Anatomy of Man and God

By:

Shri Kumaraswamiji, B.A.

Navakalyanmath Dharwar (India)

With a foreword

By

Prof. Tan Yun-Shan

Director, Visva-Bharati Cheena-Bhavana

and

Founder, Sino-Indian Cultural Society.

1953 Rs. 6=00

Printed by:
Shri. V.R.Koppal, M.A.B.T.
Superintendent
1
 Tontadarya Press, Dharwar.

[All Rights Reserved]

Published by:
Shri. V.R.Koppal, M.A.B.T.
at Navakalyan Math, Bhusapeti,
Dharwar.

2
 Contents

PART - I

Author’s Preface

Foreward by Prof. Tan Yun-Shan

1. The Home of Vitality

2. The Concept of Man

3. Man, an Individual Self

4. World, the Universal Self

5. God, the Transcendental Self

6. Triad in Indian Philosophy

7. Yoga, an Art of Life

PART - II
1. Theistic Interpretation of History

2. Mystic, the pioneer of Life

3. Basava, as a Spiritual Genius

4. Truth in Religion

5. Pearls Forgotten

Index

3
 Author’s Preface
There is an anatomy of Melancholy, there is Anatomy of Peace; but here is Anatomy of Man and God.
Many an author has written on the unknown man, the everlasting man, the limitless man, the superman and the
cosmic man. God has been the theme of perennial interest, not merely of perennial philosophy. With the
advance of society, of scientific knowledge and philosophic reflection the unexhausted problem of God, the
infinite Person will be ever opening out into new aspects and fresh possibilities. I have dealt with this topic of
Man and God in my humble way. ‘The Home of Vitality’ is written from the point of view of physical anatomy.
It seems that in modern anatomy, ponus has not come to occupy the same position as it has done in Yoga
anatomy. In the article on ‘Yoga, an Art of Life’, I have endeavoured to give a new orientation to the concept of
Yoga. It calls for the attention of the scholars and mystics as well, to reconsider the traditional concept of
spiritual discipline. ‘Theistic Interpretation of History’ treats history in a new perspective. Real history does not
consist of a mere sequence of events, but it sets forth that sequence as a genuine development. It shows that the
actions of individuals are charged with a meaning, which not only goes beyond the individual’s conscious
horizon but is pregnant with issues that determine the lot of other individuals.

I gratefully acknowledge my debts to the various authors from whose books I have drawn a great deal.

I tender my hearty thanks to Prof. Tan Yun-Shan who has been kind enough to write a foreword to the
book.

-- The Author.

4
 Foreword
The very title of the book, ‘Anatomy of Man and God’, by Shri Kumaraswamiji may startle some
readers and their fixed, irrational ideas of the Divine Ground. It may also surprise many others who have no
God in mind at all. But it will not scare any of those who know and realize God.

What is God? God is nothing else but our own Self. He is not only within the human beings but the All
and every-thing in the Universe. So, far ‘What is God’ one may simply ask, ‘What is our own Self?’ and try to
know and realize it. When we know our own ‘Self’, we know God; when we know God, we know everything in
the Universe. In other words, God is man and man is God; the truth of the one is implied in the other. There is a
rich humanistic element in this.

Shri Kuamaraswamiji is not only an erudite scholar rich in knowledge of Science, Philosophy, Religion
and several other branches of learning but also a seer strongly supported by spiritual discipline. His others
works, such as “The Virashaiva Weltanschauung”, “Religion and Humanity”, “The Virashaiva Philosophy and
Mysticism” and “A World Expectant” are already well known and have been appreciated by savants of both the
East and the West.

His new book, “Anatomy of Man and God” not only sheds much-needed light on the problem of Man
and God but also points to a new way on the journey of life. I am sure that people who read this book will be
benefited and enlightened about the Final End. Its very modern title hides an ancient wisdom that derserves to
be better known.

Santiniketan Tan Yun-Shan

26-1-1953

5
 The Home of Vitality
Man is a soul and owns the body. Our bodies are but dull and tuneless in themselves, yet they can
become glorious harps on which the music of harmony may be struck. Nature has fashioned the human body,
and it is the most exquisite and wonderful organization which has come to us. If there is anything common to us
by nature it is the members of our corporeal frame; if these guided by the spirit become transformed as
serviceable instruments, then the body becomes a temple. A sound mind in a sound body – has been the cry of
humanity from ages long past. If the former is the glory of the latter, the latter is indispensable to the former.
Sound body or health is the first requisite for success in life, whatever may be the aim. It is our capital which
we must invest judiciously in the various occupations of life, in which we may have to be engaged. In the
pursuit of health, there is no fear of competition, no rivalry, no elbowing; of all the boons bestowed by Nature
upon man this one has been conferred in enormous abundance. Health and wealth are the two temporal
blessings, yet there is this difference that wealth is the most envied but the least enjoyed, while health is the
most enjoyed but the least envied. Sickness is poor spirited; it has little vigour and cannot serve anyone; it has
to husband its resources to live. But health answers its own ends and has to spare; it runs over inundating the
neighbourhoods and creeks of other man’s necessities. The experts on health opine that if physical laws were
strictly observed from generation to generation, there would be an end to the fruitful diseases that cut life short
and of the long list of maladies that make life a torment and a trial. This is an optimistic note based on if; and
the realization of the ideal visualized by the scientists is conditional upon the combined efforts of man and the
State. The building of a perfect body crowned by a perfect brain is at once the greatest earthly problem and the
grandest hope of the race.

The maintenance of physical body is one of perpetual change; in order that it shall live it needs
constantly to be supplied from three distinct sources. It must have food for its digestion, air for its breathing and
vitality for its absorption. Food is indeed essential to the human body, but what to eat, how much to eat, when to
eat and how t eat are questions of the utmost importance. Until lately, scientific men in the West did not pay any
attention to these vital matters. The result has been utter ignorance regarding many aspects of the food question.
The first point to be considered is whether one should kill in order to feed fat on the flesh of the slain animals.
Has the killing of animals been an essential condition of living? Under the pretext that flesh contains more
proteins, the civilized man of the present day does not admit animal killing to be a sin and his palate is not
satisfied with vegetables gathered out of the earth. But what is the role of food assigned by Nature? The role of
food is to supply the waste of the body; but an excess of food in the body can only be absorbed by placing it
under conditions of greater waste. It is true that proteins are necessary for the body to renew the lost tissues, and
that meat contains a large quantity of proteins. If we load our body by a larger quantity of proteins than is
necessary by meat eating, in order to digest the excess quantity we have to do acts which would cause more
than ordinary waste of tissues. Our body contains millions and millions of living cells. They are the constituent
parts of the tissues and organs. They are the guardians of the body. When-ever an enemy enters the body they
try to defend it from the enemy by expelling him, killing him and absorbing him. Whenever there is an excess
of proteins in the body such excess can only be absorbed by committing acts of waste, that is, by greater bodily
labour, by a greater exercise of the sexual instinct or by exciting anger, avarice, vanity or envy. It is therefore
the cells incite the limbs into restless activity, excite the animal desires or produce depression in the mind so
that the body may be wasted and the enemy may be absorbed. In this way, flesh food increases sensuality, wrath
and avarice – three great enemies of the human race.

