It has been explained in the previous chapter that the singular Self is the rudimental cause of all the diversities, that is, the essence of all physical and metaphysical diversities is the Supreme One -- the noumenal cause of this phenomenal world. The fundamental factors of this phenomenal world are five in number. They are the ks'iti (solid), ap (liquid), tejas (luminous), marut (aerial), vyoma (ethereal). The process of transformation or metamorphosis of the singular Self into these factors is called saincara or sam'krama. Saincara or sam'krama is a process of analysis. In this analytical movement the infinite Macrocosmic Entity (Niratishaya) gets transformed into innumerable finite entities (sa'tishaya). The supreme witnessing counterpart of all these finite entities remains the same as that of the Macrocosm. The Supreme Subjectivity is the prime cause of all these objectivities, and as the witnessing entity, is the multiple of all the multiplicities; the movement from these multiplicities towards the supreme multiple is the process of pratisaincara. This pratisaincara is a synthetic movement, and is centre-seeking or introversial in character. Its movement is from the crude towards the subtle, having its culminating point in Purus'ottama. This course of pratisaincara is not just the reversal of saincara, because had it been so, saincara and pratisaincara would have come into conflict and disturbed the equilibrium of the creative spirit. The static principle, or tamogun'a, creates a sort of external pressure, as a result of which interial and exterial forces are created. These belligerent interial and exterial forces create a resultant interial or exterial within or without the physical structure. Whenever and wherever the resultant interial predominates, the structural solidarity of the physical body is properly maintained. The coordinated interial forces are known as pra'n'a'h. This vital energy is a blind force: blind in the sense that it is devoid of intellect, its prime cause being the static force. But vital energy is not the only effect of the constant fight between the interial and exterial forces. Vital energy is the resultant interial force, but whenever and wherever, as a result of the clash, a portion or portions of the physical body get powdered down, that is, transformed into subtler factors -- subtler than all the five fundamental physical factors -- the effect is known as "unit mind" or "microcosm". We find that within the unit structure the mind is a chemical reaction of physical clash, but this physical body is a creation of the Cosmic Mind. So far as properties are concerned, the unit mind has no difference from the Cosmic Mind. Both have intellectual and supra-physical value. This intellectual unit mind controls the physical activities of the blind pra'n'a'h of the unit structure. Matter is the crudest manifestation of citta and citta is a metamorphosed form of Cosmic Consciousness. The two subtler manifestations of Cosmic Consciousness, the Mahattattva and Aham'tattva, are in a dormant stage within the scope of citta. So in the case of the unit also the initial mind created is not anything subtler than citta, that is, in the mind of undeveloped creatures and plants the major portion is nothing but citta. Ego does not appear in the primary stage of mental creation, hence under such a circumstance, the blind force pra'n'a'h cannot activate the physical structure. After the expression of ego in a later stage of psychic evolution, ego (aham'tattva) and pure "I" feeling (mahattattva) are created, and with the help of these subtler stages of mind, that is, with the help of intellectual mind, the blind pra'n'a'h is properly controlled. Thus pra'n'a'h and the mind working in collaborated cooperation maintain the structural solidarity in this divine march of pratisaincara. Here is the speciality of the philosophy of Ananda Marga over other philosophies, explaining by a logical and analytical theory that mind is a creation of matter. This view is also supported by the materialistic schools of thought. But materialist philosophers fail to explain further, as they fail to explain the rudimental cause of the matter. Ananda Marga philosophy penetrates deeper into the ultimate cause of all the manifested effects and enunciates that matter is the metamorphosed form of Purus'ottama -- the Nucleus Consciousness existing as the noumenal cause. Thus, as a result of clash within the material structure, a subtle base is created, and this in turn gives rise to the formation of crude mind or unit citta, which has neither the ego ("I do" or second mental subjectivity) nor the first mental subjectivity ("I am"). Within the unit living structure pra'n'a'h transmits its own wavelength and mind transmits its own. The parallelism of these waves results in the cooperative functioning by which the living