The Transcendent Divine, the Cosmic or Universal Plane of Consciousness and Material Existence

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The Seer of the Titeria
Upanishad identified various

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planes of ever more subtle and
powerful consciousness, with the

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most subtle and powerful being
the ultimate causative agent of

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the denser and lower formations
of matter, life, and mind.

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If we look at the experience of
the Vedic Seers, we find that

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there are three basic terms that
define stages of conscious

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awareness.
There is the lower, denser level

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consisting of matter, life,
mind.

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There is another level that is
the knowledge plane of

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consciousness.
And then there is the plane of

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Satchitananda, Pure existence,
Consciousness, BLISS, which

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transcends the manifested
universe.

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The Knowledge level acts as an
intermediary between the

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Transcendent level and the
planes of material existence.

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Sri Aurobindo calls this level
the Supramento Level, that is

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the level beyond the action of
mind.

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This level holds the awareness
of the Transcendent and the

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ultimate will of the creative
power in the universe, while

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effectively implementing in
detail the relationships and

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forms needed to carry out that
will in the external world.

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In that sense, the knowledge
level can be analogized as a

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type of prism that receives the
pure white light and breaks it

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down into all the colors of the
rainbow.

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This brings us to the definition
of the three great terms of the

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Divine Reality, the
Transcendent, the Cosmic or

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Universal, and the Material
Existence.

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The material existence is
created and caused by the action

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of the Cosmic or Universal under
the impulsion of the intention

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of the divine will that stems
from the transcendent

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shriorobindo notes quote The
cosmic divine is what is

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concerned with the actual
working out of things under the

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present circumstances.
It is the will of that cosmic

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Divine which is manifested in
each circumstance, each movement

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of this world.
The cosmic will is not to our

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ordinary consciousness something
that acts as an independent

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power, doing whatever it
chooses.

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It works through all these
beings, through the forces at

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play in the world, and the law
of these forces and their

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results.
It is only when we open

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ourselves and get out of the
ordinary consciousness that we

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can feel it intervening as an
independent power and overriding

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the ordinary play of the forces.
Then too we can see that even in

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the play of the forces and in
spite of their distortions, the

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cosmic will is working towards
the eventual realization of the

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will of the transcendent Divine
end.

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Quote Reference Sri Auro Bindo
and the Mother, The Hidden

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Forces of Life, Chapter One,
Life Through the Eyes of the

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Yogin, page 25.