In the recent publication, Geography of Hunger, J.D.Castro has marshaled statistics to conclude that
protein deficiency leads to increased fertility while the abundance of animal protein has the opposite effect. For
proper understanding of his conclusions we are tempted to give a quotation from his book: “Biologically
fertility depends on the functions of organs whose action is regulated in large part by hormones, which are the
secretions of certain ductless glands. It is known that there is a direct connection between the functioning of the
6
liver and the ovaries, the role of the liver being to inactivate the excess estrogens which the ovaries throw into
the blood-stream. Fatty degeneration of the liver and the tendency to cirrhosis are as we have previously seen
some of the characteristic results of protein deficiency and are very common in the far East and in certain
tropical areas of other continents. When degeneration of the liver occurs it begins to operate less efficiently and
is less effective at its job of inactivating excess estrogens. The result is a marked increase in the woman’s
reproductive capacity.” But this emphasis on dietetic cause of low fertility is not shared by other experts. The
Royal Commission of population appointed by the British Parliament takes a different view of the situation. It
holds that the cause of diminished fertility at least in the case of England where the urban pattern was
introduced much earlier than in other European countries, does not entirely lie in the absorption of a larger in-
take of proteins. There is no denying the fact that the best deterrent against excessive birth-rate is simple and
nutritious food, higher standard of living and education, enabling men and women to follow intellectual
pursuits.

The vital energy of the human body which we obtain through air, water and food has to maintain the
heat of the body. It is necessary to preserve a certain amount of heat in the body to digest the food and to do
intellectual work. It is said by scientists that eight-tenths of the vital energy is spent in keeping the body alive.
Out of the remaining two tenths a portion must go to digest the food and the remainder can only be used to do
our work. If one puts meat into his stomach which is not so easily digestible as grains, pulses, vegetables and
fruits, a greater portion of the two-tenths will be occupied in the work of digestion and consequently a smaller
portion will be available for other work than would be the case with a vegetarian. The latter can display a
greater amount of endurance born of the strength of nerves than mere show of muscular strength. And he can
employ a greater portion of his energy for intellectual work as his intellect is cool, acute and alert. In selecting
our food we should keep an eye on the correct proportion of the food constituents. We should refrain from
stuffing our body with a greater quantity of one or more of the food ingredients. If potatoes, vegetables and
certain grains are deficient in proteins, pulses have an excess of them. Our food should consist of the four
varieties of substances – proteins, carbohydrates, fats and mineral salts; so a combination is needed. A diet
consisting of rice and pulses or wheat and vegetables or rice and milk is the suitable food. In fruits we have
food cooked by nature, hence fruit and milk is the ideal food.

In nature all work is done by transformation of one kind of energy into another. Motion is changed into
heat, heat is converted into motion. Electricity is transmuted into heat, light or motion. Nothing is stationary in
this universe; all is astir, changing, always and constantly moving. So the body, this reservoir of vital energy,
has to be refilled every moment and fresh air is our chief agent for this work. It is the best preventive and the
best remedy in all diseases. It prevents disease bacilli from germinating within our body and in the body’s
environment. We are therefore required to live in the free and open air as much as possible. Nature has mixed in
the air the proper proportion of oxygen which we need with other gases. We can appropriate to our own use
only the required quantity. There is no fear of surfeiting in this matter. But here crops up a vital question – how
to breathe? Breathing or the process of respiration is of utmost importance to health. Dissipated breathing brings
early death, while its regulation prolongs life. A Yogi measures the span of his life not by the number of years
but by the number of breaths. There is a classification of respiration into four types, namely, high-breathing,
mid-breathing, low-breathing and Yogic-breathing. High breathing is known as clavicular or collar bone
breathing. In this breathing, only the upper part of the chest and lungs is moved, with the result that the
diaphragm is raised, compressing the lower most portions of the lungs thus preventing their expansion
downwards. In this breathing a minimum amount of air enters the lungs. Mid-breathing is thoracic breathing; it
is superior to high breathing, but inferior to low one. Low-breathing which is known as diaphragmatic breathing
is far better than the two, because in this breathing the movement of the diaphragm plays a very important part.
The diaphragm, when at rest, presents a concave surface to the abdominal cavity and protrudes in the chest like
a cone. When it is made to move the conical appearance vanishes and the diaphragm presses on the abdominal
contents forcing it out. This breathing mainly fills the lower and middle parts of the lings. The Yogic breathing
includes all these three modes and yet exceeds them. The process for Yogic breathing is briefly this: The upper
part of the lungs is first filled with air, next by movement of the ribs upwards and outwards air is inhaled to fill
up the middle portion of the lungs, lastly by the protruding of the abdomen and by allowing the diaphragm to
life flat an additional volume of air is drawn in to fill the lowest part of the lungs. Thus in Yogic breathing both
7
the lungs, from the apex to the base are entirely maximum quantity of oxygen and store up the maximum
amount of energy. Yogic breathing, then, introduces us to the rhythmic movement of respiration known by the
names of Pranayama which is summed up in three Sanskrit words” Puraka, inhalation, Kumbhaka, retention,
Rechaka, exhalation and these three combined form a breath unit.

The organ that is used to take food is the most important means of discovering whether a body is of
man, animal or plant. The plan is called Ūrdhva srotas, the one having an upward canal, the animal Tiryak
srotas, having the curved or horizontal canal, man, Arvāk srotas, having the downward canal. Srotas means
canal or current. It is the canal and in man it is the alimentary canal that is the carrier of food. In man the
nourishment is taken downward through the canal. In animals it is taken in a horizontal direction, in plants it is
taken upward. The grouping of the orders or kingdoms of creation into vegetable, animal and human is only
tenable on this ground of Srotas or canal. Bergson remarks thus: “In a word, the group must not be defined by
the possession of certain characteristics, but by its tendency to emphasize them. From this point of view taking
tendencies rather than states into account, we find that the vegetables and animals may be precisely defined and
distinguished and that they correspond to divergent developments of life. This divergence is shown first in the
method of alimentation. We know that the vegetable derives directly from the air and water and soil the
elements necessary to maintain life, especially carbon and nitrogen which it takes in mineral form. The animal,
on the contrary, cannot assimilate these elements unless they have been fixed for it in organic substances by
plants or by animals which directly or indirectly owe them to plants, so that ultimately the vegetable nourishes
the animal.” Why, the vegetable not only nourishes the animal but also the human. The word Ōshadhi which is
applied to the vegetable comes from avasadhi, meaning containing nourishment. If man succeeds in reversing
the process of taking food from the downward to the upward canal, he can dispense with food and safely live on
air which contains all the ingredients necessary for the maintenance of the body. Breathing is the chief method
of absorbing energy from the atmosphere. The lungs are the store-house of an absorbed atmospheric energy
which they impart to the rest of the organs. With each breath we inhale a certain amount of energy from the
atmospheric air which is absorbed by the blood and transferred to the nerves. Thus we see that in the process of
breathing we do not merely breathe air, but we also absorb energy or vitality which comes from the universal
life.

