Arbindo, a monk, philosopher and freedom fighter of the 20th century was from Bengal and lived his spiritual life at Pondicherry, a French territory of pre-independent India. Arbindo’s perception on Gita talks of supra-consciousness and the supramental. It is within the confines of rational mind. He is always within the reason. Even in his talks on transcendence of reason, he uses rationalistic concepts. Arbindo was a rationalist. There is a great consistency in the words of Arbindo, which is not there in the statements of supra-rationalism. We cannot find the same logical consistency in the words of many mystics. A mystic speaks in terms of contradictions and paradoxes. Mystic says one word and soon contradicts his own. Usually mystics are self contradictory but not Arbindo.
Arbindo was
a great system-maker and could never be a supra-rational. Supra- rational
people are always unsystematic. System is integral to logic; and which is
illogical cannot follow a methodology or order. The unthinkable cannot be
systematized. All the thinkers of this century who have crossed the threshold
of reason are fragmentary in their statements. Wittgenstein, Husserl,
Heidegger, Marlo Ponti and the rest of them, have made fragmentary statements.
J Krishnamurti belongs to the same category which denies the system, order.
Their statements are atomic and self contradictory. Arbindo’s case is
different. The truth is, after Shankara there has been no greater system
builder in India than Arbindo.
The East has
no logical system. All its profound insights transcend logic and thought; they
cannot be achieved through thinking. Eastern experiences go beyond the known,
the knower and the knowledge itself. These all belong to the unknown and the
unknowable- what we call mystery. Curiously though, Arbindo creates concepts out
of things that have never been conceptualized. He creates categories and
concepts and fit them into logic and reason. And he does it without
inhibitions. This borders him to mystics!
Down the
centuries we have believed that man has to rise and ascend to God, it is always
an upward journey. Arbindo thinks the other way. He thinks that God will
descend and meet man. To understand the concept, contradiction and reality we
must know the difference between the religions, thinking and the theology
behind the same. Two ways of thinking are found in religions, one type thinks
in creation of world by God. The other type thinks there is no beginning and no
end. Now, we must see the concepts in depth. Certainly evolution is
unacceptable for most religions! Why is it so?
Let us
analyse them all in the coming weeks… “Let us understand Krishna to understand
Gita!”
Wishing you all good health and happiness,
Dr.Dwarakanath, Director,
Mitran foundation- the stress management people
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