Understanding
the Same Words on Different Planes
Today
I received a question about a phrase I used on the
fourteenth of August, the eve of Sri Aurobindo's
birthday. And this question seemed interesting to
me because it was about one of those rather cryptic
phrases, that are almost ambiguous through simplification,
and which was intended to be like that, so that
each one might understand it according to his own
plane of consciousness. I have already spoken to
you several times of this possibility of understanding
the same words on different planes; and these words
were intentionally expressed with a simplification,
a deliberate vagueness, precisely so that they would
serve as a vehicle for the complexity of meaning
they had to express.
This
meaning is a little different on the different planes,
but it is complementary, and it is only really complete
when one is able to understand it on all these planes
at once. True understanding is a simultaneous understanding
in which all the meanings are perceived, grasped,
understood at the same time; but to express them,
as we have a very poor language at our disposal,
we are obliged to say them one after another, with
many words and many explanations... That's what
I am going to do now.
The
question is about the phrase in which I spoke of
the birth of Sri Aurobindo—it was on the eve
of his birthday—and I called it an "eternal
birth". I am asked what I meant by "eternal".
Of
course, if the words are taken literally, an "eternal
birth" doesn't signify much. But I am going
to explain to you how there can be—and in fact
is—a physical explanation or understanding,
a mental understanding, a psychic understanding
and a spiritual understanding.
Physically,
it means that the consequences of this birth will
last as long as the Earth. The consequences of Sri
Aurobindo's birth will be felt throughout the entire
existence of the Earth. And so I called it "eternal",
a little poetically.
Mentally,
it is a birth the memory of which will last eternally.
Through the ages Sri Aurobindo's birth will be remembered,
with all the consequences it has had.
Psychically,
it is a birth which will recur eternally, from age
to age, in the history of the universe. This birth
is a manifestation which takes place periodically,
from age to age, in the history of the Earth. That
is, the birth itself is renewed, repeated, reproduced,
bringing every time perhaps something more—something
more complete and more perfect—but it is the
same movement of descent, of manifestation, of birth
in an earthly body.
And
finally, from the purely spiritual point of view,
it could be said that it is the birth of the Eternal
on Earth. For each time the Avatar takes a physical
form it is the birth of the Eternal himself on Earth.
All
that, contained in two words: "eternal birth".
So,
to conclude, I advise you, in future, before telling
yourself: "Why! What does this mean? I don't
understand it at all; perhaps it is not expressed
properly," you could say to yourself: "Perhaps
I am not on the plane where I would be able to understand",
and try to find behind the words something more
than mere words. There.
I
think this will be a good subject for our meditation.
11
September 1957
- The Mother