We have already said that body needs food for digestion, air for breathing and vitality for absorption.
Eventually we come to know that vitality is the real food for body. As the body is not adapted either to receive
vitality from without in a sufficiently large quantity or to recreate it from within, it derives vitality through food
and water and air as a chemical element. This vitality is essentially a force, but when clothed with matter, it
appears to us as though it were a highly refined chemical element. We must be on our guard lest we should
confuse it with electricity, for its action differs in many ways from that of electricity, light or heat. Any of the
variants’ of electricity cause oscillation of the atom as a whole, while vitality comes to the atom not from
without but from within. Nay, the atom is itself nothing but the manifestation of a force or vitality. This vitality
or vital force which goes by the name of Prānashakti is in a sense, all pervasive and dynamic, and the sun itself
is a great dynamo of that force. Thus vitality, like light and heat, is pouring forth from the sun continually, but
obstacles frequently arise to prevent the full supply from reaching the earth. We are well aware of the feeling of
cheerfulness and well-being which sunlight brings to us. But in the wintry and melancholy climes it so happens
that for days together the sky is covered by a pall of heavy cloud, and this affects vitality just as it does light
with the result that in dull and dark weather vitality runs low. When vitality is thus more sparely scattered, the
man in the robust health increases his power of absorption, depletes a larger area keeping his strength at normal
level. But invalids and men of little nerve force, who cannot do this often, suffer seriously and find themselves
growing weaker and more irritable without knowing why. For similar reasons vitality is at lower ebb in the
winter than in the summer and the long summer day, when bright and cloudless sky charges the atmosphere so
thoroughly with vitality that its short night makes but little difference. From this it is evident that sunlight is one
of the most important factors in the attainment and preservation of perfect health.
To understand the process of absorption of vitality one must have a proper understanding of the Pancha
vāyus which may be said to be the five types of vital energies that govern the body. All movements, whether
visible or invisible, in the universe are under the influence of Cosmic Energy. The activities of the human body
forming a part of the whole, automatically comes under the control of this universal Prānashakti. And this
8
cosmic Prāna, as it functions in the body, is named variously, according to the activity of the body it controls
and the situation it occupies. Thus there are five kinds of Vāyus in the body known as Udāna, Prāna, Samāna,
Apāna and Vyāna. The universal energy vibrates intensively and this vibration throws out vitality globules
which flash about in the atmosphere. When this globule is flashing, brilliant as it is, it is almost colourless and
shines with a white light. But scarcely it is drawn into the vortex of the hypogastric plexus at the spleen when it
is decomposed and breaks up into rays of different colours, though the colours of the division of Prāna or
vitality are not after the pattern of those which we ordinarily use in the solar spectrum. Vitality flows through
the body in five kinds of rays in accordance with the five-fold arrangement of Prāna in the body. The violet
blue ray flashes upwards to the throat where Udāna rules the region of the body above the larynx. This ray
helps us to be on the alert as regards our special senses that are under the control of the cephalic division of the
autonomic nervous system. Prāna has been located in the region between larynx and the base of the heart. The
yellow ray is directed to the heart. It govern the verbal mechanism and vocal apparatus, the movements of the
gullet, the respiratory system that come under the cervical portion of the autonomic nervous system. The green
ray floods the abdomen and is of the nature of Samāna which has been located between the heart and navel and
rules the machinery of the metabolism for the maintenance of body. Apāna which is of orange red colour has
abode below the navel and rules the automatic action of the kidney and it governs mostly the excretory
apparatus of the body. The orange red ray flows to the base of the spine and thence to the generative organs.
Vyāna which is of a rose colour, pervades the whole body and governs the movements of the body due to the
contraction and relaxation of muscles both voluntary and involuntary. And the rosy ray runs all over the body
along the nerves and is clearly the life of the nervous system. This vitality, though seven-fold in its constitution,
flows through the body in five main streams, for after issuing from the spleenic center the blue and violet join
into one ray, so do the orange and the red.

In the Indian Yogic books there is frequent reference to the five principal Vayus. The Gheranda
Samhitā assigns their position thus: The Prāna moves always in the heart, the Apāna in the sphere of the anus,
the Samāna in the region of the navel, the Udāna in the throat and the Vyāna pervades the whole body. The
very movement of Vayu releases certain rays of colours which affect the different centers in the body. The
yellow ray of Prāna affects the cardiac; the orange red ray of Apāna , the basic; the green ray of Samāna, the
umbilical; the violet blue ray of Udāna , the laryngeal; and the rose ray of Vyāna, the splenic. There seems to be
a very close correspondence between the flow of the vitality and the health of the different parts of the body
through which it flows. Why, the correspondence is so great that in the last resort health appears to be but the
absorption of vitality. If a person is suffering from a weak digestion, it is because either the flow and action of
the green ray is sluggish or its amount is smaller in proportion than it should be. Where the yellow current is
full and strong, it indicates strength and regularity in the action of heart. Weakness or disease in any part of the
body only suggests that there is a deficiency in the flow of vitality to that part. The psychological effects of
these rays of vitality are still more interesting. The green ray affects the feelings of different shades. The yellow
ray quickens the power of high philosophical and metaphysical thought. The violet blue ray galvanizes into
activity thought and emotion of a high spiritual type. Idiocy occurs if the flow of yellow and violet blue ray is
almost entirely inhibited. The rose ray increases the power of personal magnetism. The orange red ray normally
flows to the base of the spine energizing the desires of the flesh and helping to keep up the heat of the body. But
if it is deflected so that it moves upwards through the spine, then all three of its constituents undergo a
remarkable modification. The orange is sublimated into pure yellow which produces a decided intensification of
the powers of intellect. The dark ray becomes crimson which increases the quality of unselfish affection, and
the dark purple is transformed into lovely violet which quickens the spiritual nature of man. The man who has
achieved this transmutation shall have gained both the health of the body and the wealth of the mind.

9
 II
Anatomy describes two nervous systems in the human body, the cerebro-spinal and the autonomous.
The cerebro-spinal begins with the brain, continues down the spinal cord, and ramifies to all parts of the body
through the ganglia from which nerves issue between two successive vertebrae. The autonomous system
consists of two cords which run almost the whole length of the spine, situated a little forward of its axis, and to
the right and left respectively. From the ganglia of these two cords, which are not quite as numerous as those of
the spinal cord, sympathetic nerves proceed to form the network called the plexuses from which in turn, as from
relay stations, emerge smaller terminal ganglia and nerves. These two systems are however interrelated in a
great variety of ways by so many connecting nerves that it is difficult to demarcate them as two distinct neural
organizations. Yet the autonomic nervous system possesses features which effectively differentiate it from the
cerebro-spinal system, although it has inextricably wedded to it and become subservient to it. In addition to the
two neural organizations there is a third group called the vagus nerves which arise in the medulla oblongata and
descend independently down to the base of the spine, mingling constantly with the nerves and plexuses of the
other systems.

In human beings the central nervous system is contained within cranio-spinal cavity. It consists of the
brain and spinal cord. The spinal cord is made up of motor and sensory fibres which have their regulating
centers in the two large swellings called the basal ganglia in each hemisphere of the brain. They are known as
the thalamus and the corpus striatum. The first is auxiliary to the chief sensory centre and the second to the
chief motor center in the cortex of the brain. The sensory nerves from the spinal cord are connected, through the
lower brain centers, with cells in the rind or cerebral cortex as it is called. Cells in the cortex are also connected
by a special tract of nerve fibres down the spinal cord to the motor nerves. Thus is added a new mechanism to
what we may call the old standard pattern of spinal cord and ganglions directly linking the sensory and motor
nerves in a network of reflex actions. Although the cerebral hemispheres grow out of the solid brain and are
intimately connected with it, they seem to stand apart from it or at least above it in purpose as well as position.
The microscopic sensory nerves entering the hemispheres do not go singly and at random; they are grouped
together in fibers after the pattern of telephone cables, and the fibres served by the different senses proceed to
separate sections of the cortex. There are, moreover, cross-connections, that is, association fibres among the
fibers serving the various senses and also among these concerned with movement. Again, there is a main cross-
connection between the two hemispheres. From this pattern we can almost presume the purpose of the
hemispheres. They form a kind of super-brain equipped for the business of deciding and controlling the
movements of the individual. The impulses sent along from the senses are gathered together by the association
fibres in the brain and received by the cortex, which respond to their joint message by sending the appropriate
impulses down the motor nerves. As the right hemisphere is connected with the nerves governing the left side
and the left hemisphere with the right side, the cross-connection between the two ensures that the two sides are
moved in harmony. The cerebral hemispheres thus form a true central station for the whole nerve and muscle
system.