structure proceeds towards the destined path of pratisaincara. In the initial stage of mental creation, living structures, with their underdeveloped ego, cannot function independently, and therefore they work according to the will of the Cosmic "I", and the momentum (sam'vega) acquired from the Macrocosm (as a result of its applied will) acts within the crude mind and supplies requisite force for its movement in the journey of pratisaincara. On the path of pratisaincara the attraction of Vidya'ma'ya' increases and the unit citta goes on marching towards Purus'ottama. Biologically this means that life is evolved out of organic matter* and is gradually transformed into higher and higher species, such as animals, vertebrates, mammals, etc. The movement of creation accelerates according to the increase in the reflection of Supreme Consciousness or Purus'ottama on the unit mental plate. As a result of this gradual increase in the density of reflection, the crude mind is converted into subtler mind, that is, the mental scope goes on increasing. So we may say that as a result of the reflection of consciousness on the mental plate, the mind undergoes a psychic dilation. * In chemistry, "organic matter" refers to most carbon compounds. --Eds. The operative forces of this psychic dilation are three in number. These are (1) physical force, created out of physical clash; (2) psychic force, created as a result of clashes in the psychic sphere; and (3) spiritual force emanated from longing for the Great. As a result of operations of these three forces, the psychic body undergoes a dilation. This dilation is not mere puffing up, but an expansion in volume and mass. The quantum of dilation depends directly on the proximity of the destination. That means the dilation increases as the distance decreases. The increase in mass is due to ever-increasing clash amongst the belligerent forces within the physical structure. As a result of mental dilation, that is, increase in volume and mass of the psychic body, the mind acquires more and more potentiality for multilateral activities. According to the mental dilation, the physical body as well gets metamorphosed, and as the longing for the Great increases, the physical body develops certain complexities for an adjustment with the higher psychic demands. Hence we find that in creatures having developed sentiments, the physical body is a composite structure of a large number of glands with their peculiar activities. The developed glandular complexity is an essentiality for facing the psychic clashes in subtler spheres. Due to psychic dilation the crude mind grows still subtler. This increase in subtlety develops in the unit citta the capacity to realize its subjectivity. The subtler is the stage of animation in the process of pratisaincara, the more developed is its ego, and later on it can feel and determine the trend of all its movements. It is at this stage that the evolved unit mind develops within itself both ego and will and can use the momentum (sam'vega) acquired during its previous movement in any direction according to its desire. Before this development of will and ego, expression of the self in a constructive line is not possible. Hence in plant and animal life, where mind is underdeveloped, the vital energy as well as the mind are guided and controlled by the will of the Supreme Mind -- the Great Ego. These underdeveloped plants and creatures can have definite progress in the course of pratisaincara, because they are being controlled by the will of the Supreme Ego. By the guidance of Vidya'ma'ya' such a unit mind constantly rises higher and higher, but once will is developed within its scope of activities and a special momentum is acquired, the unit mind can choose any direction according to its desire, that is, it may adopt a course of negative pratisaincara. This stage of mental evolution, when the developed ego decides the direction and can move even towards jad'a (negative pratisaincara) is called the "human being", or ma'nus'a, because the entity develops a feeling that it has a mind and a mental force which it can utilize to serve its purpose.
In the earlier stages only the will-force of the Great, that is, of Purus'ottama alone, acts, but at the stage of human development, the thought-waves of the One and those of the many work together. The Macrocosm exerts and expresses itself both directly and through the microcosms, and the latter determine, by the individual will, their paths of movement. Thus the inanimate phase of creation moves by the psychic impetus of Purus'ottama only; while in the animate phase, there is the imagination of One and that of many as well. In the animate world other than that of human beings, the cooperation between unit and Cosmic Mind is not of a coordinated nature; the unit minds work in a subordinated cooperation with the Cosmic Mind; but