The Life Divine Series- Luminous Reconciliations - 1

Sri Aurobindo's " The Life Divine"  is a treasure house of key ideas. It lays logical foundation for Integral Yoga. Luminous lights are shining throughout the Book. It is a Book that has to be read many times. The Book will take us to greater heights.

It is my desire to present some salient features of the seminal work, which I hope will the pave way for the readers to go the source and get full advantage.

Introduction

The  meaning of reconciliation is  to " make compatible". This is an attempt to present known and opposite ideas which are appearing to be irreconcilable and how Sri Aurobindo makes it compatible. Students of accounting are aware of reconciliation- for example Bank Reconciliation. Bank balance shown from the two angles- Balance as per cash book and Balance as per pass book normally differ at any one time. The Accountants are arriving at the reconciliation between the two, keeping one of them as the base to arrive at the truth of the other. Here two different balances are made compatible by looking at the transactions which are the sources of difference.

The word reconciliation should not be confused with compromise. The dictionary meaning of compromise is "settlement reached by concessions on each side". Compromise involves giving up something and get something to arrive at settlement. Sri Aurobindo does not advocate compromise rather he arrives at reconciliation between two apparent irreconcilable views. 

In this series, I am going to adopt the  case study approach for each of the irreconcilable views or ideas. In this method, I have tried to bring out essence of both sides and finally by way of judgment how reconciliation is arrived at between them. 

Sri Aurobindo has named the Book as " The Life Divine" instead of " The Divine Life". What could have been the reason? . 

He placed highest importance to life and he says that it is life human at present which can become life divine.

Is this a book of philosophy or a book about life? 

It appears that the book is a book of philosophy and addresses all the core and fundamental issues affecting life. This book is a book of great knowledge and wisdom and with the knowledge and wisdom that it contains , will lead the way to divinize one's life. 

By reading the book,  we can understand

                What is the source of our limitation?

                Why life is full of struggle and unhappiness?

                How to overcome our limitation?

                Is our life a matter of fate or freewill?

                How we can become a creator in our lives?

 The book addresses spiritual truths but allows our mind and intellect to grasp. 

Structure of the Book

The Book Life Divine is structured as two books and the second book consists of two parts.  The first book is about Omnipresent Reality and the Universe. The second book is about The Knowledge and the Ignorance—The Spiritual Evolution. Part 1 of the second book is about The Infinite Consciousness and the Ignorance. Part 2 of the book is about The Knowledge and the Spiritual Evolution. 

 
I have taken some of the key ideas from the book and present as a small case study of  contradictions, the things that are challenged, opposed and denied and how they can be reconciled at a higher level.  The idea of presenting as a case study is to understand all the contradictions and how these conflicting cases are reconciled in the book. It is expected that this process will elevate our consciousness to a greater harmony.