In the general structure of the brain, then, the most important feature is the pair of cerebral hemispheres,
so massive in the human brain that they account for a weight of about fifty ounces. From the point of view of
mental activity the most important part of the hemispheres is their thin cortex or rind. The cortex is deeply
corrugated so that its total surface is very much greater than that of the skull which encloses and protects the
hemispheres. Under a microscope the cortical layer is a mass of closely packed nerve cells and fibers’; forming
what is called the grey matter. Beneath it is pulpy white matter made up of nerve fibers running in all directions.
This white matter fills up most of the interior of the hemispheres and it encloses, near the base of the brain,
various masses of grey matter which narrow down to the brain stem connecting the brain with the spinal cord.
To get a picture of how the brain works, one might think of it as a head office with ten million wires bringing in
information which correspond to the sensory or entering fibers. The messages travel along the nerves at the rate
10
of two hundred miles an hour. In the head office there are fifteen thousand million clerks who are akin to the
cells in the brain that receives the incoming messages. Observation confirms that the cortex deals
predominantly with the receiving systems for touch, hearing and vision; but there are what is called silent areas
such as the frontal part of the brain and the association areas whose stimulation sometimes produces
complicated sensations. It has now been proved that the chief centers, where knowledge of action and sensation
is manifested, are located in the cortex of the brain. It seems as if intelligence and mental capacity are a function
of the cerebral cortex or the grey matter as a whole rather than any particular region, and it has been found that
quantity of brain removed rather than the part from which it is removed, is the more important factor in
determining the degree of mental impairment which would result. If man has gained his intellectual dominance
over his fellow creatures by concentrating his energy on the development of his brain, it now remains to be seen
whether he can maintain his position by devising a method of living in orderly relations with members of his
own species. If he fails to do so, he might follow the example of many groups of animals which had achieved a
temporary ascendancy by an exaggerated development of some particular structural mechanism and which
ultimately became extinct. If man is to be saved from this disaster the training of the autonomic nervous system
becomes an imperative need.

The autonomic nervous system consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic chains. The sympathetic
chain is a system of ganglia vertically arranged on either sides of the spine and is called vertebral or lateral
ganglia. In connection with lateral ganglia there are other outlying ganglia placed in front of the vertebral
column, from which various sympathetic plexuses take their origin. And these are called pre-vertebral or
collateral ganglia, while there is a third set of ganglia situated in the walls of the organs themselves called
terminal ganglia. All these three sets of ganglia, with strands connecting them together, ultimately gain
connection with the spinal nerves and pass through them and the blood vessels for distribution to the skin and
glands etc. The purpose of sympathetic activity is to prepare the body for quick and violent reaction to its
environment, and consists of acceleration of the heart and inhibition of the peristaltic movements of the viscera.
But the function of controlling and regulating the sympathetic activities belongs to the cerebellum the smaller.
The cerebellum hangs down as a separate entity, away from the fully developed cerebro-spinal nervous system,
but remains attached to it by means of peduncles – the bundles of nerve fibers – that carry impulses to and from
the nervous system. It is the great center for co-ordination of muscular movements which keep the body in a
position of the equilibrium. It is the balancing center of the body which controls the antagonistic muscles of the
body and limbs in such a way as to keep the body erect. Without proper balance the power of locomotion is
impossible. All the efferent impulses from within and without the body converge on the cerebellum as travelers
on roads formed by the nerve fibers. The cerebellum reflex sends efferent impulses to the motor area of the
brain, so as to stimulate the appropriate centers of that area and to discharge the energy along the proper nerve
paths to particular muscles. Thus all our complex bodily movements are regulated by cerebellum, as the reflex
center of coordinated muscular activity. The cerebellum then exerts its controlling influence on the catabolic
activities of the sympathetic portion of the autonomic nervous system which is not under our conscious control.

The medulla oblongata includes the parasympathetic fibers, lying for the most part in bulbar portion of
the vagus, through which the parasympathetic fibers are supplied to the heart, the bronchial tubes, the gullet, the
stomach, the greater part of the intestines and the pancreas. The purpose of the parasympathetic is to slow the
action of the heart, increase the activity of the digestive tract, stimulate salivary and digestive secretions and aid
the general anabolic activity of the body. The general effect then is that of conserving the bodily resources and
building up a reserve of energy to be called upon and used in times of need by the action of the sympathetic.
Hence the action of sympathetic fibers is directly antagonistic to the fiber of the parasympathetic. If the
accelerative or the catabolic function is more or less a part of the sympathetic portion of the autonomous
system, the inhibitory or anabolic function is a part of the parasympathetic, that is, mainly of the vagus. This
becomes clear when we consider the fact that the respiratory act is under the control of the vagus nerve which
has two sets of fibers afferent and efferent; stimulation of the first stops expiration and produces inspiration and
stimulation of the second does the reverse. These fibers are excited to action by the alternate collapse and
distension of the air vesicles of the lungs where the vagus terminations are situated. The vagus is the only nerve
which is composed of motor and sensory fibers, both efferent or outgoing and afferent or incoming. The
efferent fibers, which exercise a restraining influence over the action of lungs and heart, are kept in action by
11
the cerebro-spinal fluid which is secreted by the lateral ventricles in the brain. The afferent fibers have their
source in the solar plexus and pass upwards through the body of the vagus. Western Anatomy tells us that there
are two vagi, the right and the left. The left vagus is not so plentifully supplied with efferent fibers as the right
and therefore it plays minor part, while the stimulation of the right vagus at its centeral connection can control
the activities of all the six plexuses of the sympathetic system. Which is the central connection of the right
vagus nerve? The Tantric Yoga Manuals say that it is the pons which is just above the medulla oblongata, the
upper terminal end of the spinal cord. If the left vagus nerve is directly connected with the cerebellum, the right
vagus nerve, with the pons. Modern Anatomy seems to have over-looked this vital fact, for it does not give
much importance to the pons which forms, as it were, the junction between the cerebrum, cerebellum and
medulla oblongata. The spontaneous activity which is manifested either by a newly born infant or by an
inspired mystic is nothing but the over-flow of nervous energy through the pons. Spontaneity is the property of
the grey masses in the pons and in this quality it surpasses all other members.