in human spheres, the cooperation can be of both coordinated and subordinated nature. The human being, ma'nus'a, the possessor of ego, has accumulated in his or her self the experiences undergone during that person's past living stages. That person's living momentum knows nothing about the phases ahead. The momentum of previous lives naturally creates a longing for material happiness, or love for jad'a, and people remain unaware of the love of Consciousness, as this stage or path is untrodden by them. Who does like to take the unknown risk of an untrodden path? One who has got a longing for jad'a lacks the courage to experiment with spiritual truth and to follow the path shown by the rs'is. Ordinarily people do not follow this brave path. They think of the need of some superhuman help for their carnal pleasures. They create imaginary gods or are misled into worshipping the mental creations of others and feeling satisfied. These are all worships of jad'ata', or the crude. According to its fundamental properties, the mind-stuff takes the form of the object it entertains. Because of the constant superimposition of physical entities and mundane waves on the psychic body, the mental waves for the sake of an adjustment take the length of the material waves, representing a cruder psychic projection. Such a crude mind for the sake of psycho-physical parallelism chooses a physical structure cruder than its previous objective. This process of retracing the movement is the path of negative or counter- pratisaincara. In this negative pratisaincara, the unit mind can have a backward jump, that is, according to the change in mental wavelength, the physical structure may take the form of a tree, an underdeveloped metazoan or even a protozoan, or even that of an inanimate object such as stone, gold, or silver. The mental structure of the money-minded capitalist may convert itself into a paper note of that person's choice. Even after this retracing of the destined path, the ever-merciful Macrocosm helps the ego-lost mind, and under the forces of external pressure and internal clash, the path of evolution, that is, movement towards pratisaincara, recommences. The unit mind regains its lost status. It may however take millions of years to place it back in its lost status. It is not that a human has the chance of negative pratisaincara only, due to his or her evolved ego; this ego renders a positive help in the movement towards Purus'ottama. In the animate phase the imagination of many works in harmony with the Supreme One. So if the unit mind at that stage of evolution directs its potentialities towards longing for the Great, the unit mind can accelerate its progress (that is, movement towards Purus'ottama), and its progress can be many times speedier than what it was at the stages where the citta, being in the crudest form, had not developed self-will but had to move according to the desire of the Macrocosm. In this march towards the supramundane, the unit mind gradually feels a closer touch of Purus'ottama, and as the proximity of the two increases, the psychic gap between the reflected consciousness and the reflecting plate goes on diminishing and finally these two merge together. This supreme union of Purus'ottama and the unit mind is known as yoga: Sam'yogo yogo ityukto jiiva'tma' Parama'tmanah. According to the urge of pratisaincara the unit mind goes on dilating because of the ever-increasing reflected density of the Macrocosmic Nucleus. Here the microcosm acts as a mirror and the reflected consciousness is just like the reflection of the rays of the sun, in that, while being reflected, He also associates Himself with the plate. The association inculcates the sameness of the quality and so the associative reflection of the Nucleus -- Purus'ottama -- will develop in the unit mind the broadness of His Cosmic Self and the final culmination of the march of this unitary self, or microcosm. The sameness of the unit and the Cosmic Mind is established, and the finality in association will result in the merger of the microcosm into Macrocosm. This is what is known as mukti. Thus if the finite subjectivity (unit mind) dwells on the infinite one as its objectivity, it results in the gradual expansion of its self and this enlarged mind finally merges with Purus'ottama. Hence such a stage is nothing but mental liberation. Here one of our psycho-philosophic theories works -- "Oneness in objectivity results in oneness in subjectivity." So when the objectivity of the microcosm gets converted into objectivity of the Macrocosm, the jiiva'tman -- the subjective counterpart of the microcosm -- is transformed into the subjective counterpart of the Macrocosm, that is, Purus'ottama. The fundamental principle of our Iishvara Pran'idha'na* is based on this psycho-spiritual theory. * A lesson of Ananda Marga meditation. --Eds. 28 May 1959
