Universal Forces, the Aura and the Individual Consciousness

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Many people hold that the truth
of existence is an either or

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proposition.
If the universal forces create

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all of existence, then the
individual is essentially an

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illusory conception.
And on the other hand, if the

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individual is a real and
separate entity, then the

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universal is somehow denied or
disproven.

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It is, however, not necessary to
go to either of these two

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extremes in our understanding of
our existence in relation to the

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universal manifestation.
Shriorobindo resolves this

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conflict in chapter four of The
Life Divine, a chapter titled

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Reality Omnipresent.
The universal is real, and each

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individual form, formation or
being is also real, being

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constituted of, and being a
Nexus of the action.

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For the universal forces, the
individual is not wholly

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separate and independent, but is
part and parcel of that

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universal creation, dependent on
it and the forces that manifest

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for his own existence.
There is a constant interchange

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taking place between this Nexus
in the form of an individual

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being or formation, and the
universal forces that are acting

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to create the existence we
experience.

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These larger forces act upon us
and condition and drive our

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responses and actions.
Because they are not obviously

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palpable to our external senses
in a direct way, we tend to know

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them primarily through their
effects.

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There is, however, an
intervening buffer that acts to

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receive the external impacts,
and this is the aura or vital

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envelope.
As a person becomes more able to

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experience the impacts on the
aura, he is able to begin to

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have direct knowledge of the
interchange that is taking place

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and thereby work to accept,
modify, or reject the action of

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some of these forces.
Sri Aurobindo writes Quote Each

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man has his own personal
consciousness entrenched in his

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body and gets into touch with
his surroundings only through

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his body and senses and the mind
using the senses.

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Yet all the time the universal
forces are pouring into him

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without his knowing it.
He is aware only of thoughts,

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feelings, et cetera, that rise
to the surface, and these he

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takes for his own.
Really They come from outside in

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mind waves, vital waves, waves
of feeling and sensation, et

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cetera, which take particular
form in him and rise to the

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surface after they have got
inside.

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But they do not get into his
body at once.

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He carries about with him an
environmental consciousness

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called by the Theosophists, the
aura into which they first

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enter.
If you can become conscious of

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this environmental self of
yours, then you can catch the

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thought, passion, suggestion, or
force of illness and prevent it

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from entering into you.
If things in you are thrown out,

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they often do not go altogether,
but take refuge in this

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environmental atmosphere, and
from there they try to get in

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again.
Or they go to a distance outside

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but linger on the outskirts or
even perhaps far off, waiting

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till they get an opportunity to
attempt entrance.

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End Quote Reference Sri
Aurobindo and the Mother, The

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Hidden Forces of Life, Chapter 4
Cosmic and Universal Forces,

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page 82 to 83 A reader asks in
what way are these thoughts?

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Feelings not our own, are they
not something that shows up as

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ours by the way of one's life
Experience Is this not memory of

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sorts?
What we do with these ingrained

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etheric thought patterns after
recognizing we are not our

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thoughts, is within one's
command response.

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The ego personality is a
temporary construction that is

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created by and for the purposes
of the universal consciousness

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as a Nexus or point of focus for
the universal action.

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We try to identify with that ego
personality and to the extent we

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do, we see all these thoughts
and feelings as our own.

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When we emerge from the shadow
of the ego personality, however,

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we can see a vast play of forces
that drive what we think, what

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we feel and how we act.
In the Bhagwad Gita, Sri Krishna

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responds to Arjuna who falls
into confusion and declares he

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will not fight because he sees
the ego play.

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In the course of the 18 chapter,
Sri Krishna reminds Arjuna that

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all of the warriors that he
believes he will be responsible

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for killing are destined to die.
And he shows Arjuna the vision

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of the time spirit in the 11th
chapter, an overwhelming vision

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that shifts him entirely outside
the ego framework.

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It is true that we attach
ourselves to specific thoughts,

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ideas, memories and feelings
while we inhabit a particular

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formation of being.
We thus take the universal

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forces that are working and
appropriate them as if they are

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our own.
That is due to our

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identification with the ego
personality.

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When an individual shifts the
standpoint away, he begins to

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see the play of the three gunas
and the movement of energies

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that actually are the causative
agents of the formed personality

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and its associations.
Sri Ramana Maharshi asked the

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question, Who am I?
At some point we can no longer

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accept the answer that I am a
specific person in a specific

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body, living a specific life in
specific associations and

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adopting specific ideas and
emotional relationships.

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When we begin to identify with
the divine element within us,

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then we recognize that we change
bodies and lives as the body

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changes clothes.
In the Tacteria Upanishad, the

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seeker goes successively through
various stages of

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identification.
Identification with the body,

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identification with the life
energy, identification with the

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mind, identification with the
causal plane of consciousness,

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and finally identification with
bliss, which is an aspect of

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Satchidananda existence,
Consciousness, Bliss.

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Each level is successively more
subtle and more abstract, but

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has a greater reality than the
temporary body life mind complex

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we inhabit temporarily.
The ego personality as a

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temporary bubble does indeed act
as if it is the doer of works

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and the knower.
Can we really say that this is

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essentially the truth of the
matter?