The Yoga Anatomy admits pons as the ruler and controller of the autonomic nervous system. That the
pons is its director and controller will be evident from an account of the streams of impulses ascending to that
thalamus which is the highest reflex center in the brain. The stream is a complex one, being made up of
sensations of touch, sight, hearing and so on. When it reaches the thalamus the several classes of sensation are
sorted out and relayed to the appropriate parts of the cortex. But their influence is not confined to the special
areas; they spread through association fibers to other areas of cortex, some of which are linked up with the
central masses of grey matter which in turn can influence the brain as a whole. This intricate network of nerves
is dependent on the sensory currents lining the ventricular cavities, by stimulation from which the motor centers
alone can work. This region is further reinforced from the sympathetic ganglia which in turn depend upon
parasympathetic fibers, since the preservative qualities of the parasympathetic nerves have their source in the
pons. These nerves establish a restraining influence over the destructive activity of the sympathetic ones.
Without the beneficent influence of pons the various sympathetic nerve units in the body and in the organs of
sense would run riot, disorganizing the working of the whole body. By consciously controlling the incessant
working of the sympathetic cords it is possible to put a stop to the catabolic activity of the body. The Yoga
Anatomy says that it is possible to control them and the control could be achieved through the excitation and
stimulation of the pons, which suspends the general wear and tear of the tissues of the vital organs and helps in
the prolongation of the life. When the sympathetic cords are thus devitalized by the pons then there springs up a
volley of vitality from within making the body young and energetic. So long as the pons is undeveloped and
unstimulated, it remains a channel of reception of the vital force from without, but when man develops his
position and stimulates the pons by certain practices, it then becomes a channel of radiation instead of reception,
it then becomes a prominence instead of being a depression. Thus we conclude that pons is the home of vitality
in the human body. It is this vitality which restrains the otherwise wild flights of intellect and helps it to flow
within the bounds of life, thus preserving the human civilization from running to waste.

*********

12
 The Concept of Man
Man is an indivisible whole of extreme complexity. No simple concept of him can be obtained. In order
to understand and analyze man, we are obliged to seek the help of various techniques and therefore to utilize
several sciences. Naturally all these sciences arrive at a different conception of man. It often happens that undue
importance is given to some parts at the expense of others. But a due consideration of all the different aspects of
man is urgently called for. Every specialist, owing to his professional bias, believes that he understands the
entire human being, while in reality he only grasps a tiny part of him. Although we possess a fund of
observations accumulated by the scientists, philosophers, poets and mystics of all times, we still apprehend only
certain aspects of man. We know him as composed of distinct parts which are created by scientific methods.
Fragmentary aspects are considered as representing the whole. And these aspects are taken at random which, in
turn, give more importance to the individual or Society. Man appears with many different visages, but we
arbitrarily choose among them the one that pleases us and forget the others. It is not only incumbent but unwise
to choose only those things that please us, according to the dictates of our feelings, our imagination or the
scientific and philosophic form of our mind. A difficult and obscure subject must not be discarded simply
because it is difficult and obscure. All methods should be employed and the qualitative is as true as the
quantitative. The relations that can be expressed in mathematical terms do not possess greater reality than those
that cannot be so expressed. A state of consciousness, the humeral bone, a wound are equally real things. The
grief of the mother who has lost her child, the pangs of the mystic soul plunged in the Dark Night, the suffering
of the patient tortured by cancer are evident realities, although they are not measurable. The study of the
phenomena of clairvoyance should not be neglected any more than that of the coronary of nerves, though
clairvoyance can neither be produced at will nor measured. A phenomenon does not owe its importance to the
facility with which scientific techniques can be applied to its study. It must be conceived in function, not of the
observer and his methods, but of the subject, the human being who is a concrete thing.

There are as many systems of concepts as of strata in organization of living matter. Each system of
concepts can only be legitimately used in domain of science to which it belongs. The concepts of physics,
chemistry, physiology and psychology are applicable to the super-imposed levels of the bodily organization.
But the concepts appropriate at one level should not be mingled indiscriminately with those specific to another.
For instance the second law of thermodynamics, the law of dissipation of free energy, indispensable at the
molecular level, is inadmissible at the psychological level, where the principle of least effort and of maximum
pleasure is applied. The concepts of capillarity and of osmotic tension do not throw any light on problems
pertaining to consciousness. It is absurd to explain a psychological phenomenon in terms of cell physiology or
of quantum mechanics. However, the mechanistic physiologists of the 19th century and their followers who still
linger with us have committed such an error in attempting to reduce man entirely to physical chemistry.
Concepts should not be misused, they must be kept in their place in the hierarchy of sciences. If our mind
adheres to any system whatsoever, the aspect and significance of concrete phenomena are changed. At all times,
humanity has contemplated itself through glasses coloured by doctrines, beliefs and illusions. These false or
inexact concepts must be discarded. But such freedom has not yet been attained. Call it weakness or will or
ignorance of mind, educators, economists, sociologists and above all thinkers have often yielded to the
temptation to build up theories and afterwards to turn them into articles of faith, with the result that their
sciences have crystallized into formulas and rigid as the dogmas of a religion.

Among the numerous concepts relating to man some are mere logical constructs of mind which do not
apply to man as a concrete being. The remaining ones, which are purely and simply the result of experience,
have been called operational concepts. An operational concepts is equivalent to the operation or to the set of
operations involved in its acquisition. The precision of any concept whatsoever depends upon that of the
13
operations by which it is acquired. If man is defined as a being composed of matter and consciousness, such a
definition is meaningless. But an operational definition is given of man when we consider him as an organism
capable of manifesting physio-chemical and psycho-spiritual activities. Thus the operational concepts take into
cognizance the organic development of man. The successes achieved by the biological sciences enable us to
form a sound and simple idea of the relation between man’s spiritual and corporal activities. They have proved
that all our efforts to picture to ourselves an abstract spirit bereft of all material qualities have been fruitless.
With this knowledge it is now impossible to adhere to crude, blind materialism which regards the soul as a
minute piece of the finest ethereal matter. It also becomes impossible to raise questions concerning the organic
life of man in the way they were raised by the ancient Pagan philosophers and by the Schoolmen of the Middle
Ages. The Schoolmen of the Middle Ages tried to separate the soul from the body and, looking upon it as a
being that was totally alien to the body, they began to speculate on the question as to how the soul combined
with the body. In ancient times Aristotle also pondered over the problem and imagined that the body was crude
matter and that the soul was also matter, but of a very fine texture, and consequently the question he raised
might be to some extent understood in the chemical sense. This explains origins of his theory influxus physicus,
with which he explained the connection between the soul and the body. The Schoolmen of the Middle Ages
could not subscribe to Aristotle’s assumption concerning the material nature of the soul, for they were all
Christians, yet they bifurcated the spiritual and corporal. A broader and clearer view was needed to bring about
unity in what hitherto has been deliberately separated, to generalize what had hitherto been pictured as separate
parts. Organic science came to the rescue and refuted the scholastic dualist conception of man and began to
study him as a complete, undivided whole, corporal and spiritual, without attempting to separate the two. It
discerned in the soul the force which permeates and inspires the whole man’s body. Guided by this conception,
it discerns the action of the same force which unconsciously takes part in the formation of blood, assimilation of
food and the functions of the nervous system. Distinguished for its simplicity and for the truthful explanation it
gives of the facts of life, in harmony with the highest conception of man’s personality as an independent
individual. It establishes beyond doubt the truth that the soul unites with the body not by means of external
connections, that it has not been accidentally introduced into the body and does not occupy a certain corner in it,
but necessarily and inseparably permeates it, that without this inspiring force, it is impossible to conceive of the
living human organism.

