The Inner Spiritual Light Exists in the Entire Creation and Maintains the Balance of Existence

Our normal human view of things is based in the framing of the mental process which relies on distinguishing differences between one thing and another, between one being and another, between one event and another. This “fragmentation” leads us to focus primarily on the separation we have rather than on the underlying unity, the oneness of all creation. Our reliance on this standpoint leads us into sometimes quite tragic consequences.

Despite this viewpoint however, there remains the fact of the unity of the entire creation, and this unity is what maintains existence despite differences on the surface. The Vedic Rishis referenced this issue in Mandala X, Sukta 129: “When universal being was concealed by fragmentation, then by the greatness of its energy That One was born.”

When we begin to appreciate the oneness of the entire creation, we can also begin to see the spiritual radiance in all things. It is thus not just evolved human beings who have that effulgence of the spirit, but all beings, all plants, even the very stones and rocks that make up the earth that we live on. While the light is more visible in the higher evolutionary beings, it nevertheless operates to create what we see as an interdependent and symbiotic reality for all life, woven together into the warp and woof of creation, in a way that relies on the harmony of oneness to ensure that the creation does not simply rip itself apart or destroy itself through opposition. The dynamic tension we see at the level of the external reality is contained within the greater oneness and represents the balancing of the forces.

The ancient symbol of the yin-yang epitomizes this balance perfectly. Regardless of short term imbalances or disharmonies, somehow the evolution of consciousness and the development of the external life find a way to proceed and continue. For the most part, this is a subconscious, or unconscious, harmony and balance; yet as individuals reach further stages of conscious development, they can actually consciously participate in the process, aligning themselves with the harmonizing and balancing forces rather than with the forces of disintegration, division and fragmentation.

The Mother notes: “In everyone, even at the very beginning, this spiritual presence, this inner light is there…. In fact, it is everywhere. I have seen it many a time in certain animals. It is like a shining point which is the basis of a certain control and protection, something which, even in half-consciousness, makes possible a certain harmony with the rest of creation so that irreparable catastrophes may not be constant and general. Without this presence the disorder created by the violences and passions of the vital would be so great that at any moment they could bring about a general catastrophe, a sort of total destruction which would prevent the progress of Nature. That presence, that spiritual light — which could almost be called a spiritual consciousness — is within each being and all things, and because of it, in spite of all discordance, all passion, all violence, there is a minimum of general harmony which allows Nature’s work to be accomplished.”

“And this presence becomes quite obvious in the human being, even the most rudimentary. Even in the most monstrous human being, in one who gives the impression of being an incarnation of a devil or a monster, there is something within exercising a sort of irresistible control — even in the worst, some things are impossible. And without this presence, if the being were controlled exclusively by the adverse forces, the forces of the vital, this impossibility would not exist.”

“Each time a wave of these monstrous adverse forces sweeps over the earth, one feels that nothing can ever stop the disorder and horror from spreading, and always, at a certain time, unexpectedly and inexplicably a control intervenes, and the wave is arrested, the catastrophe is not total. And this is because of the Presence, the supreme Presence, in matter.”

“But only in a few exceptional beings and after a long, very long work of preparation extending over many, many lives does this Presence change into a conscious, independent, fully organised being, all-powerful master of his dwelling-place, conscious enough, powerful enough, to be able to control not only this dwelling but what surrounds it and in a field of radiation and action that is more and more extensive… and effective.”

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Hidden Forces of Life, Ch.7 Spiritual Forces of Help and Succour, pp.167-168