be useful as a study aid, but imo if one is patient and diligent with the original material, this summary is really not necessary. Some may find it helpful in reducing, attempting clarification from another view, offering stylistic differences from the actual book, etc. However, it should be recognized that because of that, it does not represent the 'consciousness' of the original presentation ie., Sri Aurobindo's own writing, which may be an important factor.

Roy Posner has created a free downloadable chapter-by-chapter summary with major points distilled for each chapter - downloadable as a PDF file here:

Roy Posner - Life Divine Analysis ( http://www.gurusoftware.com/GuruNet/Books/LifeDivineAnalysisInfo.htm )

(disclaimer: I am not Roy Posner!).

Jyotir
20-01-2012, 06:16 PM
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If anyone is interested, there are a number of short insightful reviews by readers which may be found at 'that large well known internet website that has books'.

Just Google this phrase: "the life divine, reviews"


~ J



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SpiritualBee
12-03-2012, 05:52 PM
Wow! you have done so much work creating this thread! Thank you! I am really energized reading your post. Your detailed outline will be a tremendous help to me in reading these immense works of Sri Aurobindo.