By treating man as a single whole as an indivisible being, as a concrete individual we eliminate the
innumerable contradictions that the scholastic dualism found between corporal and spiritual activities. It goes
without saying that if a man were dissected we would find a host or irreconcilable contradictions, as we would
find in every thing else under such circumstances. What would happen if, for instance, we try to find what part
of a violin contains the sounds that it emits – the strings, the bridge, the slits or the deck. Such an analytical
dissection makes a caricature of man who is a concrete whole. Yet something of the same kind happened to the
Schoolmen whether of Europe or India who tried to contrast the body to the soul. Our attention must turn aside
from the analytical method to the synthetic and we must learn to look into the human individual, into his
personality and immediately the perspective changes. Psychology is beginning to do so, but so far has not
proved deeply beneath the surface. Psychical research has gone a little deeper and what do we find? The sharp
boundary assigned by science to nature or external world at once begins to soften and fade. The bodily senses
which reveal to us the external world are evidently not showing us everything. There is more of this world, or
rather this world is only a portion of what exists. Psychical research has explored only a little and yet the most
extraordinary and unexpected things have begun to show themselves. Consequently, the truth about the
personality of man has begun to dawn, with a new background of thought. The world revealed by the senses,
explore it as we will with ingenious instruments and mathematical technique is bounded in principle. The study
of the human being reveals more than the human being itself. It shows things happening which are different in
kind from those things which happen in the world of sense perception. The evidence of psychical research
shows that the phenomena it studies are not supernatural in the traditional sense. They are natural in the sense of
belonging to an ordered whole. They are evidently governed by different laws from those which govern the
physical world. But it is unwise to suppose that they are separated from the latter by any intrinsic boundary.
There is probably continuity, the apparent sharp division being the result of the limited character of our sense
perception. We should regard paranormal phenomena as constituting an extension of the sphere of nature. The
belief that the familiar alone is real, that the part of the universe visible to us is the whole, that a specialized
14
phase of the human being is its entirety – these beliefs create a totally false perspective. This false perspective
may be termed the fallacy of Misplaced Centrality; for it consists in the illusion that what we are familiar with
constitute the center of everything. The fallacy is imposed upon us by nature and as far as practical life is
concerned, it is a fiction of the greatest utility. We are adapted to the external world in mind as well as in body.
Yet, if we wish to attain even an inkling of truth about our own nature and cosmic situation, we must escape
from this fallacy.

We are often invited to turn for information to the external world, while the source of knowledge which
holds all the principle secrets is the personality of man. There is a strange disparity between the sciences of
matter and those of life. Astronomy, mechanics and physics are based on concepts which can be expressed,
tersely and elegantly, in mathematical language. They have built up a universe weaving about it a magnificent
texture of calculations and hypothesis. Human intellect is characterized by natural inability to comprehend life.
It attempts, therefore, to abstract from the complexity of phenomena some simple systems whose components
bear to one another certain relations susceptible of being described mathematically. This power of abstraction of
the man’s intellect is responsible for the amazing progress of physics and chemistry. It is because physics and
chemistry are abstract and quantitative that they have had such great and rapid progress. Although they do not
pretend to unveil the ultimate nature of things, they give us the power to penetrate into the potentialities of
matter. In learning the secret of the constitution and properties of atom, we have gained the mastery of almost
every thing excepting ourselves. They abstract only from man and universe what is attainable by their special
methods, and these abstractions, after they have been added together, are still less rich than the concrete fact.
These abstractions are reflected in the concepts of man and universe. Every student is aware that space is
curved, that the world is composed of blind and unknown forces, that we are nothing but infinitely small
particles on the surface of a grain of dust lost in the immensity of the cosmos and that this cosmos is totally
deprived of life and consciousness. Our universe is represented as exclusively mechanical and it cannot be
otherwise, since it is constructed from the techniques of physics and astronomy. But we must liberate man from
the cosmos created by the concepts of physics and astronomy. Despite its stupendous immensity, the world of
matter is too narrow for him. He instinctively feels that he is not altogether comprised within its dimensions, he
intuits that he extends somewhere else, outside the physical continuum. His presence in the prodigious void of
the inter-sidereal spaces may be totally negligible, but he is not a stranger in the realm of the material world. He
feels at ease in its company, because he belongs to another world, the spiritual, of which the material is an
emanation. If his will is indomitable, he may travel over the infinite cycles of this spiritual world, the cycles of
beauty contemplated by artists and poets; the cycle of love that inspires mysticism and heroism; the cycle of
Truth that is foundation and prius of all things; the cycle of Grace which is the ultimate reward of those who
passionately seek the Reality.

The restoration of man to the harmony of his mental and spiritual self will transform his universe. We
should remember that the universe modifies its aspects according to the condition of our body and
consciousness. It is nothing but the response of our nervous systems, our sensory organs, our techniques of
science. The electro-magnetic waves which express a sunset to the physicist are no more objective than the
brilliant colours received by the painter. The aesthetic feeling engendered by those colours, and the
measurement of the length of their component light-waves are two aspects of ourselves having the same right to
exist. The beauty as well as utility of the universe will grow necessarily with the strength of our organic and
spiritual activities. There are endless rungs on the ladder of civilization which began with the emergence of
human race as a brutish horde. But man has to make his own destiny without looking for a single, dramatic
coup. He must be prepared for a difficult ascent, each level of which will disclose fresh dangers and problems.
On the next integrative level man will have to learn to live in the spiritual being. Resistance to it comes from a
variety of quarters. Politicians and fanatics, warring cults and jarring creeds, purblind superstition and prolific
agnosticism – all girdle up their loins to give a united front to the sane development of spiritual life and
movement. Yet it sweeps onwards, despite all obstacles, with gathering momentum. It is the logic of history; its
triumph is assured, not because man’s history is decreed by fate, but because there is now sufficient
understanding to will the conditions of history. A more rational and spiritual civilization is at last within reach.
In the present crisis of the world’s history, one thing however stands out clearly. It matters profoundly what
concept is held of the value of the human individual. Only if we are intellectually convinced that man extends
15
beyond the limits of his atomic consciousness and reaches our potentially to the eternal spirit, then only the
future of human society can be secure. From the inward depths of man springs the possibility of the spiritual
union, the promise of a limitless inheritance and the hope that the mortal shall put on immortality.

*********

16
 Man, an Individual Self
What is the place and purpose of man in the universe? For the individual man and woman this question
demands personal and subjective answer. No matter what the scientist and philosopher may say about the
immensity of the universe and the comparative significance of man, the individual remains the center of his
own little universe. He may be aware of nothing else in the world but he will remain aware of himself. Indeed
he is only aware of anything else at all in so far as it affects himself. Had he no eyes to see the sunlight shine
and the stars twinkle; he would be blind to their glory. Had he no sense of smell, the sweetest flower that ever
bloomed might be scentless. Had he no sense of touch, the winds and waves might crush him and he would be
unaware. Had he no taste, nectar and ambrosia would not tempt him to eat. Had he no heart, the whole world
might suffer and he would be unaffected. It is through his mind that he senses the world. Man is indeed the
centre of his little sensed world as far as he is concerned. The question of his significance in the scheme of
things is of small concern compared with the significance of the scheme of things to himself, personality and
individually. And in thus seeking out the significance of the scheme to himself he seeks out a place and a
purpose in the universe. Unless the purpose is good or tending to be good he is without hope. The objective
study of the purpose of life in the scheme of things is of interest to comparatively few people. Every one has
probably his own philosophy of life, a sort of moral code by which he unconsciously directs his every-day
actions even though it may be never expressed in words. Hence everyone should have an aim or goal in life. For
it is only by having a definite aim in life that any one can hope to get the utmost satisfaction out of living. Then
only will the successes and failures in life be seen in their real proportion and the successes by being
consciously pursued, will outweigh the failures. Thus only will the faculties of body, mind and self be fully
exercised and a harvest be reaped in proportion to the worthiness and suitability of the sowing and the intensity
of the cultivation.

The sensationalist or the pragmatist may object to this and say that as our sense-knowledge consists
only of sensations, there is no such thing either as a definite aim in life or as a permanent self. He contends that
we are not directly aware of any other consciousness than our own and all that we perceive depends on that
consciousness. But as our individual consciousness is subject to ignorance, oblivion and sleep, and the object
known by us are continually passing out of our consciousness, these objects cannot be called permanent. These
objects are only transient states of mind and the world is nothing but a series of flowing, impermanent
sensations. What is now is no more next moment and what comes next moment is fresh sensation. If it be said
that there is a permanent self which supports sensations, the reply is that this self is nothing but the memory
which is an aggregate of recollections of faint images or of past sensations. We know this self only as the
percipient and recollector of sensations and as nothing else. When, therefore, it falls asleep or otherwise
becomes unconscious, when it is no more either a percipient or recollector of sensations, it cannot, in any
intelligible sense, be said to exist. As its very existence means the perception of sensations, how can it exist in
an insentient state? That the self and the world seem to be permanent is the result of the association of ideas and
the expectation consequent upon it.

That sensations are transient and fleeting, a sensation that passes away, passes for ever and cannot
return, what succeeds is fresh sensation whether vivid or faint – is partially true. Memory tells us that the same
‘I’ who experienced a past sensation, experience also the present, and that though the past sensation is gone “I’
is not gone with it. Now if the self or ‘I’ were nothing but a series of sensations, this verdict of memory would
have no meaning. The sad thing is that the sensationalist gives a poor account of memory. To him it is either
instinctive or inductive, it is indeed beyond the reach of the sensationalist to recognize that it is intuitive. It is
indeed a stern fact that nothing is ever forgotten, that memory is the book of judgment, that there is no such
thing as forgetting possible to the self. A thousand accidents may and will interpose a veil between our present
consciousness and the secret inscriptions on the self. Accidents of the same sort will also rend away this veil,
but whether veiled or unveiled, the inscriptions remain for ever. Memory is not only the cabinet of imagination,
the treasury of reason, the registry of conscience and the council chamber of thought, but also the inherent
quality of consciousness. A flow of transient sensations can by no means know themselves as a permanent ‘I’;
17
the self therefore is a permanent reality. The error of the sensationalist arises from his inability to realize that
sensation has twin aspects. The one is its rise in particular times and in relation to particular antecedents. In this
form we shall speak of it only as an event. The other is the form in which it exists unchanged as the object of
the unchangeable conscious self, as eternally related to it. In this form we often speak of it as knowledge of
events. If time is nothing apart from knowledge, if events form an infinite series and that this infinite series of
events is internally related to the self, it follows that there was not time when knowledge was not, and that no
time will ever come when there will be no knowledge. From this we may easily deduce the truth that this
knowledge is without beginning and without end, and that it is one and indivisible. Such eternity of knowledge
or consciousness is denied by both the sensationalist and the subjective idealist, although the latter recognizes
the permanence of the self.

The psychology of consciousness as adumbrated by the subjective idealists is termed atomistic. It

manifests that our experience comes to us in little separate bits, between which the mind never perceives any
real connection, and that whatever else there may come to be in the mind is the result of the putting together of
the little bits. These little bits are what Berkeley called ideas. An idea is therefore the ultimate unit of
experiences, it is conceived as an atom of thought, just as the atom was once conceived as the ultimate unit of
matter. The pragmatist would affirm, on the contrary, that experience is connected and continuous and that the
connections between the bits are just as much there to begin with as the bits. William James contended that our
experience would come to us initially in the form of continuous stream, the connecting links between one part
of our experience and another being themselves indistinguishable parts of what we experience. Kant insisted
upon the fact that our experience is given to us not as a mosaic of little bits, but as a connected whole, the
connections being contributed by the mind. All these views suffer from an imperfect understanding of the
nature of consciousness. Consciousness is, as explained above, eternal and indivisible; it is not a continuum but
constant, not a flow, but Presence. The fact is that the Self or Spirit is essentially conscious; nay it is
consciousness itself, shining by its own light, and revealing thereby mind and matter which depend for
existence on its support. This consciousness, which is the fundamental characteristic of the self, involves no
ideas of length, breadth or size. It is neither long or short, neither broad nor narrow, neither deep or shallow,
neither above nor below. It is therefore a great error to regard the conscious self as something having bits or
cuts. Since the self is in everything it knows, it cannot be confined to any one of the things it experiences. If it
were confined to any one of them it could not know the others. It is because of this false notion of self that
people believe experience to be something independent of consciousness. The self is consciousness and
whatever is an object of consciousness is within its sphere.

This view brings us to the metaphysical conception of spirit and matter. Life is a graded hierarchy of
which spirit and matter are the highest and lowest terms. Matter is the basis, the foundation upon which life
stands, but spirit is its source and summit. Matter needs spirit for its existence and not vice versa. The common
characteristics of all that we know of material objects, their forms, processes and forces is that they are the
objects of knowledge to the conscious self or spirit which is Presence. Things known can be distinguished but
not separated from the knower, the distinction is within, not without knowledge. However different material
things may be from one another, however varied may be their qualities, they have all this common feature that
they are all known things, that they fall within the orbit of knowledge. A material thing exists without being the
object of any knowledge, independently of any knowing self is an absurd and meaningless proposition. For a
material object to exist is to be known, its existence consists in being known. Every material object has
extension or space. Qualities like colour, smell, warmth and coldness may not be possessed by particular objects
but every material object has extension. Extension may be perceived without any colour at all; the blind have no
sense of colour but extension appears to them with sensations of touch. Visual sensations like white, blue or
green and tactual sensations like heat and cold, may be conceived as absent but the non-existence of space
cannot be conceived. Yet space is not something independent of self, since space is dependent on spirit; it is not
an object by itself, but only a necessary form of perception. It may be seen that matter, in its last analysis,
resolves itself into space. Space however small it may be, must have some magnitude and must therefore have
innumerable parts. There can be no union without something to unit. What is this uniting principle? it is the
conscious self. It is not meant to sat that these afterwards brought them together. We mean to say that union or
synthesis is the very nature of spirit without which space would be impossible. This synthesis is not an event in
18
time but it is a timeless act. If space is called an act, spirit is its necessary cause. If space is a condition, spirit is
its necessary support or presupposition. What people regard as material qualities independent of mind are really
sensations dependent upon consciousness. In perceiving what we call the material world, we do not really go
out of the spiritual, but know matter as inhering in spirit. The fact is that the self, under varying conditions,
experiences various sensations. What is experienced is dependent on consciousness and not anything
independent of it.

We have been engaged in considering the nature and validity of self-knowledge as distinct from sense-
experience. We do not argue that sense-experience is either false or illusory but we contend that it is dependent
upon self-knowledge. The role of sense-experience is ruled out by the idealists simply because they fail to see
this interdependence. On close scrutiny it is found that sensation is not an object, but it is an experience of the
self. Sensation is simply the name we give to a recognizable kind of experience which we have, when we are
knowing an object external to ourselves. What we call a sensation is simply our way of perceiving or
experiencing that object. The relation which the self has to an object, when it perceives or experiences the
object, is a unique relation. It is a relation which is common to all spiritual acts, but is peculiar to them in the
sense that it is only spirits which are capable of entering into it. It must be remembered that it is not the senses
that perceive, the real percipient is the self. To the unreflective it is eyes that see, the ears that hear, the tongue
that tastes and the hands that touch. But the thoughtful knows that these notions are erroneous. It is the self that
sees and hears, tastes and touches. It is through the senses that the self does all this. What this through means? It
means that seeing, hearing, tasting and touching are all actions of the self. The fact that the self can see means
that the self has the power to see, and this power of sense is nothing independent of the self, it is identical with
it. The knower and the power of knowing are not different things, but they are the same. The consciousness of
the self is the support and condition of all sense-experience.

If self-knowledge is the cause and condition of sensations, it is not permissible to postulate an

unconscious substance, as the Naturalists do, to explain the simple fact. The conditions necessary for the rise of
sensations are: a sensient self, something which remains permanent in the midst of sensuous changes and
something to produce the sensation. Now are not all these conditions to be found in the self? It is the self that
feels sensations, it is the self that remains unchanged as a witness in the midst of kaleidoscopic change of
sensations, and it is the self that produces sensations or becomes sensient by its own activity. It is the idea that
in sensation the self if purely passive which makes some philosophers imagine an unconscious matter or
Prakriti as causing sensation in it. But such an idea of self’s passivity is purely arbitrary and is the result of a
false analogy which follows the pattern of a piece of wax that, being acted on by a stamp, produces impressions
on it. This kind of thinking conceives of matter as being at once the cause and the object of sensation. Its error
lies in its attitude to the self which it regards as completely passive in sensation. But there is no such thing as a
passive knowing which is a mere contemplation of the world. The self’s knowledge is at once effective and
intuitive. The true purpose of self’s activity is not only to know the world but to change it, because in the
knowledge of the self, power of vision and power of execution are no longer separated but exist in synthesis.
Sensation then implies the self’s spontaneity or activity which indicates causality or agency. If the cause of
sensations is a being endowed with will he is neither unknowable nor unconscious matter, but on the other
hand, he is a knowable and knowing person. We do not mean to say that our individual volitions are the causes
of sensations. Evidently it is not our individual will that causes the sensations we feel. But this does not prove
that the self we call our own is not the cause of our sensations. Our individual volitions do not exhaust our self-
hood. There are many things in the self which do not depend upon our volitions. The consciousness that forms
its very essence is not dependent on, but the cause of our volitions. This consciousness, irrespectively of our
personal volitions, manifests itself in the forms of sensations, memory, understanding and emotions thus
making lives individual and personal.

Kant’s contribution to philosophy is to stress activity of the experiencing subject. The self in perception
is not passive but active. It acts as a law giver to nature, prescribing to the world we know the forms and
conditions under which it shall appear to us. Thus if we were to ask how it is that we already have knowledge a
priori about the world which appears to us, Kant answers that it is because the same knowledge has been at
work in the formation of what appears. The law of universal causation is admittedly a product of understanding,
19
but it is universally valid in the world we know, since it is also a product of the universal intelligence. The
importance of self’s activity in perception is still more reinforced by realists. The self discriminates and selects
from the presented environment and the process of discrimination accounts for the different perceivers. The
way in which we make the discrimination or selection depends upon our general mental make-up. As a rule, we
select according to systems which interest the perceiver. Differences of mind, of bodily equipment, of interest
will condition our perception of reality. As regards the process of discrimination, it would seem that the
capacity which the self possesses of going out beyond the actual data which are given to it, is brought into play
in practically all acts of perception. That acquaint us in perception is small. Psychologists tell us that much of
what at first sight seems to be given is really inferred. But the self goes beyond these inferences, these
fragmentary appearances apprehended by the senses and unites them together so that a complete object emerges
as the result. We get a discontinuous and fragmentary view of reality in all perception, but by selecting from the
given whole those aspects that interest us, and at the same time synthesizing and piecing together the aspects
selected, we manufacture for ourselves that which forms the content of our consciousness. This content is not
other than the content of reality, but is a selection from it, a selection which has been arranged differently in the
process of being selected. In this sense, all perception involves an element of judgment. There is in fact no such
thing as a pure awareness of something which is outside ourselves. In all perception we go beyond what we
actually perceive, and it is this activity of going beyond that provides an opportunity for the operation of
judgment. It is the intrusion of this element of judgment in perception which, while assisting us to synthesize
the fragmentary appearances that we have selected from the given data, enables us to form a definite aim or
goal in life in view of which all our norms and standards are arranged so as to gain the integrated personality.

We are now in a sound position to understand the place and purpose of man in the universe, to
understand him as an individual self. The universe is the embodiment or expression of a principle of life not as a
thing but as an activity, the essence of which is to bring something that was not already contained in or implied
by or latent in what went before. Life so conceived would be radically different from matter and the laws which
governed its workings would be other than those which operated in the material world. The self which is
continuous and free is the self that express itself in life but not the empirical ego which is imprisoned in the
material workings. True knowledge of the self is not the sum-total of the complete and accurate accounts of all
its different aspects, even if those accounts could be made exhaustive. Such a view may be a clear view but it
will not be a complete view. True knowledge therefore is knowledge of the self as a whole To know a man’s
self as a whole is to know him as a personality, for a personality is the whole which, while it integrates all the
parts and so includes them within itself, is never-the-less something over and above their sum. To know man as
a personality is to know him in a manner of which science takes no cognizance. Philosophers are therefore right
in trying to establish the nature of the self by a priori reasoning rather than by empirical methods; right in their
assumption that the nature of the personality belongs to the realm of metaphysics, and right precisely because
the self belongs to an underlying real world and not to the world which appears to commonsense.

The discovery of desirable changes and the effecting of desirable changes are matters for ourselves
alone. Each of us must heighten his consciousness for himself. This is what is called self-realization. It is a term
which might be described as the more intimately personal aim of life, the aim that concerns the inward
satisfaction more than external possessions or outward benefits. True it is not easy to divide external benefit
from the one that is internal, for even the pursuit of fame cannot be enjoyed as a fact outside the consciousness
of the individual. Evidently the criterion lies within the self, its preferences indeed are a test of character. It is in
this building of character or in the practical business of living, self-knowledge must have first place. Knowledge
of others and of the world is important, for without a knowledge of them we cannot hope to live happily. But
the self-knowledge must come first as in its light only we begin to know others. According to legend, the
command to know thyself descended from heaven, according to the cynic it has not yet reached the earth. But it
is the aim and aspiration of the mystic to make it reach the earth, as also to get it settled there to exert its
influence to bring about a transformation in human nature and in world-process. We have to know it as a
science first and for this purpose we must have an aim which involves a plan of self-analysis, including all
aptitudes and tendencies whether secular or spiritual, ethical or religious. We want therefore an aim that can
never grow vile and that cannot disappoint our hope. There is but one such aim on earth and it is that
developing our personality to the full stature, so as to embrace in its loving clasp the world-personality. He who
20
strives after such a development with faith and patience must grow out of selfishness and his success is
measured not by the acquisition of external possessions but by the realization of the internal, all pervading
spirit.

*********

THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW.

COMPLETE BOOK WILL BE COMING SOON.
21